Garyswordz

*****

Sixty two years ago, JFK, an alleged paramour of Marilyn, declared his intention for the USA to go to the moon not  “because it is  easy, but because it is  hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, and one which we intend to win”.  All involved in this production have made a similar commitment to this show – and won, thanks to a five star performance from leading lady, Georgina Kerr Jones

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Sutton Arts are to be thoroughly congratulated on producing this play by local author  Darren Haywood, that courage, to produce and support an unknown play by a relatively unknown author, was rewarded with a full house on opening night. There were easier options, Sutton Arts chose the challenging one.

Monroe  was amongst the greatest cultural icons of the 20^th  Century, the glittering jewel in  the Golden era of the silver screen. Her story is  nuanced and  complex, her beauty and charisma merely a veneer. Monroe was  known to everyone, but someone that very few knew,  in a time before social media and twenty four hour television. Consequently, there are numerous Monroes in the public consciousness. Haywood wisely  dodges taking on the entire myth, instead taking on  creating his own  faction of her final day alive reprising a device used by Malcom Lowry  in his novel “Under the Volcano”, a life in a day. Curiously the contemporaneous current film release “Back to Black” explores the tragic melodrama of Amy Winehouse’s life and death. So Haywood is on trend.

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Director Dexter Whitehead is faced with several challenges. This is  a single set play with no action and little movement.  There are only four actors. We all know the outcome- ( spoiler alert) she dies, so there is no jeopardy or dramatic tension. This is a Tragedy, it is not about if she dies, it is about how she dies. Whitehouse, skilfully and adeptly ekes the maximum out of this imbuing proceedings with a clawing sense of claustrophobia and omnipresent psychosis.

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At the heart of all this is Georgina Kerr Jones in the eponymous role, beautiful, sassy, and poised whilst simultaneously being neurotic, paranoid  and helpless, her final hours punctuated by telephone calls and a pounding heartbeat.

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  It is a hugely demanding role written almost as a series of monologues with minor interruptions by the supporting cast. Demanding physically, emotionally and artistically. Georgina, fortunately for both author and director, excels in this challenge.  Set designer Mark Nattrass and  Whitehead  fill out her bedroom with a mesh torn curtain backdrop, periodically backlit illuminating memorabilia from her career as her dreams ,and life are torn from this world.

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Maureen George provides the vital glue to proceedings as the long suffering, but optimistic,  housekeeper, Ailish Reel as Marilyn’s  friend,  quietly   and unobtrusively Pat takes the pressure off Georgina without stealing the lime light. Rachel Marshall and Emily Armstrong are similarly deft in their costume choice from wardrobe, Marilyn in demure dusky pink nightwear, and Pat in a striking A line  hooped brightly coloured sleeveless shift dress. Mark Nattrass  as  Marilyn’s Doctor affords a third party perspective on her neurosis whilst bewilderingly eschewing the opportunity of an evening with the scantily clad Marilyn in favour of an evening with his wife.

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A warm and generous closing ovation from an appreciative audience vindicated Sutton Arts decision to put on this production, and the commitment and energy of all in realising it. The best bit? You get to take your own Marilyn Monroe home with you after.

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 Marilyn has trouble sleeping during the show, an exhausted, but artistically satisfied, Georgina will have no trouble sleeping after it. Runs until Saturday 4^th May.

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This musical was first performed on stage in 1963, but it was the1969 film that made a mass  cultural impact. . Both of my grandfathers fought in World War 1 in the army, and my father served  for thirty years as an RAF Officer. Sixty years on its impact, and the controversy surrounding it should not be underestimated. The literati were fawning in their praise of the author Joan Littlewood , the establishment cautious of lampooning a conflict which still touched most families in this country.

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The film cast reads like a who is who of contemporary cinema including Maggie Smith, Dirk Bogarde, John Gielgud, John Mills, Kenneth More, Laurence Olivier, Jack Hawkins, Corin Redgrave, Michael Redgrave, Vanessa Redgrave, Ralph Richardson,, Nanette Newman, Edward Fox,  and Susannah York.

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The play opened at the Theatre Royal Stratford East but  the official censor did not grant permission for a transfer to the West End until Princess Margaret attended despite the objections of the family of Field Marshal Haig.

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Blackeyed Theatre embraces  the controversial material head on  presenting a cast of  actor-musicians,  counterpointing the farce of war with its  sobering wartime statistics illustrated  by Clive Elkington’s projections . The songs  were drawn  from  a book published in 1917 called Tommy’s Tunes which had new lyrics written in the trenches to well-known songs of the era, many from hymns or from West End shows that are still familiar today  including “It’s a Long Way to Tipperary”, “Pack up Your Troubles” and “Keep the Home Fires Burning”. Musical director Ellie Verkerk does a fine job in reinvigorating them .

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Curtain up  reveals a  band of Pierrots  in hybrid  show costumes with military paraphernalia  imaginatively realised by costume designer Naomi Gibbs.

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The comedy of three quarters a century ago feels surprisingly fresh in the hands of Director Nicky Allpress ,mixing  satire,  physical comedy , slapstick and straight forward gags. Fun is found  in soldiers in training,  a hilarious  choreographed housewives at the washing line scene, and mocking the  trademark  propaganda posters . Tom Crabtree , Tom Benjamin are in the thick of the laughs alongside  Alice Mayer. Chioma  Uma’s singing is  superb. J The Christmas Day ceasefire scene is  handled sensitively and poignantly skilfully avoiding mawkishness.

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This should be compulsory viewing in Russia, Ukraine, Gaza and Israel. A worthy and timeous revival

Continues to 200^th April then on nationwide tour to Mold, Wakefield,Wolverhampton,Basildon Worthing, Hoddesdon     and, Didcot

Blackeyed Theatre’s Oh What a Lovely War continues its tour until May 2024 – more information and tickets can be found here.

Drifters Girl- Birmingham  Hippodrome

“Come on over to my place- hey you, we’re having a party” and on Tuesday night the party was at the Birmingham Hippodrome as the music of one of the most enduring vocal harmony groups of the mid 20^th century roused a full house to its feet from the stalls to the balcony.

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In 1977 I turned on Top of the Pops to see an all black vocal  group singing “You’re more than a Number in My little Red book”. The harmonies were pin sharp, the choreography cheesy ( yes the little red book was produced in synchronized perfection) the combination was irresistible.

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 It was my first introduction to the Drifters who benefitted from a battery of distinguished songwriter’s over the years, including Greenaway/Macauley, Leiber/Stoller, Pomus/ Shuman and Ahmet Ertegun

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The Drifters are synonymous with two constants, Faye Treadwell  ( the eponymous Drifters Girl their manager, whose story this is) , and the constantly changing band line up. Wisely the show largely eschews the story of the  latter in favour of the former creating  a  musical hagiography of  Treadwell. The narrative is strong  on the challenges facing a woman of colour  in a white male dominated world but less sure footed in dealing with her actions, cynically creating a revolving door of around sixty members of the band for personal profit. All sixty are played by the same four  excellent and necessarily versatile performers which can be a little confusing to follow visually.

Quibbles about the narrative arc aside  the music is the beating heart of  the show which   features around  25 songs including ‘Kissin’ in the Back Row of the Movies’, ‘Saturday Night at the Movies’, ‘Save The Last Dance For Me’ and my personal favourite ‘You’re More Than A Number In My Little Red Book’. The  band under the musical direction of Dustin Conrad sounds vibrant and contemporary.

Miles Anthony Daley, Tarik Frimpong, Tré Copeland-Williams, an Ashford Campbell, multitask  as The Drifters band members. An unostentatious set works well  courtesy of Anthony Ward and  Ben Cracknell’s imaginative strip  lighting

Ed Curtis’ book provides the basis for events, and contains an inspired interlude mocking Brummie and Scouse accents which went down very well on the night skilfully and humorously highlighting the casual racism of the era. Carly Mercedes Dyer, resplendent in a stunning stylish skirt suit  not only holds the show together as Treadwell, but her powerhouse vocals also  provide a necessary counterpoint and variety to the male voices.

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An ensemble medley finale was great fun ( sadly the little red book themselves were left on the shelf) and hugely enjoyed by all. Runs until sat 20^th and continues on nationwide tour to Bromley, Edinburgh and Cardiff.

A major new revival of  a classic  comedy produced by Tilted Wig on the third stop of its nationwide tour.

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Author  Richard  Sheridan is one of the most astonishing figures in British, and Anglo- Irish, dramatic history. Born in Dublin Ireland in 1751, but educated at Harow school, London. He became an MP for 32 years  in three seats, the first of which , Stafford, he secured by bribery, became Treasurer to the Navy in a Whig government under PM Lord Grenville, , fought two duels, almost dying during the second, and owned the theatre Royal in Drury Lane, London which burned down in 1794. Upon  being seen  drinking a glass of wine in the street while watching the fire, Sheridan was famously reported to have said, “A man may surely be allowed to take a glass of wine by his own fireside”.

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A  politician, orator, raconteur, drunk, gambler, bon viveur,  libertine and adulterer, he believed in living the material he wrote about.

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The School for Scandal was written almost 250 years ago . Director Seán Aydon updates the play by changing the setting, complete with period telephones, and  stylish costumes , from 1777 to the 1950s.  Sarah Beaton’s 1950s set and costume design is lush and lavish ,  bathed in  pinks, greens, oranges and aquamarine blue, oozing period glamour. I am a confirmed Sheridan fan ,that enthusiasm  emanating from a production I saw of “The Rivals” fifty years ago , so  I keenly awaited this production.Aydon frequently asks his cast to “strike a pose”, vogue like, for emphasis, skilfully delivered by Stephen Moynihan, the movement director, whose further role as intimacy director is unnecessary for Sir Peter and Lady Teazle. The title of the play could easily be borrowed for a comedy about Conservative Central office, Lydea Perkins bearing an uncanny resemblance to Carrie Johnson

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All the cast bar Joseph Marcell,  as Sir Peter Teazle,  double up on roles, eight actors play fifteen parts. . The barrage of gossip, intrigue and tittle tattle means that the audience has to concentrate hard to remember who is who, and who has said what to who. Consequently , the first half is slower than the second, as we adjust to the language, characters, back stories  and multiple parts. The production, in two halves, runs for around two and a half hours including interval.

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There are numerous sparkling performances, amongst them, Lydea Perkins  as the profligate WAG Lady Teazle, wonderfully  played by Lydea Perkins ( also the backbiting Mrs C/9andour) and  Emily Jane McNeill as the dirt -dishing  Lady Sneerwell . Coleen Rooney and Rebekah Vardy are amateurs compared to these two. Alex Phelps and Garmon Rhys  excel  as the louche brothers, as does  Tony Timberlake as Sir Oliver, their wealthy uncle .

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Although the enunciation is occasionally unnecessarily shouty for emphasis, nothing can dampen the effervescent  wit and verve of the dialogue, nor the energy of the cast. Aydon has been brave and bold with this 1950s reboot. No-one should be deterred by the Georgian era dialogue, it is well delivered and fits surprisingly well in its new time era. I thoroughly enjoyed the evening which culminated in an unexpected vogue like dance routine rousing an already appreciative audience. Fifty years on the sharpness of a Sheridan script endures.

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Continues until Sat 30^th, and then on nationwide tour until 8^th June 2024.

David Walliams has cemented himself a position as  a favourite children’s author both with his books and plays. His writing covers an appeal to a variety of ages. Tonight I took a ten year old grandson and seven year old granddaughter  to glean first hand responses from his target market. It is what children think that counts, not adults. Both are widely read, and culture vultures.

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The story involves our heroine Stella Saxby, the sole heir to Saxby Hall. But awful Aunt Alberta and her giant owl will stop at nothing to get it from her. Luckily Stella has a secret – and slightly spooky – weapon up her sleeve on her side.

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 Produced by the Birmingham Stage Company the book  has  been adapted and directed by Neal Foster. Jackie Trousdale, is to be commended on a versatile set which is atmospheric, utilitarian, and striking. It is also central to the action aided by  by Jason Taylor’s clever lighting, particularly in the ghost scenes.

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Annie Cordoni convinces as  Stella,  initially naïve, but then resolute and resourceful. Mathew Allen’s Soot is a delight ,spouting comic  cockney rhyming slang. Neal Foster’s Aunt Alberta overtly channels Rik Mayall, which doesn’t matter as none of the children in rhe audience  will have heard of him. Zain Abrahams’ madcap butler Gibbon entertains. Wagner the owl menaces- but comes good in the end.

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Walliams borrows heavily from pantomime for the slapstick comedy, and the Brothers Grimm for the dark recesses  and excesses of the storyline. As an adult I feared that a horrible aunty who wanted to murder and stuff an owl, a murderously orphaned schoolgirl, a prolonged scene of electrical torture of the girl in a cage and her attempted battering   by a mace might scare young children. I was wrong. They loved it and concentrated on the slapstick. Laughing and giggling uproariously.

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Although two hours long including  the interval, the evening never dragged, all the children in the auditorium stayed engaged with no bored toilet visits. Very good children’s entertainment. Continues on  nationwide  tour in Sunderland, Manchester, Richmond, Glasgow, Liverpool and Woking.

****

Sherlock Holmes novels and plays were very popular in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries.  Author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was a celebrity in the English speaking world and a leading and influential Spiritualist.  “The Valley of Fear” was his fourth and final Sherlock Holmes novel. It    was first published in serialised form in the Strand Magazine between September 1914 and May 1915. The book was first published  in New  York in  1915. Like the first Holmes novel A Study in Scarlet, The Valley of Fear has two parts. The first titled “The Tragedy of Birlstone”, and the second,   “The Scowrers”.

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Aficionados of Sherlock Holmes will not be disappointed by this traditional treatment of the story. The author’s transatlantic appeal is mirrored in this transatlantic story line

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Following the huge success of Blackeyed Theatre’s 2018 production of The Sign Of Four, the iconic detective is back in another gripping tale, The Valley Of Fear. Awash with adventure, mystery and Dr Watsons’ shrewd deductions, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s thrilling final Sherlock Holmes novel is brought to life in Nick  Lanes’  spectacular new stage adaptation  which includes  original music and songs by Tristan Parks.

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A mysterious, coded message is received, a warning of imminent danger, drawing Sherlock Holmes and the faithful Dr Watson into a tale of intrigue and murder stretching from 221B Baker Street, London, England to an ancient, moated manor house and the bleak Pennsylvanian, Vermissa Valley, USA. The latter setting offers an edgier, grittier, sharper edge . As the investigation proceeds Holmes begins to unearth a darker, wider mysterious web of corruption, a secret society, and the  nefarious deeds   of Professor Moriarty.

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Adapted and directed by Nick Lane, The Valley of Fear is in capable hands. His adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s   The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde  for Hull Truck Theatre was innovative and outstanding. Lane knows what to do with classic English literature. However, he has a particular challenge here with a non -linear storyline.

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 The original novel is split into two distinct parts, the first comprises the conventional whodunnit.  The second part, which is lengthier than the first, is the backstory of the characters who find themselves the subject of Holmes’ enquiries. Lane takes the two very distinct stories and interweaves them, using a cast of five role-switching actors performed on a single set lavishly designed by Victoria Spearing which joins the two worlds. The costume design by Naomi Gibbs is sumptuous.  This storytelling in parallel does require close concentration as we try to work out how the London and Pennsylvania locations, and their events, conjoin. The role swapping /sharing demands of the production are hugely demanding on the cast with Alice Osmanski playing three parts, and Blake Kubena working similarly hard, but offering a consequent essential energy which is vital to the production.

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Bobby Bradley is a satisfyingly quirky and quixotic Sherlock Holmes, yet an unnervingly psychopathic hoodlum Baldwin.  Joseph Derrington is wry, dry, and quintessentially English as Watson and as a pairing with Holmes works well. Gavin Molloy has great fun with shadowy criminal mastermind Moriarty.

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This is a technical and artistic triumph for Nick Lane and his hardworking cast combining a 21^st century reboot with reverence for the original for a production which continues at Derby until Sat the 23^rd and continues on tour.

Gary Longden

*****

Sutton Arts has  taken a risk performing an unknown play by  a local  actor turned playwright. However that risk is mitigated by two things. Firstly, the doyen of Midlands  comic Amdram Barrie Atchison directs, secondly an outstanding cast has been assembled to deliver the goods.

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What is it about? University Therapist assembles a handpicked ragbag assortment of humanity for a series of explorative introspective sessions about Self, and an amusing motley crew they turn out to be. However very quickly it becomes apparent that  a light is being shone upon us as  the audience, upon our own egos prejudices and artifices in a clever, adroitly written piece combining monologue ,  duologue, and drama.

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The play itself is 21 years old, and although some of the caricatures are showing their age it is delivered as a period piece.  It is unclear to me whether one quip about there being too many Asian news presenters on the BBC was contemporaneous, or current, with  veteran politician Trevor Phillips quoting the exact  observation from an attendee at  a dinner party he recently attended that very Thursday.

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At the heart of proceedings are two towering acting performances. Posh Doreen channels Margaret Thatcher even before she is name checked by Joanne James borrowing from Penelope Keith’s “Margot” and Dawn French’s wry, dry delivery. Sarah Stanley is fantastic as the cheap as chips “tart with a heart” Pat. Both clearly enjoy performing their roles as much as we do watching them. However, while Doreen bludgeons her way, and Pat wise cracks hers , there are some hugely satisfying side-shows.

Pat and Doreen consider the respective merits of Jimmy Choos and Shoezone.

Michelle Dawes eschews her normally glamorous persona in favour of a de-glammed Judith, who hitherto has not found a chance to grow up and escape home,   unravelling and flourishing before our eyes in a particularly rounded performance.

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The identity issues facing British, born  second and third generation Muslims is seldom visited in plays. Leighton Coulson handles that challenge as Mo with considerable aplomb, sensitively, without stridence.  The youngest cast member, Ella Clarke plays single parent  Dawn with astonishing maturity and depth, I have no doubt that we will be seeing much more of her on stage in years to come.

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Sessions facilitator Richard Clarke as Roy is effectively the narrator  for the proceedings  and the superglue on the Teapot, unassuming, always there, doing his job and keeping the disparate parts held together.

 Hitherto I ave never seen a play in which the author and Director are individually  performing. Playwright Jonathan Owen ( who also plays Frank) is at his best and most comfortable sketching out the comic foibles of folk.  He admirably does his bit unobtrusively allowing others to shine , giving himself plenty of time to count the audience to ensure that his royalties cheque is correct.

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 Stuart Goodwin  co-directs and plays Greg, I am surprised that they did not give props manager Tina Townsend a `part too! Stuart in acting terms plays the part of the Midfield General in a football team, maintaining pace and flow in a show which has off stage Director Atchison’s comedic fingerprints smeared all over it.

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This is a fabulous evening’s entertainment, illuminated by Sarah Stanley’s hilarious Pat. I was too afraid to approach her in the bar after the show fearful of being on the receiving end of one of her withering put downs.  Teapots and Superglue runs until 23^rd March. Go and see it.

Gary Longden

****

In advance this was  one  of the most intriguing elements of the Grand’s  2024 programme, and so it proved to be  on the night. The Sao Paulo Dance Company is state sponsored ,  a government supported cultural gem and export. In the UK it is supported by the  Dance Consortium, a group of UK Theatres founded in  in 2000 and comprising  19 member theatres from all regions of the country as well as the Republic of Ireland.

The Chief Executives of the Theatres are the members of the Consortium, they meet regularly throughout the year and appoint a Board of Directors, which also has independent members.  The theatres jointly choose the international companies they wish to invite to tour the UK and Ireland, and  share the costs of each of the tours  make no mistake, this is a serious effort to popularise international contemporary dance.

And so, from the sun baked favela’s of Brazil’s capital city to Sedgely, Bilston and Wednesfield on a cold wet Friday night …

A very healthy first night attendance  combined dance aficionados, snake hipped dancers, and the curious.

The performance combines  the  elegance of classical ballet with the sensuality of Latin American dance   and Brazilian swing.

We are treated to three different movements, from three different choreographers:

Goyo Montero (resident choreographer with Carlos Acosta’s company Acosta Danza) examines collective identities in Anthem, an  ensemble piece for 14 dancers, atmospherically staged with dramatic lighting and androgynous costuming blurring the distinction between male and female.

Gnawa, by Nacho Duato (Artistic Director of the Berlin State Ballet), is inspired by  the Mediterranean colours and flavours of Valencia,  driven by the irresistible backbeat of  the  music of North Africa.

Brazilian choreographer Cassi Abranches’ spectacular  Agora offers a mesmerising entertaining   and pulsating  finale to incessant  beats and   bass grooves of   Afro-Brazilian fusion.

The performances, and evening were unique, original and compelling drawing appreciative applause from an appreciative audience and a welcome introduction to dance from another continent . It continues on  nationwide tour to Inverness on the 19^th and 20^th March putting an entirely new spin on a Highland fling.