This is a hybrid between a revue and Tribute concert featuring the music of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. This was their second booking , and on a Saturday night they had pretty much sold it out, a good sign that their previous appearance had been well received.
The original band had dominated the charts. Valli recorded his first record in 1953, but the Four Seasons did not form until 1960. Most of the songs were introduced or included as part of a narration story, pretty much tracking the history of doo wop , barber shop, harmony singing and early rock n roll. With some forty top 40 hits as a solo artist and band member, there was no shortage of material to draw on. The repertoire meant that a significant proportion of the audience was over 70 years old.
My seat was in the balcony which may have been a factor in one of my concerns about the show. The sound was shrill, and some of the harmonies discordant. Frankly in part that reflected the limited vocal abilities of some of the four piece. However the instrumentation was provided by a backing track, and the lack of a live band on stage did dull the immediacy and dynamic range of some of the songs.
Yes, all of the hits were aired, some multiple times: “Sherry” (1962), “Big Girls Don’t Cry” (1962), “Walk Like a Man” (1963), “Rag Doll” (1964) and “December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night)” (1975), song “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” ( 1967), “the Night” ( 1972). “My Eyes Adored You” (1974) and “Grease” (1978) amongst them
There was plenty of cheesy banter with the audience although their preference for talking in the first person about themselves. You are NOT Bob Gaudio and his applause is not yours.
However… the audience lapped it up and the “Four Seasons” ( and Penny in lighting) clearly had a great time too. Entertainment is of the moment, and they delivered it to their fans.
This represents a new adaptation by director Sean Aydon from Titled Wig productions of the original Mary Shelley book, first published 205 years ago in 1818. Although often billed as a horror story, it also offers the credentials of being regarded as the first science fiction story. The name “Frankenstein” is frequently used, erroneously, to refer to the monster, rather than to its creator.
Aydon makes two bold moves, first the setting is wartime Europe, second Dr Frankenstein is a woman. The latter is a neat twist, as Shelley’s author mother was famous for her own book, “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman”. It also facilitates a 21st Century interpretation of a 19th century novel into an eldritch tour de force.
The power of the Frankenstein legend lies in a man-made scientific abomination that careers out of control, a theme contemporaneously reflected in the current debate on Artificial Intelligence.
Condensing the original novel and locations onto a stage is no easy task, but somehow it is shoe-horned here into a two-hour production using narration, voice over and monologue to fill the gaps.
The mood is tense and remote enhanced by Nicky Bunch’s austere set, Matt Haskin’s eerie lighting and Eamonn O’Dwyer’s spooky sound and music. Frankenstein’s laboratory is spartan, the mountain cabin bleak.
Two characters bestride this tale, Frankenstein herself, and the Creature.
As Victoria Frankenstein, Eleanor McLoughlin has considerable fun with the gender changed role and the possibilities it offers, obsessive, sedulous, querulous and aware eschewing personal relationships for her work. She plays the straight role opposite the magnificent, nuanced Creature of Cameron Robertson, part laboratory freak, part human. Missy Brazier’s Make Up, Wigs & Prosthetics work is outstanding.
The world war two setting enables Aydon to weave in some Nazi allusions. State sponsored doctor Richter is introduced seeking to create super humans and a master race. Basienka Blake is part fascist authoritarian, and part Dominatrix, as other worldly in her own way as The Creature.
The master race dimension is reprised by Frankenstein’s assistant, Francine, , a person of restricted growth whose capacity to work on the complex project is questioned by Dr Richter. Annete Hannah is particularly strong in the part of Francine who presses Frankenstein on whether she should look to improve her as she had done with the Creature. Frankenstein’s partner Henry ( Dale Mathurin) is a man of colour, again at odds with an Aryan Master Race.
Frankenstein- Derby Theatre
****
This represents a new adaptation by director Sean Aydon from Titled Wig productions of the original Mary Shelley book, first published 205 years ago in 1818. Although often billed as a horror story, it also offers the credentials of being regarded as the first science fiction story. The name “Frankenstein” is often used, erroneously, to refer to the monster, rather than to its creator. I approached this reworked version with some trepidation. But theatre at its best can surprise and delight, and this production did exactly that
Aydon makes two bold moves, first the setting is wartime Europe, second Dr Frankenstein is a woman. The latter is a neat twist, as Shelley’s author mother was famous for her own book, “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman”. It also facilitates a 21st Century interpretation of a 19th century novel into an eldritch tour de force.
The power of the Frankenstein legend lies in a man-made scientific abomination that careers out of control, a theme contemporaneously reflected in the current debate on Artificial Intelligence.
Condensing the original novel and locations onto a stage is no easy task, but somehow it is shoe-horned here into a two-hour production using narration, voice over and monologue to fill the gaps and features that old favourite, a play within a play.
The mood is tense and remote enhanced by Nicky Bunch’s austere set, Matt Haskin’s eerie lighting, and Eamonn O’Dwyer’s spooky sound and music. Frankenstein’s laboratory is spartan, the mountain cabin bleak.
Two characters bestride this tale, Frankenstein herself, and the Creature.
As Victoria Frankenstein, Eleanor McLoughlin has considerable fun with the gender changed role and the possibilities it offers, obsessive, sedulous, querulous and aware, eschewing personal relationships for her work. She plays the straight role opposite the magnificent, nuanced Creature of Cameron Robertson, part laboratory freak, part human. Missy Brazier’s Make Up, Wigs & Prosthetics work is outstanding.
The world war two setting enables Aydon to weave in some Nazi allusions and an eugenics theme. State sponsored doctor Richter is introduced seeking to create super humans and a master race. Basienka Blake is part fascist authoritarian, and part Dominatrix, as other worldly in her own way as The Creature, also playing the mysterious Captain.
The master race dimension is reprised by Frankenstein’s assistant, Francine, a person of restricted growth whose capacity to work on the complex project is questioned by Dr Richter. Annete Hannah is particularly strong in the part of Francine who presses Frankenstein on whether she should look to improve her as she had done with the Creature. Frankenstein’s partner Henry ( Dale Mathurin) is a man of colour, again at odds with an Aryan Master Race.
This is a satisfying reboot for Frankenstein from a talented cast who make the pivotal gender and location changes work. There is plenty of dry ice, Gothic horror fans will not be disappointed and the Frankenstein weekend at Whitby will have some new characters next time around.
It is an ambitious production which pays off in most areas. The bloody, tumultuous finale would make Quentin Tarantino jealous. Literary and philosophical references abound. Aydon is brave to take on John Milton and Shakespeare. However he makes the story his own by bookending the opening and closing scenes in a powerful dramatic device.
Although maryshelley’s story ahs been around for a long time, this interpretation is fresh as a daisy. See it.
Frankenstein playa at Derby until 23rd Sept, then continues touring the UK until November 2023 at eleven venues. For more information and tour dates, visit the Tilted Wig website. https://www.tiltedwigproductions.com/frankenstein
This is a satisfying reboot for Frankenstein from a talented cast who make the pivotal gender and location changes work. Gothic horror fans will not be disappointed and the Frankenstein weekend at Whitby will have some new characters next time around.
Frankenstein playa at Derby until 23rd Sept, then continues touring the UK until November 2023 at eleven venues. For more information and tour dates, visit the Tilted Wig website. https://www.tiltedwigproductions.com/frankenstein
Make no mistake, this production was a big call by Sutton Arts. It is wordy, and worthy, and played out on a single set. Its themes of the American Dream, the anatomy of truth, and fidelity are more fully realised in “Death of a Salesman” written two years later. His exploration of visceral drama is saved for “The Crucible” ,so this was an intriguing choice of production.
This was Miller’s first hit production following the flop of his first play “The Man Who Had All the Luck failed on Broadway, lasting only four performances. Miller wrote All My Sons as a final attempt at writing a commercially successful play , peeling back the specious veneer of the American dream, exposing how guilt and wrongdoing can rot a family from the inside, tainting everything they touch.
All My Sons is based upon a true story. In 1941–43 the Wright Aeronautical Corporation based in Ohio had conspired with army inspection officers to approve defective aircraft engines destined for military use. It explores how two partners in a business can have to take moral and legal responsibility for the other. Idealism is the problem.
Written in 1947 The criticism of that idealism , was one reason why Arthur Miller was called to appear before the House Un-American Activities Committee during the 1950s during the McCarthy purge era.
Ricard Clarke’s Joe Keller is an object lesson in good acting. We watch him unfold and unravel before our eyes from businessman, husband and father to a flawed fraudster. He has lost his one son in a wartime plane crash, then loses his other son as his exposure as the peddler of faulty plane parts emerges. Those parts resulted in twenty one crashes with the resultant fatalities representing “All of our sons”
Chris Commander, as Joe’s surviving son forensically unpicks both his father’s commercial wrong doing and his status as head of household.
But it is Liz Berriman as matriarch Kate Keller who dominates the evening. She combines an innate warmth with a nervy anxiety suggested by the way she encases herself in her housecoat as if it were a flak jacket , a protective shield from all that is exploding around her.. In one way she is also the “villain” of the piece in that she puts the sanctity of the home before ethics, yet Berriman’s homely myopic innocence wins through. Hers is a gorgeously calibrated Kate, guilt manifests differently with her, in fragile optimism and occasional flashes of anger.
As Anne’s lawyer brother George , Harry Robins precisely shows a hunger for revenge on the Keller family melting under the influence of their hospitality.
Its attack on the probity of America is a bludgeoning, and so too is Miller’s characterisation of women. Anne’s feminine allure is specifically drawn, but no space is given to her character and the assumption that she would “jump ship” from one brother to another romantically feels clunky. MIller’s eye for a pretty woman is evidenced by his marriage to Marilyn Monroe. But here Amy White plays Anne as the girl next door, not a femme fatale.
This is a strong cast, and my only reservation bout the evening was the frequency of shouting. Don’t shout, act, this isn’t East Enders. However this was th first night of the first production after the summer, a time when it can be difficult during rehearsals to hve the cast all together, let alone fine tune a directorial message.
The single set, an exterior porch, scene of an earlier storm works well, the only lighting demands are for the twilight act from daylight. Curiously the sound eschews contemporary music, if ever a chorus of the “Marines hymn” was required, it was here.
Written seventy years ago, Joes exclamation that what he was doing was “just business” and his observation that not a single military vehicle left a factory without having been paid for first resonates as the profits in British, Israeli, American and south African Arms companies today are boosted by our war in Ukraine. What gives the play its momentum is the force of Miller’s message. In part the play is an assault on the twin American gods of family and profit: Joe’s last line of defence is: “I’m in business.” But this is not simply a play about war profiteering. Miller’s real theme is the way a distorted individualism has replaced the idea of responsibility to the community.
Sutton arts deliver a Miller for our times, In an era of fake news and moral uncertainty, this production of Arthur Miller’s play rings as true as ever At a time of flux and fakery when lies masquerade as truth, we find reassurance in Miller’s moral rigour and appeal to our collective human conscience.
Some lament the turgid fare of contemporary musicals. “ Tony! (The Tony Blair Rock Opera)”, by Harry Hill and Steve Brown challenges that stasis.
Charlie Baker takes the lead as the eponymous messiah, channelling “Smashy and Nicey” into a modern context. The well attended opening night overwhelmingly comprised those who probably voted him in. He is introduced to us on his death bed looking back to the beginning with a funny physical gag showing the moment when he was born.
Although billed as a musical rock opera, in practice it is a smorgasbord of revue, skits, verbal and physical gags and comic songs. The single set stage is simple, featuring a live three piece band and a cast of ten, making it expensive to tour. The production is split into two halves of 50, and 45 minutes, brevity here is a virtue.
Several of the talented cast, in matching Blairite suit and red tie uniforms, double up on characters played, and all of your favourite are present and correct. The script lacks the sophistication and edge of a Ben Elton effort, instead favouring the grotesque caricatures of spitting image. Madison Swan excels as Princess Diana.
Howard Samuels effectively anchors the proceedings as Peter Mandelson with jokes about his sexuality which hover perilously close to homophobia, but Holly Sumpton’s exquisite scouse Cherie Blair is never far away to move things on.
The second act raises the ante on bad taste featuring Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein lamenting “ I Never Done Anything Wrong” together with posters for Assad, Pinochet and Idi Amin. Naturally George W Bush , Alistair Campbell and Gordon Brown get a good run out too.
The rise and fall of Tony Blair is strong source material, unfortunately, subsequently Boris Johnson and Liz Truss easily trump New Labour for duplicity and absurdity. The stakes have been raised again with truth being stranger than fiction. Perhaps that will be Hill and Brown’s next project?
The downside of this production is that its episodic construction means that it lacks narrative cohesion. The upside is that most of the skits are very, laugh out loud, funny , Anyone wanting a good laugh at Tony Blair and new labour’s expense will not be disappointed. A parody of YMCA using T-O-N-Y complete with dance moves does entertain. The show won a standing ovation on this opening night as the curtain fell.
The show continues at Derby until 16th September and then concludes its nationwide tour in Bromley, Manchester and Liverpool to coincide with the Party conference season.
Some bands belong live on stage, Thin Lizzy were one such band. This tour supported their “ Live and Dangerous “album. They were at their absolute peak, and this was one of their three prestige dates at London’s temple of rock, the Hammersmith odeon. Expectations were high.
Lynnot was a charismatic frontman, distinctive for not only being one of the few black men in contemporary rock bands, but also for being a compelling performer, bassist, and vocalist .
I have been coming to the Robin for thirty years now and over the past few months have seen an outstanding show (legend of Springsteen) and a good one (Sound and vision).
Last night the Doors Rising left me conflicted.
There was much that was good. Stuart Capstick is visually, stylistically, and vocally a convincing Morrison. Carl Rice was rock solid on drums, Martyn Gilbert’s lead guitar was fluid, keyboard duties were executed by Colin Hill rather than the historically billed Andy Keegan. To these ears, the keyboard parts sounded learned rather than performed with the trademark organ flourishes fororm”“Light my Fire” largely inaudible. “Riders on the Storm” was stripped of intensity and context
I found the running order clunky with a half time break unnecessary, and a mood killer. Telsen had opened the evening, I was genuinely unsure as to whether or not it was an REM tribute playing lesser known songs.
The Doors last live show was over fifty years ago now and was the apogee of 60’s psychedelia.
They only ever played one UK show, the Isle of Wight festival, so hardly anyone in the Uk has seen them live, and pretty much all of their songs were written in one summer. It is a fairly narrow window, and their contemporaries most notably Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead progressed musically, but Morrisons death has frozen them in time. This produces a fairly limited playing field for a tribute act, compounded by the fact that their acid rock material is so at odds with their best known song, “Light my Fire” which became a MOR standard courtesy of Jose Feliciano.
I have nothing against tribute acts, and am for them as a means to keeping music alive. “Rising” are a decent band with much going for them musically but they face an uphill struggle
This is the fourth Bowie tribute I have seen this year so I am starting to feel as much a tribute expert as I am a Bowie fan.
The Robin 2 in Bilston Wolverhampton is a great live venue with a long tradition of original and tribute bands and a loyal and knowledgeable audience, a significant number of whom are a “walk up”
S&V perform as a seven piece with Chris Burke on lead vocals, tall, blonde, lean and imposing, he isn’t a Bowie clone but convinces as a front man . Jeff John in short frock coat and ruffle neck white blouse looks like he is auditioning for a Spandeau Ballet tribute on lead guitar, John Wilmott plays Bass, Colin Elward is hidden at the back on Keyboards, with a similarly shy Simon Harry on Rhythm Guitar, Gareth Addey is on Drums and Mike Davies on Saxophone.
The sax is a problem. As soon as I saw it I knew that they would play “Sorrow”, “Young Americans” , “Absolute Beginners” and “the Man Who Sold the World” ,what I did not expect was for it to appear in every song to the extent that at times I felt as though I was watching a Madness tribute. The introduction to ”Ashes to Ashes” was ruined by an obtrusive lead sax part. Davies play well, but his omnipresence is a musical misfire.
Invariably I am charitable to most live performers, and tribute acts. But when these acts are asking £20 (tonight), £30, sometimes more, the stakes are raised. I would expect to pay £10 for a cover band, if I am paying over twice that, my expectations are similarly raised.
S&V came on at 8.30pm and finished at 11pm with a half hour break so the venue could take some more beer money! It was a game of two halves, the first was poor, the second was much better.
Setlist
Moonage Daydream
Sorrow
Changes
The man who sold the world
Oh You pretty things
Starman
Life on mars
Boys keep swinging
Blue jean
Queen Bitch
Hang onto yourself
Ziggy Stardust
The main problem was not the song choice, it was the running order which clunked and stuttered. Even the usually reliable “Starman” failed to prompt a sing a long, “Boys” was leaden, and “Mars” had an odd original keyboard intro.
“Moonage Daydream” is one of David’s very best songs and a live cracker. It was totally misplaced as an opener before the crowd, and band, were warmed up. The second half of the song should be psychedelic gold dust, with Ronsons’ s guitar part howling and beguiling, instead it was like watching a brand new Ferrari doing a trip to the local dump- totally wasted.
Not that the first half was a disaster, “Oh you Pretty things” worked well and was a surprise and welcome inclusion
Act two
Look back in anger
Young Americans
Space oddity
Absolute Beginners
Ashes to Ashes
Fashion
China Girl
Scary Monsters
Suffragette City
Rebel rebel
Lets Dance
Heroes
Modern love
Look back in Anger was a far more sure footed opener, and “Young Americans” and “”Beginners” flourished with original saxophone parts, by contrast “Ashes to Ashes” was destroyed by the saxophone despite the best efforts of John Wilmott on bass.. Fortunately the second act was saved by an energetic “Scary Monsters” and a whiplash “Suffragette City”.
I have written his for the benefit of the “Bowie fascination” cognoscenti, a party night out crowd would find themselves content, but it was as though they had learned the songs, rather than felt them.
Sound and Vision are touring extensively at the moment.
I have been following Springsteen since the Hammersmith Odeon , London shows in 1975.
Hitherto I have resisted Springsteen tribute shows- until last night. I was nervous. I regard Springsteen as amongst the greatest rock n roll performers ever, the E Street band the greatest bar band.Could they do him justice? The answer proved to be an emphatic yes.
Although Springsteen is now the doyen of Stadium rock, the club setting of the Robin was a perfect fit to showcase where his music has its roots to an enthusiastic Friday night crowd.
Any Springsteen tribute has two big hurdles to overcome. Firstly, his live repertoire contains hundreds of songs including covers going back to the 1960’s. Any setlist will omit dozens of fan favourites.
Secondly, he would tour with between eight and over a dozen band members. When those costs are underwritten by takings of over £1m a show, as is the case now with Bruce’s stadium shows, that isn’t a problem, when as a tribute act takings are in the several thousands in small venues the profitability of the project is far tighter.
On the night the setlist was a perfect imperfect combination. The opening “Badlands” took me back to when I saw it open the “River” tour, the following “Glory days” has been a live favourite on Bruce’s most recent stadium tour. However it was the early inclusion of “Pink Cadillac” and “Spirits in the Night” which set the standard for the evening revelling in the joy of those early compositions.
One of the things that set the E street band apart when they first broke as performers was the inclusion of a black frontman saxophonist in the form of the imperious, and irreplaceable Clarence Clemons. He is uncopiable and irreplaceable. “the Legend’s” solution is pure genius.
Instead of attempting the impossible they transform the experience by introducing TWO female saxophonists. In the past Robert Palmer and Bryan Ferry have included female saxophonists to great effect. Here they become the musical, and visual focus of interest, both of whom double up on keyboards. They also provide the fulcrum for the unquestionable highlight of the night, a tumultuous “Jungleland” featuring a duelling saxophone interlude which was quite breathtaking.
More recent and casual fans were catered for with “Dancing in the Dark”, “Born in the USA” and the inevitable “Born to Run” but other highlights included an elegiac mournful, doleful “ My Hometown”, a beautifully introspective “The River” (“ is a dream a lie if it don’t come true, or is it something worse? “)and a raucous, rumbustious “The Promised Land” complete with stunning sax break, a song that on release was a song of defiant hope ( “I’ve done my best to live the right way, I get up every morning and go to work each day”), and now, forty years later, it becomes a song of disappointment, “Blow away the dreams that tear you apart, Blow away the dreams that break your heart,Blow away the lies that leave you nothing but lost and broken hearted ”. The songs continue to touch our souls, but in new ways. “The ghost of Tom Joad” was powerful enough to supply the National grid.
I have not namechecked individuals because their website does not identify them. They are all superb. The pianist is a delight, how I would love to hear her play on “Racing in the street”, “point Blank” or “prove it all night (78)”.
A wonderful two and a half hours. The band smiled throughout, the audience smiled and roared back. I will return.
This is a one woman, one hour performance. The Blue Orange theatre, a modern, compact space on the fringes of the Jewellery Quarter was perfect. Off beat, and intimate.
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An established writer, actor and performer on the midlands arts circuit, pretty much everything that Lorna Meehan does is interesting. This is no exception.
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Yes the title is an attention grabber, and the content is as the title suggests. If profanity and sex disturb you, the new Barbie film is available as an alternative.
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When the show had finished, two words dominated the exit babble, “brave” and “courageous”. Superficially this is one woman’s monologue reflecting upon her experiences of hiring a male escort, her reasons for doings so, and the fall out. It is also about human desire, and how a failure to acknowledge it can be all consumingly ,devouringly, self -destructive. It is not didactic, nor is it a cautionary tale. Tales of female prostitution, of the “Pretty Woman” variety are commonplace, tales of female desire less so ( Ann Bancroft’ s Mrs Robinson in The Graduate”?) The conventional narrative is turned on its head, the woman wants sex, not the life story of her sexual partner.
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At one point, Lorna stuffs a cake into her mouth and swigs from a bottle of wine invoking the spirit and hedonism of Dionysus and bacchanalia whilst exploring fleshy matters. Dionysus was the Greek god (amongst many things) of wine-making, of festivity, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, and theatre. Those who partook of his mysteries were believed to have become possessed and empowered by the god himself. But the Roman state treated popular festivals of Bacchus (Bacchanalia) as subversive, partly because their free mixing of classes and genders transgressed traditional social and moral constraints and celebration of the Bacchanalia was made a capital offence. The territory which Lorna explores has always been controversial.
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Solo performances are always demanding, but Lorna pulls it off with a combination of compelling physical performance and a powerful script written in narrative verse. So strong are the visuals that I found my brain regularly searching for the “rewind” switch as couplets and internal rhymes danced by, demanding to be recalled. This piece will be available in both written, and audio book form in due course which will enable her audience to do justice to the smart, sassy and saucy script.
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Having lured us in with a salacious title, she manages to get down and dirty with the content without being vulgar, being titillating without the tits! It is also witty and funny. This is primarily an exploration of intimacy, a subject which crosses the age and gender divide and dares to talk frankly about sex. The musical interludes ae perfectly chosen, Chris Isaak “Wicked Game” and George Michael’s “Father Figure” amongst them. Director Zak Marsh excels with a minimalist stage and imaginative props, each of which has to earn their place in Lorna’s hands.
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Subversive, innovative and imaginative, Ruby Wax would love to get her hands on this script. See it when it is next performed, buy the book when it comes out. You will not be disappointed.
This is a revival of a play by British playwright Roy Williams, first staged in 2010 at the Royal Court Theatre in London when it was nominated for the Evening Standard Award and the Olivier Award for Best New Play.
Williams himself was born in Fulham and brought up in Notting Hill, the youngest of four siblings in a single-parent home, with his mother working as a nurse after his father moved to the US. Williams decided to work in theatre after being tutored by the writer Don Kinch when he was failing in school and attended some rehearsals in a black theatrical company Kinch ran. In 1992, he took a theatre-writing degree at Rose Bruford College and has worked ever since as a writer.
I attended the evening with current Commonwealth boxing light flyweight champion Matt Windle, who lives in the Midlands as my guest to give me an inside view.
Commonwealth Boxing Champion Matt Windle with myself, Gary Longden
The story is told within a single boxing set in deprived London in the 1980s, with a gym, and ring centre stage ( designer Sandra Falase). Two young black boys, Leon and Troy, are trained by a white trainer, Charlie, who sees their potential. Events unfold against the backdrop of social unrest and racism. The thirteen years since the play was first staged exactly covers the period of a Conservative Government. The social issues covered are no less relevant now.
The cast of seven features a solitary female, Becky (Poppy Winter), Leon’s would be girlfriend. Winter, in her professional debut, makes the very best of her well written role dealing with boys, interracial relationships and an alcoholic, financially hopeless father with considerable skill.
Matt Windle commented , “Gary, boxing is theatre”. He is right. Tragedy, romance, comedy success, failure, treachery and revenge are all present in this play which revolves around love. The boxer’s love for their sport, a father’s love for his daughter.
Star of the show is Shem Hamilton as aspiring boxer Leon opposite bad boy friend Troy ( Christian Alifoe). Hamilton convinces as a boxer and love interest for Becky and wrestles with the nuances of his relationship with gym owner and trainer Charlie ( Liam Smith) admirably.
Charlie forces him to choose between a relationship with his daughter and a boxing career cleverly framed as white people paying to see black men beat each other up, amongst numerous awkward racial challenges.
Laughter, levity and life are provided by aging Lothario, Squid ( Wayne Rollins) who plays Leon’s father , a man whose moves are for the bedroom, not the boxing ring.
The script is awash with racial and sexual slurs, purely there to reflect the time rater than to shock. The unusually diverse audience, of which I would estimate 50% were from the ethnic communities and 80% of that 50% were afro Caribbean m with men and women equally represented, did not take offence, instead roaring laugher.
Closed caption screens were used for the hard of hearing but proved invaluable to follow some of the slang used. The fight sequences were imaginatively handled, often in flash back and slow motion, Asha Jennings-Grant and Enric Ortuño’s work on the movement and fight direction were very effective.
The performed running time is around two hours exclusive of interval in a show which kept everyone engaged winning deserved rapturous applause at the final curtain. Director Nathan Powell has done a fine job projecting complex and big issues on a small stage asking what it is to be black in Britain today. Matt Windle confirmed its authenticity and accuracy for the cognoscenti, and felt that racism within boxing and the gyms was far less a problem today than in the 1980’s, for the rest of us, it was simply a damned good show which tun until Fri 16th at the Grand and continues on tour.
Their debut album was awash with great songs from the pop/rock tradition even though their genesis was forged on the anvil of punk. Hynde’s career can best be described as mercurial. Arriving from the United states she wrote for NME and quickly inveigled herself into the heart of the burgeoning Punk and new wave scene. Some would call her cynical and calculating, others a creative tour de force. The NME enabled her to mix with the contemporary musical glitterati, her work at SEX put her in with McCLaren and Westwood, he romantic liason with Steve Jones had her alongside the hippest of the upcoming musical talent. Marrying Jim Kerr of simple Minds and Ray Davies of the Kinks ( at separate times obviously) helped her musical credentials no end. Her debut demo had Phil Taylor of Motorhead on drums, her first single was produced by Nick Lowe. This girl did not appear from nowhere- she worked at it!
At the time of the gig, they had released two albums, the second almost as rich as the first in compositional content with guitarist James Honeyman Scott and bassist Pete Farndon at the heart of the action, not least in providing backing vocals. They were tour tight, on the crest of a wave, and in the vanguard of the new waves’ success. But waves break , in 82 Honeyman scott died, in 83, Farndon died, both from drug abuse. The rock n roll dream had morphed into a nightmare. That should have been it.
Yet no-one should doubt Hyndes’, resilience, her biggest hit to date, “Stop your Sobbing” was a cover of husband Ray Davies hit dissipating royalties. From somewhere she then conjured up smash hit “Back on the Chain gang” with whom the only royalties split was with Chambers and she was financially bankrolled for years.
For a young band to have a repertoire of the strength of those first two albums is highly unusual, unsurprisingly they ripped it up at Leicester combining the sexiness of Blondie with the rock n roll swagger of the Rolling Stones
Highlights, a mesmerising reggae tinged seven minute “Private life”, by far their greatest song, a glorious honeyman scott jingly jangly “kid”and a riveting pulsating closing “Precious” the song the Clash and Ramones would have written if they had a female singer, both songs featuring he indispensable skills of Honeyman Scott and Farndon.
Set List
The Wait
The Adultress
Message of Love
Louie Louie
The English Roses
Stop Your Sobbing
Kid
Private Life
I Go to Sleep
Day After Day
Bad Boys Get Spanked
Up the Neck
Precious
Despite a dearth of material beyond “Chain gang” hynde has continued to tour successfully to this day, a testament to guts, determination, talent and application.
Garyswordz 