Garyswordz

The Fired Up Theatre Company are starting to define the word versatile. From the rock opera’s of The Wall and Quadrophenia, and the thriller-scape of The Fell Walker, they now tackle this traditional murder mystery classic. Much played in numerous film and television adaptations, it was also produced for the stage by the Peepolykus Theatre Company at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in 2007.

The Hound of the Baskervilles is the third of the crime novels written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle featuring the detective Sherlock Holmes and is often voted the best by aficionados of Doyle. Originally serialised in The Strand Magazine from August 1901 to April 1902, it is set largely on Dartmoor in Devon in England’s West Country and tells the story of an attempted murder inspired by the legend of a fearsome, diabolical hound of supernatural origin. Sherlock Holmes and his companion Dr. Watson investigate the case.

Holmes and Watson are such established figures in popular literary culture that many productions have veered towards pastiche. This production is billed :“a tragi-comedy, farce thriller, melodramatic theatre performance”, so there was quite a lot to fit in!

The production opens to a bare stage, bar a chair, a back projection screen, and mists seemingly rolling in from the dark moors around. A company of thirteen ensured the minimalist stage was always busy, the big screen providing still and live action backdrops. The latter was particularly well utilised for live action footage of the cast at a railway station and on a train, courtesy of Chase Water Heritage railway. Original music by Helen Thorne and incidental music by Jimmy Dewhirst was particularly atmospheric and effective.

Mal Dewhirst’s script was authentic and easy on the ear, humorous without veering into pastiche. His running gag of a complex situation being a “two pipe problem” consistently drew laughs. Co-director Simon Quinn also took on the part of Sherlock Holmes in an engaging portrayal, part wacky Dr Who, part North Bank Boot Boy. John Westoby was a credible foil as Dr Watson, deferential, a poor shot, and always second best to Sherlock’s inimitable powers of deduction.

Supporting were a strong cast. I particularly enjoyed Michael Lieber’s Dr Mortimer, his stage wife, Frida Andersson, got to wear the best dress, and looked fabulous, whilst convincingly attempting to invoke the spirits of the dead in the seance scene. Anthony Webster as Barrymore, sporting a mane of hair that will have Andie MacDowell green with envy, and should have L’Oreal racing to swap models, was excellent, giving a restrained, nuanced performance, as did Tamsyn Ashton as his wife, evoking the “downstairs” of Downton Abbey.

Minor parts can have big impacts and Will Green set a confident tone at the start as the Coroner, whilst the teasingly androgynous Mrs Frankland was played with zest and good humour by Hannah Smith.

The temptation on stage adaptations is to grossly simplify the plot, but with thirteen actors at his disposal, Mal Dewhirst’s writing does not compromise, and still tells the tale effectively within the one hour fifty minute performed running time.

A fine adaptation of a popular tale, well told. “Hound of the Baskervilles” runs till Saturday 17th October.

Glen Miller is a name that resonates amongst the second world war time generation. His music has endured to delight the generations that have followed.

Born in 1904, Miller was an American big band musician, arranger, composer, and bandleader in the swing era. He was the best-selling recording artist from 1939 to 1943, leading one of the best known big bands. Miller’s recordings include “In the Mood”, “Moonlight Serenade”, “Chattanooga Choo Choo”, and “A String of Pearls”. Very popular in Great Britain, his link with our country was immortalised when he departed from RAF Twinwood Farm near Clapham, Bedford for France to entertain U.S. troops, but disappeared, presumed dead, in bad weather over the English Channel.

Theatre impresario Bill Kenwright is a shrewd judge of what is popular and what stories and performers will pull in the crowds. Glen Miller and his music is a safe bet for those of a certain age, but billing Tommy Steele as the lead, a man twice the age Miller was when he died, was a risk. Steele’s love of Miller and his music was a driving factor in his casting, but would it work? Particularly when Miller’s finest work is instrumental.

Director Bob Thompson sidesteps the age issue by using Steele to mainly narrate Miller’s story, which amounts to little more than stage directions to enable the next big band number as we are treated to a well selected slice of the Miller musical catalogue. He also re-imagines some scenes as Miller. Steele sings solo on “The Nearness of You” and duets with Miller’s wife-to-be Helen , energetically played by Sarah Soetaert on “Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart”. Soetaert is 50 years Steele’s junior, I half expected him to break into a rendition of “Some Guys Have All the Luck” ! The 16-piece onstage orchestra are terrific, the choreography snappy, delivered by a six-strong chorus whose tap dancing delighted an appreciative audience.

Flared forties skirts swirled and twired with the girls, Zoe Nicole Adkin, Siohban Diffen and Jessica Allen a visual and technical delight. Tap dancing is a lesser displayed skill in contemporary shows. Steele wisely left it to the youngsters, who excelled.

Steele transcends popular music culture like no-other, apart from Sir Cliff Richard. The affection Steele feels for performing and his audience was palpable, as was the affection returned on a very well attended Monday opening night. A fifties rock and roller, he has appeared in musicals pretty much non-stop since, with that energy always present in this lively show which runs till Saturday 24th October.

Gary Longden

The latest production from the Fired Up Theatre company, who have produced a string of recent successes including productions of The Wall, Quadrophenia ,and The Fell Walker ,is Hound of the Baskervilles. Deep in darkest Dartmoor, stands Baskerville Hall, a grisly ‘Usher-esque’ house of secrets and spooky goings-on with a cellar full of mayhem and murder and outside, beyond its grounds, the village of Grimpon, encounters eerie, cacophonic howling, repeatedly filling the Devonshire night air. Can the World’s greatest detective Mr Sherlock Holmes unravel the clues to a series of satanic deaths?

Join Holmes, Dr Watson, and Mrs Hudson gather at Baskerville Hall as the events unfold. Fired Up Theatre, the Staffordshire based risk taking ensemble, return to the Lichfield Garrick Studio with two nights of theatre for Sherlock Holmes aficionados. This new script written by Mal Dewhirst and Simon Quinn, will include shadow theatre, projections and original music to complement the live action.

I caught up with co -writer Mal Dewhirst for an exclusive insight into the production:

Q. This seems a departure from previous productions, what drew you to this story?

I would like to think that all Fired Up Theatre’s productions are a departure to what we have done before. I guess with this production, the fact that it is a well-known story that has been covered before especially in the medium of film, drew my fellow writer and director, Simon Quinn, to try and do something different with the story but at the same time being true to Conan Doyle’s original intent.

Q. What appeals to you about the original author, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle?

Firstly his characters, they have a rich depth that often is only hinted and therefore allows us to explore those depths in our own interpretation. Secondly his plots, often riddled with miss-direction but delivered in plain sight, that whilst Holmes unravels and reveals the motives, they are there for the reader to piece together.

Q. The story was originally written in serialised form in London magazine The Strand, how difficult was it to bring it to the stage?

How do you deliver the Hound to the stage without having a violent rabid dog live on stage? We chose to use shadow theatre, which filmed and will show as projections. Some of these are delivered as tongue in cheek representations which have some elements of humour within them. Shadow theatre is a new departure for us and to a certain extent an experiment, from which we learnt a lot that we can improve upon in the future.

Q. Originally written in 1902, over a century ago, what is the enduring appeal of the story? How well has it survived the past century?

It has survived the past century really well, partly because of the many filmed versions that keep it in the consciousness of audiences.

This is mainly due to the great detective Sherlock Holmes, he is one of Britain’s endearing detectives, a genius character that is often brusque and aloof but also with his own flaws, an odd sort of hero but a hero never-the-less. Characters such as Jonathan Creek and Doc Martin have the same sort of traits.

The plots of the Hound of the Baskervilles are still valid today, they do not use technology or beliefs that would age it, delivering it as 21st century piece would build on what was already written, it therefore provides for a wonderful canvas for a new production.

Can I just add that our version is set in the age of the book, late Victorian/Edwardian.

Q. In 1999, it was listed as the top Holmes novel, why do you think that was?

It is the prefect Sherlock Holmes story, it has the elements of myth and legend, the suggestion of the supernatural which engages the reader with a murder mystery involving a devilish hound that takes place in a dark unforgiving landscape, it takes Holmes and Watson out of their beloved Baker St home to mix with an odd collection of characters, all of whom are a potential suspect, all who have some sadness and mirth.

Q. The original book has five plots, how have you managed to condense that for stage?

There are still five plots but at least one has been changed, not just to help with the staging but also to fit with other aspects of the characters that have also been changed. Simon and I like to add our own mark on our productions, there seems no point in just repeating what has been done before.

Besides at least one of the films changed the same plot point from the book, we have created our own new plot for this point, but our plot theme does have a slight link to a Conan Doyle short story of 1891.

I will say no more.

Q. There have been numerous film and television adaptations. Have any particularly inspired this adaptation?

Simon and I have watched numerous filmed versions over the past few months, but we are always drawn back to the version with Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce as Holmes and Watson, an absolutely wonderful film, I like to think that we have captured the spirit of this film in our production.

Q. Traditionally your acting talent has been community based, where is the cast for this production drawn from? Are there any new faces?

Fired Up Theatre remains committed to taking the best from the acting talent in the community and providing opportunities for them to develop as actors into their full potential, to the point where they can consider moving on to bigger stages if they so wish. We have an excellent cast most of which have appeared in our productions such as “At the Crossroads” and The Fell Walker.

We also work with professional actors and performing arts students, integrating them into the company.

This productions sees us working with Michael Lieber, an excellent stage professional, who mainly works in London. We are also working with excellent local professional actor Anthony Webster, whose previous stage performances have been countrywide, we first worked with Anthony in “At the Crossroads”, when he appeared in filmed role.

We also have two students from Staffordshire University Performing Arts, with Zara Lane and Lee Fisher. The University students also supported the production through the shadow theatre, which was filmed in the colleges TV studio.

Q. Co-writing a play seems fraught with conflict. How have co-writer Simon Quinn and yourself divided the process? Are you still talking?!

I must admit I have struggled to work in collaboration in the past.However since Simon and I first collaborated on The Wall, we have developed a reputation for risk taking, we have always worked very well together, we have very similar methods of working and easily spark ideas off each other.

We have built up a trust in each other and are excited by the opportunity to experiment and devise new productions. Simon is an excellent writer, I just wish I could act half as well as he can.

Q. Do you have plans to tackle any other stories from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle? What plans do you have for your next production?

We have no plans to tackle any of the other Conan Doyle stories, but never say never, however we are talking to a venue about performing the Hound of the Baskervilles as an outdoor production next year.

We also continue to tour with our production of The Fell Walker, our next performance is at the Heron Theatre in Beetham, Cumbria in December, with further performances in Cumbria under discussion for next spring.

We are also in discussion regarding a new production for the Garrick Studio next May, which will be a very hard hitting contemporary play where we journey into a world of oppression, physical abuse, fear, faith, hope and love.

The Hound of the Baskervilles plays at the Lichfield Garrick Studio on 16th /17th October 2015, with tickets priced at £15 (£10 students). Tickets for the Saturday are almost sold out, pre-booking recommended and available from the website:

http://www.fireduptheatre.co.uk/

Jodi Ann Bickley- author and poet

Level Up, Season Four, Episode One- Birmingham Rep
****

Some eight years ago I stumbled into the Old Crown at Digbeth on a January evening to take part in a poetry slam. The usual suspects were there, the usual topics were there. From amidst the fourteen or so performers, towards the end, a slight young female student, hesitantly took her turn – and blew everyone away. One of the great things about poetry events is their sociability. Everyone talks freely to everyone else, it is an inclusive community. We started chatting. She was a Brummie girl, a student. She was nervous and self- effacing. She also came alive on stage. Her poetry was personal, she told of relationships, home and heart break. The things which many young women might write of. But she was different. She had this ability to draw you in, to connect. The girls “got” her, the boys fancied her, and the mums and dads wanted to be her mum or dad. She had an Everyman appeal. Her name was Jodi Ann Bickley.

In the intervening years I have seen her perform several times, each time, impossibly, improving on the last. I originally described her thus: “Her writing is fey, kitchen sink, heartfelt and vulnerable, capturing the angst of young adulthood. She transcends her immediate peers, and reaches out to those who were young once also.” And she has lived a lot of life in those years since I first met her.

In 2011 she contracted encephalitis, and further complications, from a tick bite that left her unable to walk, write or talk. In 2014 she was in the Sunday Times bestseller lists, and on national television radio and newspapers as the author of the hugely successful “One Million Lovely Letters”- having regained her speech and mobility. Her poetry had also seen her hanging out with Ed Sheeran and collaborating with dubstep heavyweight Skream. Oh, and she is now soon to be a mother. What an excellent choice to open season four of Level Up.

Level Up prides itself on promoting the best of young British talent, a vehicle supported by national poetry organisers Apples and Snakes and local hipsters Beatfreeks. The past three seasons have seen the likes of Matt Windle, Dreadlock Alien and Hollie McNish in the spotlight, this season’s roster looks no less impressive.

Season 3 was hosted by the assured and urban(e) Laura Deadicoat, lean, and with a sharp stage presence, she is a tough act to follow. But followed she must be, and she generously handed over to her successor for Level Up Season 4 to 17 years old acting student, Lauren Williams. Lauren was 9th Young Birmingham Poet Laureate, 2013-2014. Bubbly, giggling and with an impish, waspish sense of fun, she has taken a pivotal role in the booking of artists She works alongside Prime Poetry, comprising Callum and Melissa Bates, siblings who will be facilitating a series of free workshops throughout Birmingham to accompany the main shows.

Caleb Femi

Supporting artist was Caleb Femi, a Nigerian born Londoner, a teacher and poet, whose poem and film “ Children of the Narm” draws on the experiences of the underclass in the capital’s suburb Peckham, the Peckham of Damiola Taylor, not Only Fools and Horses ,whose recurring theme is consanguinity. By chance we found ourselves seated next to each other. His life story is inspiring enough, emerging from the feral poverty of an urban sink council estate to go to win a place at Queen Mary University and go on to teach English at a secondary school. However as he started to perform his further qualities as a communicator and wordsmith emerged. There was no hectoring defiant angry diatribe, instead gently cushioned observations with ten ton weights, epitomised by the popularly titled “Children of the Narm”( he doesn’t give titles to his own writing). I was deeply frustrated by the brief time he was allowed on stage, but however long he had been given would not have been enough for me. But I found consanguinity in his work- and I suspect that would have been enough for him. Watch out for this man.

Headliner Jodi Ann ambled on stage from her place in the audience oblivious to the stardust on her shoulders. She touched on a Radio 1 commission, and was ridiculously modest about the success of “One Million Lovely Letters” which currently boasts a team of twenty four, dealing with a backlog of 13,000 letter requests. “Hold Tight” was as good as ever ,”(Bob) Marley and Me” as heart-warming. Her line “tears are scars that remind us we fought hard” an aural by-line for her performance which ended with an improbable exhortation for everyone to “get pregnant!” Only British decency prevented an orgy.

The open mic slots were as eclectic as ever. Oakley Flanagan evoked the spirit of ancient Greece to declare “You are the Gods tonight”, Flora started off with cruelty to cats and hamsters but ended bemoaning an “unprotected heart”, Lorna Meehan added class and style with her “dancing”.

Beatfreeks have done a fantastic job in creating, and then sustaining, this event series. Birmingham Rep are to be commended for affording them the space to give credibility and gravitas to a form too often relegated to backstreet pubs and cafes. Level Up runs monthly, starting at 7pm, dates and headliners to be found on the beatfreeks website: http://www.beatfreeks.com/#beatfreeks and listed below.

An interview with Caleb Femi:
http://www.okayafrica.com/news/nigerian-spoken-word-poet-caleb-femi-children-of-the-narm/

One Million Lovely Letters

Lauren Williams opens proceedings

Oakley Flanagan invokes the Gods

Carl Sealeaf announces the latest tractor production figures

Flora kills hamsters but endures an unprotected heart

Tims first kiss

Caleb Femi in action

Lorna Meehan fancies a dance

Trumendous producing a timeless performance.

Where’s your Maame? She’s here.

Headliner Jodi Ann

Dates And Featured Poets

Thursday 24 September, 7pm
Headline: Jodi Ann Bickley
Emerging: Caleb Femi

Wednesday 7 October, 7pm
Headline: Talia Randall
Emerging: Jay O Poet

Friday 6 November, 7pm
Headline: Andy Craven-Griffiths
Emerging: Jade Richards

Tuesday 15 December, 7pm
Headline: Sabrina Mahfouz
Emerging: Samuel King
Foundry Special

Monday 18 January, 7pm
Headline: Jemima Foxtrot
Emerging: Ronak Patani
Foundry Special

Monday 8 February, 7pm
Headline: Lemn Sissay
Emerging: Rehema Njembe

Workshops

In addition to these events, Prime Poetry will be hosting a series of satellite workshops, bringing poetry to your door. Join them for a free workshop at the following venues.

08/09/2015 – Stirchley
P Café
B30 2NT
5pm-7pm

28/09/2015 – Sutton Coldfield
Clifton Road Youth Centre
B73 6EB
7pm-9pm

19/10/2015 – Erdington
St Barnabas Church
B23 6SY
7pm-9pm

23/11/2015 – Weoley Castle
Weoley Castle Library
B29 5HR
5pm-7pm

11/01/2016 – Aston
The Drum
B6 4UU
6pm-8pm

Noises Off was written in 1982 play by artistic polymath Michael Frayn, a journalist, philosopher, and novelist as well as playwright. It was inspired in 1970, when Frayn was watching from the wings a performance of his own The Two of Us, “It was funnier from behind than in front, and I thought that one day I must write a farce from behind.” And so the seeds were sown for this brilliant back-to-front farce about a dysfunctional touring company on the last leg of its tour – or simply on its last legs.

Subject to periodic revision by Frayn, the last in 2000, the script is fresh and sharp, exploring his trademark fascination with the battle between the forces of order and disorder, and our search for happiness in our lives. Metaphors dance tantalisingly before our eyes. A tax evader, caught with his trousers round his ankles watches his second home descend into anarchy, while all around seem obsessed with sardines.

Director Emily Armstrong has assembled a very strong cast. Unusually for a farc,e it does not mainly comprise conventional warring couples. It does however have seven doors, a harbinger of things to come. There are doors that stick when they should open, doors that swing open when they ought to be closed, doors viewed from the back, and doors viewed from the front.

Denise Phillips is a delight as housekeeper Dotty, a surreal fusion of Hilda Ogden and Mrs Brown, who is preoccupied with sardines as the world revolves around her. Her paramour Roger, energetically played by Dexter Whitehead ,suffers and explodes, as his older girlfriend finds herself in increasingly preposterous positions, leaving him hopping mad.

Hardworking Emily also stars as Vicki, Roger’s other love interest, the briefness of her costumes being in inverse proportion to her stage impact. As well as the accident-prone cast, the stage management team add to the confusion, putting out front-of-house calls that the performance will commence in one minute, three minutes, two minutes and finally three minutes again prompting the wonderful lament: “there’s a lot of OAP’s out there who haven’t got long to go.”

There’s a satisfying depth to the cast, epitomised by Barrie Atchison as Selsdon Mowbay , the old stager whose secret hoards of whisky keep having to be removed from just about everywhere as he continually breaks in through a window at varying stages of the plot, planned, and unplanned.

The pivotal second act is handled adroitly, with skill, timing and energy, after the slower paced, scene setting, first act. Inventive, funny and incessant, I, along with the rest of the audience, roared with laughter.

Rosemary Richmond and Ann Morris deserve particular praise for some well observed costuming, not least with Alison Daly’s sumptuous over the top print “Brit ex pat in Marbella” dress, John Islip and his team take on the huge task of producing a front of house and back of house set, and win. The only technical downside is that the challenge of turning the entire set round for Act Three without an interval is considerable.

This production was dedicated to long serving Sutton Arts member Davina Barnes, who played the part of Dotty in 1988, and sadly passed away in February of this year. Emily Armstrong, the cast, and the Society did her proud with this fine production which runs till Saturday 12th February.

Gary Longden