Grease
Grease is at the Lowestoft Players’ Bethel Theatre
Grease
Lowestoft Players at the Bethel Theatre
Review published in the Eastern Daily Press, 14 September 2015 and The Lowestoft Journal, 18 September 2015
There’s something about Grease that makes it so popular, so feel-good, so ‘Summer Nights’, with its string of what have become classic pop songs like Grease is the Word, Greased Lightnin’, Hopelessly Devoted to You, Sandy and You’re the One That I Want.
Lowestoft Players bring their high energy, enthusiastic and professional team approach to the American High School, teenage rom-com in all its colourful, musical and fun-filled entertainment.
The ‘will they/wont they’ couple Danny (Tom Guttridge) and Sandy (Isabelle Anderson) are well-matched and The Pink Ladies (Claire Doughty, Lorna Tucker, Angie Smith and Emily Simpson) are perfect foils to the T-Birds (Lawrie Groom, Ricky Reeve, Daniel Hughes and Simon Warren).
The company onstage, pit singers behind it and the band above are spot on with the songs and routines. Among the cameos, sleazy DJ (Stephen Shields), uptight teacher (Rosamund Payne), school nerd (Campbell Trotter) and gloriously over the top Teen Angel (Craig Lovett) stand out.
Director Harriet Chambers and her Grease team do a magnificent job encouraging the best from the players, making an unmissable, foot-tapping night out.
Filed under: Reviews
Blitzed
The Seagull Theatre hosted new play Blitzed
Blitzed at the Seagull Theatre, Lowestoft
Review published in the Eastern Daily Press, 8 August 2015 and The Lowestoft Journal, 14 August 2015
Katie Smith’s writing and directorial debut was brought to life at the Seagull, in an all-age study of life’s choices and what ‘just happens.’
From the drugs and free-love hippie times of the 1960s it moved across selected years to the present. We followed the trials and youthful indiscretions of three friends, the excellent Sharni Macdonald, Abigail Watson and Nina Woodcock to their what-has-life-all-been-about phase.
Attention to detail with slides and music snippets enhanced scenes as fashions and attitudes evolved. The immense youthful enthusiasm and talent was infectious as they worked as an ensemble and as individuals in cameos of honesty, anger, humour and regret.
Avoiding over-reliance on stereotypes, characters drew the audience into their journeys.
Isabelle Smith was the central female as a child; Sophie Scannell her as a teenager and young adult. Ginnie Jones, Alan Bolton, Toni Penson and Darryl Jones realised the older characters while Richard Boakes got the uncomfortable social worker spot on.
Katie developed Blitzed as her university playwriting module with the cast experimenting through improvisation with language and ideas as she honed the script.
The result is quite outstanding.
Image: Flickruserbert211
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Copenhagen
Copenhagen
at the Sewell Barn Theatre, Norwich
Review published in the Eastern Daily Press, 18 July 2015
Michael Frayn’s 1998 play is based on a secret 1941 meeting in Copenhagen between physicists Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg. It’s a gripping drama – what really went on when they talked?
Danish Bohr (Kevin Oelrichs) and German Heisenberg (Rob Tiffen) had been friends before the war; now Denmark was occupied by the Nazis who were looking to beat the allies to the atomic bomb.
The non-linear play is a clever construct set after their deaths as Bohr’s wife, Margrethe (Jane de la Tour) helps the men rehearse various ‘drafts’ of what could have been discussed and its profound consequences.
Politics and physics, friendship and trust, idealism and reality intertwine in an evening that the actors handle with skill and thought, ably directed by Carole Lovett. The play is neither comedy nor tragedy, the language doesn’t contradict logic yet is a mix of the present and the past, history and ‘what if …’
The evening leaves the audience glad the Nazis didn’t get the bomb and wondering about all the shadows, hopes and ideas that swirled round the world in those war years. Thoroughly recommended.
Images: left, Neils Bohr in Copenhagen 1935; right, Werner Heisenberg c.1927
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Jersey Boys
Jersey Boys is about Frankie Valli (pictured in 2012) and The Four Seasons
Jersey Boys
at the Theatre Royal, Norwich
Review published in the Eastern Daily Press, 9 July 2015
It takes a special show to stand out from the crowd of contemporary musicals about great music and musicians of the 1960s and 70s. Well, multi-award winning Jersey Boys stands out big-time!
Blessed with unique harmonies and the unforgettable lead falsetto vocals of Frankie Valli, The Four Seasons were big hit makers, popular both sides of the Atlantic. Their sound was the backdrop to many teenagers’ lives.
From the streets of New Jersey these boys rose to the dizzy heights of the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame. This opens the can of worms that was their less harmonious offstage and behind the scenes lives; this show has real grit.
As often in showbiz, fame comes at high cost – usually paid by families. The mob were never far away, wanting their slice of the action as the boys from the wrong side of town got rich.
It’s a moving human story told as fast-moving narration on a brilliant set with some very funny moments as their lives unfolded.
Above, all, it’s full of truly outstanding pop classics, every one played live and for real. They included Sherry, Walk Like a Man, Big Girls Don’t Cry, Beggin’, Can’t Take My Eyes Off You, Oh What a Night (December 1963), Let’s Hang On, Working My Back to You, C’mon Marianne, Rag Doll, Stay and I’ve Got You Under My Skin.
Inspired by late 50s’ doo-wop, the original 1960s music they created weathered the British invasion of the USA and the hippie era because it was cool, slick, dance music about everyday life and people’s loves and passions.
It’s still popular today, judging by the sell-out signs at the Theatre Royal all this week.
Filed under: Reviews
The Mousetrap
Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap is over 60 years old
The Mousetrap at the Marina Theatre, Lowestoft
Review published in the Eastern Daily Press, 24 June 2015 and the Lowestoft Journal, 26 June 2015
Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap is an institution – over 60 years old and still running in London. The celebratory national tour reached Lowestoft and thrilled another new audience.
A play of this vintage ought to creak like a relic, but a good who-dunnit is timeless.
Trap a collection of oddball characters in an old country house for days by heavy snow outside. Let actions from the past haunt people with secrets and we have a great mystery. A feeling that nobody can actually be trusted builds to the unexpected final twist.
Over the decades the production has periodically been refreshed and this one directed by Ian Watt-Smith makes real to a contemporary audience hooked on instant global communication the forgotten world of the 1950s where the cutting of a telephone line completes the isolation of murderer and victims.
It’s also the sense of watching a slice of professionally acted theatrical history that makes it a compelling evening.
The audience is still asked at the end to be a partner in crime and reveal nothing of the outcome. So, mum’s the word.
Filed under: Reviews
Legally Blonde
Legally Blonde shows blondes are not necessarily dumb
Legally Blonde
from the Lowestoft Players at the Marina Theatre, Lowestoft
Review published in the Eastern Daily Press, 4 June 2015 and Lowestoft Journal, 5 June 2015
Unafraid to embrace risk and challenge, the Lowestoft Players are staging the East Anglian amateur premiere of the bubble gum, high-energy fun musical Legally Blonde.
Based on the myth of the dumb, ditzy blonde bombshell unable to cope with legal training at Harvard Law School, this musical love-comedy follows Elle, stunningly portrayed by Polly Woodward, as she learns that the law can help others.
She is the outsider who shakes up a stuffy establishment, in love with the creep (Lewis Caplin) and unaware of her true destiny (Tom Guttridge) till the explosion of dancing, singing energy that is the finale.
Yes, individual roles impress, but as always with the award-winning Players, it’s the might of their ensemble that stuns. From outstanding choreography of both cast and impressive stage furniture, singing and dancing to the incredible support behind scenes, they provide compelling entertainment.
Legally Blonde is a high energy, feel-good show from start to finish, not taking itself too seriously. It will please the Players’ traditional fans and draw a new generation of lovers of quality musical theatre.
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Triad
Norwich Cathedral hosted Triad for the NNF15 event
Triad at Norwich Cathedral, part of the Norfolk and Norwich Festival 2015
Review published in the Eastern Daily Press, 25 May 2015
The Cathedral’s soaring acoustics provided a perfect setting for Triad to showcase their traditional, compelling, toe-tapping virtuosity in a Celtic music concert that entranced a packed audience.
Comprising two Irishmen and one from Brittany, the trio played through a wide range of jigs, slow reels, airs and pipe marches, some very old from Europe’s Celtic regions and others they wrote themselves.
Beside trad-dance melodies, there were slip-jigs and songs, a few in Gaelic. Their fingers danced too as their instruments created a harmonious completeness to a beautiful evening as the shadows lengthened inside and out.
The sets were interspersed with informative anecdotes and jokes that enhanced the intimate atmosphere. These men, musical maestros in their own right, are truly formidable as an ensemble.
Triad are part of a new wave of contemporary-traditional folk players in the broadest sense, popular through their masterful musicianship and because people are interested in the past interpreted in a modern context.
We left with the tunes ringing in our ears; they left in the knowledge that they will be welcomed back, and soon.
Filed under: Reviews
Neighbourhood Watch
Alan Ayckbourn’s 75th play ‘Neighbourhood Watch’ is dark but funny
Neighbourhood Watch
at the Maddermarket Theatre, Norwich
Review published in the Eastern Daily Press, 23 May 2015
Alan Ayckbourn’s 75th play is a gem, which he described as one of his ‘darker pieces’.
Apprehension in society is the theme and the Maddermarket team, ably directed by Jude Wyatt, handle escalating madness with consummate skill.
It’s understandable that the small community wish to protect their little world from the perceived threats of the common estate a short distance away. But soon, the Neighbourhood Watch has taken on a life of its own with ID cards, razor wire fences and even stocks to punish ‘wrong-doers’.
Neighbourhood Watch is classic Ayckbourne. Out of the ordinary comes dark comedy and he spotlights undercurrents of insanity that run under calm surfaces. Zanna Foley-Davies and Ian Shephard play the joyfully bizarre brother and sister who’s recent arrival triggers the whole drama.
Their neighbours are an assortment of the eccentric to the downright peculiar to the extreme fascist, played wonderfully by Drew Howard, Neil Bain, Peta Morant, Kate O’Rourke, Emma Kirkham and Michelle Moore.
If you want to laugh until the bitter sweet finale at the way some people live while recognising many of life’s truths, grab a ticket.
Image: John Thaxter
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John Lanchester
John Lanchester spoke about the language of money
John Lanchester at The Hostry, Norwich Cathedral
part of the Norwich and Norfolk Festival 2015
Review published in the Eastern Daily Press, 20 May 2015
I have long admired John Lanchester the novelist. Now, after his money talk, he’s impressed as an explainer of complex financial matters.
It was the first in the Norwich Writers Centre festival in a weekend and was in the form of a ‘conversation’ which we are told people prefer these days to a talk. It was chaired by the verbose Jonathan Morley, from WCN.
Lanchester gave a reading from his book ‘How to Speak Money’, discussed literature and how the ‘unhelpful term non-fiction is a particularly English language thing’, politics and economics.
He wrote the book from a desire to explain financial vocabulary, as most of us have ‘semi-knowledge’ at best; we just ‘go along’ with terms that cause deliberate obfuscation.
Of course money makes the world go round, but do we actually know the differences between fiscal and monetary? Could we explain micro versus macro economics?
Does it matter? Well John Lanchester felt driven to write following research for a novel – ‘the trouble with research is that you end up using it, even if you shouldn’t.’
He was witty, articulate and informative. A wonderful festival afternoon.
Filed under: Reviews
A Girl Is a Half-formed Thing
The play goes from pre-birth to 20 years old
A Girl Is a Half-formed Thing
Norwich Playhouse, part of the Norfolk and Norwich Festival 15
Review published in the Eastern Daily Press, 14 May 2015
Readers of the ground-breaking novel, A Girl Is a Half-formed Thing, telling the journey of an Irish girl from pre-birth to 20, may be surprised to see it’s transposed into a play.
But it makes a terrific performance. Eimear McBride’s personal journey is spell-binding theatre by Dublin company, The Corn Exchange and director Annie Ryan.
The sole actor, Aoilfe Duffin, brings the foetus, the child, the young woman to life before our eyes in a tour de force that reveals her ‘complex and conflicted character.’
Her inner narrative is played in a stream of different voices and characters. She undergoes sexual awakening, religion and pain through a unique dynamic language and physicality.
The experience will live in the mind for weeks. It brings us up close to the realities of being alive, being a woman and growing up.
Locally based McBride – she is married to NNF Director William Galinski – is already writing another novel. She could get a film offer for this one. She is deservedly set to become part of our literary-dramatic landscape.
Image: Anatomist90
Filed under: Reviews