David Porter » Archive
The Sensational 60s’ Experience
The Sensational 60s’ Experience at Marina Theatre, Lowestoft Review published in the Eastern Daily Press, 2 December 2014 A packed audience, mainly of a certain age, rocked and rolled the The Marina Theatre, Lowestoft, revelling in a nostalgic trip down Memory Lane. This 1960s’ experience showcases groups, some with surviving original members, performing songs from their own hit catalogues and sampling the massive range of timeless classics which were the cultural hallmark of that iconic decade, when the world was a very different place. Alan Mosca of Freddie and the Dreamers compered. Dave Berry proved himself much the same showman and song interpreter who first hit the charts fifty years ago. The Ivy League, Union Gap UK, The Swinging Blue Jeans and Herman’s Hermits entertained with banter and jokes as well as melodies, harmonies and … Read entire article »
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Separate Tables
Open Space Theatre’s Separate Tables at the Seagull Theatre, Lowestoft Review published in the Eastern Daily Press, 20 November 2014 Open Space Theatre’s annual autumn tour arrived at Lowestoft’s Seagull Theatre with a fine example of stage writing, surefire acting and direction. Separate Tables is a pair of interconnected plays set in a 1950s’ south coast hotel, a rather sad place peopled by lost characters, past their prime or inadequate in some way. April Secrett and Roy Goodwin were the once-married couple facing their shared past as it cleverly unfolded. Eileen Ryan’s hotel manager showed skill and empathy, Tim Hall embodied the hapless, pretend retired major and Geoff Cadman the former schoolmaster. Yves Green was outstanding as the superior, resident matriarch with the excellent Emma Martin as her downtrodden daughter who found her own voice. Other guests … Read entire article »
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The Addams Family
The Addams Family Norfolk Youth Music Theatre, Maddermarket, Norwich Review published in the Eastern Daily Press, 7 November 2014 You don’t have to remember the TV or film series about the ‘creepy and kooky’ family from the dark side created by cartoonist Charles Addams about his nearest and dearest to enjoy this comical musical, a fun journey into the macabre. Daughter Wednesday (Megan Artherton) falls in love with ‘normal’ Lucas (Felix Revel) who arrives with his respectable parents (Tom Coath and Nicola Myers) at Addams’ bizarre mansion. Father Gomez (Aidan Parsons) and his wife Morticia (the outstanding Molly Cutter) fall out over it. Delightfully created family members appear with madnesses and neuroses – Uncle Fester (Archie Brown) is in love with the moon; crazy Grandma (Lauren Bryant) wheels a drug trolley like a demented nurse. Austin … Read entire article »
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The Country Wife
The Country Wife The Hostry, Norwich Cathedral Review published in the Eastern Daily Press, 30 October 2014 Restoration Comedy is a somewhat neglected genre, yet its place in the historical journey from Shakespeare to farce is significant. So this is an inspired choice by the Hostry Festival team led by Stash Kirkbride and director Peter Beck. Presented by a cast of professionals and amateurs The Country Wife is a rude, lewd and fun piece that was shocking in the 17th Century. The story revolves round lustful Mr Horner (Evan Ryder) pretending he’s been made a eunuch in order to reassure husbands he is safe while he seduces their wives and makes cuckolds of them. The central wife herself (Jo Reil) and Alithea (Rebecca Aldred) are but two happy participants, while the twists and turns of deceit, … Read entire article »
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The Importance of Being Earnest
Maddermarket Theatre, Norwich Review published in Eastern Daily Press, 25 October 2014 It is always something of a challenge to present a well known and much loved play in a way that is familiar yet fresh. This classic of mannered comedy is embraced by the Maddermarket cast with energy and good timing, allowing the comedy of Wilde’s witty, often-barbed one-liners and situational humour full rein. The young would-be Earnests, Algernon (Alexander Cowley) and John/Jack (Rob Tiffin) are well matched and suitably preposterous. The young women who must each have an Earnest, Gwendolen (Camilla Webster) and Cecily (Ellie Kidd) are excellent, especially in their speedy shallow ‘friendship’ in the tea scene. Watching over it all with her fearfully splendid matronly glare is the notorious Lady Bracknell (Clare Howard) with Miss Prism (Jane Dickerson) and Canon Chasuble (John … Read entire article »
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Green Forms
Green Forms Maddermarket Theatre, Norwich Review published in Eastern Daily Press, 14 October 2014 Play about bureaucracy is funny and bitter-sweet Special lunchtime performances at the Maddermarket are a great idea. Green Forms is a clever, funny, bitter-sweet hour’s comedy from the mighty pen and sharp wit of Alan Bennett. Add in the combined acting talents of Dawn Brindle, Judi Daykin and John Mangan and there is all we need for a wonderful piece of fun to enliven a wet day in the city. It is a satire on offices, managements, bureaucracies, redundancies and mindsets of the 1980s, before computers took over the world and manual typewriters became history. The verbal sparring between the two perfectly matched women was masterful, the pace relentless. He is the one-armed caretaker-cum factotum with a possibly unintentional cruelty in his flippancy. The … Read entire article »
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The Hollies
The Hollies at Theatre Royal, Norwich Review published in Eastern Daily Press, 14 October 2014 60s’ pop legends bring back memories One of those rare 60s’ bands that never officially broke up, The Hollies, named after Christmas and/or in memory of Buddy Holly, are celebrating half a century since their first album. Drawing from a rich back catalogue with two newer songs, they played hits like Just One Look and Stay as originally recorded – three guitars, drums and singer. Other classics were updated in interpretation to make a thumping good evening. It was impossible not to sing along with Here I Go Again, You Got Me Going, Sorry Suzanne, We’re Thru, Listen to Me and after an interval to change clothes, Jennifer Eccles, Bus Stop, I’m Alive, The Baby, Sandy (4th July), Stop Stop … Read entire article »
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That Is All You Need to Know
That Is All You Need to Know Idle Motion at Norwich Playhouse Review published in the Eastern Daily Press, 30 September 2014 With strong visual staging, young theatre group Idle Motion brought a tribute to the secrets of the wartime Code and Cipher unit at Bletchley Park to Norwich. Using physicality, clever projections to move events and multiroling, the cast explored the significance of the ground-breaking thinking which helped end the war. That Is All You Need to Know summed up the philosophy that ‘careless talk costs lives’ which stayed with many Bletchley workers for decades after. In our instant click-and-share world that seems astonishing. The considered and thoughtful piece told the story in Brecht-influenced docu-drama style of how code-breaking teams were put together, including Gordon Welchman whose book was later frowned upon by the security … Read entire article »
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Aspects of Love
Aspects of Love The Lowestoft Players at the Bethel Review published in Eastern Daily Press 6 September 2014 and Lowestoft Journal 12 September 2014 Always pushing boundaries, the Lowestoft Players have excelled themselves with this Andrew Lloyd Webber gem. They are staging the Suffolk premiere at their own Bethel theatre, harnessing some of the finest talent in the region. Stephen Wilson and Louise Clarke direct masterfully. Far from a classic love story, it’s a triangle of relationships which expand to include others in a tale very much of the late 1980s, yet timeless in its treatment of the hopes, yearnings and uncertainties of love. Love Changes Everything is the show-stopper and the motif that underpins the score. Matthew Hardy does a tremendous job on piano and the music is seamless. Craig Loxton as the romantic soldier, … Read entire article »
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