Review – Plaza Suite, Savoy Theatre, London, 15th February 2024

Posted on February 16, 2024 by therealchrisparkle

Let me tell you a secret, gentle reader: I’ve never seen an episode of Sex and the City. Nor The First Wives Club, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, or any of the shows that the programme credits to Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick. I tell a lie: we did see the film of Manchester By The Sea, in which Mr Broderick took a relatively minor role. We hated it. We were also probably the only people in the Thursday matinee at the Savoy who knew nothing about its two stars. That’s not to say I hadn’t heard of them – of course I had. We don’t live in a vacuum. And I knew that their presence would cause a frisson of excitement among the West End ticket bookers.

However, believe it or not, my prime motivation for going was to see Plaza Suite on stage. The original Neil Simon play ran for over a thousand performances on Broadway and spawned the successful film adaptation starring Walter Matthau. As one of the Dowager Mrs Chrisparkle’s favourite films, I was brought up with the curmudgeonly Mr Matthau losing his rag with his daughter Mimsey, and I was very keen to see how the original stage show worked.

It’s a three act play with a difference; the only connection between the acts is that they all take place in Suite 719 in New York’s famous Plaza Hotel. Act One, Visitor From Mamaroneck, tells the tale of the crumbling marriage of Sam and Karen Nash; the longest of the three acts, it sets an unavoidably downbeat tone despite its savage comedy, due to the genuine sadness of the material. Act Two, Visitor from Hollywood, sees the reunion of teenage sweethearts Jesse Kiplinger (now a superstar movie director) and Muriel Tate (a dissatisfied housewife and mother of three). Act Three, Visitor from Forest Hills, takes place on the (very expensive) wedding day of Roy and Norma Hubley’s daughter Mimsey to Borden Eisler, and the farcical exploits that ensue when last minute nerves cause her to lock herself in the bathroom. As with the film, the first two playlets really serve as warm-up acts for the main event of the final scene. But there are few comic playwrights in the 20^th century who were as gifted as Neil Simon, and you can tell his mastery of his art throughout the whole show.

Of course, the three couples at the centre of each of the acts are the driving force behind each story, along with a few peripheral characters. But the main other character of the show is the Plaza hotel itself, brought beautifully to life in John Lee Beatty’s elegant set. It’s the kind of traditional hotel suite that you always hope you’ll get when you check in to a hotel but never do. Exquisite taste, luxury fabrics and fittings – exactly what you’d expect from the Plaza – and indeed the Savoy.

So, what of the megastar couple who are commanding such full audiences and such high ticket prices? Sarah Jessica Parker gives great performances throughout. Immensely watchable, she tugs on your heartstrings in the first play where she is so completely maltreated by her b**tard of a husband – to the extent that there were frequent gasps of amazement and shock throughout the audience by Sex and the City fans disgusted that anyone could treat their heroine this way. There’s a lot more comedy for her to get her teeth into in acts two and three, and she gets the balance right between going for the big laughs whilst still showing us her characters’ vulnerabilities.

Matthew Broderick, however, presents us with a very different stage presence. Whereas Ms Parker is chock-full of charisma in all her roles, Mr Broderick feels less comfortable. Whether or not he was feeling a little under the weather I don’t know – he had to suppress a few coughs throughout the show – but he seemed especially tentative in Act One. To be fair, the character of Sam Nash doesn’t exude much in the way of star quality, being a stock kind of businessman who appears to be a slave to his work with no joy in his life. But I was surprised at how little spark was there. He was much more at home in Act Two, as the Austin Powers lookalike Jesse Kiplinger, doing his best to seduce Muriel, and engaging in some hilarious, but never explained, physical comedy of slipping and sliding in his Gucci shoes; and in Act Three as the exasperated husband and father enduring all kinds of humiliations in an attempt to coerce his daughter out of the john.

It’s a very entertaining production though, and if you want to see Ms Parker and Mr Broderick in the flesh, I’m sure you won’t be disappointed. The run has already been extended by two weeks and continues at the Savoy until 13^th April.

Production photos by Marc Brenner

Four They’re Jolly Good Fellows!

P. S. So what about those high ticket prices then? £395 for the top price – although, as a package deal, that does include champagne and whatnot. I bought our tickets the day they went on sale – Row J of the Stalls for £125 each. Great seats and a superb view. Buy those seats today and they’ll probably cost £200 each. That’s a £150 saving per couple on planning your theatre trips in advance.

Review – A Midsummer Night’s Dream, RSC at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, 13th February 2024

Posted on February 14, 2024 by therealchrisparkle

What better way to spark up a cold and wet Midwinter Night’s Theatregoing than with a jolly Midsummer Night’s Dream? A tonic for the senses and a giggle for the soul – and let’s face it, we could all do with some of that nowadays. However, Shakespeare’s early hit isn’t all beer and skittles. Egeus threatens his daughter Hermia with all the force of the Athenian law if she does not give in to his demands that she marry his choice of suitor, Demetrius, rather than her choice, Lysander. If she disobeys, then it’s the option of death or get thee to a nunnery (wrong play, but you get my drift). Not many giggles in that.

Meanwhile, things are not that harmonious in the Land of the Fairies either. Oberon and Titania have quarrelled over an Indian changeling whom Oberon wants as a page, but Titania wants to keep because his mother was one of her worshippers. Like Egeus, Oberon chooses to wreak revenge and punish his Queen by making her love someone (or indeed, something) that she wouldn’t normally choose to love – the first thing she sees when waking up from a drug-induced coma – thus humiliating and ridiculing her. Not many giggles in that either.

Except, of course, there are; loads of them, as it’s Bottom the weaver whom she first sees, but not before Oberon’s impish partner-in-mischief, Puck, has transformed him into an ass. Bottom is one of the troupe of rude mechanicals who are rehearsing a play for Theseus’ and Hippolyta’s upcoming nuptials, thereby creating a link between the court and fairyland. Anyway, I shouldn’t be telling you the plot – you either already know it or, if you don’t, for heaven’s sake, this play has been performed since 1596, where on earth have you been all this time?

Director Eleanor Rhode’s production largely dismisses the danger lurking beneath the surface of Hermia’s and Titania’s predicaments and goes straight for the funnybone. The production relies heavily on three Ms: modernity, music and magic – and it’s a winning combination. The costumes are contemporary, and the characterisations distinctly 21^st century. Will Gregory’s incidental music is more than just incidental music. It’s instantly arresting, powerful, tuneful and, frankly, worthy of an album release.

And the magic is, well, magic. John Bulleid has created a genuinely magical landscape as the setting, from puffball lighting all around the stage that changes colour with the moods, to vibrating seats, plastic balls descending from the Gods, darting lights, twirling flowers in the ether, characters that levitate or disappear beneath the stage, and much more. Perhaps the biggest surprise of all is that none of this feels gimmicky. It takes you in and treats you to three hours of a magical environment that feels completely in keeping with the play.

There’s also plenty of magic from the excellent performances. The evening starts with a hilarious scene between Bally Gill’s Theseus and Sirine Saba’s Hippolyta; him, awkward, bumbling around the stage, eager to please like Rishi Sunak in pinching shoes, and her, serious, judgmental, realising that if there’s a job to be done round here, she’d better do it herself. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that scene performed with such instant appeal and humour whilst still giving a direct insight into their relationship. The power is reversed in their characterisations as Oberon and Titania, where he is master of all – and everyone – he surveys, and she is subservient – until she gets her hands on Bottom, so to speak.

The change-partners foursome of Hermia, Helena, Demetrius and Lysander are all played with an eye to the humorous potential with a particularly physically comic performance from Ryan Hutton as Lysander, hurling himself (literally) into amorous enthusiasm while Dawn Sievewright’s Hermia battles against a progressively heavier rucksack. Boadicea Ricketts’ Helena adopts an Only Way is Essex style – the only thing missing were the occasional wotevs or you go gurl. Neil McCaul plays the gruff Egeus with disciplinary strictness – although his facial expressions during the Pyramus and Thisbe debacle are a sheer delight. Adrian Richards steals all his scenes as a Philostrate who’s the ultimate MC; I’m sure in his spare time he introduces boxing matches.

Helen Monks makes a great Peter (or in this case Rita) Quince, enthusiastically shepherding her team of budding actors and shaping them up to performance level – and providing hilarious stage management during that final scene. Laurie Jamieson, Mitesh Soni, Tom Xander and Emily Cundick give brilliant support as the thespian tradesmen; Ms Cundick’s appearance as the Wall will live on as a comic highlight for many a moon. For our performance, Premi Tamang, who normally plays Starveling, took on the role of Puck and was marvellously mischievous throughout, and everyone puts in a terrific and committed performance.

But the evening belongs to Mathew Baynton as Bottom. He makes the over-ambitious wannabe star truly shine with his brilliant physicality; and portraying Pyramus with pompous, Nureyev-like grace is a stroke of comic brilliance. Be prepared for a wonderfully over-the-top death that has you cringing in your seat. It is probably the funniest Pyramus and Thisbe I’ve ever seen.

A feast of technical delights, with superb lighting, sound, visual and magical effects. They chose to accentuate the comedy – and boy did they hit the target. This dream of a Dream runs until 30^th March – do not hesitate to buy your tickets.

Production photos by Pamela Raith

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Review – The Mousetrap, Royal and Derngate, Northampton, 12th February 2024

Posted on February 13, 2024 by therealchrisparkle

The Mousetrap? I hear you ask. That old thing? Why should I want to go and see that creaky old relic? And if you’ve a cynical nature to your character and a sense that theatre should somehow be improving or character-building, then you may have a point. Agatha Christie herself said that its success was largely due to luck, but that it is a play that has something for everyone. In her autobiography, she wrote: “it is well constructed. The thing unfolds so that you want to know what happens next, and you can’t quite see where the next few minutes will lead you.” Christie is being quite modest here!

The play is the result of a distillation of ideas that all started when Christie wrote a radio play entitled Three Blind Mice at the request of Queen Mary in 1947. When Queen Mary requested something, you delivered. This led on to a short story of the same name published in the United States in 1950, which was further adapted and tightened up into The Mousetrap that everyone knows today. The short story, incidentally, has still not officially appeared in the UK because Christie didn’t want it published until after the original run of The Mousetrap had ended; and, of course, that hasn’t happened yet! And this 70^th anniversary tour, currently at the Royal and Derngate all week, is now 72 years from the original production, currently at London’s St Martin’s Theatre, where House Full notices are still regularly posted each night. This play is not going to go away anytime soon.

Obviously, I’m not going to tell you whodunit – we are all sworn to secrecy! However, I can tell you that young Mollie and Giles Ralston have set up a guest house, Monkswell Manor, to make a living for themselves in the harsh austere days after the Second World War. They have four guests booked in for their opening week: grumpy Mrs Boyle, military Major Metcalf, effete Christopher Wren and no-nonsense Miss Casewell; a fifth (Mr Paravicini) turns up unexpectedly, and the house is cut off in a heavy snowstorm. The radio (sorry, wireless) carries the news that a Mrs Lyon has been murdered in Culver Street, London, and that police have a description of a man they want to interview who was seen in the vicinity. Detective Sergeant Trotter arrives at Monkswell Manor seeking information that might connect the Culver Street murder with someone there. But who?

The story was based on the real life case of Dennis O’Neill, a twelve year old foster child who had died in 1945 from violence and neglect at the hands of his foster parents, which led to an overhaul of the fostering legislation in 1947. Dennis’ brother Terence was also malnourished and severely beaten, but fortunately survived. The early drafts of the play included an opening scene, set in London, with extra characters, telling the story of the death of Mrs Lyon. This scene was shortened, and eventually deleted, to be replaced by a simple blackout at the beginning of the play that sets the scene very crisply.

Whilst there have been regular attempts to update the text in the past – increasing money values, changing dates etc – today it is very much performed as a period piece and exactly how Christie originally intended it. Mollie and Giles are still trying to make ends meet with odds and ends of furniture and doing all the work required to run their little guest house in 1952, with post-war austerity and rationing still affecting everyone. The coke they need to shovel to make the heating work is expensive and poor quality. Trotter says he will check everyone’s ration books to verify their identities. Mrs Boyle sums it up nicely: “this country has gone sadly downhill. Not what it used to be. I sold my house last year. Everything was too difficult.”

Despite its obvious old-fashioned nature, it is a beautifully structured play, designed to establish the greatest possible tension and growing suspicions of everyone – and the solution to the crime holds water too. The characters are a little stereotypical but they’re not at all caricatures, and each one is sufficiently believable to take the audience along for the ride. And there were many moments during Monday evening’s press performance when you could hear a pin drop in the packed auditorium, such was the level of concentration and almost tangible suspense.

However, from a technical point of view, Monday’s performance had a bit of an Act One nightmare: the sound plot simply didn’t work. The opening sound effects of the murder of Mrs Lyon didn’t play. Mollie answered the phone when it wasn’t ringing. Characters turned on the wireless, and no sound came out. Unfortunately, the play relies on the wireless and sound effects a good deal for its opening exposition. Hats off to the excellent cast who carried on regardless, including missing out a brief conversation between Wren and Casewell when they discuss how they used the noise from the wireless deliberately to annoy Mrs Boyle. Luckily, the sound came back shortly before the interval. Additionally, the amplification of the actors’ voices had a bizarre echo/reverb at times which was very disconcerting. Hopefully these issues are now ironed out.

In a show of such reputation as this, the cast are always the custodians of the work, who must look after the production and keep it in good health for future generations. That’s certainly the case here; the cast put in great performances all round. Shaun McCourt is superb in the difficult role of Christopher Wren, trying to make this – on the face of it – rather silly, flippant, overdone character into a credible human being which he does admirably. Todd Carty teeters on the edge of making Metcalf a caricature but reins it in at exactly the right moments. Amy Spinks gives a definitive performance as Miss Casewell, the bullet-proof exterior giving way to genuine emotion when faced with the truth; and Michael Ayiotis is splendid as Trotter, giving a very fluid and confident performance as the police officer with rather alternative methods of detection, building up to a riveting showdown scene. But everyone pulls out all the stops and makes this a thrilling and convincing production.

72 years on, it’s still amazing to hear audience members at the end saying I didn’t see that coming, I thought X had done it, well I thought Y had done it and so on. It may not be the best play in the world. It may, indeed, not even be Agatha Christie’s best play! But as a well-told, finely structured classic whodunit, balanced with a fascinating insight into early 1950s Britain, it just has that certain something that makes it unbeatable. After its week in Northampton, the tour continues throughout England, Scotland and Ireland until August.

Production photos by Matt Crockett

Four They’re Jolly Good Fellows!

Review – The Circle, Festival Theatre, Chichester, 1st February 2024

Posted on February 5, 2024 by therealchrisparkle

It was 47 years ago that I saw a production of The Circle at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket. I remember thinking at the time that it was a rather stately old play, not very relevant to the theatregoing public of the time and very old-fashioned for a 16-year-old know-all like me. Surely, in 2024, 103 years after its first performance, isn’t it a play that should be consigned to the archives?

In brief, absolutely not. This is a smart, intelligent, beautifully written and constructed play, packed full of insights, with three superb roles in which older actors can revel and another three challenging younger roles that give the actors a great opportunity to stick their teeth into. It’s no surprise that productions of this play have always attracted top quality casts. The original 1921 production boasted Victorian comedy legend Lottie Venne as Kitty and Fay Compton as Elizabeth; a 1931 revival starred Athene Seyler as Kitty and a young Celia Johnson as Elizabeth, whilst a further revival in 1945 starred Yvonne Arnaud as Kitty and a youngish John Gielgud as Arnold. Even the production I remember from my younger days starred Googie Withers as Kitty, Bill Fraser as Porteous, Susan Hampshire as Elizabeth and Martin Jarvis as Arnold.

Here’s the set up: thirty years ago, the seemingly happy Lady Kitty Champion-Cheney left her husband Clive and five-year-old son Arnold to run off with the up-and-coming politician Lord Hughie Porteous. Since then, Clive and Kitty have never seen each other. However, Arnold’s wife Elizabeth is so curious to meet her mother-in-law that she invites Kitty and Hughie to their house – and Clive has unexpectedly turned up too. Will they let bygones be bygones or will the sparks fly? And might the experience of the older generation have an unforeseen influence on the younger generation? I’m not going to tell you – you’ll have to see the play for yourself; mind you, it’s been around since 1921 – where on earth have you been?

Somerset Maugham fits perfectly in the middle of the sequence of great English/Irish dramatists that started with Wilde and Shaw and went on to produce Coward and Rattigan. And whilst The Circle doesn’t quite sparkle with the same effervescent wit of say, Importance of Being Earnest or Private Lives, it truly holds its own in comparison to all those authors’ more thoughtful and searching comedies. And it’s a story as old as time how a family muddles through marriage separation, changes of partners and that familiar mantra of do as I say, don’t do as I do. Each of the main characters is given equal weight to express how they feel about the situation they face, and there are several excellent speeches and thought-provoking themes that linger on in the mind, long after curtain down.

The play has been elegantly adapted from its original cast of nine to a snappier seven, without disrupting any flow of language, plot or conversation. In fact, it’s an undoubted pleasure to see a play set in 1920 performed exactly as it would have been originally staged, with no attempt of modernisation. And whilst today we might smile a little indulgently at the “scandalous” social situation it presents with the benefit of a hundred years’ hindsight, when it was first produced it would have felt rippingly contemporary. Kitty left Clive thirty years earlier than when the play is set, so that would have been around 1890. Just imagine how shocked Queen Victoria would have been!

Louie Whitemore’s set is the epitome of simplicity, concentrating on the minimum requirement to suggest chez Champion-Cheney; some French Windows, and a few tables and chairs, one of which is almost certainly not a Sheraton. There’s terrific attention to detail with her costume design too, with Lady Kitty bedecked in haute couture, traditional British reserve for Clive and Hughie, and spiffing tennis flannels for Teddie.

Jane Asher is perfectly cast as Lady Kitty – a petite, diminutive presence on stage but with a vivid personality that bursts out from beneath that elegant exterior. You can just imagine the brash determined younger woman who left Clive for Hughie, running roughshod over all society’s accepted norms of the time; and she conveys that spirit of independence balanced with the wisdom of experience beautifully. Nicholas le Prevost captures the once-roguish charm of Porteous that has been shrunk by years of disappointment and bitterness and gives us a splendid portrayal of grumpy self-centredness and domestic resentment. Pete Ashmore encapsulates Arnold’s passionless prissiness with a well observed coolness and barely concealed anger. Olivia Vinall’s Elizabeth is an excellent study of someone trapped in a loveless marriage but with the curiosity to attempt to do something about it, and Daniel Burke’s Teddie comes across as a decent enough chap, with the sense to know that nothing’s perfect, but he’s happy to settle for that.

But it’s Clive Francis who steals every scene as the mischievous Clive Champion-Cheney, hovering with gentle menace over the card table, making extraordinary suggestions feel reasonable, manipulating everyone with the intent of achieving his own aims. His comic delivery is immaculate, his timing impeccable, and the twinkle in his eye irresistible. Together the cast form a superb ensemble and Tom Littler’s production is a winner from start to finish. Will The Circle still be performed in another fifty years’ time? I rather think it might. After it leaves Chichester, the show continues its tour to Oxford, Malvern and Richmond.

P. S. The Circle has literally come full circle for Clive Francis, who played Teddie in the 1977 production!

Production photos by Nobby Clark and Ellie Kurttz

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Review – Spymonkey’s The Frogs, Royal and Derngate, Northampton, 23rd January 2024

Posted on January 25, 2024 by therealchrisparkle

Let’s start with a quiz question. Who were the first comedy double act in the business? Morecambe and Wise? Laurel and Hardy? Nowhere close. Don Quixote and Sancho Panza? Keep going back. Not even Beowulf and Grendel, and there weren’t many laughs there. Believe it or not, you’re looking at Dionysus and Xanthias, the loveable rogues who star in Aristophanes’ The Frogs, first performed in 405 BC. Stage Tragedy was going through a bit of a tragic phase (sorry) with the death of Euripedes the previous year. So Dionysus and Xanthias his servant decide to get off their backsides and travel to Hades to bring him back. As you do.

Of course, the journey is beset with obstacles, like Charon the ferry(wo)man, a bunch of singing frogs, and the grumpy Aeacus who guards Pluto’s gates. Possibly it wasn’t Dionysus’ best idea to disguise himself as Heracles for the journey, because Aeacus has a long memory and vengeance to seek against with him. Eventually they get in, only to find a debate taking place between Euripedes and Aeschylus, vying for the title of Best Tragic Poet. In the end, Dionysus prefers Aeschylus and rescues him back to Athens instead. What a fickle half God he is.

It’s written by Spymonkey and Carl Grose, “with massive apologies to Aristophanes”. However, I’m not sure those apologies are needed. From a story-telling point of view, this production recreates the original in a bizarrely faithful way, mutatis mutandis naturally. True, it loses the plot – quite literally – towards the end, but the journey to Hades, the relationship between master and servant, the swapping of clothing (pure Prince Charming and Dandini, to be honest) and getting past the gates all work pretty well.

I’ve always been a massive fan of Spymonkey, and it’s been one of the pleasures of regularly visiting the Royal and Derngate that the two have worked together so successfully over the years. Oedipussy, Cooped, Every Last Trick and The Complete Deaths, all bring back happy memories of laughing until it hurts. But it surprised me to discover that I hadn’t seen them since 2016, and a lot has changed since then. The long-lasting partnership of four performers is now reduced to two. Petra Massey is described as “on loan to Las Vegas”, so I guess she’s living the high life now. Gifted and fearless clown Stephan Kreiss sadly died in 2021. And, despite their best efforts, the two leave a massive hole on the Spymonkey map.

A Spymonkey show is never just about the show itself. It’s about how Spymonkey create the show and how the performers react to being in it. Unsurprisingly, there’s a considerable side spin to this production where the remaining performers, Spymonkey boss Toby Park and Spanish Supremo Aitor Basauri, are working out how they can continue as a twosome. They decide to adapt The Frogs to become a rescue mission for Stephan – to hell with Euripedes (literally), he’s old hat after all. Their Brighton office – which we see as a scene between the scenes – has become a shrine to their departed friend. Aitor briefly recreates Stephan’s staircase trick (Moby Dick refers). Toby plays and sings along to mournful music. However, for whatever reason, this impetus to remember Stephan comes across as an intrusion into private grief, and not an inspiration for the anarchic comedy with which we associate the company.

Unfortunately this also has a knock-on effect of making the third member of the cast, Jacoba Williams, feel like “the extra brought in” rather than an integral part of the team. Dionysus, Xanthias, Toby and Aitor have, between the four of them, formed a boy’s club, with Jacoba constantly tapping on the outside trying to get in. I’m sure this is not deliberate, but it’s inevitable that she does not have the same level of inter-performer trust that Toby and Aitor have. They’ve been inseparable on stage for decades, after all. Nowhere is this more evident than in the final scene where Jacoba walks off the stage and into the audience for no apparent reason and watches the two boys finish the show without her. It feels very unbalanced.

Nevertheless, there is still much to enjoy. Toby Park still embodies his traditional Spymonkey role of classical artiste with pretensions of adequacy, and Aitor Basauri can still make you split your sides with just one glance of those knowing eyes, such as in the excellent opening scene where Toby and Jacoba start up a nonsensical chorus whilst Aitor looks on in disbelief, only for him to then join in. Jacoba revels in some entertaining characterisations, including a no-nonsense Charon and a hearty Heracles, and she indulges in an enjoyable, if curtailed, TED talk. It’s full of comic business as you would expect, such as when Aitor has a bucket list of things to do on stage which he determinedly ticks off as he goes. And Jacoba has plenty of opportunities to have fun with the dressing-up box. Members of the Community theatre play the eponymous frogs who tap dance and sing their way across the stage; they make for a sweetly graceful troupe, if slightly self-consciously so.

I always associate Spymonkey with slick anarchy; here the anarchy is present, but the slickness is missing. I saw the final preview as opposed to the press night, so I appreciate there is room for it to be tightened up, but I fear there is quite a long way to go. For me, the show just doesn’t quite work, despite many of the elements being right. Hopefully it’s just a phase for the company and they bounce back with something more polished and assured next time around.

Production photos by Manuel Harlan

Review – 2:22 A Ghost Story, Royal and Derngate, Northampton, 10th January 2024

Posted on January 11, 2024 by therealchrisparkle

After five different productions in London over the past few years, Danny Robins’ gripping 2:22 A Ghost Story now boasts a brand new cast and is embarking on a fresh tour of the UK, where it will no doubt cement its already very firm reputation as being one of the most popular plays of the century so far. This was the second time we had seen the show; the first time, at London’s Criterion Theatre earned it five stars from me and a very respectable 4^th place in the Chrisparkle Awards for Best New Play in 2022. And I’m delighted to say the show is looking healthier than ever!

The set-up is deceptively simple. New mother Jenny is decorating the ramshackle old house that she has bought with husband Sam, with one eye on her painting skills and one ear on the baby alarm. Why she’s still working away at gone 2am heaven only knows, surely looking after a baby would have left her exhausted hours earlier, but we’ll let that pass. It’s 2:22 am when she finally clocks off work – and, believe me gentle reader, you won’t forget that time in a hurry. Jenny becomes more and more convinced that her new house is haunted, much to Sam’s cynicism and ridicule. But when they have a dinner party for Sam’s old friend Lauren and her new boyfriend Ben, things start to get a little out of hand. Are there really ghosts in the house? They decide to stay up till 2:22 to see what happens… and I’m not going to give you any further details, you’ll have to come and see the show for yourself!

Anna Fleischle’s intriguing set, dominated by that inexorably ticking clock, tells a story of its own about a half-modernised house; brand spanking new kitchen at one side, dilapidated old gas heater at the other, layers of old wallpaper clinging to the part-rendered walls, evidence of damp issues but with a beautiful original glazed door that you can just guess Jenny and Sam always intended to keep. Lucy Carter’s unsettling lighting fades in and out of eerie moods, punctuated by the brilliant flashing red of horror, and a frankly terrifying sound design by Ian Dickinson contributes towards making it an impressive technical production.

It’s a beautifully written play by Danny Robins with four strong and incredibly well drawn characters, so there’s plenty for the talented cast to get their teeth into. There’s Jenny, decent, respectable and a new mum, whose prime motivation is to keep her child as safe as possible, and that’s not easy if your house is haunted. There’s Sam, her pompous husband, who loves the sound of his own voice and has snobbish disregard for anyone who doesn’t enjoy hearing it. There’s Lauren, Sam’s university friend who may or may not have been more than a friend, a psychiatrist with enough demons of her own to conquer, and there’s Ben, her younger boyfriend, a streetwise builder from the other side of the tracks, who remembers the houses from the good old days and has harsh observations on the yuppies coming in and eradicating the local history with their structural modernisations.

There are momentary glimpses of difficult relationships between the four people – suggestions of domestic violence, barely stifled revenge, and disappointment in love – but as soon as a suspicion has been planted in your mind, the play moves on and you lose the chance to pin your thoughts down. There are also fascinating discussions about why ghosts can’t exist – and why they can. But what really impresses me about Mr Robins’ sharp and clever text is how it is so totally honest with the audience. If you’re trying to work out the secret of what you’re seeing, all the clues are provided, but if you get there before the final curtain then you’ve done remarkably well. If you choose to just revel in its wonderfully spooky and atmospheric web, like a terrified spider, that works too. In fact, you’ll find the final revelation even more of a surprise; and kick yourself for not seeing through Mr Robins’ terrific veil of deceit.

The cast of four are all excellent and create an entertaining ensemble who not only milk the atmosphere for all its worth but also nail the laughs that emerge uneasily from the crisis. Fiona Wade’s Jenny tries her best to take everything in her stride, but the culmination of events and problems become too much and she gives a great portrayal of someone losing her grip on everything she felt secure about. Her relationship with George Rainsford’s Sam is clearly loving but his excesses can push her away, and Mr Rainsford is excellent at showing his character’s irritating, smug side whilst still maintaining the façade of bonhomie. Vera Chok plays Lauren with high energy volatility, and you never know when the combination of wine (which includes regularly drinking everyone else’s dregs) and jealousy will make them snap. Jay McGuinness’s Ben is a nicely understated wide boy attuned to his spiritualism and at odds with the company he keeps. Just be careful if you call him mate.

This production will happily keep audiences enthralled, entertained and occasionally terrified for the first half of the year as the tour continues to Birmingham, Cardiff, High Wycombe, Chichester, Sheffield, Wolverhampton, Aberdeen, Cambridge, Bromley, Richmond, Liverpool, Woking, Truro, Blackpool, York, Nottingham, Hull, Sunderland, Bradford and finishing up in Salford in June. Well crafted, well acted and well staged; an exciting night of suspense and fear!

Production photos by Johan Persson

Five Alive Let Theatre Thrive!

Review of the Year 2023 – The Thirteenth Annual Chrisparkle Awards

Posted on January 8, 2024 by therealchrisparkle

Welcome once again, gentle reader, to the glamorous showbiz highlight of the year, the announcement of the annual Chrisparkle Awards for 2023. Eligibility for the awards means a) they were performed in the UK and b) I have to have seen the shows and blogged about them in the period 10^th January 2023 to 9^th January 2024. Are you all sitting comfortably? Then we’ll begin!

The first award is for Best Dance Production (Contemporary and Classical)

This includes dance seen at the Edinburgh Fringe, which is just as well as we only saw four dance productions this year and they were all in Edinburgh! These are the top three:

In 3^rd place, the amusing association of inventive contemporary dance with wine tasting, in Geelong’s Attitude Dance Company’s Perfect Pairing: A Wine Tasting Dancegustation at Greenside at Infirmary Street, Edinburgh, in August.

In 2^nd place, the stunning The Rite of Spring / common ground[s], as performed by members of the Pina Bausch Foundation and Ecole des Sables, at the Edinburgh Playhouse in August.

In 1^st place, the double bill of short dances including Revelations, performed by the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater at the Festival Theatre, Edinburgh, in August.

Classical Music Concert of the Year.

For the second year running, we only saw one classical concert this year – Sinfonia Viva’s Beethoven’s Symphony No 3 at the Royal and Derngate, Northampton, in July. It gets an honorary mention, but if I don’t get to see more classical concerts in 2024 this award may have to be withdrawn!

Best Entertainment Show of the Year.

This means anything that doesn’t fall into any other categories – for example pantos, circuses, revues and anything else hard to classify. Here are the top three:

In 3rd place, the always delightful Sheffield pantomime, Beauty and the Beast at the Lyceum Theatre, Sheffield, in December.

In 2^nd place, with the most extraordinary set of production values and so much cash chucked as it, the amazing Peter Pan at the London Palladium in December.

In 1^st place, so good we saw it twice, the deliciously hilarious Mother Goose starring Ian McKellen and John Bishop at the Festival Theatre, Chichester, in February and the Curve Theatre, Leicester, in March.

Best Standup of the Year.

Star standup comedians were thin on the ground this year so the Committee has decided to group the Star Standup and Local Screaming Blue Murder/Comedy Crate standup awards together into one major award for best standup comedian. 41 comics made the longlist, of which 10 made the shortlist – and here are the top five:

In 5th place, the gifted physical comedian Addy van der Borgh (Screaming Blue Murder – May)

In 4^th place, the explosively unpredictable President Obonjo (Comedy Crate – October)

In 3^rd place, deadly material subtly delivered by the brilliant Sarah Keyworth (Comedy Crate – September)

In 2^nd place, a fantastic new find, Thomas Green (Comedy Crate Weekender – July, Comedy Crate – December)

In 1^st place, the comedy powerhouse that is Tom Stade (Comedy Crate Edinburgh Preview – July)

Best Musical.

I saw twelve musicals this year, a combination of new shows and revivals. One big disappointment, one that everybody else loves but I don’t, and a few slightly underwhelming, but that leaves a strong top five.

In 5th place, hard to do a bad production of this, but nevertheless it was a delight, The Sound of Music at the Festival Theatre, Chichester, in September.

In 4^th place, a wonderfully intimate production of a challenging show, the beautiful Pacific Overtures at the Menier Chocolate Factory, London, in December.

In 3^rd place, a show that was way better than it had any right to be, the touring production of The Cher Show at the Royal and Derngate, Northampton, in January.

In 2^nd place, the funny, endlessly surprising, and beautifully performed show that fully deserves a transfer, Close Up, the Twiggy Musical, at the Menier Chocolate Factory, London, in October.

In 1^st place, outstanding in every respect, Nicholas Hytner’s extraordinary promenade production of Guys and Dolls, at the Bridge Theatre, London, March.

Best New Play.

Just to clarify, this is my definition of a new play, which is something that’s new to me and to most of its audience – so it might have been around before but on its first UK tour, or a new adaptation of a work originally in another format. We saw eighteen new plays this year, but I only awarded five stars to two of them; is the standard getting worse or am I getting tougher?!

In 5^th place, Amy Herzog’s funny and emotional look at the oddest of odd couples, 4000 Miles, at the Minerva Theatre, Chichester, in June.

In 4^th place, a delightfully in-your-face, challenging and very funny new take on an old genre, Charlie Josephine’s Cowbois, for the Royal Shakespeare Company at the Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, in October.

In 3^rd place, a fascinating examination of south-east Asian stereotypes on stage, Kimber Lee’s untitled f*ck m*ss s**gon play at the Young Vic, London, in October.

In 2^nd place, Isobel McArthur’s hilarious reworking of Jane Austen’s classic, Pride and Prejudice* (*sort of) at the Festival Theatre, Chichester, in February.

In 1^st place, a gripping account of the meeting of two very different artistic minds, Jack Thorne’s The Motive and the Cue at the National Theatre Lyttelton Theatre, London, in May.

Best Revival of a Play.

I saw thirteen revivals, of which only one was a disappointment; here’s the top five:

In 5th place, the RSC’s climate-change led production of Shakespeare’s The Tempest at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, in February.

In 4^th place, the remarkable updating of the story of Shylock to 1930s London in The Merchant of Venice 1936, at the Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, in September.

In 3^rd place, breathing new life into a truly vibrant production of this modern classic, Michael Frayn’s wonderful Noises Off, at the Phoenix Theatre, London, in March.

In 2^nd place, Headlong’s brilliantly pared back and taut production of Shakespeare’s Henry V, at the Royal and Derngate Theatre, Northampton, in March.

In 1^st place, the production that made you wonder why this brilliant play isn’t performed more often, Gregory Doran’s superb production of Shakespeare’s Cymbeline, for the Royal Shakespeare Company at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, in May.

As always, in the post-Christmas season, it’s time to consider the turkey of the year – and whilst I was unimpressed with both The Inquiry at Chichester, and The Enfield Haunting at the Ambassadors Theatre, London, the worst thing I saw all year was the RSC’s Julius Caesar at Stratford’s Royal Shakespeare Theatre.

Now we come on to our four categories specifically for the Edinburgh Fringe. The first is:

Best play or musical – Edinburgh

I would normally have included musicals in with the “Best of the Rest” category, but I feel it is more appropriate to include them in the “Best Play” category.

We saw 89 productions of plays and musicals in Edinburgh this year, 19 of them got 5* from me, and here are the top 5:

In 5th place, the gripping and emotional account of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire in New York in 1911, Paved with Gold and Ashes, written by Julia Thurston and produced by ThreeDumb Theatre (Greenside @ Infirmary Street)

In 4th place, the fascinating, moving and extremely sad story of the life of Lena Zavaroni, Lena, written by Tim Whitnall and produced by Feather Productions (Assembly George Square)

In 3rd place, a constantly surprising and thrilling one-man play that explores football fandom and mental health, Why I Stuck a Flare up my Arse for England, written by Alex Hill and produced by Roxy Dog (The Space @ Niddry Street)

In 2nd place, a scintillating and harrowing account of sexual abuse within a family, The Good Dad (A Love Story), written by Gail Louw and produced by And Tomorrow (The Space @ Surgeon’s Hall)

In 1st place, the cream of this year’s Edinburgh crop, the brilliantly written, superbly performed and remarkably thought-provoking, Public – the Musical, written by Stroud/Sands/Stroud and produced by Stroud and Notes (Pleasance Courtyard)

Best Individual Performance in a Play or Musical – Edinburgh

As always, an impossible choice, and you cannot get a cigarette paper between the top two. Nevertheless, here are the top five:

In 5^th place, Tim Hardy for The Trials of Galileo (Greenside @ Infirmary Street)

In 4^th place, Annabel Marlow for Public – The Musical (Pleasance Courtyard)

In 3^rd place, Andrew Patrick-Walker for Public – The Musical (Pleasance Courtyard)

In 2^nd place, Sarah Lawrie for The Good Dad (A Love Story) (The Space @ Surgeon’s Hall)

In 1^st place, Alex Hill for Why I Stuck a Flare up my Arse for England (The Space @ Niddry Street)

Best stand-up comedy show – Edinburgh

We saw thirty-nine stand up shows this year, but only eight received 5* from me, and here are my top five:

In 5^th place, a cracking show based on advice to her 14 year old self, Sooz Kempner with her Y2K Woman show (Underbelly Bristo Square)

In 4^th place, the frenetic and intense Glenn Moore with his Will You Still Need Me, Will You Still Feed Me, Glenn I’m Sixty Moore show (Pleasance Courtyard)

In 3^rd place, a show that mines comedy gold out of awkwardness, the hilarious Robin Grainger with his An Audient with Robin Grainger show (The Stand Comedy Club 2)

In 2^nd place, a master at work delivering a true masterclass of brilliance from the word Go, Frank Skinner with his 30 Years of Dirt show (Assembly George Square)

In 1^st place, who am I to disagree with the people behind the Edinburgh Award for Best Comedy Show, Ahir Shah with his truly beautiful Ends show (Monkey Barrel Comedy)

Best of the rest – Edinburgh

From a shortlist of eleven, here are my top five:

In 5th place, the sumptuous musical nostalgia of Gertrude Lawrence: A Lovely Way to Spend an Evening, performed by Lucy Stevens and produced by Penny Mayes (Assembly Rooms)

In 4th place, the childlike escapism of pretending to be a war hero with Sam Dugdale’s hilarious creation Manbo (Underbelly Cowgate)

In 3rd place, part standup, part play, part lecture, part eulogy, the wonderful and indefinable Ben Target: LORENZO (Summerhall)

In 2nd place, an outrageous laugh from start to finish, the delightfully irreverent Diana: The Untold and Untrue Story with Linus Karp as the late Queen of Hearts (Pleasance Dome)

In 1st place, one of those chilling theatrical experiences that only Edinburgh can truly create, Edwin Flay’s astonishing performance in The Quality of Mercy: Concerning the Life and Crimes of Dr Harold Frederick Shipman (The Space @ Surgeon’s Hall)

There were three contenders for this year’s Edinburgh turkey; Gold was a terribly unfunny and embarrassing play based on the Brinks-Mat robbery, and Rahul Somia’s Find me a Wife stand up show was woefully unprepared. However, the direst thing we saw was York University Drama Society’s crass and tasteless waste of an opportunity to stage the argument between Tynan and Ionesco in The Courteous Enemy (The Space @ Surgeon’s Hall). Truly dreadful.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Musical.

Time to get personal. Here’s the top five:

In 5^th place, Hannah-Jane Fox as Nellie Hornby in Close Up at the Menier Chocolate Factory, London, in October.

In 4^th place, Celinde Schoenmaker as Sarah Brown in Guys and Dolls at the Bridge Theatre, London, in March.

In 3^rd place, Debbie Kurup as Star in The Cher Show at the Royal and Derngate, Northampton, in January.

In 2^nd place, Elena Skye as Twiggy in Close Up at the Menier Chocolate Factory, London, in October.

In 1^st place, Marisha Wallace as Miss Adelaide in Guys and Dolls at the Bridge Theatre, London, in March.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Musical.

Here’s the top five:

In 5^th place, Steven Serlin as Norman Hornby in Close Up at the Menier Chocolate Factory, London, in October.

In 4^th place, Cedric Neal as Nicely-Nicely Johnson in Guys and Dolls at the Bridge Theatre, London, in March.

In 3^rd place, Jon Chew as The Reciter in Pacific Overtures at Menier Chocolate Factory, London, in December.

In 2^nd place, Ian McIntosh as Deco in The Commitments at the Royal and Derngate, Northampton, in April.

In 1^st place, Daniel Mays as Nathan Detroit in Guys and Dolls at the Bridge Theatre, London, in March.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Play.

Sixteen in the rather long shortlist, and here’s the top five:

In 5^th place, Tuppence Middleton as Elizabeth Taylor in The Motive and the Cue, National Theatre, Lyttelton Theatre, London, in May.

In 4^th place, Mei Mac as Kim in untitled f*ck m*ss s**gon play, Young Vic, London, in October.

In 3^rd place, Felicity Kendal as Dotty Otley in Noises Off, at the Phoenix Theatre, London, in March.

In 2^nd place, Tracy-Ann Oberman as Shylock in The Merchant of Venice 1936, at the Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon,in September.

In 1^st place, Eileen Atkins as Vera in 4000 Miles, at the Minerva Theatre, Chichester, in June.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Play.

Fourteen contenders in my shortlist, and here is the top five:

In 5th place, Roger Allam as Frank in Frank and Percy, at the Theatre Royal Windsor, in June.

In 4^th place, Greg Wise as Tobin in Never Have I Ever, at the Minerva Theatre, Chichester, in September.

In 3^rd place, Ian McKellen as Percy in Frank and Percy, at the Theatre Royal Windsor, in June.

In 2^nd place, Johnny Flynn as Richard Burton in The Motive and the Cue, National Theatre, Lyttelton Theatre, London, in May.

In 1^st place, Mark Gatiss as John Gielgud in The Motive and the Cue, National Theatre, Lyttelton Theatre, London, in May.

Congratulations to the winners, commiserations to the losers and thanks for your company again throughout the year, gentle reader. Here’s to a happy and rewarding 2024 full of artistic excellence!

Review – Peter Pan, London Palladium, 29th December 2023

Posted on January 5, 2024 by therealchrisparkle

Ah, the Palladium pantomime. One of the highlights of the year. An event steeped in nostalgia and ritual, on as well as the expectation of a great night out of laughter and fun. My first Palladium panto was in 1969 with Jimmy Tarbuck in Jack and the Beanstalk; and although I grew out of the routine as the teenage years drew on, I couldn’t wait to get back into the habit when the Palladium pantomimes started up again in 2016. I always target the same seats if possible; I always treat Mrs Chrisparkle to a bottle of the old Taittinger; and of course I always take out a second mortgage to pay for a programme. A man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do.

This year Crossroads Pantomimes, under the esteemed leadership of writer and director Michael Harrison, brings us Peter Pan; with the Palladium panto’s uniquely eclectic slant on J M Barrie’s timeless original. To be fair, we do have three Darling children (and one of them does indeed look like Jacob Rees-Mogg). We do have Nana the dog, Tink the fairy and, of course, Peter Pan the boy who never grew up. And we do have Captain Hook and a crocodile; although it’s never explained why the former is so scared about the latter. There’s a host of vagabond pirates, although I can’t imagine Barrie would have envisaged the likes of Julian Clary, Nigel Havers and Paul Zerdin as bloodthirsty cut-throats. Nor did he immortalise Captain Hook’s mum. I guess that’s panto for you. Oh yes it is!

This year they’ve rewritten the definition of lavish. For sheer levels of costuming, sets, colour and wow factor, this show takes the roof off. Everything looks and sounds stunning; in modern parlance, every scene identifies as a finale. The costumes for the curtain call alone would probably have broken the budget for lesser shows. Greg Arrowsmith leads a sizeable band of merry music makers through many a high energy number, and there are all the usual elements you would expect, from Gary Wilmot’s patter song, the slapstick routine (this time, A Sailor went to Sea sea sea), Paul Zerdin singing with kids from the audience Three Smart Fellas they felt smart, and the ritual humiliation of Nigel Havers. It all works swimmingly well.

As always, the star of the show is Julian Clary, but he naturally takes second billing to the year’s guest star, who this year is Jennifer Saunders as Captain Hook and what a knock out she is. I feared she might just phone it in, like another big star we once saw at the Richmond panto, no names no pack drill, but no. She was gloriously malevolent right from the start and sent herself up something rotten. When she disguises herself in order to trick Peter Pan and the children, it’s a stroke of genius that she turns into Edina from Absolutely Fabulous, littering her speech with all the insincere sweetie darlings you could possibly imagine, and, frankly, it’s hysterical.

Also returning from their big hit as last year’s cow in Jack and the Beanstalk, Rob Madge is perfect as Tink (they’ve dropped the erbell because who needs it), hugely possessive of Peter Pan because they’re head over heels in love with him, thus bringing Tink’s mischievous jealousy of Wendy sharply into 21^st century focus. Rob Madge is fantastic at the song and dance, and I hope the powers that be continue to bring them back year after year. Zippo Circus’ Timbuktu Tumblers make an appearance with some fun acrobatics and prove that the limbo dance is still a thing. Frances Mayli McCann rises to the challenge of playing up her Scottishness to create a Gorbals Wendy, mainly so that Mr Clary can act as a translator for the audience. She and Louis Gaunt make a good partnership as Wendy and Peter, musically strong and doing their best to cling on to the wreckage of their characterisations in the face of a Clary-style onslaught.

And, of course, Julian Clary is terrific in this show, as he inevitably is; the raconteur of multiple entendres not just double ones, model of extraordinary outfits, barely ever in character, ruling the roost supreme. He pays tribute to his late friend and colleague Paul O’Grady that is entirely appropriate and never mawkish. No opportunity is missed for him to shower us with salacious comments, and he always gets a warm hand on his entrance.

Peter Pan is a classic Palladium panto, triumphant from the word Go. Why you’d take the kids with you though, I haven’t a clue. Dazzling us until 14^th January, and we’re already being lured into the prospect of a 2024 panto in December. Can’t wait!

Production photos by Paul Coltas

Five Alive, Let Theatre Thrive!

Review – Pacific Overtures, Menier Chocolate Factory, London, 28th December 2023

Posted on January 4, 2024 by therealchrisparkle

I was thrilled to discover that the third big musical in a row from the Menier Chocolate Factory in 2023 was to be Pacific Overtures, as it has always signified a big gap in my Sondheim knowledge. And although The Third Man was a bit meh, Close Up was a terrific surprise and with the Menier’s star back in its ascendancy again, I had very high hopes of this production.

First produced on Broadway in 1976, but not in the UK until the English National Opera had a crack at it eleven years later, the show has always had that sense of – if not being one of Sondheim’s failures, but certainly not one of his big successes. That New York production emphasised its Japanese element by mixing Broadway showbiz with Kabuki – a bold move indeed. Its original run lasted six months, long enough to chalk up a couple of Tony Awards (for scenic and costume design), and it was just recent enough to have one song (Pretty Lady) selected for inclusion in Ned Sherrin’s very influential Side by Side by Sondheim, which really cemented the late great Steve’s reputation in the UK. Since then Pacific Overtures has had a few revivals, but this current production at the Menier is a co-production with the Umeda Arts Theater of Osaka, having played there and in Tokyo in March and April 2023.

The show tells the story of a period of Japanese history that is hardly known in the UK. Commodore Matthew Perry sailed from America in the 1850s on a mission to open up Japan to the west. Japan had hidden itself away from the world for over two centuries, and Pacific Overtures gives us some insight into the shock of western invasion, not only in the form of political and administrative change but also cultural. The western sailors, for example, who sing to that Pretty Lady are not asking her out on a genteel date but mistaking her for a geisha and chasing her as they would an exotic sex worker. When Kayama, the lower-class samurai who was first tasked to deal with Perry and his men, becomes more and more involved with the invading culture, he starts to wear western clothes and sings about wearing A Bowler Hat. The whole inexorable process of progress is overseen by The Reciter, a narrator and ironic chorus for the story, aloof from the action but never far from it, and taking a prominent role in many of the show’s songs.

It’s always a joy to come to the Menier Chocolate Factory to find out how they’ve jiggled the space around – the configuration is hardly ever the same twice! For Pacific Overtures, they’ve created a traverse stage which really helps the intensity and intimacy of the production. Sit in Row A and you’re never more than three feet from an actor, so you feel truly involved in everything that is going on. Simple staging – excellent set design from Paul Farnsworth – easily suggests the exhibits in a museum, or Perry’s ship arriving in the harbour. Ayako Maeda’s sumptuous costume designs revel in the opulent glory of the Shogun era, but also convey the drabness of the everyday wear of ordinary people. Ashley Nottingham’s choreography smartly reflects the era and location, whilst using every inch of the limited space available. And Paul Bogaev’s hidden band bring out all the exoticism and quirkiness of Sondheim’s tremendous score.

John Weidman, who wrote the book, explains in the programme the need to shorten the show and to remove any unnecessary sequences that get in the way of reflecting the cultural purity of the pre-Perry era. The excellent song Chrysanthemum Tea has been cut because it is a delicious blend of Japanese and 1970’s American showbiz, which doesn’t have a place in the vision of this production. I can’t compare as I have never seen the show before, but you do get the sense that there is something missing from this show; perhaps embodied in the role of the Reciter, who cocks many a snook at the ways of traditional Japan, whilst dressed in the epitome of smart glitzy Broadway, rather than as an Edo everyman. But it’s a minor quibble.

The production is crammed with glorious performances throughout. It’s very much an ensemble piece, despite the presence of obviously major roles being played by some star performers. Takuro Ohno and Joaquin Pedro Valdes are superb as the two main protagonists, the samurai Kayama and the fisherman Manjiro, with commanding presence on stage and superb voices. Saori Oda makes a fantastic Shogun, full of imperious bravado but often with a touch of tongue-in-cheek humour. A familiar face from many shows, Masashi Fujimoto brings dignity and authority to all his roles, and is especially poignant in the song Someone in a Tree. Lee V G, Ethan Le Phong, Sario Solomon and Patrick Munday give great comic support as the four foreign admirals, and there are also terrific performances from Kanako Nakano as Tamate and Rachel Jayne Picar as Councillor/Kanagawa Girl.

But there’s a stand-out performance from Jon Chew as the Reciter; sometimes the busybody, sometimes the showman, but always with a glint of mischief in his eye. He’s a great singer and actor, and has enormous stage presence; the kind of performer you can’t stop watching even when they’re silent.

A tremendous production; what it may occasionally lack a little in clarity it more than makes up for with sheer gusto and musical excellence. One hour 45 minutes without an interval, it’s certainly an intense experience.

Production photos by Manuel Harlan

Four They’re Jolly Good Fellows!

Review – The Enfield Haunting, Ambassadors Theatre, London, 28th December 2023

Posted on January 3, 2024 by therealchrisparkle

Sometimes, gentle reader, a theatre review will virtually write itself. You sit down at the computer and start tapping away and all your thoughts and insights come spilling out and within ten minutes you’ve filled the equivalent of a sheet of foolscap (yes, I am that old.) And on other occasions, you stare blankly at the screen, then blankly at the programme, then blankly at the hurried notes you made as you walked out of the theatre and think to yourself, Jeez where the hell do I start?! And writing about The Enfield Haunting is such an occasion.

No one, apart from Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder in The Producers, sets about creating a lousy show. In The Enfield Haunting, the component parts are all there. An extraordinary supernatural thriller, based on the real life events of a house in Enfield in the late 1970s where there were reports of unexplained poltergeist activity. Reliable witnesses reported seeing furniture being chucked around, levitations, grisly voices, thrown toys, knocking on walls; all the elements you’d look for in a decent scary paranormal show. There’s a cast led by two stars, Catherine Tate and David Threlfall, both great for Box Office. The creative team boasts experienced set and costume designer and directors, and award-winning lighting and sound designers. When I first heard that this production was going to hit the West End, I was at the front of the queue flourishing my credit card.

But then came the word of mouth from its opening try-outs in Brighton and Richmond in November; almost universal in its criticism of unmitigated boredom, confusion, pointlessness and terrible performances. Surely some mistake? Its original press performance, scheduled for 6^th December, was put back to 10^th January. Its running time has been cut from an original 1 hour 50 minutes, then to 1 hour 40 minutes; the programme states it will last 90 minutes, but the production we saw lasted 75 minutes. There’s clearly been a lot of slicing out of material – in fact, there are some characters listed under Cast in the programme who do not appear in the play, unless I nodded off during their spot. Nevertheless, I have no doubt that it is improved for being shortened; I’d much rather spend 75 minutes getting nowhere than 110.

This was the second time we’d seen a play in 2023 that showed much promise in the adverts but really wasn’t ready for public viewing by the time people were resting their bums on seats – yes, I’m looking at you, The Inquiry. But it is amazing how a talented and hard-working creative team can come together and create something that’s so lifeless, dull and incredibly confusing. Writer Paul Unwin has come up with a kind of Waiting for Poltergeist, but unlike Godot, the poltergeist does turn up every so often. Trouble is no one sees him except us, so we’re left with an unfunny version of the bench sketch in a panto where we shout Behind You! whenever the ghosts appear.

I couldn’t decide whether the writing was deliberately or accidentally confusing; suffice to say, we never really get to the bottom of whether spirit hunter Maurice Grosse is only there because he likes little girls – I can’t imagine what his remaining family and friends must think about the insinuations in the play. There’s also confusion about whether eleven-year-old Janet Hodgson, through whom the poltergeist makes his presence felt, is somehow linked to or a replacement for Grosse’s daughter (also Janet) who (genuinely) died in a motorcycle accident. What’s all that about?

However, it’s not all bad. There are a few nice moments of tension, and a few scenes lighten the mood with occasional humour. The set looks good, and the acting is all perfectly fine (well, nearly all). The role of middle-aged single mum Peggy Hodgson is something Catherine Tate could probably do in her sleep; it doesn’t stretch her in any way, but then again, it doesn’t need to. David Threlfall gives a more interesting performance as Grosse, a balance of kindly curiosity and otherworldly creepiness. Ella Schrey-Yeats is pretty scary as Janet, and Grace Molony is amusing as her challenging teenager sister Margaret, although both actors appear to be way too old to convincingly portray an eleven- and a thirteen-year-old.

My main takeaway from the show was that it simply felt like a great opportunity wasted. It should have been so much scarier, so much either funnier or more savage (depending in which direction you want to take it) and the end should be much more conclusive. It is, clearly, however, hugely better than when it first went on the road; and the moral, should you wish to look for one, is don’t keep the previous dead tenant’s armchair when you move in. Take it to the skip and you can avoid a lot of unpleasantness.