Tag Archives: Cathy Tyson

Review – My Fair Lady, Curve Theatre, Leicester, 4th December 2024

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Artistic Director of the Curve Theatre, Nikolai Foster, has assembled a tremendous cast and team to present this year’s Curve Christmas show, that perennial favourite, My Fair Lady. Mr Foster has the ability to take a much-loved show and breathe fresh life into it, whether it needs it or not. His touring production of Grease was one of the highlights of this year, ironing out all the excesses that have become attached to it since it first appeared in the 70s by going back to the original. His hugely successful production of A Chorus Line from 2021, revived this summer, brought Zach the choreographer closer to the action and created a masterpiece of a finale; but also had the immensely annoying (and anachronistic) hand-held camera which destroyed the visual effect of many of the routines. So what will Mr Foster do to put his mark on (in my humble opinion) Lerner and Loewe’s finest two-and-a-half hours?

Answer: many things, and some of them work and some of them don’t. This My Fair Lady is presented on a truly grand scale. The Curve stage is a big place at the best of times, but Michael Taylor’s set is off the scale. The front door to Henry Higgins’ Wimpole Street home is located on a curve (no pun intended) round to furthest downstage left so that it’s aligned with row D of the stalls. The entrance to the pub is opposite, furthest downstage right. Higgins’ room has two staircases going up, creating additional acting space on landings way up high; and parts in the middle to open up and reveal further space way, way upstage. This production is nothing if not big.

However, some of this defies any environmental logic. For example, hopelessly in love Freddy waits outside the front door to catch a glimpse of Eliza whenever she leaves the house – but when she goes off to the ball with Higgins and Pickering she leaves through the upstage part of the set – thereby avoiding the front door where we can clearly see Freddy still pining. Surely they didn’t use the tradesmen’s entrance?

And that front door…. Sigh! Every time someone leaves Higgins’ room, there’s a fifteen second pause from when they exit the stage to their going in or out of the front door. That’s a front door with a very noisy slam. The noise creates a disturbance that takes your attention away from whatever is happening on stage. If it’s just a simple conversation, well, you can overlook it. But – for example – Mrs Pearce leaving Eliza to perform the luscious second chorus of I Could Have Danced All Night with a rotten great door slam in the middle of it is simply unforgivable. If you must have that front door, please fix a silent closing mechanism!

In fact, this production is a good example of revealing when less is more, and an over-egged pudding can be detrimental to the overall effect. Not a word of criticism for George Dyer’s splendid band but the music is simply over-orchestrated. Not only is it too loud and drowns out much of the singing, but it’s somehow just too detailed and full-on. An odd criticism of a musical I know, but frankly this production just has too much music. Too many notes, as Salieri says of Mozart in Peter Shaffer’s Amadeus.

This is often emphasised by the performance of David Seadon-Young as Higgins. Mr Seadon-Young is a great singer. Boy, can he whack out a number! He’s about as diametrically opposite of Rex Harrison as you could imagine, who talked his way through all his songs. When I think back of previous Higgins’ that I’ve seen on stage – Tony Britton at the Adelphi, Alex Jennings at Drury Lane – they adopted the largely talking style of performance. Only Dominic West at the sensational Sheffield Crucible production in 2013 did “proper” singing. But David Seadon-Young has musical theatre coursing through his veins and achieves notes and melodies that I never realised lurked beneath the surface of songs like Why Can’t the English or I’m an Ordinary Man. However, it often feels like a battle between him and the orchestra to nail the number rather than them working in tandem. Whilst I’m in the mood for criticism, the Ascot Gavotte is also overdone; Mrs Higgins’ over-the-top companions were pantomime posh and the horses – jockeys on hobby-horse toys – were just plain silly.

But – there are many directorial decisions that work extremely well. Stressing Pickering’s Indian associations, with both his domestic attire and his super-smart society ball costume, works perfectly with Minal Patel’s subtle and entertaining performance. And by characterising him as having a real mancrush on Higgins – perhaps even a little more than that – really makes sense. I’ve never understood in previous productions why Pickering is so attached to Higgins and the elocution process, in which he doesn’t really play an active role. But if he’s besotted with him, then it all falls into place.

There’s no hiding the brutality of the treatment of Eliza – we’ve always known the misogyny is there and that Higgins is a spoilt brat when it comes to his mistreatment of Eliza; but it’s very firmly emphasised in this production, frequently making you feel uncomfortable. It’s superbly presented in You Did It, where Eliza’s elation at her success at the ball progressively diminishes from her expression as Higgins and Pickering celebrate and congratulate each other and all the household staff without ever a word or a glance at her. This younger, super-indulged Higgins comes across as despicable in many ways, which is an interesting challenge for the audience. However, (spoilers, and all that) David Seadon-Young’s excellent characterisation reveals him to be, like all bullies, a pathetic wretch when confronted; and his rendition of I’ve Grown Accustomed to her Face ends with him curled up and bawling his eyes out as he realises that he’s driven away the only person who could ever love him. It’s incredibly moving. It does, nevertheless, make you question exactly why this Eliza, a shrewd, intelligent, confident young woman, decides to take him back. Looking to the future, I can’t see that this relationship is going to last.

Steve Furst is a very enjoyable Alfred P Doolittle, nicely manipulative and full of comedy; his leading the ensemble in With a Little Bit of Luck is certainly a highlight of the show. Djavan van de Fliert is thoroughly convincing as the useless but engaging Freddy, taking full control of the iconic On the Street Where You Live, as well as his silent but excellent physical comedic reactions to Eliza’s rendition of Show Me, for me possibly the most effective staging of any song in the show, perhaps due to its relative simplicity. There’s excellent support from Sarah Moyle as Mrs Pearce and Cathy Tyson as Mrs Higgins, both beacons of sense in a very mad world.

But Molly Lynch as Eliza is undoubtedly the star of the show, with her immaculate singing, precise diction and emotional characterisation. The packed audience were completely engaged in the performance throughout and gave it a very positive reaction; and My Fair Lady will be a welcome Christmas present from the Curve until 4th January 2025.

4-starsFour They’re Jolly Good Fellows!

Review – Rebus: Long Shadows, Royal and Derngate, Northampton, 5th November 2018

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Of course I know about Ian Rankin. Everyone does. Of course I’ve heard about Inspector John Rebus of the Glasgow Police. Absolutely. But… you can guess, can’t you, gentle reader, I’ve never read any of his books or encountered Rebus in any format until last Monday evening in the intimate charm of the Royal Theatre in Northampton, where Rebus: Long Shadows has come for a week as part of its UK tour.

I wondered whether I should find out a bit about this famous Scottish cop in advance of the show – but in the end I decided to let the play talk for itself, so Mrs Chrisparkle and I both went into it with absolutely no preconceptions. It’s not an adaptation of an existing novel, but a new work, taken from a story that Rankin devised for the play but then passed to, and was written specifically as a play by, Rona Munro, responsible for those fascinating James Plays a couple of years ago.

Late one night, Ex-Detective Inspector Rebus chances upon a young woman on his staircase, who turns out to be the daughter of a woman murdered years ago. The local police messed up the investigation so that her murderer was never caught. Although Rebus is no longer on active duty, he decides to follow up a few loose ends to try to solve the case. At the same time, Rebus’ protégé DS Siobhan Clarke is involved with another case, where another young woman was murdered in the past, and also not solved. The two investigations end up converging, with all roads leading to Rebus’ nemesis, Big Ger Cafferty.

Ti Green, whose design for the recent production of Touching the Void was so dynamic and inventive, has here created an ultra-grey and depressing world, dominated by a grim set of steps in the centre of the stage, and a dour flat furnished with only grey office filing cabinets and featureless walls. If the intent was to express a minimalist, depressing environment, she certainly achieves that! Occasional touches of the outside world appear, such as inside the traditional local pub, and the splendour of Cafferty’s drinks trolley. Robin Lefevre, who’s directed more plays than I’ve had hot dinners, has concentrated on making the character of Rebus centre stage throughout, and Charles Lawson’s performance is pretty impressive. He’s an honest, thoughtful, diligent and, at heart, a kind man, but with a rough exterior and a gruff voice that made Mrs C think she had been transported to an old episode of Taggart. His ungainly stance and quirky character make him intriguing to watch – although I absolutely hated that final tableau right at the end of the play; the light illuminating Rebus’ quizzical expression as he perched atop the staircase crossed hero-worship with pure hokum.

John Stahl is superb as Cafferty, a menacing but privileged presence, dispensing glasses of £650 per bottle claret like it was Tesco Everyday Value; a Glaswegian underworld Vinnie Jones with the keys to Fortnums wine cellar. Mr Stahl really impresses with the character’s sly-and-shiftiness, and clever manipulation of all situations to his own benefit. I also very much enjoyed Dani Heron and Eleanor House’s virtual double act as the ghosts of the two dead girls, pressurising Rebus’ conscience to put right the wrongs of the past. Neil McKinven has the arduous task of taking on five roles, and successfully gives each one their own characteristics so we’re never confused as to who he’s taking on at any one time.

But it’s with Cathy Tyson that this production seems to go a little awry. Not with Ms Tyson herself, I should say; she gives a strong, clear, determined performance, just as you’d expect from someone of her experience and skill. However, if she’s Rebus’ protégé, she never shows it; there’s no sense of respect or admiration for him. And there’s no light and shade in her reading of the role; she seems set on 6th gear turbo drive throughout so you don’t get a sense of her character, she’s just a cop doing a cop’s job. I couldn’t decide whether that was a fault of the writer, the actor or the director. But somehow it just didn’t quite feel right.

Although I had a few reservations – including a very unconvincing stage fight – it’s still an entertaining story and a diverting way of spending an evening. We found ourselves enjoying it despite itself, if you get my drift. It hasn’t piqued my curiosity to plunder Rankin’s back catalogue though – and I’d rather hoped it would. After its time in Northampton, the tour continues to Aberdeen and Guildford.