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

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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 4th place in the Chrisparkle Awards for Best New Play in 2022. And I’m delighted to say the show is looking healthier than ever!

JennyThe 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!

SamAnna 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.

Jenny and SamIt’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.

LaurenThere 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.

BenThe 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.

Lauren and BenThis 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

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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 10th January 2023 to 9th 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 3rd 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 2nd 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 1st 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 2nd 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 1st 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 4th place, the explosively unpredictable President Obonjo (Comedy Crate – October)

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

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

In 1st 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 4th place, a wonderfully intimate production of a challenging show, the beautiful Pacific Overtures at the Menier Chocolate Factory, London, in December.

In 3rd 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 2nd 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 1st 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 5th place, Amy Herzog’s funny and emotional look at the oddest of odd couples, 4000 Miles, at the Minerva Theatre, Chichester, in June.

In 4th 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 3rd 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 2nd place, Isobel McArthur’s hilarious reworking of Jane Austen’s classic, Pride and Prejudice* (*sort of) at the Festival Theatre, Chichester, in February.

In 1st 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 4th 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 3rd 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 2nd place, Headlong’s brilliantly pared back and taut production of Shakespeare’s Henry V, at the Royal and Derngate Theatre, Northampton, in March.

In 1st 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 5th place, Tim Hardy for The Trials of Galileo (Greenside @ Infirmary Street)

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

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

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

In 1st 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 5th place, a cracking show based on advice to her 14 year old self, Sooz Kempner with her Y2K Woman show (Underbelly Bristo Square)

In 4th 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 3rd 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 2nd 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 1st 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 5th place, Hannah-Jane Fox as Nellie Hornby in Close Up at the Menier Chocolate Factory, London, in October.

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

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

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

In 1st 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 5th place, Steven Serlin as Norman Hornby in Close Up at the Menier Chocolate Factory, London, in October.

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

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

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

In 1st 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 5th place, Tuppence Middleton as Elizabeth Taylor in The Motive and the Cue, National Theatre, Lyttelton Theatre, London, in May.

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

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

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

In 1st 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 4th place, Greg Wise as Tobin in Never Have I Ever, at the Minerva Theatre, Chichester, in  September.

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

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

In 1st 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

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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 startand 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 21st 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 14th January, and we’re already being lured into the prospect of a 2024 panto in December. Can’t wait!

Five Alive, Let Theatre Thrive!

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

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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.

4-starsFour They’re Jolly Good Fellows!

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

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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 6th December, was put back to 10th 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.

Two Disappointing For More!

Review – Backstairs Billy, Duke of York’s Theatre, London, 27th December 2023

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Every year for the last ten years – apart from in 2020, *obvs* – we’ve taken a trip to the capital for a few nights between Christmas and New Year to take in some shows and hit the London sales. And our first target of the 2023 season was Marcelo Dos Santos’ Backstairs Billy, a refreshingly amusing couple of hours spent in the company of the Queen Mother, her faithful servant and a couple of racing corgis. Dos Santos’ Feeling Afraid as if Something Terrible is Going to Happen was one of the big hits of 2022’s Edinburgh Fringe so I was keen to see some more of his work.

William Tallon – or Billy to his friends – was recruited into the Royal Household at the age of fifteen, and twenty-seven years later became Page of the Backstairs in Clarence House, a position he held until the Queen Mother’s death in 2002. The play is primarily set in 1979, and we see Billy taking complete charge of the minutiae of the Queen Mother’s daily living – her entertaining guests, her planning her day, her deciding what to eat, and so on. We also see how he gets on with the Queen Mother’s secretary (not very well) and other members of staff over whom he holds great sway. It’s a way of life that works well for both page and royal, but when a gentleman caller by the name of Ian becomes something of a tricky overnight guest, relations with the QM also get a little strained.

It’s an enjoyable play with nicely drawn characters – even the minor ones – that makes you both laugh and – not quite cry, but you do feel sadness coming through from time to time. It escalates to some moments of unexpected and delightful farce, such as when an artwork, which is unmistakably a dildo, keeps cropping up in unwanted and royal hands. Ian masquerading as the Prince of Lesotho provides a very funny scene of mistaken identity which is played beautifully. And there’s also a very poignant scene with the ageing Lady Adeline who can’t understand where Bertie has gone, much to everyone’s nicely handled awkwardness.

But this isn’t all just drawing-room comedy; there is a dark side to the play, which I didn’t feel was either fully believable or comfortable to watch. The Queen Mother has her own way of taking Billy down a peg or two and showing him who’s boss. When his gay escapades start to intrude on the integrity and indeed security of the Royal Household, and she appears publicly to disapprove of his wanton sexual behaviour, she punishes him with a pretty revolting task designed purely to humiliate him. However, we’ve already seen her when they were both younger, back in 1952, when Billy first came into her service, encouraging him to wear a Royal tiara and necklace and to explore in his gayness. In modern parlance, she groomed him; and there’s a significant disconnect between her treatment of Billy then and in 1979. If this is meant to show that her own attitudes to homosexuality have changed over the years, it doesn’t work; it comes across as simply inconsistent.

You can absolutely believe that we are in the Garden Room at Clarence House with Christopher Oram’s stunning set – immaculately tasteful and regal, and with a huge amount of consideration going into the positions of the floral bouquets. Tom Rand’s costumes for the Queen Mum are elegant, practical and are precisely how you would expect her to have dressed at home. In fact, all aspects of the production are superbly done.

Penelope Wilton leads the cast as the Queen Mother and it’s a role in which she revels. You get the feeling that the QM is so used to public life that she never really has a private moment in which to be herself; it’s a delicate, measured, considered portrayal, with no words ever out of place or wrongly delivered, even when she’s talking to herself. And of course Dame Penelope has terrific timing that beautifully exploits all the comic possibilities of the script. She is matched by Luke Evans as Billy, an imposing, authoritative stage presence who flips perfectly from being the respectful servant to the intimidating boss with ease, and always with a touch of flamboyance.

Iwan Davies is excellent as new household recruit Gwydion, all nervous hunched shoulders and painfully out of his depth, Ian Drysdale is also superb as the no-nonsense secretary Mr Kerr, always on hand to reprimand Billy for any misjudgements, and there are great supporting performances from all the cast, especially Eloka Ivo as the unpredictable Ian and Ilan Galkoff as the wet-behind-the-ears but keen young Billy.

A crowd-pleaser of a show that looks absolutely perfect in all respects and tickles our memories and any preconceptions we may have had of the Queen Mother, more than twenty years after her death. Terrific performances, and Mr Dos Santos is rapidly becoming a playwright to seek out.

 

 

4-starsFour They’re Jolly Good Fellows!

Review – Christmas Comedy Crate at the Charles Bradlaugh, Northampton, 21st December 2023

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Christmas Comedy Crate gigs are like buses – you don’t get any all year round and then two come along within a week of each other! A super packed house at the Charles Bradlaugh had a brilliant night of it with not four but five funny people to send us into the Festive Season with thoroughly tickled ribs.

Our MC for the night was Paul Revill, and he is totally ace at the job. He has a warm and reassuring style that lulls you into telling him all the things he wants to know and then turns them around into fantastic comedy. Poor 18-year-old Seb was centre front row and found himself the subject of a lot of attention; and I loved Paul’s comedic response to discovering that an audience member worked for Specsavers. Whether it’s comparing favourite Quality Streets or deciding which part of the body will give the love, he keeps the whole thing moving at a cracking pace and made us all feel completely at home.

Our first act was Josh Pugh, always an unpredictable, sparky comic presence, with a lovely sense of the ridiculous and a misleadingly accomplished delivery. He has great material about being a new father, and excellent observations about the attitude progression from parent to grandparent – and everything he says is absolutely true. He sets up a great relationship with the audience and you know from the start you’re going to have a great time in his company. A superb way to start the evening.

A slightly different structure to this show, we then had two comedians after the first interval, and both were new to us. First up was Nuala Ryan, a slightly more mature pocket rocket of a comedian, with an appealing likeable presence and some good material about relationships as you grow older – or the lack of them. Thoroughly entertaining and lots to laugh at!

Next was Jin Hao Li, a remarkable new find in the comedy world; a young man with a softly surreal approach to his material, incredibly quirky, deceptively benign and with the ability to twist a story in a totally unexpected direction at the turn of a hat. Unsettling at first, but once you get his drift, he’s completely hilarious.

Our headliner was Matt Richardson, who hits the ground running with a sequence of great comic material about married life and parenting. He has terrific routines about men dealing with tampons and no longer being able to decide for themselves what time they go to bed, and they’re hilarious in both their inventiveness and their accuracy. To be fair, he did give us quite a lot of the same material as the last time we saw him, but it’s so good it’s always worth a re-run!

Thanks to the Crate team for bringing so much comedy to Northampton and its environs, and we look forward to another jam-packed year of laughter in 2024!

Review – Beauty and the Beast, Lyceum Theatre, Sheffield, 16th December 2023

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There’s something about the Sheffield pantomime that simply beats the competition. Whether it’s the presence of the redoubtable Damian Williams as the dame, or the uniquely excited audience who know precisely what is expected of them, or the history of variety that seeps through the very brick of the theatre itself, I haven’t a clue. What’s je ne sais quoi in South Yorkshire speak? Summat in t’watter?

This year’s Evolution Productions show is Beauty and the Beast, not a story I particularly associate with panto, but it works very well despite some obvious differences with most other examples of the genre. There’s no wicked queen; Nightshade has cast her evil spell long before Curtain Up. There’s no vulnerable, put-upon sad young princess; our Belle is a fighter who knows her own mind and no Beast is going to scare her. In a twist to the usual panto ending where a Prince Charming has to kiss a sleeping princess to break the spell, in Beauty and the Beast it’s the young girl who has to profess love to the man to get the same result. Sexual equality in Pantoland?

As you would expect, the production is full of top quality elements that make your fingertips tingle with pleasure. Great music from Uncle Alex Turney and his band scattered around all four of the Lyceum boxes, lively costumes and sets, enjoyable choreography from Sarah Langley, and a script by Paul Hendy that is jam-packed with humour.

There are – of course – the barrow of puns, the haunted bench, and Madame Fillop’s search for a new boyfriend in the audience. For our performance that special honour went to Jim, who played along with the fun perfectly, and who donned the required blonde wig and pink outfit to make him look like Ken to La Fillop’s Barbie. When he came up to the front to do the final routine with Philippe, he looked for all the world like Rod Stewart.

And then there are the performances, each of which bring their own special magic to the proceedings. Bessy Ewa is Belle, full of courage and a sense of fun; she’s also terrific at the song and dance, and really brings the character to life. Jennie Dale plays Cupid – the equivalent of the Fairy Godmother in this show – an ebullient presence of kindness and mischief. Max Fulham is superb as Phillipe, with his sidekick monkey, Gordon; as well as getting himself absolutely soaked with sloppy cake ingredients, he proves himself to be a pretty versatile ventriloquist too.

Damian Williams is, as always, the embodiment of the fat bloke in a dress, outrageously sending up every scene and everyone he shares the stage with, and flagrantly exploiting his matchless connection with the audience. It just wouldn’t be the same without him. Duncan James nails the sexual arrogance of Danton, every girl’s dream, not to mention some of the chaps’; fobbing off implications that he’s H from Steps, or that all Blue’s songs sound the same.As you would expect, he carries off many of the big numbers in the show with his terrific presence and voice, and brings a lot of humour to the proceedings. For the adults, there’s an unexpected and very amusing nod to bi-visibility at the end of the show that had me in hysterics. The six members of the ensemble all give excellent support as disparate villagers, marauding wolves and the Beast’s household.

But I had no idea that I would be so moved by the performance of Aidan Banyard as the Beast/Prince Henri. Singing Queen’s Somebody to Love with existential anguish, bemoaning his fortune in the drenching rain,pouring his heart into You Will Be Found, he has a superb presence and an astounding voice. Mr Banyard is going places – or he should be.

This panto is the crème de la crème. You’ve got till 7th January to see it; and we’re already booked for Snow White next December.

 

 

Five Alive, Let Theatre Thrive!

Review – White Christmas, Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, 16th December 2023

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Our regular Christmas visit to the Sheffield Theatres has already come upon us, as Mrs Chrisparkle and I took Lord and Lady Prosecco up the M1 for the usual two-show feast of fun. The panto would have to wait until the evening but at 2pm we were part of a sold out audience to see Paul Foster’s production of Irving Berlin’s White Christmas.

Yes, this old war horse comes around every Christmas, and everyone knows it off by heart. Everyone, that is, except me, who had never seen it before and knew nothing about it apart from its rather well known title song.  Because it’s such a hardy perennial, I have always thought there’d be another opportunity to catch it next year; and therefore still haven’t. So don’t ask me how similar it is to the film because I haven’t a clue.

Although the plot is wafer-thin, the show itself radiates feelgood warmth, and I’m not surprised people keep coming back to it year after year. Bob and Phil are talented military entertainers during the war and enjoy a successful showbiz career afterwards. After auditioning the Haynes sisters to join their act, Phil falls head over heels with Judy Haynes but Bob and Betty Haynes don’t have that initial chemistry. The boys follow the girls to an engagement in a hotel in Vermont, which they are amazed to discover is owned by General Waverly who was their commanding officer during the war. The hotel is losing money fast, but can the talents of Phil, Bob, Judy and Betty turn its fortunes around? And will Bob and Betty find the same love that Phil and Judy seem to have?

Like Kiss Me Kate, much of the show is based on preparing and rehearsing another show; they didn’t quite use the phrase hey why don’t we do the show right here in the barn, but it was a close thing. A side effect of this structure is that you can insert songs into the show that don’t have anything to do with its natural flow. That’s one of my pet hates, because it tends towards creating a stop-start show, rather than flowing organically.

However, unlike Kiss Me Kate, which must be one of the world’s best ever musicals, although White Christmas has a few fantastic songs, there are also some numbers that are slightly underpowered. In addition,  Let Me Sing and I’m Happy and How Deep is the Ocean were both originally written for Al Jolson in the 1930s; Let Yourself Go is from the musical Follow the Fleet, Happy Holiday from Holiday Inn, and I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm is from On the Avenue. Of the great songs in the show, only Sisters is originally from White Christmas, so there’s been a fair deal of pilfering and plundering from the Irving Berlin songbook of other shows to create this production.

When I saw that the choreography was by Alistair David, I knew we would be in for a dancing treat as his is the safest pair of jazz hands regularly contributing to the Crucible shows. Exhilarating, expressive and always using the maximum space that the stage allows, there are some terrific set piece dance sequences, probably none finer than the opening to the second act with I Love a Piano. Alex Parker’s richly proportioned orchestra whacks out the tunes with gusto and enthusiasm, and Janet Bird’s designs have a splendid period feel.

George Blagden and Stuart Neal are superb as the two army hoofers; Mr Neal in particular steals the show with his ebullient tap routine. Natasha Mould and Grace Mouat give fine performances as the two “devoted sisters” Judy and Betty, and there is solid support from the always fantastic Danny Collins as Sheldrake and Ewen Cummins as Waverly. At our performance,young Susan was played by ten-years-old Renee Elliott-Latif and she was fantastic. But it’s Sandra Marvin whose performance as Martha leaves you wanting more, with her wonderful comic timing and powerfully emotional voice.

I have to admit to being a little underwhelmed by the show itself, but it’s a top quality production and performed to the highest standard throughout. And it’s going to pack out the Crucible right up until its final performances on 13th January!

 

4-starsFour They’re Jolly Good Fellows!

Review – Christmas Comedy Crate at the Charles Bradlaugh, Northampton, 14th December 2023

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A packed house at the Bradlaugh yesterday saw a line-up that had changed over the weeks almost as frequently as we’ve had Prime Ministers, such is the world of live entertainment – you can never quite guarantee who you’ll be seeing! Nevertheless, the line-up looked extremely promising, as indeed it absolutely turned out to be.

Our host for the evening was local lad, Moulton’s own Ben Briggs, who loses no time trying to get to know the audience members. I think it’s fair to say he came up against some resistance with Dave, also from Moulton; but that was before any of us became acquainted with Ellie, who was shall we say not backward in coming forward. Both would feature quite a lot throughout the whole evening. It could have been worse – we might all have been from Newmarket (where Mr B proudly performed last week to several walkouts). There’s something about his faux-aggressive style that gets 90% of the crowd on his side but risks alienating the other 10%; as a result, we probably went into the first act with a slight nervous edginess to the atmosphere.

That first act was the excellent Ian Smith, a down-to-earth chap with a lovely sense of the ridiculousness of life which he uses to create some great comedy observations. Goole’s finest, he filled us in with the art of spotting benefit fraud, the optimum positioning for hands-on-hips, the dangers of Blackpool hotel bedrooms and the lengths some people will go to in order to complain to the BBC. If you’d seen Ian’s previous appearances courtesy of the Comedy Crate, then all this material would have been familiar to you, but fortunately it’s all good enough to enjoy the reminder, and his delivery is always spot-on. An excellent start to the evening.

Second up, and the only act who was new to us, was Laura Smyth, and what a fantastic entertainer she is. Larger than life and full of attack, her material comes from the familiar environment of one’s extended family – in her case husband, mother and daughter – but with such a fresh slant and a delightful honesty. I loved her observations about the McCanns and the state of sexual relations with her husband after ten years of marriage. She can literally have you shaking with laughter. Brilliant content and fantastic delivery, she truly nailed it.

Our headliner was Thomas Green, whom we had seen at the Comedy Crate Weekender only five months ago where he had previewed his End of Daze tour. He has an almost iridescent presence on stage, a big bundle of Aussie enthusiasm who Tiggers his way around the crowd, pouncing on anything and everything that the audience throws at him. This included Kate, who travelled around Australia for a year, but it took two years; that delightful moment of insanity fuelled so much of his routine. He has such a quick and sharp comic brain, which allows him to insert prepared sequences into his current impromptu conversations with audience with amazing ease. Whether he’s surviving Australian spiders, or falling in love with the first British accent he hears only to discover he set the bar low, his material is always ecstatically funny and was also completely different from the routines he gave us last time he was in Northampton. Definitely one of the top comics in the UK today, and a terrific way to bring the night to a conclusion.

That’s Comedy Christmas Part One at the Bradlaugh completed; can’t wait till Part Two comes around next Thursday!