Reviews
Sweet Transvestite
Yes, it was marvellous, thanks. David Bedella, as Frank 'n' Furter, was absolutely fantastic, singing up a storm and appearing far sexier than a man in sparkly lip gloss and a basque ever should do. For some reason, Suzanne Shaw wasn't on last night and so the part of Janet (SLUT!) was played by Sarah Boulton, who was also excellent. Last night's performance was a special fundraiser for Amnesty International and so there were a fair few famous people knocking around the place. Before the show I had popped in to McDonalds for something to eat (yeah, I know, but I only had 10 minutes and I was starving) and noticed Vanessa Feltz chomping on a burger. Lovely. When I arrived at the theatre (rather overdressed - hardly anyone was in costume, the buggers), my friend was all agog at having just seen Richard O'Brien, who actually came on stage later for the final Time Warp. He hasn't changed a bit. Then when we sat down, who should come and sit next to us but Samantha Bond. She's teeny-tiny and my friend managed to make her laugh uproariously with one of his responses during the show (when Janet says, 'I don't like a man with a lot of muscles', he shouted, 'Just one big one!' Fnar.) I must say I was disappointed with the lack of dressing up. There were a couple of girls in gothic basques (not their usual wear, judging by how self-conscious they looked) and one guy who looked like a Bee-Gee dressed in a pencil skirt, tight tee-shirt and well-stuffed bra (he, on the other hand, appeared more than comfortable), but it would seem that most people had given the costumes a miss. I decided to keep my coat on until we had sat down and then discreetly draped it over my lap to cover the fact that I was wearing a very short skirt teamed with stockings, but I shifted position and dropped the coat accidentally at the interval, causing my friend to come over a bit unnecessary. Hehehe. It was really good to see that the musical director had made a conscious decision not to just do a carbon copy of the film. Each of the characters had made the parts their own, rather than just singing a karaoke version of the original, so it still seemed fresh, despite being over 30 years old. The staging was also marvellous and just the right side of kitsch to make it hilarious - the car approaching the castle was particularly inspired. All in all, therefore, a top night out and I highly recommend it.
|
|
|
Off The Rails
Off the Rails is a monthly comedy slot at the Railway in Clapham and I went along there last night. Yes, I went south of the river. It was scary, but I made it through and only got a little bit drunk - if anyone tells you anything to the contrary, he's lying. Ahem. So anyway, back to the comedy... The evening kicked off with Lee Bannard, who started the act by saying that he wasn't very well and looked like he was going to be sick at any moment. My partner-in-crime and I disagreed about this act - he really enjoyed it, while I had reservations about the performance. There was some good material and he did make me laugh, but I felt that the act was too scripted, certainly to start off with. He warmed into it, but I got the impression that he could do with some more experience. Good start to the evening, though. Next up was Joe Bor, who has an excellent line in observational comedy. Plus, he's cute. 'Nuff said. (What, you expect a rational review after I've been drinking gin all night and only had 5 hours sleep?) OK, seriously, he's very good - his act is slick, he's good with the audience and his material's funny. I was mercilessly ribbed by my companion, who spotted straight away that I wasn't immune to Joe's charms, but what's a girl to do when faced with a good-looking, talented and funny guy who states in the act that he's single? Sheeeesh. The next set held the first appearance of Simon Brodkin, a character comedian. I, along with quite a few people in the room, was unsure about this act. The character was a racist holiday rep, who delighted in making jokes about Alcoholic Assault night and the like. There were definite funny moments, but there were also quite a few points when he went too far. At one point he was heckled and, rather than moving on, he got stuck in a battle of wills which became really uncomfortable. It felt at the time like this was a lairy comic who didn't know when to give up, whereas in fact, on chatting to Simon afterwards, it transpired that it was totally about the character. He's a seriously good actor - bah, I am jealous. I think this act would probably have worked better in a larger room where the audience didn't feel so exposed; but it wasn't right for The Railway. Still, you live and learn. After a short break, the comedy returned with Matt Whiteley, who was, unfortunately, 4 or 5 pints down and underprepared. He had some good material, but he didn't make the most of it and seemed not to know which was his good and not-so-good stuff. He also has an arrogant stage persona which I feel alienates the audience. I'd like to see him when he's on form, as I'm told that when he is, he's good, but last night was not that time. Finally, Simon Brodkin reappeared as Lee 'Nelsy' Nelson, a nylon sports gear-clad chav character. It's a testament to how good his character work is that I honestly didn't have the first idea that he was the same guy that had played the holiday rep until I started talking to him after the show. The characters really couldn't have been more different - accents, verbal and physical tics, humour, the whole lot. I thoroughly enjoyed this character, who won the audience over right from the word go. He was chatty, lovable and knew absolutely how to work an audience, using material that had been gifted to him (Personal Finance Journalist haha), not just at the time of giving, but harking back and linking it in later on in the act. Brilliant stuff. Finally (yeah, I know I said that already, but this time I mean it), I must mention Adam Terry, who compered the whole evening. Very funny in his own right, he's a master of rolling with the punches and getting things going - the ideal host. He organises the Off the Rails evenings and if last night is anything to go by, then the next show will definitely be worth seeing.
|
|
|
Coram Boy
I went to see Coram Boy at the National last night. I intended to write a proper review, but I was awake too late and got up too early to be able to formulate anything coherent, so instead I shall just gabble madly about how wonderful it was. The staging is amazing and there are some fantastically chilling moments - in fact, I'd be a little wary of taking a 12 year old along to see it, which is the minimum age that the National recommends. It deals with some strong themes, including infanticide, in quite a graphic way, and I'm not sure that a 12 year old would appreciate this. There are dead babies. There are orphans. There is a teenage love affair. There is corruption. There is an onstage choir and orchestra. There is underwater swimming. I came out completely gobsmacked. The ending is, admittedly, somewhat saccharine - the play is based on a children's book by Jamila Gavin, and it ended far too pat and happily for my jaded tastes - but the cast and choir then sang the Halleluia Chorus as an encore, so all was forgiven. I came out with tears in my eyes and a feeling that I'd just seen one of the most exciting productions in ages. Seriously - go and see it.
|
|
|
The Alchemist
Directed by Nicholas Hytner and with a cast including Simon Russell-Beale, Alex Jennings, Lesley Manville and Ian Richardson, The Alchemist (currently playing at the National) was always going to be an odds-on bet for a good night out. Subtle, a pimp (Alex Jennings), Dol Common, a prostitute (Lesley Manville) and Face, a gentleman's valet (Simon Russell-Beale) are ensconced in Face's master's London house, which the Master has vacated due to fear of the plague. He is not expected to return until at least the end of the summer, and so our 3 ne'er-do-wells cook up a scam in which Face (posing as 'Captain Face') heads out to find gullible victims to lure back to the house, where they will be met by 'The Alchemist' (Subtle), who (they are told) is on the verge of making the Philosopher's Stone, which will cure all of their ills. Face also finds the odd trick for Dol to turn, and all 3 have a share of the takings.
This much, I confess, I had to pick up from the programme notes, as the combination of fast paced action and Jacobean language were sometimes hard to follow. Jonson introduces so many characters that it is hard to keep up, especially as there are different roles within roles - each 'gull' that comes in is met by an alchemist tailored to exploit their individual weaknesses. Quick changes are therefore the order of the day for Subtle, from Californian hippy to besuited Scottish doctor to new age druid. Face also plays various characters, including a hilarious Dutch scientist, togged out with leather gauntlets, flying goggles and wild hair, and sporting an exaggerated limp. Of course, the number of different characters that they have created leads them ever further into confusion, as their various dupes start crossing over, and the action quickly falls into ever more enjoyable farce, with confusion and double-crosses abounding. Madcap, funny and well-acted, this is a production that I will certainly be seeing more than just the once. Great stuff.
|
|
|
Edinburgh day two - evening
And so we move into the final stage of the Edinburgh saga, with three more shows for your delectation. First up was A Beginner's Guide to the Fringe. Some might argue I should have seen this show the day before, to prepare me for my marathon show-watch, but to them I say pish tush - I laugh in the face of good advice! Beginner's Guide is a two hander comedy, written by and starring Paul Beeson and Gemma Ryan, who play Alpha and Beta, a pair of strange, slightly alien tour guides. The show is a 50 minute race through all the various types of theatre that you might have inflicted upon you, along with dramatisations. It's very funny and well done, but veers very close to the bone in places, along with having strong sexist overtones. The best moment for me was the 'performance poet', reciting a poem about being given the clap by a girl he'd just met. At the start of the poem he mentioned something about going out looking for 'the lonely girls'. As I was sitting on my own in the front row I was fair target at this point and he nodded and leered in my direction. Reasonably amusing, but it then got funnier, as the poem transpired to be about a girl with red hair and green eyes. You could see the terror dawning on his face as he realised just how offensively this could all be construed and with a slightly nervous laugh he double-checked that I wasn't a reviewer. I left him hanging on that question. Heh.
After Beginner's Guide I pootled off to meet up with Valentia the Russian, who was taking part in an improv show at Gilded Balloon. Unfortunately I didn't get to see the show, but I'm going to stick my neck out and say that I'm sure they're very good - what are friends for if not to big up shows arbitrarily?
Next up was The Clan of Divorcées, apparently a hit comedy from Paris. Well, maybe it's funny in France, but it really wasn't in Edinburgh. Full of clichéd jokes about how useless men are and featuring a man in drag for some undiscernable reason, it was desperately outdated, far too long and I left before the end. Rotten. The last show of the evening - and, indeed, my visit - was Bat Boy: the Musical, performed by the Cambridge University Broadway Savoyards. I saw the West End version of this show last year and absolutely loved it, so was really looking forward to seeing what they did with it. Having heard them singing on the Royal Mile earlier in the day I had high hopes and so I raced over to the venue after the dreadful Clan of Divorcées and managed to squeeze in just as they were finishing the first number. My main criticism of the show would be that it was underpowered vocally. Admittedly I was sitting directly below the orchestra, so I was getting a bit of an unbalanced sound, but much of the time I couldn't hear what the soloists were singing, which was a real shame. The chorus work was fantastic and they could all evidently sing well, but they just didn't have the ballsiness required for this type of musical theatre. Having said that, however, the characterisations were all good and the story came across well, so I still enjoyed the show - I just came out feeling a little short-changed. All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed my all-too-short time in Edinburgh. I'm currently planning a trip for next year - and if I can persuade Valentia the Russian to (a) finish writing her play and (b) let me produce it I might even be doing a show, which you're all invited to come and see. Marvellous.
|
|
|
Edinburgh day two - afternoon
After the disappointment of Other People, I started to hunt for an internet cafe to try and find out more about the Rabbit mystery. There was an online conference happening in the Habbo Hotel and I was, to say the least, curious. Unfortunately, however, I didn't find an internet cafe until 5 minutes before the conference was due to kick off and I couldn't download Shockwave to get Habbo running. I therefore missed out on all the drama, when Dr Misnuneris was kidnapped by an evil avatar called Exskia and *cut by the anti-geek police* Ahem. So, anyway, I was talking about the shows I saw in Edinburgh. Yes. Next on my list was Voices in the Dark. I knew nothing about this show apart from the fact that the timings and venue would fit in perfectly with the show that I wanted to see at 1515, but these seemed as good reasons as any to see a show, so off I went. Wow. The show was a four-hander, performed by Ithaca College Theatre, an American university theatre group; and I was absolutely blown away by both the quality of the acting and of the script, which I gather was written by one of their students. Jim and Nancy are a pair of high-school students, hiding in a barn for the night before running away to New York to get married. Full of hope for the future, they discuss what will happen to them, drawing parallels between their situation and that of Romeo and Juliet, Nancy having just played Juliet in their school production of the play. Tragically, the parallels come all too true, when Ted and Barbra, an older couple, come into the barn in search of a safety deposit box belonging to the barn's elderly owners, which they believe holds thousands of dollars. The writer of the piece, Ellen Cribbs, describes the play as a 'romantic drama'. There are strong themes of love running through the piece, along with hopes and desires for the future, so from that point of view I suppose it is romantic; but for me it was a tragedy, as those hopes and desires were never realised. Beautifully written and hearbreakingly sad, I would expect to hear much more from both writer and actors in the future. Emerging from Voices in the Dark more than a little stunned, I had 15 minutes to gather my thoughts before going to see the next show, My Dearest Byron, which I had actually auditioned for many months ago. Written by the friend who wrote Hillbilly Goats Gruff, this was the show that I had really come up to Edinburgh to see. It tells the story of Lord Byron and his half-sister Augusta, who had an incestuous relationship which ended in 1816. It is largely made up from diary entries and takes the form of a narrative text, intermingled with sections of choreographed movement. I found the text a little bitty at times and would have preferred to see something a bit more flowing, but in a way the stilted format - scenes broken up with announcements of chapter numbers and dates - helped to enhance the feeling of the lovers constantly being watched and having to put on a show of manners for Society. Beautifully claustrophobic.
My final show of the afternoon was a musical called An Asylum on Every Corner, written by James Michalos and performed by Modus Operandi Theatre. Had I just read the blurb I think I would have given this an enormously wide berth - a musical. About a mental institution? REALLY?! - but it had been recommended to me by a friend, so I decided to give it a go, and am very glad I did. The 8 performers were, without exception, talented, slick and, above all, professional. One of the downsides to going to watch shows on the Fringe is that you see plenty of shows by amateurs and students. Quite often they're a lot of fun, but half the time you can't hear them or they've been hideously miscast. This was a completely different kettle of fish. The show focused on three patients: Samuel, a schizophrenic; William, who had bipolar disorder; and Marjory, who had OCD. Their problems were dealt with sensitively and the audience were really made to think hard about their preconceptions of mental illness. Other characters included an anorexic nurse and the megalomaniac owner of Ashford Dell. I didn't feel that these characters were dealt with so successfully - in particular the nurse's solo number, in which she slowly stripped down to her underwear, weighing herself as she went, was very unsympathetic and I just ended up looking at her as a spoilt, vain woman, rather than someone who was suffering from an illness. The male characters were, in general, rather more successful than the female ones - something for the writer to work on, methinks.
|
|
|
Edinburgh day two - morning
I had a specific plan for day two in Edinburgh and had written down all the shows I wanted to see, along with start and finish times. This may sound beyond anal, but when you're trying to fit in 9 shows in one day, as I was, it's a bit of a military operation! It all went tits up with the very first show,unfortunately, but that's what you get for trying to be organised when it comes to the Arts. I was planning to see Shakespeare for Breakfast, mainly because it meant I would get free coffee and croissants - what? I'm a penurious actor! - but C Venue's computer system decided to crash so they couldn't issue tickets in the crucial half-hour before the show went up. The start of the show was therefore delayed, which was going to have a knock-on effect on the rest of my day. I therefore reluctantly gave up on that one - at least it's a Fringe regular, so I can catch it another year, hopefully - and went off to try and get breakfast elsewhere before wandering over to see Hillbilly Goats Gruff, a children's show written by and starring a friend of mine. Hillbilly was a great laugh - I love children's shows, especially if I'm not the one performing in them. There were songs, dances and plenty of opportunities for audience participation. I may have got a little overexcited at points, but we draw a veil over that. The children seemed to enjoy it, anyway... After Hillbilly I went to see Other People, a two-man show about a pair of twenty-something male flatmates whose happy equilibrium playing computer games and drinking Tizer is upset when one of them meets a girl and decides to get married. There were some amusing moments, but unfortunately the flatmate sans girlfriend (who had the lion's share of the good lines) was so bloody annoying and mannered that it was difficult to concentrate on anything other than the desire to punch him in the face. He should stick to writing and leave the acting to the actors in future. Coming up: shotguns, sex and singing schizophrenics. Bet you can't wait.
|
|
|
[next page]
