Assassins - Review

Pleasance Theatre, London


**


Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Book by John Weidman
Directed by Louise Bakker

UPDATE - Since this review was published, Louise Bakker has made a change to the show's finale that significantly reduces the political skew referred to below

The cast in rehearsal

Done well, Stephen Sondheim’s Assassins is a work of political beauty, offering up a delirium of perspectives upon the assassins and would-be assassins who over the USA’s recent centuries have fixed a serving President in their sights.

Done badly however and it becomes an interval-free tedium. Notwithstanding some occasional strong performances from its cast of ten (many of whom are badly let down by appalling sound balancing), Louise Bakker’s production values are shoddy from the outset, with her politically skewed finale proving a nadir of naive and clumsy disappointment.

Jordan Clarke’s band however are outstanding, and the 2 stars awarded by this review are for his quintet. See this show if you enjoy listening to Sondheim’s music played superbly. Otherwise, avoid.

Runs until 8th April

Posh - Review

Pleasance Theatre, London

****

Written by Laura Wade

Directed by Cressida Carre

The cast of Posh

If you need convincing that women can be just as derogatory, obtuse and vulgar as certain men can sometimes be, get your bottom down to the Pleasance Theatre in Islington and check out Posh, the phenomenal play by Laura Wade, now with an all female cast who display such misogyny like it’s the most natural thing in our messed up world.

Guy (the eloquent Amani Zardoe) and Jeremy (Sarah Thom on fine aristocratic form) set the pompous scene as Godson and Godfather respectively, chatting away in the House of Lords about a dinner party that needs a little more oomph (complete with hip thrust) to propel Guy to presidential status of their university dining club known as The Riot Club. .

Current Riot Club president is James (Gabby Wong), the moral compass of the group even if he can down a bottle of wine. Then there is Verity Kirk’s quirky Ed, perhaps the most endearing of this group of twits. Kirk has the most incredible comic timing and displays an innocence that belies Ed’s drinking aptitude. It was a wonder that the rest of the group didn’t laugh at his inability to not say the first thing that pops into his wee head. Molly Hanson plays Toby, perhaps the only chap to give Ed the time of day outside the Riot Club dinner and who can not only not hold his liquor but does so in spectacular (and spooky) fashion.

The show is full of commanding performances from the ten leads, though sometimes one needs to spend more time with a character, if only to make their later outbursts more transparent.

All ten men think it right that they can act in this ridiculous and ridiculing manner, displaying the arrogance of that thought right upon the surface. Like the great politicians of… a while ago now, their personalities are only ever what’s expected, right down to Alistair’s incredible outburst concerning hating the poor and decrying the system which is perfect for his spiteful companions. His is the most heightened caricature here, played with relish by Serena Jennings, who Sarah Mills dresses in red chinos, no socks, and a blazer for the final scene back in Jeremy’s chamber.

Daring director Cressida Carre  takes her cast and gives them all the prominence their characters sorely desire, making excellent use of Sara Perks’ rotating stage and endless bottles of wine, quite a feat to orchestrate.

Posh is a fabulous show full of characters you’ll love to hate and a chance to laugh at Oxford’s (ahem) finest before they take over the country. For this, so Wade illustrates, is the way of it.

Runs until 22nd April

Reviewed by Heather Deacon

Photo credit: Darren Bell

Piaf - The Songs - Review

Pleasance Theatre, Islington

****

This review was originally written for The Public Reviews

Simply staged, with roses adorning two tables, and a white backdrop, Eve Loiseau as Piaf evoked “ the Little Sparrow” with a delightful precision and clarity in an evening that paid homage to the French legend. Opening with La Vie en Rose, Loiseau delivered Piaf’s classic with an authentic yet fragile strength and on closing one’s eyes, it was possible to truly hear the subtleties and nuances of Piaf’s timbre in Loiseau’s performance. The quality of her mimicry put me in mind of Tracie Bennett’s recent Garland, and Jane Horrock’s wonderful Little Voice.

The set list for the evening was well thought out and included most of Piaf’s classic hits, together with a sprinkling of lesser known numbers. At times, Loiseau interjected with stories of Piaf, marking out not only the singer’s achievements but also the tragedies of her difficult life.

But whilst the music and singing were superbly performed, the production as a whole was less than perfect. The show’s first half was beset with sound faults that should have been picked up in rehearsal and the backdrop was an extremely creased fabric. Much of the performance’s visual impact was created by back projected stills and grainy archive footage shone on to the backcloth and the poor quality of this screen created an air of unprofessionalism that the performers did not deserve. The lack of programme to credit the performers and creative team also did them a disservice.
Accompanying Loiseau were Fiona Barrow on violin, and Edward Jay on accordion. Their delightful performances were as evocative as those of the singer. The show’s overture and subsequent entr’acte, whilst perhaps a little too long, were delightfully atmospheric, lacking only the pungent smell of Gauloises to replicate the air of 1950s Paris.

Notwithstanding the various flaws, the show packed a punch. Act One included such gems as Padam Padam and Autumn Leaves and the second half built to a skillfully manipulated climax with Loiseau singing a feisty Milord, before closing the show with Piaf’s signature tune Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien, that had many of the audience clearly moved.

Loiseau treats her material with a combination of respect and excellence and she and her musicians are 5 star performers in a show that needs just a little tightening up. If you enjoy the Piaf sound, then go: you will not be disappointed.