Dead Funny - Review

Vaudeville Theatre, London


****

Written and directed by Terry Johnson

Katherine Parkinson, Steve Pemberton, Emily Berrington, Rufus Jones and Ralf Little

Terry Johnson deftly directs the West End revival of his 1994 play, a sharply observed often painfully funny dark comedy with several dramatic twists, as well as a good dose of slapstick and added custard pies.

The action takes place on the eve of the death of TV comic Benny Hill in 1992. The Dead Funny Society are a group of comedy enthusiasts, sharing a common interest in laughter. They regularly meet to re-enact classic sketches and celebrate the late great comedy masters such as Frankie Howerd, Max Miller & Eric Morecambe.

Richard, a consultant obstetrician is married to Eleanor. He routinely performs 5 hysterectomies a day and professes to not wanting to be touched "anywhere", to the frustration of his wife Eleanor who craves a baby. Katherine Parkinson's Eleanor, who often has the wittiest of lines, watches her marriage disintegrate before her eyes; the more she tries to connect with her husband, the more distant and cold he becomes. Rufus Jones's Richard, a stifled man-child of huge proportions, ignores the constant advances of his wife, even when lying fully naked on the floor whilst receiving relaxation "therapy", a scene so painfully funny that Jones should be awarded a West End medal for services to full frontal nakedness.

As Brian, Steve Pemberton commands the stage from his first entrance in a multi-coloured anorak clutching a Tesco carrier bag. A lovable aging mama's boy with a poignant vulnerability, Pemberton relishes every moment on stage, with a physical comedy that is as compelling as his perfectly timed one-liners.

Ralf Little and Emily Berrington play married couple and new parents Nick and Lisa. They embrace their membership of the Dead Funny Society but also have a fractured relationship which we discover is not all as it first seems. The emotional survival of all five characters is brought to stark reality with sharp repartee and often toxic verbal missiles.

As the only non-member of the appreciation society, Eleanor’s frustration at their antics is palpable. Parkinson portrays her with a sardonic charm and intelligence, only thinly veiling her pain. Her portrait is rooted strongly in reality, even in the sections of the play that offer more than a nod to the farces of Ray Cooney.

Johnson's play feels slightly old fashioned but that's more to do with the changes in comedy tastes in the past twenty odd years than his writing. Many of his throw way lines are utter gems, whilst when Eleanor speaks of her "tiny taps being turned off inside" Johnson piquantly reminds us just how well he can juxtapose painful drama right alongside hilarity.

A refreshing comedy that's a welcome addition to the West End. The stars cast in this play should have appreciation societies of their own.

Booking until 4th February 2017

Reviewed by Andy Bee

Photo credit: Alistair Muir

Drones, Baby, Drones - Review

Arcola Theatre, London


**

This Tuesday

Written by Ron Hutchinson and Christina Lamb

Directed by Nicolas Kent

The Kid

Written by David Greig

Directed by Mehmet Ergen

Anne Adams as Maxine

An evening of two short plays sandwiched between the verbatim thoughts of Reprieve’s Clive Stafford-Smith, Drones, Baby, Drones examines the psychologies at play behind the controllers of America's drone fleet. The texts look at both the Washington based elite who draw up the weekly hit lists for the missiles to be aimed at, and the pilots who actually fly the unmanned planes via remote control from an air force base just outside Las Vegas.

The first piece, This Tuesday is set in DC early one morning and is based around the build up to the White House weekly target meeting. The complexities set in as Maxine, a senior CIA official who is due to attend the meeting, learns of her daughter having been critically injured in a road crash (that's coincidentally witnessed by Meredith, the young intern/mistress of Doug, one of the Administration’s security advisers and another meeting attendee). The premise is clear, comparing Maxine’s love for her precious child with her disregard for the targetted victims, along with the associated collateral deaths, thousands of miles away. 

The second half's offering, The Kid, sees a social evening at the Nevada home of drone pilot Pete. His partner Shawna is newly pregnant and the joy and value in their unborn child is again contrasted with the lives of kids in the target zone. Intra-couple friction between the guests smoulders, sending the whole cheese and wine gig into a take on Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf mixed with a Stop The War meeting.

There are clearly sound dramatic and moral messages to be explored here, but both these plays' conceits are just too patronisingly obvious. Neither work is helped by Stafford-Smith's stated slant that all those involved in drone warfare, Britain's GCHQ included, are part of a modern-day Mafia.

Notwithstanding the cliched dialogue and blunt politicking. the acting is, for the most part excellent and Lucy Sierra’s design is imaginative. But the shows' arguments are naive and clumsy, lacking the precision of the Hellfire missiles that they're based around. Mercifully it’s all over in 90 minutes.

Runs until 26th November

Photo credit: Simon Annand

takis talks- Performance Designed

The musical Side Show that recently opened at London’s Southwark Playhouse, is another achievement for one of the most distinctive stage designers around. For several years now the reputation of takis (the lower case ‘t’ is deliberate) has acquired immense respect from theatre and opera producers alike. Having admired takis’ work for years, I am one of the few reviewers to have seen much of his work in both theatre and opera as well as a number of regional productions. 

Before Side Show opened, I spoke with takis to learn a little more about his designs for the show, as well as aspects of his other work, including In The Heights.

Side Show

JB:          I have to start with your distinctive name. Please enlighten me

takis:     Well, I am from Greece and it is a Greek name! It was there that my passion with the theatre commenced. I joined an amateur theatre over there and did a lot of work with them. Everything! Performing, choreographing, designing and from the age of 14 to 18 I spent one month a year in Italy doing ancient Greek drama, festivals and touring. That's how it all built up. Then when I was 16, I was like, "That's what I want to do, costumes and design!"

So I decided to study Fine Arts and Costumes in a very old fashioned academy in Bucharest, learnt Romanian and set off.

JB:          Is Side Show your first time back at the Southwark Playhouse since In The Heights?

takis:     Yes and designing the show has been a blessing and a challenge at the same time. A blessing, as the audience have an inclusive, immersive experience of a freak/vaudeville show and are able to observe closely the life journey of (the real life conjoined twins) Violet & Daisy Hilton played extraordinary by Laura Pitt-Pulford & Louise Dearman. On the other hand, having the audience that close you need to be as authentic as possible with the overall design and its details.

Designing real people and in our case ‘freaks’ has not been an easy task. My first challenge was the conjoining of the two sisters, we kept changing the device until Laura & Louise felt connected. We are not talking about only a simple costume connection, but something more anatomical. Their joining has an impact of how they move, dance and how both embodied the two sisters. After achieving the ‘connection’ we worked on how to make them look alike and how to create all the costumes around the achieved conjoined bodies. We had also to create the ‘freaks’, real people of the 1920s with physical abnormalities. The realisation of all the freaks (bearded lady, 3 leg man, pin cushion human, cannibal, lizard man, half man/half woman, tattooed lady, fortune teller/dolly dimple, dog boy) is based on each performer and period research. All the designs are driven by the physique and look of each performer. We experimented and tested ideas until each character came alive. To be fair, the only way we were able to achieve this was to have two extremely talented team members in Clare Amos (wardrobe supervisor) and Natasha Lawes (Wigs, Make up, Prosthetics & Tech-Fx Supervisor).

Moving to the set design; from the beginning we decided that the best configuration would be ‘in thrust’ which means the actual stage space is very limited. I had to create levels, entrances and exits and then, within that, incorporate 7 musicians & 14 cast members. I always design by responding to the actual architecture of the venue, making the space a friend rather than an enemy and I have tried to create a 1920s environment which can change from a freak show to a vaudeville stage.

With the metal structure, cladded with wooden plunks and lighting bulbs I tried to play with illusions, to exaggerate height and depth, create perspective compositions. All the wooden planks are connected but are taking different directions mirroring the characters of the 2 sisters. The metal, art deco circular shapes bring glimpses of the period style, but also illustrate the circles of life; from the full circle to the interrupted ones.

I am really proud of what we have achieved here.

Oliver!

JB:          Looking at some of your other work, tell me firstly about the Oliver! that you designed at Leicester’s Curve last year.

takis:     Well, I’d worked a lot with the director Paul Kerryson before, so I knew that we wanted to make sure that the understanding of the period was correct. We knew that it needed to be dark as well as brightly coloured.

We have the posh characters, so you want to help that number to really be strong, have silks. Then you have Fagin’s gang, the underground, where you have the ability to bring in a lot of textures and colours of the era. Then I will put some modern fabrics within that, some fabrics that you could question them if they are of the time, but as a feeling they will give you exactly that. I went with feelings and textures.

Then of course with the main characters, I always want to meet them. I want to see, "Who do I have? What is interesting of them?" Sometimes they have incredible eyes, they have a nose which you want to exaggerate, or they have a bosom, or they have a waist. Each performer has something to give you that is good to know. Sometimes you have a conversation with them. Sometimes you have to design much earlier before you meet them, but still I do a lot of research per individual, who are these people?

JB:          Tell me more about the importance of costume in your work.

Takis:     In Bucharest we learned costume through art and through dance. Much like a choreographer will learn the dances of the period, so we understood how dress changes in society according to the movements that they made and how they danced and so on.

Then we opened up the garments to see the patterns, sometimes deconstructing them into something else. Having worked with the opera in Rome for many summers, while I was studying I learned scenic paint, costume making and many other skills. I know the basics and the tools and then I twist them to suit my needs.

JB:          Explain more about your work in opera.

takis:     Opera and ballet are on such grand scales! I did a world premiere of ballet with The Little Mermaid and it took a year to design it. The scale was enormous. The vision there, in Scandinavia, was something that we don’t have here. They're really up for exploring.

The brief that they gave me was, “takis, we want a design that will bring the classic ballet into the future". So I brought in 3D projections, floors moving up, moving down, things coming in, flying people, flying through the auditorium, things coming out. There were 12 full sets, moving floors, lifts.

JB:          That sounds spectacular - what was the budget that you had to work with for that?

takis:     I never asked!

This year in particular has been very opera-focussed for me too with an elegant Die Fledermaus at Holland Park this summer and currently the English Touring Opera’s production of Ulysses’ Homecoming and La Calisto.

We push these works to different areas, genres and feelings according to where they are performed and for which audience and why. As with musicals, the music leads you. That's what I love now more and more in musicals, opera and ballets - the stimulation is via the music.

In The Heights

JB:          Coming back to musical theatre I want to ask you about In The Heights. When you first put it together at Southwark, what were your thoughts about the show? 

takis:     I think when we heard the music, we all went, "Wow!". It is a fusion of different cultures. It hits you. It's something that moves you. It moves your body somehow.

The thing that comes out for In The Heights is the heat and the sexiness if you like, that is around there. Also, the values of friends and family are all these elements that are familiar to me because strangely enough, these Latin values are very close to Mediterranean values. We might not dance Latin, but it's these kind of things that sometimes make you respond by dance.

At Southwark we kind of brought the audience in the three sides and then I had to work with the floor and the wall. It's not a big space and we wanted to keep the key locations. Then I played with the lights of the subway, kind of taking us a different direction, different houses, different lines of like, if you like. We see the life of a society, but the life of differing individuals and how they take this cross between each other. That's kind of what's strung for it. We play with bold colours and then I just had the idea to put in fluorescence and of course Howard Hudson is an absolutely incredible lighting designer. We always work so well together.

JB:          And the transfer to the Kings Cross Theatre and sharing the venue itself with The Railway Children. That must have been a fascinating challenge from a design perspective?

takis:     Yes and you’ve driven the train there haven’t you? So you realise what the space is there! How we change between the two shows within one hour has been an amazing challenge. It was more of an engineering designing rather than designing for a show.

I had to work with platforms that are 2 meters square. We put in fills, where the trucks are and then we roll out a dance floor that brings it all together.

I feel happy that we managed to do it, in the sense of we all wanted the show to come back and it's so good that it's back, with all the Oliviers and everything that happened to it. We all have put our souls in that show. It is one of the shows that from day one, we were like, "Yeah". We were like kids, you know how you feel, no matter what age you are. We had this energy in all of us and I think that comes across to the audience.


Side Show plays at  the Southwark Playhouse until 3rd December
In The Heights plays at the Kings Cross Theatre until 8th January 2017

Fool For Love - Review

Found 111, London


****


Written by Sam Shepard
Directed by Simon Evans

Adam Rothenberg and Lydia Wilson

“They fuck you up, your mum and dad” wrote Philip Larkin and it is precisely that sentiment that sits squarely at the heart of Sam Shepard’s Fool For Love currently playing at Found 111. The derelict former college, perched aloft the building site that currently masquerades as the Charing Cross Road, is an appropriately stark setting for this bleak piece of modern Americana. 

Shepard's 1980's work stunned audiences on both sides of the Atlantic and it makes a well timed return, his two young adults struggling with the unspeakable complexities of their desire.

Adam Rothenberg and Lydia Wilson are Eddie and May, the one-time lovers who can’t seem to tear themselves apart. As Eddie speaks of his dreams of a ranch in Wyoming, it becomes increasingly, devastatingly, clear that the couple's emotional landscape is likely to prove as barren and unforgiving as the Mojave Desert surrounding the shabby motel in which the entire 75 minutes action plays out.

Rothenberg and Wilson are commanding in their portrayal of passion and pain. They are well served by Joe McGann's Old Man, a leathery, gnarled cowboy with a secret, whose spirit hovers over the entire work. It is down to Luke Neal's Martin, a bumbling, regular kinda guy in innocent pursuit of May, to open a yawning chasm of horrors. 

Simon Evans directs thoughtfully (even if his doors slam too loud, too often) in this classy conclusion to the Found 111 season.

Runs until 17th December
Photo credit: Marc Brenner

The Last Five Years - Review

St James Theatre, London


****


Music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown
Directed by Jason Robert Brown

Samntha Barks and Jonathan Bailey

At the heart of almost every musical is the progression and development of a love story that can be often entwined with twists, turns and sub plots. Jason Robert Brown’s The Last Five Years however goes further than that, offering an audience the ambitious conceit of focussing solely upon the relationship itself and how, before their eyes, it simultaneously both forms and unravels.  

Opening with two lovers sharing a kiss, for Samantha Barks' Cathy, an aspiring actress it is her tragic last, while for writer Jamie, played by Jonathan Bailey it is a trepidatious first. And thereby hangs the bittersweet time-bending vortex of Brown's work. As his show plays out, Jamie's story runs forward in time, watching the relationship grow and then decay, as Cathy's perspective is in reverse, opening with the couple parting as their marriage ends – their two timelines only tanatalisingly coinciding at the "half-way" moment of their wedding day - and her story ending on the heartbreaking excitement of newly discovered love.

Both Barks and Bailey are magnificent, mastering the show's anti-romantic chemistry. With only the pivotal wedding day scene pitching them opposite each other in real time, rarely do they elsewhere even share the stage, with the plot's developments and its roller-coaster of emotions typically being played out in alternating solo numbers.

Barks tackles Brown's complex score with ease. Arguably as good as it gets, Barks' take on I Can Do Better Than That is a highlight of the evening, truly defining her as one of today's leading ladies. Equally, Bailey's quasi-autobiographical Jamie bursts onto the stage like a ball of fizzing testosterone, nailing the outer-cool veneer that masks a molten tumult of desire. The pair's comic moments come naturally, even when least expected, with the honesty in both Barks' and Bailey's work making the contrasts of heartbreak and hysteria even more poignant. 

In a rare treat for the capital, Brown himself has crossed the Atlantic to direct his work with an incisive precision. The set-up is clear from the beginning with a progression that is so carefully constructed that each step of this love story really leaves one wanting to discover the next chapter. For sure, Brown's beautifully detailed score does a lot of the work for the actors, but with the man himself directing, every nuance is sweetly elicited. 

For the most part the show is enhanced by Derek McLane's design. Two simple sets of typical New York window panes creating the sense of separation. Annoyingly though, other pieces of scenery awkwardly squeak their way on stage and are a minor distraction. 

Any score with such complex melodies demands a musical director that can give it life and with his 6 piece band. Torquil Munro does exactly that. With the majority of stand-alone numbers exceeding 5 minutes and limited text, The Last Five Years is no mean feat for both its actors and musicians alike. 

Already extended to December and with a stellar cast and the writer himself directing, this production of The Last Five Years is an exquisite display of musical theatre performance. A show for both connoisseurs and fans alike and not to be missed.

Runs until 3rd December
Photo credit: Scott Rylander

Side Show - Review

Southwark Playhouse, London


****

Book and lyrics by Bill Russell
Music by Henry Krieger
Additional book material by Bill Condon
Directed by Hannah Chissick

Louise Dearman and Laura Pitt-Pulford

Originally opening on Broadway in 1997 then revived in 2014, Side Show by Bill Russell and Henry Krieger finally finds its way to the London stage thanks to Hannah Chissick’s ingenious production now playing at the Southwark Playhouse.

Based on the true story of the Daisy and Violet Hilton– conjoined twins who became famous in the 1930s as a vaudeville double act – the musical follows the decade of their fame from its beginnings in Texas through to New York and ultimately their Hollywood debut.

Through their fascinating and unconventional lives, Side Show succeeds in engaging the audience with an open question about individuality and identity; the two girls’ struggle to just be themselves (or “Like Everyone Else” as they sing) is a never-ending controversial and painful process of auto-definition. The contradiction lies in their desiring to be two separate people, on the one hand and the fear of losing a deep part of their inner selves in doing so, on the other.

Bringing a fabulous pedigree to the show, its strong cast is led by Louise Dearman as a saucy and strong Daisy and Laura Pitt-Pulford who plays the sensitive and dreamy Violet. The two are the living embodiment of yin and yang, where the need to be accepted and the desire to live a normal life are intertwined with the sparkle of showbiz and they are utterly convincing in portraying the twins’ double act, especially in songs like “Buddy Kissed Me” and “Typical Girls Next Door”. Their male counterparts are equally impressive: Haydn Oakley is a rascally, charming Terry while Dominic Hodson is a naïve and controversial Buddy.

To deliver such a distinctive story the show can count on some striking songs, from the strongly energetic opening number “Come Look At The Freaks”, to the funny and entertaining “Very Well Connected” and “One Plus One Equals Three”, to the tender “Feelings You’ve Got To Hide” that clearly succeed in moving the audience.

Chissick guides her top-notch company through a virtually flawless production, thanks also to takis’ thought-provoking set which, in its simplicity cleverly alludes as much to the golden lights of the music hall as it does the harsh restraint of circus cages, alongside his glamorous costume designs. As ever, Howard Hudson's lighting plots excel, while Jo Cichonska keeps the band perfectly nuanced under her classy direction.

An uncommon musical infused with both uneasiness and joy, Side Show is a unique, rare experience that will stay with you long after the finale. Go and see it!

Runs until 3rd  December
Reviewed by Simona Negretto
Photo credit: Pamela Raith

The Exorcist - Review

Birmingham Rep


****


Written by John Pielmeier
Based on the novel by William Peter Blatty
Directed by Sean Mathias

Adam Garcia, Clare Louise Connolly and Peter Bowles

Unquestionably for over 18s and with John Pielmeier's adaptation retaining both the physical and verbal profanity of Blatty's shocking novel, the tale of 10 year-old Regan’s possession by the devil condenses well into Sean Mathias’ neatly staged two hour yarn. With Hollywood forever having been about make believe and impossible illusions - now more than ever in the age of motion captured CGI – it was always going to be a tall order translating classic horror from screen to stage. So there’s a well-earned hurrah (or should that be scream?) for this evening of hokum that's currently playing in Birmingham over the Halloween fortnight. As the audience take their seats the house lights are gradually built up to a full on brightness before plunging the auditorium into a shriek-filled darkness and we’re off.

If you know the story then it’s all familiar territory. If you don’t, there’ll be no spoilers here. Kicking off with a brief glimpse of Father Merron, the excavating exorcist, digging up a decidedly dodgy amulet somewhere in the Middle East (think Indiana Jones crossed with Lawrence of Arabia) the action shifts to a house in Washington DC’s Georgetown where our pre-teen protagonist has been discovering the delights of the Ouija Board and her apparently imaginary friend, Captain Howdy. It’s hellishly downhill from thereon.

The production could arguably have been called The Possessed, rather than The Exorcist. It's not until the second act that the titular Peter Bowles really starts earning his wage, cassock donned and holy water spurting. Prior to then the story is all about the poor possessed Clare Louise Connolly's Regan becoming increasingly demonized.

Make no mistake - Bowles gives Merron a worthy gravitas. Not easy, given that his character on stage is reduced to a little more than a paper thin caricature with acute angina. Likewise his earnest sidekick Father Karras (fine work from Adam Garcia) eases the narrative along commandingly, whilst Jenny Seagrove's Chris, Regan's despairing film-star mother does a fine job, steering her character just safe of melodrama. Nods too, for Tristram Wymark's head-turning performance as Burke, the drink-soaked film directing family friend and also for Mitch Mullen who's as dependable as ever in the modest role of Dr. Klein.

The acting honours however are all Connolly’s in a performance that is quite simply a tour-de-force. Yes - there are some clever special effects and ingenious projections (which could to be honest be a little tighter, especially that rather clunky projectile vomiting gizmo) with Anna Fleischle's design work and Ben Hart's illusions creating the story's disconcertingly hellish domestic setting. But it is the diminutive Connolly who makes the show. Whether she's either speaking or lip-syncing to Ian McKellen's vocalizing her inner demon, Connolly’s performance suspends disbelief and from a terrifying precipice at that, utterly convincing that she is a girl possessed. 

Forty years ago on screen, director William Friedkin had Linda Blair’s Regan do all sorts of cleverly horrific tricks, assisted by an FX army and days of post-production. Live on stage however it’s all about the acting and Connolly simply becomes a blond haired fiend before our very eyes. One can only hope that the UK Theatre Awards judging team have her performance in their sights. 

Neither for the squeamish nor the pretentiously highbrow, The Exorcist represents Bill Kenwright at his very best, staging wonderfully entertaining theatre. And Clare Louise Connolly's Regan is unmissable!

Runs until 5th November

Photo credit: Robert Day