The Boat Factory

Kings Head Theatre, London

*****

Written by Dan Gordon

Directed by Philip Crawford

Michael Ondron (l) and Dan Gordon

The Boat Factory is that fine and rare piece of modern theatre. It’s a simply staged two-hander about the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast. But where Roald Dahl has used a fictional chocolate factory to tell morality tales, Dan Gordon takes strands of historical fact and weaves them into the most beautiful yarn. The Boat Factory didn’t just dominate East Belfast, it provided the core to a community’s culture and a way of life.

Writer Gordon also plays Davy Gordon, a man introduced to us in the modern era, awaiting the results of a chest x-ray that are clearly signalled to be ominous. As Gordon confronts his mortality, he takes us on a journey of discovery, retracing his life through a series of exchanges with fellow shipyard worker Geordie Kilpatrick played by Michael Condron. Both men frequently slip in and out of different characters as foils to Gordon’s narrative acting out moments of the company’s history upon a stage of the simplest scaffolding with a blown-up image of a map of the massive shipyard for a backdrop

If the stage is simple, Gordon’s words are crafted with almost technicolor detail. We learn of the dominance of the factory over the city. We hear of the men’s pride in the company’s achievement in 1912 of building the yard’s biggest ship to that date, #401 Titanic. No moist-eyed look at Titanic’s tragedy here though, rather the glow of engineers simply basking in the deserved glory of their achievement and their subsequent devastation at the fact that this magnificent ship had sunk because a reckless owner demanded it be raced through an ice-field at night.

And its this attention to the minutest of detail that drives the success of Gordon’s play. Apprenticeships in the H&W shipyard were not only dreamed of by the city’s young men, they were actually paid for by the young trainees and even then the apprentices still had to supply their own tools! We hear of the scant disregard for an emergent health & safety culture, the factory frequently consuming its workers’ limbs, livelihoods and ultimately their lives, yet with brilliantly black humour we learn too of the skilled carpenters and joiners who cheekily used both the company's time and its materials to privately build and sell kitchens to the folk of East Belfast. No stranger too to the pain of sectarianism, Gordon acknowledges the complexities of the decades of religious hatred that have scarred his beautiful province with a well-crafted and respectful sensitivity.

Condron and Gordon’s familiarity with their work (recently back from a month’s residency in New York off-Broadway) has seen the play evolve into the smoothest of double acts. Their understanding of the text’s timing and nuances has become innate and whilst the sharply observed humour of the piece may make you cry with laughter, their tales of shipyard tragedy all related with honesty in place of soppy sentimentality, will make you sob.

For those (most) of us who know all about the tragedy of the Titanic, yet virtually nothing of the city that gave itself and its people, literally, to the construction of that ship and thousands of others too, The Boat Factory is a glorious celebration of Belfast and of its culture. It is one of the most beautiful pieces of theatre in town right now and it is a play that must be seen.



Runs until 17th August, and then from August 21st - 24th in Caithness, Scotland 

Saucy Jack And The Space Vixens

Leicester Square Theatre, London

***

Book by Charlotte Mann

Lyrics by Charlotte Mann and Michael Fidler

Music by Jonathan Croose and Robin Forest

Directed by Stuart Saint

Jamie Birkett

Michael Fidler, the creator of Saucy Jack And The Space Vixens suggests in his programme notes that we are all Space Vixens at heart. Whilst Fidler may be right, the fact that it has taken nigh on 18 years for his celebration of disco to arrive in London's West End, suggests that there hasn't been too much demand to explore that particular zeitgeist. Fidler also says that when he wrote the show he (rather arrogantly) envisioned a "Cheers" set in outer space. Well it's safe to say that that dream also, has yet to be realised. This show is a fantastic froth of intergalactic crime busting, set against a glitter encrusted culture of a disco beat and gratuitous fetishism and if you’re sober, it’s rather dull. If you've had a couple of beers then the show may well be brilliant, but then of course you run the risk of missing out on appreciating the truly outstanding collection of talent that Stuart Saint has assembled. It's a tough call.

The cast is actually magnificent. There is not one weak link and a handful of the company are outstanding. Ralph Bogard is Jack, an outrageously flamboyant and murderous character, who made up, resembles a hungover Steve Strange in his pomp. But boy can this boy act. He holds the audience in the palm of his hand throughout and like many of the cast, gives the material far more talent than it deserves. Wonderful too is Lisa Gorgin, who masters three characters during the course of the show and whose two big solos Vulva's Tango (subtle huh?) and Space Trucking are fabulous. Big up too to David Malcolm whose transvestite Booby Shevalle is the most convincing drag turn to have been seen at the LST in quite a while. Leanne Jones, gracing a London show for the first time since becoming a mum, proves that her vocal talents have only grown alongside her ample maternal curves and she remains, as always, a delight. Finally the Offies nominated trouper Jamie Birkett again proves herself the most versatile of actresses. Impressive glittered heels giving Birkett a statuesque aura never seen before and allowing this gem of an actress to dominate the stage in a glorious trio of speech, presence and song. 

Technically, the producers need to have performed much better. Too many words are inaudible and whilst the lyrics may well not be worth listening to, it would be nice to be given the choice. And whose idea was it to have a character who has been written around being a sax player, being then made to mime his sax playing to a backing track? That is a shameful piece of corner cutting and starves both the production and the writing of some rare passionate praise that it might otherwise have garnered.

Saint writes bravely in the programme of how developing this production gave him a positive focus in life as he battled cancer and notwithstanding this critic's gripes, if the power of disco offered him such a force for good, then it is to be cheered and celebrated for nothing is more important than such a journey of recovery. But showbiz demands that such sentiment be put to one side and as a piece of musical theatre writing Saucy Jack And The Space Vixens disappoints. To mis-quote a certain phrase, whilst this show does indeed remain unpolished, it has unquestionably been rolled in an awful lot of glitter.

Runs until 15th September

The Sound Of Music

Open Air Theatre, London

****

Music by Richard Rodgers

Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II

Book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse

Directed by Rachel Kavanaugh

Charlotte Wakefield is Maria Rainer

How do you solve a problem like The Sound Of Music, this season’s highlight from the Open Air Theatre? It may be one of the most famous musicals written, containing countless memorable songs that have been hard-wired into our collective psyche, yet its underlying structure remains shallow and ridiculous. A story that sugar-coats enormous issues and trivialises them, glossing over stifled and stilted parenting and an abused and damaged childhood, whilst the ever menacing loom of the Anschluss suggests that the Third Reich is more of a fairy tale baddy that can be easily hoodwinked, rather than a regime that was to prove to be the century's most infernal monstrosity. The story is clichéd, flawed and quite how it achieved epic status would confound today’s book-writers. Nonetheless, The Sound Of Music is a global behemoth and one whose staging always presents the challenge of how to make such a well loved and familiar classic appear fresh and new.

Without question Rachel Kavanaugh, together with her cast and creatives rise to that challenge. Charlotte Wakefield is a Maria who in act one beautifully meets the demands of the solos and duets of some of the world’s most well-known songs. Wakefield convinces us as the delightfully dotty nun, struggling with her emerging emotions of love and desire for Captain Von Trapp. Shame though on Rodgers and Hammerstein for simply dismissing the damage of her “wicked childhood and miserable youth” with such casual lyrical disdain in Something Good.

Michael Xavier a stalwart of the musical stage, is miscast as the dignified and stoic albeit struggling Von Trapp. We learn that his Captain had been awarded military honours in “the war” which would have seen him so decorated at least twenty years before this story takes place and suggesting that he is a man at least in his mid-40’s. Notwithstanding that Xavier is a consummate actor, he lacks the gravitas and presence to effectively portray the uber-potent but nonetheless almost middle-aged, naval commander.

Fans of Stuart Matthew Price, prepare yourselves for a disappointment. A vocal legend of his generation, he is cast with not one note to sing. Price’s butler Franz displays a definite leaning in style towards The Rocky Horror Show’s Riff-Raff and whilst he is magnificently clipped and elegant in his ultimately traitorous role, this actor's immense musical theatre talents are woefully squandered.

Michael Matus as flamboyant promoter Max Detweiler is his usual irrepressibly excellent self. Matus exudes brash bonhomie just by being on stage, with a glorious voice that matches his striking character. Credit too to Caroline Keiff whose Elsa Schraeder is an elegant and well crafted depiction of understated nastiness. 

Michael Matus and Caroline Keiff

The show’s set design is clever, simply switching between the Von Trapp mansion and the convent and the skills of Tim Mitchell and Nick Lidster in light and sound respectively, ensure that the entire show can be clearly seen and heard throughout the Regents Park amphitheatre.

Kavanaugh aquits herself well with such a well known work. If you are unfamiliar with the tale, then consider seeing the show, if only to observe some of the very best aspects of London’s world-class theatre industry. If though, like most people, you love the work then definitely take that stroll to the park. You will be uplifted and exhilarated by the quality of the production.

Runs until 7 September

Scott Alan

O2 Indigo, London

*****

Scott Alan

If you are to "judge a man by the company he keeps", then based upon last night's performance on the O2's Indigo stage, New York wunderkind Scott Alan is of the very best indeed. With a supporting cast of musical theatre (virtual) royalty, Alan took a modestly low profile through the night watching from the wings as giants of the transatlantic stage breathed life into his stunning compositions.

Early on in the set Cynthia Erivo, surely musical theatre royalty-in-waiting having sped down the Thames to the O2 direct from a matinee performance of her astonishing role in The Colour Purple, sung Anything Worth Holding Onto. Her song gave a frank and honest comment on depression and as Alan was to explain later, his own life story explains his ability to write with such a scorching insight into the illness. Erivo’s performance, her tear-stained cheeks glinting in the spotlights by the end, was one of the most moving performances to be found in London (though Annalene Beechey was to give her a run for her money after the interval). If at times the first half resembled just a tad too much of a ballad-fest, it nonethless yielded some wonderfully contrasting moments. John Owen-Jones, ever the consummate king of performance, gave a wonderful Kiss The Air, all the more remarkable for him only having had 5 days to work on the song from scratch. Owen-Jones had been at the main O2 arena the day before to see his beloved Iron Maiden perform. That gig had obviously stayed with him as there was a gloriously full on, almost metallic feel to the way he virtually (though at all times, of course, melodically) screamed his way through the song’s middle eight!

John Owen-Jones gives it his all

The second half proved a veritable treat with the first ever assembled cast performance of Alan’s musical Home, a tale of Katherine a woman returning to her Texan home to confront her own relationship with her past and with her elderly mother. Cleverly put together, the evening's ensemble of O2 women had each prepared one song from the show and with first class support from Simon Beck’s immaculately rehearsed 15 piece orchestra and Barney Ashworth on piano, witnessing Home's premiere was a privilege. Highlights included a beautiful Never Neverland, Julie Atherton’s wittily filthy His Name and another sublime show-stopper from Cynthia Erivo, the singer giving a hilarious (and disarmingly accurate) portrayal of a rebellious teenager, off her face from smoking weed. Excellence abounded, particularly in work from Siobhan Dillon and then from Shoshana Bean in her delivery of the show’s title number, but it was with Annalene Beechey’s Goodnight, a song again of profound perception and free of all mawkish sentiment, as Katherine addresses her mother's fast approaching demise, that hearts were broken across the venue. Now a young mother herself, Beechey skilfully and passionately told of an oh-so familiar scenario.

Annalene Beechey wistfully breaks hearts

Alan took to the piano to close the show. He spoke of his personal demons that had almost led to suicide at 16 and how from that point on he had vowed to celebrate and to achieve in life. Now some 20 years later, Scott Alan is an inspiring proof that life is for living. As he closed the show alone on piano with an intimate solo encore of Look (A Rainbow), tears and smiles were gloriously intermingled. A truly special night.

Titanic

Southwark Playhouse, London

****

Music and lyrics by Maury Yeston

Book by Peter Stone

Directed by Thom Southerland

Philip Rham

Earlier this year, the Southwark Playhouse slipped its moorings at London Bridge and headed south to Elephant and Castle. Now, in her first London production of 2013, Danielle Tarento cracks a bottle of champagne across the theatre’s bows with her production of Maury Yeston’s Tony winning show Titanic taking up an August residency at the venue.

This producer's form remains impeccable. Selecting trusted talent Thom Southerland to envision the work and with Cressida Carre’s choreography, David Woodhead’s inspired design all railings, upper decks and rope and the lighting wizardry of Howard Hudson, the essence of The White Star Line’s doomed flagship is beautifully evoked.

Yeston premiered his work on Broadway in 1997, just a few months before James Cameron’s movie was to ensure that the whole world knew what happened on that fateful night in April 1912. Whilst Yeston's show opened before the movie, watching his musical in 2013 we find that it teaches us nothing new. We already know that many of the ship's officers were noble, that the owner was ruthless, that some men were heroic and that passengers in 3rd class and steerage were treated appallingly. Yeston's melodies (mostly unfortunately forgettable) don't age well and not for the first time his lyrics are found to be lacking in substance. An epic story demands a deep and epic treatment. Yeston's analysis runs aground in very shallow waters.

So hurrah for Tarento and her team. Philip Rham quite literally is Captain Smith. His bearded poise and weary acceptance of Ismay, the owner’s, persistent demands for reckless speed through a treacherous ice field, is worth the price of admission alone. Rham’s patrician Captain exemplifies both the steel and responsibility of his command yet also the elegant and dignified courtesy of the time. Simon Green’s despicable Ismay is another fine performance, even if he has been written as little more than a pantomime villain. Where Smith is a finely fleshed out man of handsome character, Green's Ismay can at times be imagined stroking an evil moustache as his lust for speed and profit over safety condemns the journey, such is the cliche of his character. Greg Castoglioni is Andrews the ships architect, one of several portentous players who caution Smith against reckless speed. His is a measured portrayal of a man placed in desperate circumstances.

The passenger list has some first class gems. Celia Graham maintains her reputation for excellence as Alice Beane a desperate social climber, whilst below decks Victoria Serra as a shamed pregnant Irish lass off to make a new life in the New World puts in a stylish turn along with Shane McDaid as the charming young lad who falls for her. Veterans Judith Street and Dudley Rogers provide a rare moment of authentic poignancy as elderly millionaires who reject the lifeboats, electing for an icy death in each others arms and James Hume as their champagne pouring steward also puts in a convincing and subtly understated performance of profound tragedy.

The design is brilliant in its suggestion of the ship's famous lines. Tarento avoids expensive gimmickry, relying instead on a pure simplicity of image and the audience's fertile imagination, pre-fuelled thanks to our familiarity with the Cameron oscar-winner. When her Titantic finally and famously rears up, with horizontal decking horrifically becoming the sheerest of deathly cliff faces, the effect is a perfect combination of desperately beautiful stagecraft and Southerland's classy direction.

Like a classic albeit tragically true fairy tale, we know Titanic's story before we take our seats. Tarento's take on history is nothing less than respectful and humbling and she tells it with production values that continue to re-define excellence in London's off-West End.


Runs until 31 August 2013

Sophie-Louise Dann - From Classic To Coward To Current

Crazy Coqs, London

****

Sophie-Louise Dann

The Crazy Coqs was packed to see Sophie-Louise Dann's return to the UK cabaret scene. Flame haired and clad in an immaculately tailored silk jacket and trousers her eclectic choice of songs opens with Its An Art from the little known Stephen Schwartz show, Working. It's a feisty number, presenting Miss Dann as a gamine take on Liza Minnelli in her pomp. Dann’s vivacity matched with her dazzling eyes gives an energy to a cabaret show that is not often seen. 

Showing a clear affinity with comic roles in song, Dann is a mistress of that challenging combination requiring the comedian's timing and dramatic talent to be married with the singer's vocal power and precision. Cole Porter's satirical Tale Of The Oyster was prised apart by the chanteuse, revealing the wit not only within the words but contained in Porter's melody too. When Dann then turns her firepower onto the Stephen Sondheim/Mary Rogers co- composition of The Boy From, her voice ascends the register with what sounds like just a hint of Keith Harris' Orville hatching. Dann's control of the comedy was at all times assured, never missing a note.

Dann has a glorious affinity towards the cornucopic composition. She closed her first act with the inspired number May I Have A Moment from her Olivier nominated performance in Lend Me A Tenor. Delivering snatches of countless famous arias, all of course recognisable to the cultured Crazy Coqs crowd who were in hysterics at her wondrous delivery. The whoops of applause as she gracefully brought the song to its conclusion had to be heard to be believed. In a similar theme, her act 2 number from Helen Goldwyn's World’s Biggest Fan, which showcases famously recognisable snatches from the best of musical theatre past and present, hints at the success Dann had achieved early in her career as a member of the Forbidden Broadway company.

Giving occasional masterclasses in performance at her alma mater, the Arts Educational School in London, one can only hope that her pupils’ summer workload includes a compulsory attendance to see "Miss" performing her gig. To hear the awesome belt that Dann can produce in both Back To Before, from Ragtime and subsequently in Kander & Ebb’s Ring Them Bells is to be in the presence of genius.

James Church provides the slickly effortless piano accompaniment to Sophie-Louise and on a balmy London summer's evening there is surely no finer way to pass the time than listening to one of the coolest divas around.

Sophie-Louise can be seen at the Crazy Coqs from July 30 to August 3 and show details can be found here

To read my profile of Sophie-Louise click here.

The Witches of Eastwick

Watermill Theatre, Newbury

*****
Based on the novel by John Updike
Book and lyrics by John Dempsey
Music by Dana P Rowe
Directed and choreographed by Craig Revel Horwood

Alex Bourne (lucky devil) with l-r Poppy Tierney, Joanna Hickman and Tiffany Graves

Driving along the M4 through a horrendous storm, a vivid streak of forked lightning over Newbury suggests a good omen for the opening night of Craig Revel Horwood’s take on The Witches Of Eastwick. And indeed on approaching the Watermill Theatre, set as its name suggests amongst some of Berkshire’s finest wetlands, the evening was to prove an enchanting first commercial revival of the show in five years.

An initial visit to The Watermill finds the auditorium surprisingly small for such a regional centre of excellence, yet the stage is designed thoughtfully and with an attention to detail that smacks of outstanding production values notwithstanding the budgetary restrictions that are probably imposed upon such a modest venue. Actually, “outstanding” is the one word that sums up this show.

Revel Horwood is a gifted director, not only for the movement and choreography he envisions, but more importantly for the performances that he coaxes from all of his talented cast. The three leading ladies are Tiffany Graves, Poppy Tierney and Joanna Hickman, all accomplished actresses who not only bring depth and nuance to each of the women they portray, but also excellence in their acting and vocal work. The story is pure comic-book fiction, yet each actress portrays her two dimensional character with canny three dimensional depth. Billed as a musical comedy, these performers work their seductive skills upon the entire audience and in an unashamedly sexual staging, Revel Horwood extracts performances from his Witches that lustfully sizzle, yet remain on the right side of decency throughout the show, just. The act two opener, Another Night At Darryl’s, led by a smouldering Tierney as sculptress Alexandra, with its suggestions of mud wrestling as the three women daub each other with her wet clay, has to be seen to be believed. Similarly with Sukie Rougemont's (played by Graves) steamy act one number Words. The song is a singer's minefield, demanding fast and complex lyrics to be delivered whilst Sukie is being seduced and made love to. Graves nails it.

Joanna Hickman fiddles furiously as Alex Bourne seductively strums

Three witches of this calibre demand a devil that is up to their strong characters and Alex Bourne’s Darryl van Horne is perfectly cast. In a show where the performers are all required to play an instrument, (a delightfully long-established economic policy of The Watermill) Bourne’s sex fuelled rebel naturally plays the electric guitar. The actor brings perfect gravitas and presence to van Horne and his Dance With The Devil is but one example of a performance that will please many women in the audience.

The baddy of the piece is local townswoman Felicia Gabriel. It is usually wrong to compare castings from different productions, but let’s make an exception. Rosemary Ashe who created this harridan at Drury Lane in 2000 reprises her monstrous character and like a fine Scotch whisky, she has wonderfully matured over the years. When early on in the show an indignant Felicia proclaims “I am Eastwick”, Ashe aint kidding!

Rosemary Ashe leads the (washing) line in the wonderful Dirty Laundry ensemble number

Licensed by Cameron Mackintosh, this show represents by far and away the best musical revival to be staged out of town this summer and the producers would do well to consider how its glorious spirit can be transferred to London come the autumn.

The ingenious effects of Revel Horwood's staging are not smoke and mirrors. Close up, we can all see how everything’s done, but for once, that really doesn’t matter. The magic of this show lies not in its special effects, but rather in the crafted talent and beauty that Revel Horwood has inspired his entire company to deliver. You won’t see a better cast this year.

Runs until 14 September 2013. Booking details here

To read my profile of composer Dana P. Rowe, click here