The Entertainer

Review by: Paul Towers, 29 August 2019

The Entertainer by John Osbourne

A Made At Curve co-production with Anthology Theatre & Simon Friend Entertainment

Curve 27 – 31 August 2019

“50 years old but still relevant.”

It may be more than 50 years old but John Osbourne’s ‘angry middle aged man’ drama about the demise of  variety and the Suez Crisis has been updated to the 80’s and the Falklands War.

Archie Rice, following in his father Billy’s footsteps, is an old school music hall front of cloth comic. Unfortunately for him Music Hall went out of fashion many years before but Archie is unable to change. He struggles on, wheeling out the same tired old patter in third rate venues to disinterested audiences up and down the country. Travelling with him are his father Billy, his wife Phoebe and his son Frank who stage manages him.

The unexpected arrival of his daughter Jean from his first marriage sets the cat amongst the pigeons and Archie starts to put on a performance to avoid confronting the truth about his failing marriage and career. The casual racism and homophobia further alienates his daughter.

Ever more desperate for a last stab at a career Archie puts his father back on the boards with fatal consequences.

Throughout the play we are witness to the disintegration of Archie’s life and career.

A very clever script from Osbourne weaves into Archie’s patter a selection of dud jokes along with the real funnies.

A stellar cast do this play and Curve proud. Heading up the small company is Shane Richie as Archie, here proving that he is much more than the tic-heavy caricature he played on Eastenders. Ably supporting as his wife Phoebe is the hugely underrated Sara Crowe; the last heavyweight is veteran actor Pip Donaghy as Grandad Billy Rice. These three tear up the stage as each is given their moment of glory. Although Richie gets double the opportunity with both his appalling stage act and his highly dysfunctional family life. The final pair in the cast are Diana Vickers as daughter Jean and Christopher Bonwell as son Frank.

Richie has carefully avoided Laurence Olivier’s originating interpretation of the character and has obviously taken inspiration from a variety of old school comics such as Les Dawson and Frankie Howard. His murdering of several songs is testament to the fact that he really can sing. As Les Dawson always said you need to be able to play the piano well to play it badly.

As the abandoned wife Sara Crowe gives a master class in drowning in a gin bottle while Archie does the same in Double Diamond bottles. Pip Donaghy’s Grandad Billy is very much inspired by Alf Garnett with his strong right wing views and salty language.

If you do manage to get a ticket for the rest of the run then expect strong language, outdated social references and high drama

This production continues to tour right up to Christmas

Tour details https://www.theentertainerplay.co.uk/

Curve – www.curveonline.co.uk
http://ptheatre.blogspot.co.uk/

Closer to heaven

Review by: Paul Towers, 27/8/19

Closer To Heaven book by Jonathan Harvey and music &lyrics by Pet Shop Boys

Above The Stag, Vauxhall until 31^st August 2019

“good but should have been better”

Closer To Heaven has been on my bucket list of shows I want to see every since I heard Frances Barber ripping the heart out of Friendly Fire on Elaine Paige on Sunday several years ago.

This collaboration between the Pet Shop Boys and Jonathan Harvey first came to fruition in 2001. The Boys had been contemplating writing a musical ever since being approached by the BBC in 1992. Nine years later and it finally made it to the stage.

Closer To Heaven is set in an unspecified Soho nightclub at the height of the hedonistic 90’s. Billie Trix is a world weary cabaret singer who has entertained in palaces and clubs all over the world (she says) but, in the arse end of her career, she is reduced to performing in seedy clubs for little more than a few lines of drugs. Her tragic glamour is so very out of place here but she hangs onto it determinedly. The characters that frequent the club are no less down at heel and desperate for a little sparkle  in a spotlight. Straight Dave is, as his names signifies, supposedly straight until he gets sucked into the hedonistically seedy world of drugs and anything goes to get by and succumbs to the temptations placed, literally, under his nose.

In the central role of Billie Trix Adele Anderson, in her opening number, My Night, should have grabbed the show by the throat and made it her own. Unfortunately that didn’t happen and what should have been her signature number limped forlornly into the first half. It took almost til the end of the first half for the show to recover. It was a disappointment to see that, despite decades as a successful cabaret performer, Anderson has very little stage presence. However, in the second half she seemed to rally and we saw something akin to the performance that should have opened the show.

Blake Patrick Anderson, Straight Dave the sexually confused lead character, was completely unbelievable as not being gay and, for my money, sang rather too ‘West End’ for the part. Mikulas Urbanek as Mile End Lee, a sleazy drug dealer, didn’t come across as rough enough, despite the array of shell suits.

The hardest working cast members were Billies Babes, Rhys Harding, Billie Hardy, Matthew Ives and Hollie Smith-Nelson who did choreographer Ashley Luke Lloyd proud.

Most people, I would suspect, go to see the show for the Pet Shop Boys soundtrack, and they won’t be disappointed as the boys perfectly capture the electro dance mood of the period. However what the casual theatre goer will not be expecting is the unrelenting arrows of Jonathan Harvey’s wit. The one-liners come thick and fast, especially from Billie Trix, and perfectly counter point the descent into a drug fuelled K-Hole towards the end of the second half.

The staging was ingenious with a ceiling hung with LED screens that instantly change scenes.

All in all this production is good but should have been better.

Above The Stag http://www.abovethestag.com