Dry Rot

Leicester's Little Theatre is home to several amateur dramatic societies in the area and this week it was the turn of Leicester Drama Society's to present their summer offering to the good folk of the shire.

Dry Rot by John Chapman is not going to 'play on your emotions or exercise your brain with deep and meaningful thoughts', as openly acknowledged by the director Penny Kimmins. What it will do is give you a good few laughs.

John Chapman was a member of Brian Rix's Whitehall Farce company and, after appearing in more than his fair share of mediocre and bad farces, decided he probably couldn't do any worse and maybe do even better. With a tenuous plot that veers wildly from Fawlty Towers to a Dick Francis novel and St Trinians implausibility this is never going to be a cerebral evening's entertainment. Set in a magnificent country hotel (great set design by Alec Davis) this is the standard collection of multiple doors, mistaken identities, shallow stereotypes and a horse! The only real surprise was the female police sergeant being played, straight, by a man.

While all the relatively small cast of 10 played their parts well the pairing of Carolos Dandolo and Ben Harris as the impossibly inept bookie and his assistant stand out. Michael Bull as Colonel Wagstaff was channeling Richard Attenborough while Tabitha Fogg's dopey maid, Beth, mooned effectively over the wet secretary John Danby (Lawrence Moreton). Peter Lakin as Flash Harry brought to mind LeClerc from 'Allo 'allo as he was bundled in and out of the secret panel hiding place.

This period farce will never be a critic's favourite but more than satisfied an enthusiastic audience.

Dry Rot is on at The Little Theatre until Saturday 19th September.

First published in Western Gazette
© Paul Towers 2015

Hairspray 2015

After last years very successful production of Hairspray as part of Paul Kerryson's valedictory season for Curve he is back with a bigger, brighter, bouncier Balitmore, and this time with an all star cast led by Benidorm's Tony Maudsley, Chicago's Claire Sweeney and Blue Peter's Peter Duncan. Before it heads out into the wilds of theatreland on a one year nationwide tour we have the opportunity to see this very much ramped up, spanglier, ballsier production of a much favoured show.

The awesome voices of Claire Sweeney, Brenda Edwards and Dex Lee splendidly compliment the exhaustive, energetic choreography of the ensemble. All this is as well as the full use of Curve's extensive technical capabilities and serves to provide us with an evening of high energy fun, frolics and entertainment

For those not familiar with either the film or last year's production Hairspray is the story of Tracey Turnblad (Freya Sutton returning to the role after touring with it last year), a plus size high school student in the early 60's. Highlighting that sizeism isn't new, Tracey, considering herself an outsider anyway, takes on the issue of racial segregation in middle America. While this may sound quite a worthy subject it is given the John Waters treatment and emerges as an hilarious tale of redemption. As Tracey's double plus size mother, Edna, Tony Maudsley displays a nimble pair of feet, albeit clad in Nora Batty pop socks, and an undoubted sure touch for both broad and subtle comedy. He is ably partnered by Peter Duncan as husband Wilbur Turnblad. Claire Sweeney has great fun with the villainess of the piece, Velma Von Tussle, mother of spoiled brat Amber.

Tonight's performance ended with a well deserved standing ovation for a very cohesive cast and a luscious looking production. Hairspray is on at Curve until Saturday 19th September

Tickets available at www.curveonline.co.uk
Full tour details at www.hairsprayuktour.com

Firts published in Western Gazette
© Paul Towers 15/9/2015

Company

Stephen Sondheim shows are renowned for their idiosyncratic phrasing and vocal gymnastics. Any company brave enough to take them on is either very talented or very stupid. KW Productions had a resounding success with last year's staging of A Slice of Saturday Night at Upstairs at The Western so it was no surprise that this evening's tale of a perpetually single 35 year old's friends extolling the virtues and demerits of couple-dom was just as funny, musical and energetic.

Company is one of the first concept musicals that didn't conform the to the linear dialogue format of previous shows. Linked by Robert's (Keiran Whelan) 35th birthday party, this is a series of vignettes of the lives of his ten best friends, five couples ostensibly happily married but each of them, on closer inspection, just papering over the cracks in their relationships in order to hold them together. While there are several heartbreaking moments these are counterbalanced by some hilarious set pieces. Amy's (Victoria Price) hysterical, high speed bride being one of the best. Also worthy of note is Joanne's (Karen Gordon) drunken rendition of The Ladies Who Lunch. A delicious homage to Elaine Stritch's show stopping performance, but actually in tune!

Although originally written by Sondheim and George Furth in 1970 it was updated in the early 90's to make it more uptodate. The current production is further modernised by making one of the couples lesbians. A nice touch which makes their karate wrestling scene very believable. Adding in mobile phones also allows the director, Leigh White, to poke gentle fun at the current obsession with selfies.

Throughout the evening each of the various couples take centre stage and we watch as their relationships are revealed to be much less than the perfect couplings Robert assumes.

With a huge (for the Western) cast of 14 they amazingly manage to avoid bumping into each other unintentionally and even squeeze in a couple of production numbers.

While Sondheim's cynicism of marriage and long term relationships shines through the story shows that despite the ups and downs, dramas and divorces friends are always company and company is always friends

Company is on at Upstairs at The Western until Saturday 29th August (Saturday matinee sold out) and then at Little Theatre from 2nd to 5th September.

First published in Western Gazette
© Paul Towers 2015

Sweet Charity

Curve's Studio space is home to National Youth Music Theatre's production of Sweet Charity until Saturday 22nd August. A huge cast of incredibly talented (and young!) actors/singers/dancers swamped the stage with enthusiastic performances. Every single one of the actors can easily go on to a career in musical theatre, if that is their aim.

Sweet Charity is the story of Charity Hope Valentine, the eternally optimistic, uneducated dance hall hostess who desperately wants to marry someone, anyone who can take her away from the flea-bitten hell hole that is only half a step up from a cat house. Her story takes her form the bottom of the pile to, well, several rungs up the ladder. Playing the title role is local actor Jade Johnson,a powerhouse performer who easily takes ownership of the character. This 18 year old has a great future on the stage. Amongst the other stand out performances in this show is 17 year old Stuart Thompson as Herman, the club owner, a sleazy comical man who finally shows his emotional side with an hilarious rendition of 'I always cry at weddings'.

Backing up the onstage cast is a live band/orchestra of equally talented musicians, again an amazingly talented bunch of youngsters ranging from 13 to 22.

While Sweet Charity, the film, has long been a favourite musical of mine this is the first time I have been lucky enough to catch it live on stage. Staged with an adaptable 'wire frame' set incorporating Curve's very own 'dancing stairway' this colourful show with its many many costume changes is a feast for the eyes and ears and will leave you exiting the theatre with several very hummable tunes ear worming you for days.

© Paul Towers 2015

Richard III

Shakespeare has always seemed to me to be one of those elitist things that it is more important to be seen at than to understand or enjoy. So it was with trepidation that I accepted a request to review Curve's current Community Production of his Richard The Third, rather an apt choice in view of his recent re-interment in the city.

Director Nikolai Foster, Curve's new Artistic Director, says he wanted to stage this bloody story against a backdrop of contemporary Russia and set on a stage depicting a bomb site. This admirably enabled the battle scenes and various assassinations to be done with modern weaponry rather than trusting a largely inexperienced cast with swords and bows & arrows. Especially in the second half there were pyrotechnics galore to highlight the uprising of warring factions and the eventual demise of the titular monarch on a Bosworth field. Creative lighting and sound fill the Studio space so you feel right in the action.

Right from the start local actor Mark Peachey's Richard commands the stage and strides the length and breadth filling it with bravado, comedic asides and finally his death throes. The stereotypical hump that Shakespeare erroneously ascribes to Richard is more accurately represented by a set of alien-like vertebrae down his back. Supported by a superb cast of both professional and amateur actors this production continues the worthy tradition of community theatre by the people of Leicester for the people of Leicester.

The inherent problems of staging in the round are compounded by the necessity of concentrating so hard to decipher Shakespeare's idiosyncratic phrasing and language. I think I managed to get the gist of the tale but missed out huge chunks of the detail because I couldn't decipher the dialogue. This is no reflection on the cast or the director. In fact Nikolai deserves a huge vote of thanks for cutting the piece down from its original 4 hours!

In essence this is a very worthy production that runs to Sunday 9 August.

I have not been converted to Shakespeare and would not go and see any other of his work. This vibrant and athletic production is probably the nearest I will ever come to an accessible work of Shakespeare. It is something to brag that I have seen despite not understanding much of the dialogue. I came away wondering if I had been seeing The Emperor's New Clothes.

First published in Western Gazette
© Paul Towers 2015

Sophie @ Story City Festival

Story City is 'a festival to share stories in different forms including theatre, film, spoken word' and just about every method of entertaining and informing. The festival has been 'created by a group of local artists who want to promote new and emerging artists'. The festival contains upward of 19 performances in a variety of venues across Leicester city centre.

Tonight I was at Upstairs @ The Western to see a first public read through of Sophie, a story of abuse, loneliness and, appropriately for these troubled times, neglectful authorities. This piece has been created with the support of Off The Fence, The Western's theatre company in residence, who have provided space to work on the play and rehearse over this week.

Sophie is about many things, teen peer pressure, children having to grow up too fast and the dangers they can face at an ever younger age. Sophie is 13 years old, the precocious, street-wise child of a single parent family. Like all teenagers she alternates between being a know-it-all who has done everything and the child she still is. Her short life has forced her to face up to and deal with all sorts of adult issues, murder being one of them.

Sophie is the product of Thread Theatre company, founded by graduates of Loughborough University who strive to 'develop and produce new writing from young playwrights, concentrating on work with asocial conscience.'

It was fascinating to be sat in the audience of a work in progress . The Q&A session afterwards was very informative for both the cast and the audience. I look forward to seeing the finished work in due course.

Thread Theatre can be found on www.facebook.com/threadtheatrecompany
More can found about The Story City Festival on www.storycity.co.uk which runs til Sunday 12 July

First published in Western Gazette
© Paul Towers 10/7/2015

Calamity Jane

Turning up on Thursday's matinee performance to see the wonderous Jodie Prenger whip cracking her way through this musical theatre standard we were disappointed to find that Ms Prenger was ill and her understudy, Christina Tedders, was on for her instead. Several people around me voiced their disappointment at not seeing the star but, with scant hours to prepare, Ms Tedders gave a great performance. The girl can act, she can sing and she can dance up a storm.

Calamity Jane on stage is the ultimate feel good show that retains all of the best remembered elements of the Doris Day film and gives them an edgier feel. This is, probably, a much more realistic representation of the 'wild west' than the Doris Day film and all credit must go to Curve's Nikolai Foster for his visionary direction, Matthew Wright's set and Richard G Jones' lighting.

The entire cast are what is known in the business a triple threat. That means they can act, dance and play musical instruments. Most of them masters of more than one. This enables them to do away completely with an orchestra pit and adds an immediacy to the onstage action. It also means they can add depth to the ensemble numbers

The simple, single set of an old style western show bar serves, with creative lighting, as many locations. Very imaginative use of props even convinces us of a stage coach and a railroad train!

Tom Lister (formerly of Emmerdale and the obligatory ex-soap star for all touring productions) more than fills the battered cowboy boots of Wild Bill Hickok, the only man to (almost) tame Calamity Jane

Calamity Jane is on at Curve until Saturday and then on tour
http://www.calamityjanetheshow.com/
First published in Western Gazette

© Paul Towers 2/7/2015