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Review: Dress Rehearsal at OSO Arts Centre

Published on February 12, 2016January 6, 2018 by LizLeave a comment

It’s an intriguing premise – a ‘play with opera’, following a group of performers both on and offstage, and giving us a glimpse at what goes on behind the scenes. And for the Overtones, it’s not a pretty sight; the air in their dressing room is heavy with bitterness, resentment and sadness over opportunities lost. As diva Bella (Amanda Wagg) and young newcomer Kit (Luke Farrugia) vie for the limelight, Steph (Alexandra Cowell) and Lionel (Tony Baker) are left to reflect on what might have been, and the group’s enthusiastic and talented pianist Phyllis (Karen Newby) – who’s secretly a bit of a rockstar – is completely overlooked by everyone.

Meanwhile, in the foreground, another story is unfolding – the story of a younger Steph (Chiara Vinci) and her romance with Micky (James Richards), a stand-up comedian on the verge of fame and fortune. As the truth about her past is gradually revealed, we begin to understand how Steph’s ended up as Bella’s backing singer, when she could have been so much more.

There’s a lot to like about the play, which is directed by Paola Cuffolo – not least the idea itself, which is original and full of comic potential. There are some lovely moments when, just like in an opera, the actors express a world of emotion without saying (or singing) a word, and it’s a nice touch to have AJ MacGillivray, who plays agent Zeno (agent as in talent, not secret, just to be clear), sitting in the audience to enjoy the show before suddenly making himself known to the performers.

Though the story is touching, and the characters are entertaining to watch, there are some frustrating plot holes which meant I found myself on the train home repeatedly thinking, ‘But what about…?’ There’s an allusion to a scandalous secret involving Kit’s mother, but we never get any further details; the same goes for Bella’s broken marriage, and Lionel’s story is summed up in just a couple of lines. Likewise we never really know what made young Steph decide to run out on her wedding, or how Micky declined in the intervening years to the shambling, broken figure we see in the second act (or even how many years it’s supposed to be). And then the play ends, with every character deep in thought but very little resolved.

Of course it’s not always necessary to wrap everything up, and the writer herself freely admits that it’s her goal to leave the audience with questions, but personally I would have enjoyed a little bit more background to help me really get invested in the characters, so I could share their triumphs and disappointments.

The cast are talented and enthusiastic, especially in the musical numbers; Luke Farrugia is particularly memorable as the young, arrogant Kit, who likes to show off by spontaneously updating the lyrics to some of the most popular opera classics, and Chiara Vinci balances her primarily speaking role with two show-stopping performances of songs by Gilbert and Sullivan. When it comes to silent acting, though, it’s Alexandra Cowell who stands out as Steph; in one scene, she watches her younger self performing with an expression of such longing that it’s genuinely quite heartbreaking.

Dress Rehearsal is a clever and original concept, with some strong vocal performances and an enjoyable repertoire of opera favourites. With a bit more character and plot development, it has the potential to be something special.

Can’t see the map on iPhone? Try turning your phone to landscape and that should sort it. I don’t know why but I’m working on it… 😉

Interview: Toby Peach, The Eulogy of Toby Peach

Published on February 8, 2016 by LizLeave a comment

Toby Peach has fought cancer twice – once at age 19 and again at 21. Now he’s taking his one-man show, The Eulogy of Toby Peach, on a UK tour, starting at London’s VAULT Festival and running from 17th-21st February.

The show, which won the IdeasTap Underbelly Award in 2015 and proved a five-star hit in Edinburgh, is a brave and humorous exploration of what cancer’s all about, through Toby’s own story. It’s also a really important show, given that 1 in 2 of us will experience cancer in our lifetime, and I’m grateful to Toby for taking the time to tell me a little more about it.

What prompted you to share your story?

I developed a short story for BAC’s London Stories back at the end of 2013, it dipped into my journey with cancer and it was the first time I had decided to speak about it. The response was fantastic and I decided I wanted to delve deeper into that world, as I realised I had no idea what had happened. I’d been through this life-changing event and I had no idea what had happened – it was all a blur. I realised that I didn’t know what cancer was. This thing that nearly took my life and I had no idea.

If, hauntingly, it is now 1 in 2 of us who will experience what cancer is, shouldn’t we know what it is? As it became apparent that cancer was just me, then how am I still here? This question prompted a deeper exploration and with it came a discovery that I wanted to share.

How long has the show taken to develop?

After BAC and with the help of Old Vic New Voices I developed the show so I could scratch it and then the unbelievable happened and I won the IdeasTap Underbelly Award. I was blown away as it meant I had to make the whole bloody show!

After assembling a cracking team I headed out to Plymouth Fringe Festival to scratch the show further and experience solo performance – I had never performed a solo show before so it was very daunting. Then came Edinburgh; we had a fantastic month getting it out there for the first time and were overwhelmed by the positive feedback to the show from audiences, press and industry alike, as well as being inspired by the learnings and ideas taken away from the experience.

So after all of that we come to VAULT festival, and as we’ve just received Arts Council, National Lottery and Wellcome Trust funding, we can’t wait to get started and develop this show further to reach more audiences in the future.

Has it taken any unexpected directions?

This has been my first experience of writing, and also solo work, so the whole experience has been quite unexpected. I have strange moments when I’m performing when I realise ‘Oh yer, this happened!’ or a version of it. I mean I never did have an affair with an IV Stand but that relationship was present – so sometimes I’ll be dancing away with IVY (my IV Stand girlfriend) and then it’ll hit me again. It’s an odd experience.

What’s been the highlight so far?

Since Edinburgh I’ve been off to perform the show a number of times and had the honour of taking it to Teenage Cancer Trust’s conference, Find Your Sense of Tumour, for 300 young people who have or have had cancer and their support teams; this was an incredible experience and extremely rewarding.

I was very nervous about performing for them, as I knew they related so much with the subject matter, but they were laughing at lines that people don’t normally get and they loved it. People expect you can’t laugh at cancer but especially when you’re young and you’ve been through it, they understand there are things that if you look at it again are fairly amusing. I spoke to so many afterwards about what it meant to them and that meant the world to me.

Can you sum up the show in one sentence?

From diagnosis to remission, relapse and treatment, experience a young man’s journey with cancer in this honest, fascinating and inspiring exploration of modern science and the wonders of the human body.

What are you hoping audiences will take away from it?

I hope they take away the hardest word to say with cancer… Hope. The show doesn’t say we’ve been lucky and we should be thankful for that, it says we are here because of certain reasons and we have a hell of a way to go – but we are trying. Chemotherapy was only trialled 69 years ago… look how far we’ve come.

Finally, what would be your advice to someone currently living with cancer?

That is a very tricky question to answer, as everyone has his or her own unique experience with cancer. I can’t say there is a right way or wrong way to live with cancer. For me, it took a long time but I wanted to explore what had happened so I didn’t hide from it. I have scars, everyone gets them throughout life, but I realised it isn’t about how we get our scars; for me it’s about how we wear them in the here and now that matters.

See The Eulogy of Toby Peach from 17th-21st February at the VAULT Festival, London.

Toby will also be running a free workshop called Creativity Saving Lives, exploring the background to the show, on 21st February at 2pm.

Review: Red Velvet at the Garrick

Published on February 7, 2016January 6, 2018 by LizLeave a comment

The latest offering from Kenneth Branagh’s season at the Garrick is Tricycle Theatre’s award-winning production of Red Velvet, starring Adrian Lester as renowned Shakespearean actor Ira Aldridge – and it’s safe to say Sir Ken has another hit on his hands.

Written by Lolita Chakrabarti, the play imagines the events of 1833, as Aldridge is brought in to replace Edmund Kean, who’s collapsed on stage whilst playing Othello. The young actor brings with him an unorthodox acting style, which goes for realism as opposed to the posturing ‘teapot school of acting’ – but what bothers his fellow cast members – and the critics – even more is the idea of a black actor playing (gasp) a black character.

The play may be set 200 years ago, and of course nobody bats an eye any more at the thought of a black man playing Othello (in fact, it would probably be much weirder if they didn’t). But that doesn’t mean the issues at the heart of Red Velvet have gone away, and all too often the colour of an actor’s skin is still of more interest than whether they’re any good at their job – as we saw only too clearly in the recent reaction to Noma Dumezweni’s casting in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. And so, while we might have moved on from the days of actors ‘blacking up’, not to mention the kind of casual racism that draws audible gasps from the audience at the Garrick, this is still an incredibly relevant piece of work.

Adrian Lester gives a spell-binding performance as both the young and old Ira Aldridge, ageing 30 years in an instant, into a sad, sick old man. He’s not always entirely likeable – there are hints about his various extramarital dalliances, one of them possibly with Ellen Tree (Charlotte Lucas), who plays Desdemona in the production. And alongside his appealing passion for his art is the arrogant belief that the experienced cast must do things his way, whether they like it or not. But these flaws only make the man more real, and the fact that he can still break our hearts as he begs his friend Pierre Laporte (Emun Elliott) to save his reputation, is testament to Lester’s layered and compelling performance.

Despite the heavy subject matter, the play is also surprisingly funny, with many of the laughs supplied by Simon Chandler as nonplussed actor Bernard Warde, and Alexander Cobb as the idealistic Henry Forrester. Mark Edel-Hunt indulges in a fabulously childish tantrum (giving a couple of audience members a bit of a start), but becomes an altogether more serious figure the following morning, when he takes a little too much pleasure in reading aloud the negative reviews. And Charlotte Lucas shines as Ellen Tree; she has her own battles to fight as a woman in the arts, and does so with great spirit and humour.

Indhu Rubasingham’s direction sees the cast rarely leaving the stage, instead quietly observing and reacting to scenes in which they don’t appear from the wings, and the set changes are beautifully choreographed by Imogen Knight, so the action flows seamlessly. Act 1 takes a little while to hit its stride, with a conversation between the elderly actor and a Polish journalist leading into a lengthy acting lesson from the younger Aldridge. But it ends on a high with Lester/Aldridge’s intense performance as Othello, carrying us through into the passionate and gripping scenes of Act 2.

Red Velvet is a fascinating insight into the life of a man whose name and achievements have faded into relative obscurity. But it’s also highlighting an issue that should have faded with him – or rather, instead of him. The powerful final scene, in which a frail and elderly Aldridge prepares to play King Lear, is shocking but perfect, summing up the heart of the story in a single, haunting image. I’ve no idea how historically accurate the play is, but it certainly makes its point.

Can’t see the map on iPhone? Try turning your phone to landscape and that should sort it. I don’t know why but I’m working on it… 😉

Review: Shakespeare As You (Might) Like It at Rosemary Branch

Published on January 24, 2016January 6, 2018 by LizLeave a comment

Wait, what just happened?

Honestly, I have no idea how to sum up what I just saw. Shakespeare As You (Might) Like It is a mish mash of party, cabaret and game show, with bits of serious drama thrown in for good measure. After enjoying free stoops of wine and sweet treats, unsuspecting audience members are called on to read lines, ring bells and pass parcels, and are occasionally hauled on stage to join the mayhem – all whilst wearing paper hats, found inside the party bags that are handed out at the door.

The fact that every single person willingly put their hat on, though, is a testament to the infectious enthusiasm and joy of both the show and its performers. Shook Up Shakespeare’s Roseanna Morris and Helen Watkinson are a natural double act, bouncing off each other (sometimes literally) as they engage in witty banter, play energetic party games, sing Shakespeare-inspired songs (written by Shane Rutherfoord-Jones) and reenact a few of the Bard’s best loved scenes.

It does all get a bit manic, and even slightly alarming, from time to time, and it’s never completely clear what’s planned and what’s just ad libbed on the spot – although I suspect it’s a mixture of the two. The two actors throw absolutely everything into their performance, backed by their ‘one-man, one-wo-man’ band, who often look as bemused as the rest of us.

The show is described as a ‘Quad Centenary Wake’ and is a light-hearted tribute to the great playwright, poet and party planner that was William Shakespeare. I’m not sure what he would have made of it, but hopefully he would have been entertained – and perhaps only mildly outraged by the criticism of his poetry (which we established, through extensive research, ‘doesn’t even rhyme!’). Despite a scene that seems to suggest otherwise, these ladies clearly know their Shakespeare plays, and it’s fun to try and spot all the references to his works casually dropped in throughout the show.

If you’re a diehard fan of ‘straight Shakespeare’, these guys may not be for you; they’re unconventional, unpredictable and often very, very silly, mixing scenes from different plays with wild abandon. Equally, if you dislike audience participation, you may not feel entirely comfortable – although in reality nobody’s asked to do anything too terrifying.

But if you enjoy a bit of randomness, you fancy some light entertainment with a Shakespearean flavour, or you just like the occasional stoop of wine and ‘much ado about muffin’ (I did enjoy that one, I must admit), then they may be right up your street. This particular show ended its run at the Rosemary Branch Theatre this evening, but keep an eye on Shook Up Shakespeare to see what’s coming up next.

Can’t see the map on iPhone? Try turning your phone to landscape and that should sort it. I don’t know why but I’m working on it… 😉

Review: The Long Road South at King’s Head Theatre

Published on January 16, 2016January 6, 2018 by LizLeave a comment

Paul Minx was inspired to write The Long Road South in tribute to Carney, a man who worked for his family in Indiana for almost 15 years, and became a ‘shy second father’ to the young boy. And yet despite this close relationship, Minx knows very little about Carney’s personal life, because he was advised ‘not to pry, particularly with “the help”‘.

This contradiction is recreated in the play through a brief glimpse into the lives of the white Price family and their black ‘help’. Andre and Grace are preparing to leave for Alabama to join the civil rights movement – but as Andre fights for the courage to ask for his final wages, the Price’s teenage daughter Ivy tries anything to make him stay, and her mother Carol Ann heads towards a breakdown, it seems increasingly unlikely that they’ll ever be able to get away.

The Long Road South, King's Head Theatre — Photo credit: Truan Munro

A truly excellent cast, directed by Sarah Berger, draw us into the complex relationships between the family members and their employees, revealing deep personal issues on both sides, where nothing is quite as it seems. Andre (Cornelius Macarthy) is mild-mannered and deeply religious, but fighting an endless battle against the demons who nearly destroyed him, whilst trying to be the man aspiring writer Grace (Krissi Bohn) wants him to be. Ivy (Lydea Perkins) seems like a self-centred brat, until we realise she’s just seeking the attention she doesn’t get from her parents. And Carol Ann (Imogen Stubbs), far from being a bored housewife, is actually a depressed alcoholic, missing her absent son and desperate for her bullying husband Jake (Michael Brandon) to take the pain away.

The drama created by putting these five damaged individuals together is fascinating, with the Prices singled out as, while maybe not the villains, definitely not the heroes of the piece. (They also get most of the laughs – of which there are many – but always at them rather than with them.) Meanwhile Andre and Grace, though far from perfect themselves, behave with a dignity that only serves to highlight the failings of their employers. It’s quite clear which side we’re expected to be on, and it’s pretty easy to oblige.

Though it’s often unexpectedly funny, at its heart The Long Road South, at King’s Head Theatre until 30th January, is a serious and heartfelt depiction of race, religion and family values in 1960s America. Maybe it doesn’t bring any startling new insights to the discussion of these well-worn issues – but that’s not really the point. The play is intended to pay personal tribute to a man the writer loved but never truly got to know, and it does so in fine and truly entertaining style.

Can’t see the map on iPhone? Try turning your phone to landscape and that should sort it. I don’t know why but I’m working on it… 😉