Dry Rot @ Darlington Civic

Straight from the horse’s mouth

In this current climate of dodgy politicians, corrupt cricketers and footballers fraudulently pretending to actually give a d… it was quite fitting that this week’s foray to the theatre was to watch a Whitehall Farce centred around a crooked bookie and his two accomplices devising a cunning plan to 'get rich quick’.  John Chapman’s play, first performed in 1954, is set in the 1930’s with the quintessential English approach to lovable rogues, the stiff upper lip of the officer classes and the almost dismissive way ‘Johnny foreigner’ is treated.

The plot is simplicity in itself – Honest Alf, Flash Harry and Fred (I kid you not, these are the names used) plan to kidnap the odds-on favourite horse and replace it with their own decrepit nag and thus, by laying on the horse to lose, pocket a tidy £10,000.  Think Arthur Daley running Channel 4 racing.  In true style, the plan immediately starts to unravel, first when they realise that the replacement horse would never pass muster as the favourite, and then when they take up their digs for race week only to find that the jockey, a diminutive Frenchman who speaks not a word of the Queens English, is also ‘stabled’ at the same inn.  Secret passages, eccentric characters and malapropisms abound to create a degree of controlled mayhem.

The pacing isn’t perhaps as slick and tight as some of the better known farces; there was a little too much time taken with setting up the back story of the Colonel and his family having only recently taken over the inn, but it is a nostalgic look back at a style of stage production which ruled the West End for many decades. The fact that Dry Rot features in the National Theatres top 100 plays of all time is more to recognise the well crafted script than any timelessness of the production.

The slapstick style of mad-cap humour normally associated with farce is sadly missing , but this didn’t really detract from a very funny story played out by a very capable cast of some of the country's best loved faces, including Liza Goddard, Susan Penhaligon (with a creamy West Country accent that made me weak every time she spoke), Gareth Hale & Norman Pace, Neil Stacy and Derren Nesbitt. 

Particular mention to Zoe Mills as Susan Wagstaff who brought a real period feel to her look and performance – part wide eyed debutante, part love struck damsel whose flawless appearance is very reminiscent of the silent movie screen idols Lillian Gish and Blanche Sweet. 

Farces are a dying production, driven to their graves by the desire for more immediate, and perhaps more risque humour, but there is still a place for a good farce, if for no other reason than to see where our current comedic shows have their roots.  Dry Rot is on at Darlington Civic until Saturday June 30th

Beyond the Barricade @ Darlington Civic

Give yourself over to absolute pleasure

Nostalgia always seems to make the past look better than the present; the summers were warmer, the roads quieter, petrol cheaper, wagon wheels (much) bigger so in this cold, wet June I had a real need for something to transport me back into those 'halcyon' days. 

The formation of Beyond the Barricade was driven by the huge and dramatic growth in popularity of the modern musical theatre of the 70's and 80's. Sired in part by Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber, and married to Les Miserables, Miss Saigon and Blood Brothers, the British musical was in it's dominance; the millions of theatre-goers revelled in the huge stages and thrilling stories, but most of all it was the songs and anthems that provided these shows with the longevity to span wars, governments, economic crises and all cultural changes.

Andy Reiss (look him up on Google, if there's been a musical hit over the past 30 years you'll find his name linked to it somewhere) has created a wonderful evening of musical indulgence, and with David Fawcett, Rebecca Vere and Katie Leeming has the perfect cast to bring the very best of the West End to any theatre.  The show has been touring longer than Westlife have been out of short trousers (David's joke, not mine - honest!) and they have formed a real sense of how to keep things fresh and fun. 

Unofficially compered by David (and a wicked sense of humour), the show sweeps through a list of shows which I defy anyone to have not heard of or been to see, but it never feels like the cast are just 'going through the numbers'.  Each show is afforded it's own build up, scene setting and with a very intuitive choice of songs you get the full feeling of the show in a brief but powerful slice.

To give you an idea of what to expect, the shows sampled included: Phantom of the Opera, Jesus Christ Superstar, Godspell, Blood Brothers, Lion King, Chess, Miss Saigon, Les Miserables, We will Rock You, Jersey Boys and Evita (it's quite humbling to see how many of these are from Lord ALW).  What is equally impressive is that the cast have starred in all of these shows as full productions in their own right, they are not just great singers - their list of credits is so big you could believe they must have cloned themselves many times over, but I assure you there are only 4 of them.

This show tours almost constantly but with a huge choice of musicals to draw from, and a brilliant band and crew, they are constantly looking to freshen up the 'play list', introduce new numbers and mothball others, so even if you've seen this before you are guaranteed to see something different the next time.

I had a wonderful evening, as did Becca who spent the evening whispering "Ooo - I know this one..."

Castle Players' As You Like It @ Bowes Museum

All the world's a stage", as Shakespeare wrote, and following last weeks production of one of the Bard's most famous, and funniest plays, The Castle Players proved yet again that not only is the world a stage, so is a garden, a tree and a muddy patch of lawn. This year it's "As You Like It", a very funny story of cross & double cross, hidden identities, requited and unrequited love all written with 'Old Will's' humorous quill in hand.

Despite the horrendous weather we have suffered over the past 6 weeks, this few, this happy few, (this band of brothers?) have toiled to ensure that they would not be outdone by rain, wind and mud and thus the annual summer production could go ahead.  Rehearsing in temporary accommodation was one thing, but when the dress rehearsals and stage setting had to be done under the threat of torrential downpours even the most stoic of supporters must have cast a disbelieving eye towards the opening night. But what is a bit of mud & rain when the thrill of performing awaits (and a hot shower and warming toddy afterwards).

The stage was set within the grounds of the iconic Bowes Museum on the rear lawn with the 

canopy of a huge tree providing the lighting rig and centre piece, the castle gardens and walls playing as the backdrop and two grandstand terraces forming the auditorium. 

The production of this show was truly amazing; the costumes, the sets, the inclusion of live sheep (who at times had perfect timing for interrupting the best intended dramatic pauses), the minstrels - everything was perfect and made even more so by being staged outside.  We were very, very lucky to have picked the one fair & fine evening in a month to attend this oasis of culture in a bleak & dreary week so one can only imagine how testing it was for the cast & crew to have battled through on Tuesday & Wednesday when the heavens fell, the ground rose and even the sheep would have looked a little perplexed.

I don't like using the phrase 'Amateur' - it suggests of pitiful attempts at 'doing their best', appreciated only by cast family members and the director who has ideas of grandeur.  This was as far away from an 'amateur' production as you could ever see.  The actors were all immensely dedicated in delivering a performance worthy of the bard's name with very clever casting and obvious enjoyment being had by everyone concerned.  The direction was tight, intuitive and completely at one with ensuring the pace of delivery still allowed time for the audience to unravel the multitude of layers so often present in Shakespeare's comedies.

The use of live minstrel music added an authenticity which created an additional layer, especially as the evening waned and the natural light dimmed.  In fact the setting outside gave an etheral quality which would have been impossible in a traditional theatre.

The lead characters were immediately recognisable, which came from exquisite opening introductions; all too often Shakespearean directors rush headlong into the guts of the play (feeling that they need to seek out the well known phrases to keep the audience on board) and they leave the audience playing catch up.  Simon Pell and Mary Stastny, the directors, ensured that each main character was allowed sufficient time onstage so the audience could easily identify with them.  This made for a much smoother movement through the first act and heightened the second act's humorous subplots, especially as the love interests strengthened and partners wooed and 'shooed' in equal measure. 

Whilst the whole cast were wonderful in their performances, special mention goes out to a few who really caught the eye;  Andy Moorhouse as Jaques was a brilliant tortured soul who reminded me of James Garnon playing James 1st in Anne Boleyn; Laura Pennell who played Celia had such a mischievous glint in her eye throughout the whole play and of course, Peter Cockerill as Silvius the shepherd, who spent the first 2 hours of the evening searching the extensive grounds of Bowes Museum for his 'love' Phoebe.

When you look at the cast list, production team and additional support you can appreciate just how professional (in all but name) this production is -lest we not forget that all these people give of their time, effort, skills, hard work and dedication in the true love of performance - more than a little humbling.

It is clear to see why the Castle Players have been invited to attend and perform for the RSC in Stratford this weekend; there can be few other productions in the country who capture the real essence of The Bard's work with infectious enthusiasm and downright enjoyment.  Congratulations to everyone concerned, you do our region proud.

Dancing Queen @ Darlington Civic

Karaoke, Talent TV, Jive Bunny and Cruise Ships have a lot to answer for

Billed as a spectacular song & dance extravaganza, Dancing Queen struggles to define itself or even agree on what type of show it is.  Centred, as the title suggests, around the songs of Abba, there are also forays into 70’s disco, Soul and Mowtown, which are delivered in a “Stars on 45” style megamix with backing dance tracks and vocoder assisted vocals.  I could easily expect to see this show (in maybe a 20 minute act) on board a cruise ship with a captive audience who have possibly spent the day on the all inclusive cocktails and were quite happy to watch this over-engineered karaoke show.

The choreography was constantly trying to be too clever, too precise and too pretentious.  There was little flow and, with over 20 people on stage, many of the dancers seemed to be struggling to keep up with the over-worked routines without standing on their cast mates.  Too many songs were backed by the full ensemble trying to deliver the entire repertoire of the choreographer’s creativity as though it was a dance exam with the brief “Demonstrate every clichéd dance move you have seen in the past 10 years”.

The main 4 members of the cast, who were taking the lead as the Abba-esque singers, were so very different that it was hard to accept they were portraying one of the tightest pop groups in music history.  Jennifer Harding spent most of the time over-smiling and forcing enthusiasm onto the audience that suggested “You will enjoy this, you will have a good time” while trying to find her pitch (or wait until the backing vocals were loud enough to help cover her up).  Jessica Parker, who has a great voice, missed sultry and went straight for sullen.  Aston Dobson and Simon Bulley kept looking like they knew this wasn’t good but hey, it’s a show, we’re on stage and we’re getting paid.  To be honest, the lads did have character and tried hard to move away from the “Walk slowly to the front of the stage, sing song and then dramatically walk back again”  but there was just no chemistry between the 4 of them.  Bizarrely, most of the Abba songs were performed with only 3 of the main four on stage, the girls taking it in turns to use the opportunity for a costume change - strange as I certainly remember all of Abba's hits having the 4 of them present.

The casting manager must have thought it was time to redress the time honoured tradition of having strong, tall male dancers and slight & petite female dancers.  Instead, there was only 1 guy who was taller than any of the girls and regularly the pairings gave the rest of the guys a real challenge to catch and lift girls who were at least 5 inches taller (and a few pounds heavier) than themselves.

The show itself would have benefited from having some dialogue in between the songs, something that would have given the main cast an avenue to relate to the audience and to break up the non-stop party anthem mega-mix approach.  The only time that the show really gave something of note was when it stopped trying to be so darn serious and just had a bit of fun – the start of Act 2 was much better than the whole of Act 1 – there was 70’s Rock ‘n’ Roll with a quite stunning backing singer (who turned out to be one of the lad dancers in a frock) and the reworking of Village People’s YMCA & In the Navy.  The cast really looked like they were finally having fun, a bit of freedom from the rigid routines of Act 1 and the singers sounded like they had found their true level.  But it didn’t last, and all too soon we were returned to the over-produced style and delivery we were forced to sit through in Act 1.

 This may sound like I am beating up on the cast & crew, and maybe there were a few who were as guilty as the choreographer & director for being too “look at me”, but for the most part, the ensemble suggested they were capable of much more fluidity, more expression and more enjoyment – if only they had been allowed to.

In reality Dancing Queen is the stage show production of "Jive Bunny does Abba and the 70’s" - perfect for kids discos, holiday camps and cruise ships .

Yes Prime Minister @ Darlington Civic

The new Whitehall Farce, at Checkers

 This updated version of Yes, Prime Minster, written by the original creators Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn brings a non-party specific view of life behind the scenes for the Prime Minister, Jim Hacker and his team, including the irrepressible Sir Humphrey Appleby.

Jim is now heading up the coalition government (sounds familiar) and is teetering on the precipice of complete meltdown, both economic and diplomatic.  Offered an escape route by a highly dubious deal with the unlikely allies of Kumranistan, Jim has to decide whether to sell out or sell up. 

This version manages at times to capture some of the essence of the original TV shows but without the wonderful Nigel Hawthorne and Paul Eddington any semblance is quickly dismissed as 2^nd class copying.  There are quite lengthy periods of almost monotonous dialogue which pays too much attention to the bureaucracy of government and not enough to the inter-personal shenanigans that would keep the laughs coming.   

The TV shows looked to create a non-stop 25 minutes packed with constant plotting; Sir Humphrey knew (or thought he knew) everything that was going on and spent most of his time protecting his own nest while steering Jim Hacker away from making a complete hash of things. 

With time at a premium there was always very careful consideration and lines/plots/ideas which didn't deliver were simply not included.  This play, with its running time of almost 2 hours, has too much space and it is this ‘luxury of time’ that leads to weak, unproductive and quite frankly un-funny speeches.

The premise is still sound, the context is still very relevant, in fact even more so now - there are many who would suggest that our current government is already one big comedy, (or at least laughable if it wasn’t so seriously out of touch) but unfortunately, like the current government, its best work was done long ago, it is now living on being a mere shadow of its former great self.