Month: October 2019

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Review: FALSETTOS

FALSETTOS plays at The Other Palace, London until November 23rd. Details and Tickets here

IN BRIEF Love and loss in sung-through musical touches hearts and satisfies musically

FALSETTOS has been around since 1992 but is only now receiving its UK premiere. The show is an amalgamation of two earlier one act shows which originated in the 1980s. It still rather feels like a show of two very different halves, but together they produce more than their sum.

Set in New York, FALSETTOS centres around Marvin, a Jewish, ex-married man (with a son) who now lives with his male lover. Marvin is about as high-maintenance as a Boeing 787 Dreamliner (you’ll be relieved to know that the character improves).

The show charts the journey of Marvin and those around him -, his ex-wife, their son, their shared psychiatrist – as well as Marvin’s lover and the lesbian neighbours, through America in the dramatic decade of the 1980s, with HIV and AIDS the unseen agent which brings tragedy to the group. The first act is much more abrasive than the rather more chilled second, with specific character shifts including a more mellowed Marvin (and the welcome arrival of the neighbours) bringing new story opportunities and priorities..

A sung-through musical, written by William Finn and James Lapine, FALSETTOS’ frenetic, agitated score and hyper-smart lyrics successfully evoke that edgy New York state of mind that flows through the show’s veins. The music is played by a small but excellent band, crisp and perfect on every beat.

Daniel Boys as Marvin shows that he is fully on top of some tricky, vocally demanding numbers, giving us several real lump in the throat moments towards the end of the show. Oliver Savile as Marvin’s lover Whizzer provides memorable moments of vocal emotion, with an enjoyably strong voice. The always enjoyable Laura Pitt-Pulford as ex-wife Trina, is especially enjoyable in her “Mad” number, but as the only female voice in the first act we did feel her lack when she wasn’t around. It would have been good to have heard more of her. Superbly cast throughout, the whole company really achieve the potential of the score. My only thought was that the set design felt a little basic and bitty, although it seemed to serve the cast acceptably.

Some of the Jewish references may possibly fall flat for an UK audience, which simply reminds us that this is a very “New York” musical. But as they say, there is always more that unites us than divides us, and FALSETTOS still scores highly as a heartfelt call to finding strength to carry on in the face of loss and change.

FALSETTOS plays at The Other Palace, London until November 23rd. Details and Tickets here

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Review: BERYL

BERYL plays at Arcola Theatre, London until 16 November. Details and tickets here

IN BRIEF Celebration of inspiring female sporting legend played with affection amongst the facts

When someone is no longer alive or in the limelight, their memory fades quickly. So it’s particularly good to welcome this revival of a 2014 play by actor/ writer Maxine Peake. Originally commissioned to coincide with the Tour de France, it is a heartfelt and particularly English celebration of Leeds-born cyclist Beryl Burton – a true sporting legend of the 1950s/60s/70s who did it all on her own, with nothing but “guts and determination”, setting records for decades through sheer “Yorkshire grit”- and the occasional liquorice allsort.

Part of the reason that so many know so little about the genuinely inspiring story of Beryl Burton is that women’s sport has been for so long been undervalued, with no official support for developing athletes, meaning that whilst other countries revered their sportsfolk, the UK simply ignored them, meaning that Beryl and her family were continually impoverished. There is justifiable anger here at the UK’s shameful desertion of national talent, especially women, and all the more amazing that they achieved so much. Although at last the balance is shifting to recognise current female sporting heroes, perhaps almost more importantly, we must now sing the praises of those left unsung from the past.

To the play. Already competing against herself as a child, things seem set against Beryl from the start when she develops a weak heart through a spell of childhood rheumatic fever. But Beryl was not someone to let others tell her what she could do; we see her “guts and determination” give an iron structure to her lifetime of intense drive. “I will make my mark” says Beryl when pressed to pinpoint her motivation- and she certainly did.

As Beryl grows and dedicates herself to her natural talent, she is well-supported by her husband and eventually her daughter, who she trains – eventually becoming a winner herself, although not without tensions along the way. For Beryl, sportsmanship is paramount and tensions with her daughter’s achievements sparks a series of unfortunate incidents which increase Beryl’s health issues.

The cast of four play a wide variety of roles, but it is Jessica Duffield as the adult Beryl who scores the most consistently with her down-to-earth, likeable portrayal. Tom Lorcan, so good recently in THE SWEET SCIENCE OF BRUISING, plays Beryl’s supportive husband Charlie with sensitivity. As a non-cyclist myself I appreciated the several set ups and explanations of her copious races and runs but did feel that there was a dramatic price paid, which left little time for learning more about the woman herself. And now, with the London run of the play, perhaps the explanation of the Rhubarb Triangle was necessary, but it did slow things down a little more.

Designed as an affectionate celebration of a sporting legend, the play has much to tell us about factual events, while the occasional more reflective moments are particularly valuable in giving us an insight into the mind of the woman herself. Occasionally I found the larkiness punctuating the play distracting. But the central issue is Beryl herself – an underappreciated sporting legend. Now thanks to this welcome celebration we can now remember more clearly a woman who broke cycling records for over 25 years.

BERYL plays at Arcola Theatre, London until November 16th. Details and tickets here

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Review: THE GIRL WHO FELL

THE GIRL WHO FELL plays at Trafalgar Studios 2 until November 23rd. Details and tickets here

IN BRIEF Unravelling the truth in the aftermath of teenager’s suicide provokes questions, truth and lies in an engrossing and well-acted play

15-year old Sam committed suicide. Everyone’s blaming themselves; her mum, Thea- a prison chaplain who took drastic action to stem Sam’s out of control behaviour; Lenny, Sam’s ‘sort of’ boyfriend, a tall man-child often one step behind, who says they were “on a break”; and Lenny’s twin Billie who was Sam’s best friend – quietly smart and guarded. Not to mention Thea’s chance encounter with courier Gil, whose kindly exterior is far from the whole story.

All these characters have their secrets to hide and guilt to examine as the fallout from Sam’s suicide reverberates through the play’s 90-minute running time

It would be a shame to flag up all the twists and turns along the play’s journey; suffice to say that each of the characters’ journeys are fragmented and uneven, leading to a partial closure.

Claire Goose as Thea gives an intense and edgy performance which is both absorbing and very affecting. Navin Chowdhry as Gil plays his quiet role with a believable numbness which is still full of meaning. Will Fletcher as Lenny is rather more the comic relief of the play, his childish outpourings still effective. Rosie Day as Billie is well-cast as sparky but bruised Billie who is a lot more than she first appears to be.

Sarah Rutherford’s play is often tense, difficult and emotional, and runs long dialogue passages, but she cannily spots the most challenging dialogue passages with unflagged little lines of humour which act as tiny pressure valves in the writing. At other times the humour might occasionally seem a little uncomfortable (as in the scene with the ashes), but most of the time it works well.

This reflective play is by nature rather static, but the focus is on character here. The audience I was with were held from start to finish.

THE GIRL WHO FELL plays at Trafalgar Studios 2 until November 23rd. Details and tickets here

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Review: TRYING IT ON

David Edgar at 20/70

IN BRIEF Playwright David Edgar’s skilfully composed part-autobiographical reflection on progress and problems within UK society in the last 50 years.

“If this were a play…” begins noted playwright David Edgar. But it’s not, really. Edgar (now 70) nicely manages our expectations at the outset to produce a relaxed, engaging and intelligent show which ranges far and wide across the last 50 years of UK social history, culminating with, of course, Brexit and his attempts to figure out why his generation voted as they did, and how we got into this situation in the first place.

This one-man show is artfully executed with a playwright’s flair for self-questioning and copious research, together with tight construction and direction (from Christopher Haydon) to keep it bang on its 90-minute running time.

Referencing video and audio of several key players as well as friends and contemporaries, Edgar engagingly outlines some of the key changes in society from 1968 to the current day. Some are encouraging: some are shocking; all are significant.

From his involvement with student politics in the late 1960s to now, Edgar wants to know if he has changed. He has, but the society in which we all live has changed too. It was fascinating to hear that between the first and second editions of Penguin’s The Women’s Book of Rights, it had to be almost entirely rewritten due to the fact that so much progress had been made.

With a clever sequence where Edgar interviews his earlier self (on tape), he questions how his (and society’s) attitudes have morphed through the decades, touching on milestones – student riots, the Three Day Week, Winter of Discontent, the rise of Thatcher, the miners’ strikes, Reagan, the crash, austerity and much more.

Self-professedly not an actor, but certainly a highly capable commentator, Edgar brings us so much of interest – including fascinating bits of theatre history, mentioning his own work, albeit briefly and modestly referenced. He is keen to remind us of the problems and struggles of the past, but he also does not let us miss the immense progress that has been made through these struggles. The fact that so much remains to be done fuels him, and us, to keep going.

There are many questions to the audience and a substantial challenge from the stage manager in her twenties which reminds us that these are solely his views; he modestly accepts this and gives way. There is much here to remind us that we need to participate and not merely be passively accepting of what is fed to us.

At the London show I attended the audience were mostly of Hare’s own age, still engaged and keen to listen.

Ending with asserting a future manifesto for more fairness, equality and constructive action on climate change, it is clear that, happily, there is a lot more energy yet left in David Edgar. And from the delightfully unusual programme (given out at the end of the show) , that there are many groups out there with causes worth fighting for.

As Brexit (possibly) approaches, do take the chance to see one of the last few shows on this tour if you can.

TRYING IT ON tours until October 31st. Venue details and tickets here

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Review: TOKYO ROSE

IN BRIEF Strongly-voiced musical retelling about the woman framed as an anti-US propagandist focuses on the injustice.

Inspired by a true story of the rare case of an American citizen tried for treason in 1949, TOKYO ROSE is a musical interpretation of the story of US-born Iva Toguri. Young and somewhat impressionable, Iva was repeatedly caught in a web of circumstances, persecuted and imprisoned for 6 years for broadcasting wartime anti-American propaganda.

Although born in the US, even in her own country, Iva is portrayed as an outsider- fellow university students assume she is from elsewhere simply because of the way she looks. Kind and somewhat naïve, she journeys to Japan to care for a sick aunt. When Pearl Harbour changes everything, and unable to go home, Iva is at first cajoled and then commanded into becoming one of 14 female broadcasters spreading fake news to the US troops. The war’s end brings further misery as she is tricked into a newspaper interview and subsequently tried and jailed for 6 years, the prosecution case later proved to be riddled with lies and intimidation.

The talented trio of Maya Britto (as Iva), Lucy Park (as the Aunt) and Yuki Sutton (as Mother) all impress with their voices, with Britto having the best numbers and in the quieter moments allowing the audience to empathise with Iva’s situation.

The rest of the characters felt sketchily drawn and were played in a broad range of styles.

The music is interestingly scored and often good to listen to (although the rap style stuff didn’t work for me). For the majority of the time we are listening to song after song belted out which although impressive at the start, loses its impact after a while, and the quieter “Letters Home” pieces come as a welcome relief, as well as allowing the performers to use a different vocal range.

It is vital that real stories about people facing injustice are told through the power of theatre. Although showcasing three voices that I am very glad to have heard, at times I really wanted more of the story rather than having to make each piece of the story a musical number accompanied by (sometimes an overabundance of) choreography. Therefore I wondered whether the musical form was the best vehicle for the interpretation of this story.

The natural outrage about the many injustices meted out to Iva is clear in the show’s approach. I did feel that at a few moments the anger risked becoming uncontrolled and getting in the way of the story rather than supporting it.

Nevertheless, I was glad to have finally seen the show, and the three very interesting central performers too.