And the Winner Is................

I started this blog just over a year ago. Previous attempts (two) were singularly unsuccessful. Hits were low (none and three) and my pitiful attempts to be the next mumsnet or guido fawkes were mercifully strangled shortly after birth. Was no one interested in the closure of my local post office or the dangerously incipient spread of unsalted biscuits and crisps? Clearly not. Or not from me on cumbersome and complicated sites. I nearly gave up. But the hankering to blog was clearly there and I made a third attempt. Anton Chekhov said that theatre was his mistress (medicine was his wife) and, in a way, I suppose it is mine. Whatever my other interests, it has dogged me all my life. So why not give it a try I said. A few folks who should know better said they missed my paper reviews and, who knows, I might get a few hits to make it worthwhile. A year on and the numbers make me blink. Nearly five thousand and climbing. You actor folks may not always like or agree with what I write but at least you have a look. Having your own opinion confirmed, whether on a scintillating new local star or an oik who lost his script, is clearly much more fun than musing on unsalted biscuits.

In my first year I have stuck my oar into over twenty presentations. Not an earth shattering number but you have to pay the gas and whisky bills, the latter anyway, before forking out on theatre tickets. That’s my excuse for being a lazy sod. If I see it, I feel inclined to blog it and these days inclinations, of any ilk, come along fairly infrequently. Hasn’t stopped me seeing everything the boys and girls of Dunstable Rep and Wheathampstead Players pushed out. Their classy and cosy venues account for about half of my output. Wheathampstead have yet to hit the theatrical heights overall but in Irene Morris (Broken Glass, Losing Louis), Sara Payne (Time of my Life), and Jan Westgarth (Time of my Life), they show they have some bloody good actresses. And in Sarah Brindley (Broken Glass, Losing Louis) they have an exceptional one. I like my local lot down the B653 and I have a feeling it won’t be long before they get an overdue rave. The quality is there; just needs something extra to make it gell like it did in the past with The Winslow Boy and The Cemetery Club. Dunstable Rep sometimes have the same problem. They regularly turn out some individual crackers, most notably Joe Butcher (Plaza Suite), Angela Goss (Plaza Suite and Blithe Spirit), and Phil Baker (A Christmas Carol), in productions which failed to totally impress. But they cram a lot in at the Rep and in the ‘Film Season’ ones that did tick most of my boxes Dave Corbett (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof) and Justin Doherty (The Talented Mr Ripley) scored heavily for the boys and Liz Caswell (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof) and Jenna Ryder-Oliver (The Talented Mr Ripley) for the girls. Only my opinion of course. So do not drop bricks on my blog, unless it is one of the John Gielgud variety.

In my theatre reviewing days for The Luton News I used to give out individual gongs for my personal bests. Not fair to do that here as, unlike then, I haven’t seen everything in the local area. I intend to have some fun with my Rep Theatre Handicap Race (see below) but that is a private bit of nonsense. The rest is merely comments on my first theatre blog year. Individually I also appreciated performances from Elliott Lawrence (Still Life – ACT), Steve Peters (The Drowsy Chaperone-St Andrews), Lewis Cox (Absent Friends – Harpenden High Street Players), Jonathan Field (Time of my Life-Wheathampstead), Ciara McDermott (Aladdin –Stage One), Suzy Major (Under The Stars – Company of Ten), Dianne Pickard (Under The Stars – Company of Ten), Natalie Gordon (Still Life –ACT), Katie Brennan (A Little Night Music – Luton Light), Caroline Fitch (A Little Night Music – Luton Light), Rona Cracknell (A Little Night Music – Luton Light), Joanna Yirrel (The Drowsy Chaperone-St Andrews) and Sarah Albert (The Drowsy Chaperone-St Andrews). Collectively Les Miserables (Empire Arts) was awesome and if I had a Director’s Award I would give it to Lucy O’Hare and Ashley Mead for knitting sixty plus teenagers into a magnificent evening of total musical theatre. As it is my blog I’ll give it to them anyway. None who saw it last Autumn would complain. Except possibly Matt Flitton, Kelley Sarson, John O’Leary, and the prolific Joe Butcher who combined beautifully in a madcap 39 Steps. But there were only four of them.

And that nicely leads us on to Dunstable Rep’s 2011/12 Film Season. They had six, from Plaza Suite to The 39 Steps, and two guest productions which fitted the criteria. Alan Clarke, greedy bugger, had one of each and both Still Life and The Talented Mr Ripley were absorbing evenings of theatre. The other guest production, Matthew Orr’s A little Night Music for Luton Light, was also pure class and when you throw in Chris Lavin’s compelling Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Bekka Prideaux’s fun packed The 39 Steps you know it ain’t going to be easy to find a winner. In the end Still Life just edged out Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and those two, along with that magnificent Les Miserables, were my personal tops of a first year of royhalltheatre.blogspot.com. Twenty plus shows and all an absolute pleasure. I love horseracing, win or lose, turkeys or triumphs, and theatre is much the same. So, in true Olympic spirit.

The Winner Is:-

Gold Medal.   STILL LIFE  

(ACT Theatre Company – Dunstable Rep – July 2011)

Just shaded in the envelope were runners up:-

Silver Medal.   CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF

(Dunstable Rep – January 2012)

With an honourable mention for:-

     Bronze Medal. LES MISERABLES

    (Empire Arts – Queensbury Theatre – August 2011)

Good field, lousy critic.

Enjoy.

Roy Hall

The 39 Steps - Dunstable Rep (Full Review)

****

One of the key characters in The 39 Steps, the Reps last celluloid to stage presentation, is the Memory Man. Mr Memory I think they called him, but my memory ain’t what it used to be. His was. Knew everything. Distance in miles between Winnipeg and Ontario or somewhere or other and the combined weight of Henry V111’s children. Oh all right he wasn’t asked these things, but he was asked lots of others. Am I right Sir? he engagingly asked. Richard Hannay, pennies falling into place, revisited his theatre show and asked him about the Thirty Nine Steps. Our Mr Memory regurgitated Hitchcock’s Macguffin, google it, and got shot for his troubles. He died beautifully, a complex formula revealed, and a plaintive ‘Am I right Sir?’ echoed around the theatre. There was not a dry eye in the house. Probably because they had been laughing so much. Buchan’s book is pleasurable nonsense, Hitchcock’s film with the unsurpassable Robert Donat as the hapless hero Hannay is equal to it, and Patrick Barlow’s zany interpretation releases the underlying comedy in imaginative style. I reckon Hitchcock, mischievously handcuffing a 1930’s heroine to the beleaguered fugitive, would have approved. If you are chasing a Macguffin, make it fun.

I reckon the Rep could have achieved that if they had just wheeled out their classy actors and amplified the script. These four were good enough to bring it to bizarre life from a rehearsed reading. But add in some basic staging and a few costumes and hats and chairs and you have a sure fire winner to end the season. I went on the first night due to holiday commitments and the pleasures of the Cotswolds, Chipping Campden, may have blurred my Mr Memory expertise. But I remember that I laughed a lot, I remember that I was impressed by the performances, I remember that the staging was occasionally clumsy and I would have preferred the elimination of assisting stage hands, and I remember, critical sod that I am, that the sparkling narrative had  a few dips. But most of all I remembered four excellent portrayals. John O’Leary’s nicely judged Hannay, an innocent involved in uncontrollable events, Kelley Sarson’s supremely accomplished feminine interests, and Joe Butcher’s and Matt Flitton’s bewildering inventive characterisations. Director Bekka Prideaux was blessed with this lot. You forgave the dips because you just knew that more fun was to follow. Am I right Sir?

It would have been interesting to go back on the last night. Would the sharpening of line delivery enhance the production or would the director and actors obvious love for their theatrical vehicle fatally flaw it? I doubt the latter. First night gremlins were dismissed with astonishing ease and humour, suggesting that this was a team firmly in control. That was clear throughout an evening which thoroughly entertained. They hit the heights with an hilarious train ride, switching hats in profusion, and an equally bewildering hotel booking in the remote highlands. Hannay and his handcuffed girl played the bedroom scene with sexual aplomb and Mr Butcher and Mr Flitton milked every moment of the strange proprietors. I almost wet myself, it’s my age, at a weird and muffled phone call by Mr Butcher but I cannot for the life of me remember why. This Thirty Nine Steps was a bit like that. Mr O’Leary and Miss Sarson gave the piece a realistic central focus and the other actor boys played all the peripheral characters, including two hilarious squawking hawks to suggest Scottish desolation, and they worked or failed on the machine gun principle. You can’t always hit the target but when they did it was all excellent first night fun.

Fred Rayment splashed in lots of effects, mood music underlined the action in the expected style, and the whole lot was a feet warming giggle. It ain’t Ibsen, although we had a hint with the removal of our heroine’s stockings by the handcuffed Hannay, but it was a jolly evening. You expect that in the July slot. End the season on a laugh is the Rep’s motto. And Bekka Prideaux and her magnificent cast did that for me in spades. When you like something you forgive its faults. And I liked this. Four bloody good actors chasing the Macguffin in madcap style. Death and glory and a tongue firmly fixed in Mr Hannay’s cheek. Hitchcock with comic knobs. Am I right Sir?
Roy Hall

The 39 Steps - Preview (Dunstable Rep)

Alfred Hitchcock’s version of The Thirty Nine Steps, John Buchan’s definitive spy thriller, is considered the best of its interpretations and Patrick Barlow pulled a masterstroke in basing his zany comic slant of the iconic tale on such solid credentials. Few filmic images have remained in the memory quite like the Hannay fugitive handcuffed to his girl. This last in the Rep’s stimulating film season was inventively packaged and rich in sharp and funny scenes. Bekka Prideaux was blessed with four excellent actors and only narrative drag and first night dwelling on lines occasionally slowed the pace. Spliced with lashings of effects from Fred Rayment and a bewildering variety of characters from first division stalwarts Joe Butcher and Matt Flitton The 39 Steps has all the hallmarks of a rip roaring success. If you haven’t booked your ticket I suggest you do it now.

The 39 Steps

Dunstable Rep Theatre Club

John O'Leary/Kelley Sarson/ Joe Butcher/Matt Flitton

Directed by Bekka Prideaux

Runs to Saturday 21st July 2012 (7.45pm - High Street South, Dunstable)

The Thirty Nine Steps - Last entry in the Rep 2011/12 Film Season Theatre Stakes.(Opens 13th July)

I love theatre but I love horseracing more. So a bit of promised nonsense to rise to the challenge of the Rep's film season. When you have a blog you can post any old rubbish. Roy Hall.

THE DUNSTABLE REP HANDICAP THEATRE STAKES (GRADE ONE)    For theatre productions taking place at the Little Theatre, Dunstable during the 2011/2012 season. Minimum rating 150.  (Ratings based on expectations, play-writer-director-cast, prior to production.)

1.      STILL LIFE  (180) Noel Coward (ACT Theatre Company)

Classy pedigree.  Sire Alan Clarke; Dam Megan Clarke. Late supplementary entry due to fine form shown on the gallops. Faultless jumper which stays well. Has been clocking very good times on the tracks.

                                   

2.      PLAZA SUITE (175) Neil Simon (Dunstable Rep – Sept)   

Prone to make the odd mistake but finishes its races well. American pedigree and a bit fragile. Acts on any going except heavy and runs in snatches.

3.      A CHRISTMAS CAROL (180) Charles Dickens (Dunstable Rep – Nov)            

Trainer Alistair Brown has a great record in these races and his flamboyant style is reflected in his horses. This one jumps impeccably but with a tendency to move off a straight course. Flashy performer at best but prone to throw in the odd wobbly. Very good in a finish.

4.  CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF (170) Tennessee Williams (Dunstable Rep – Jan)                  

     Another American import which has improved under trainer Chris Lavin’s care. Inexperienced main pilot in this class but gallop reports suggest this won’t be a problem. Prone to sweating.

5.  A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC (175) Stephen Sondheim (Luton Light)

     A few setbacks in training but trainer Mathew Orr is determined to get this one ready for its late supplementary entry. Indifferent starter but improves the further he goes. Can cope with all goings and has won on heavy snow in the past.

6.  BLITHE SPIRIT (185) Noel Coward (Dunstable Rep – Mar)           

      Another classy entry with enormous potential to cut it in this grade. Has shown a lot of spirit in training and Joe Butcher reckons it will make all the others go. Subject of heavy gambles as stable staff frantically peddle their bikes to the local Ladbrokes.

7. THE TALENTED MR RIPLEY (175) Patricia Highsmith (Dunstable Rep – May)

      Murderously talented but prone to tail flash when under pressure. Second entry for trainer Alan Clarke and has a lot of class. Not the safest jumper and blinkers applied to sharpen her up. Gets the usual filly allowance and it might make the difference.

8. THE THIRTY NINE STEPS (170) John Buchan (Dunstable Rep – July)

     Yet to have a run but Bekka Prideaux is very keen on this one. Strong and experienced jockey and subject of some shrewd bets in a very open market.

     Betting forecast. 7-2 Blithe Spirit. 4-1 A Christmas Carol. 4-1 Still Life. 5-1 The Talented Mr Ripley. 7-1 A little Night Music. 8-1 Plaza Suite. 10-1 Cat on a Hot Tin Roof 12-1 The Thirty Nine Steps.

    Spotlight view: A tricky race made even more complicated by the supplementary entries of Still Life and A Little Night Music. The original film season six all have their merits even if The Thirty Nine Steps has yet to show its promise on the track. Off time is 7.45pm on Friday 13^th July and whichever wins it should be an absorbing race. Full race analysis will be recorded here when the final saddles are off and deserved rub downs have taken place. And, boy, do I like rub downs. Roy Hall

The Thirty Nine Steps – Adapted by Patrick Barlow from the book by John Buchan.

The Little Theatre, High Street South, Dunstable. 7.45pm

13^th – 21^st July 2012.

Tickets £12 (Members guests £10)

Box Office 07940 105864    dunstablerepboxoffice@gmail.com

St Andrews Players -The Drowsy Chaperone (Full Review)

St Andrews 60^th Anniversary production, The Drowsy Chaperone, is my sort of musical. Roughly translated that means it ain’t one. None of your Rodgers and Hammerstein thigh slapping cowboys here. It is more a play with an imagined musical, a pretty naff one, seen through the eyes of one of life’s natural losers. He sits in his chair, boils his kettles, shouts at phones he refuses to answer, and plays his records. He drinks small brandies from half bottles, such folk do, and constantly pops pills. Didn’t see him doing the latter, but such dysfunctional nerds have them in their cardigan somewhere. Trust me, I am an expert on neurotics. And the record he plays for us is a recording of his mother’s favourite. The fictional 1928 Broadway musical, The Drowsy Chaperone. Never heard of it? Well neither have I or anyone else. But the Man in Chair (a beautifully crafted portrayal from Steve Peters) and his performers brought it all to highly comic and inventive life. In other words its creators, headed by Canadian actor Bob Martin, had conceived an absolute gem of a theatrical experience. It was full of more surprises than you usually get in half a dozen shows. You gasped and giggled in equal proportions. If you missed out, it was your loss.

That’s not to say I was completely bowled over by the production. A greater contrast between the isolated refuge of our storyteller and his whiz-bang performers’ platform would have been more pleasing. This set had marginally too much of a stage musical look to it and reality and imagination were only partially defined. But I am picky, you all know that. Explains why I also sniffed at obvious stage markings, not a good idea in a raked theatre, and the occasional dodgy mike. But, unsurprisingly, it all mattered hardly a jot. Our Man in Chair wheeled out those performers and fleshed them out. You learnt about the weird musical characters, the Broadway acting set and their bizarre friends and enemies, and you learnt about the fictional actors playing them. This anorak in the chair knew everything about them. You know the saying ‘he should get out more’, well they coined it for him.

He played the record and the actors twirled and sang in a glitzy  wedding plot I have no intention of outlining. You wouldn’t believe it anyway. The musical wasn’t important, only the magnificent way it was performed. If the record stuck and repeated, the actors stuck and repeated. If he stopped the record he stopped the actors, there were some superb freezes, and in a hilarious opening to act two we got the wrong musical. Something about the Great Wall of China. I kid you not. I have never heard an audience laugh so much. And that included this cynic. They topped it all with a wedding in the sky that was rich in theatrical imagination. I mean, two ironing boards and an electric fan? I told you that you should have seen it. In a large cast Joanna Yirrell stood out for a portrayal redolent of Hollywood Queen Ann Sheridan, lovely acting and singing and super hair, and Sarah Albert for the dizziest blonde I have ever seen on the local stage. Her Kitty was an absolute joy. Not often I get a chance to say things like that in a review.

Shan’t single out the others, this was very much a team piece, other than to say that Richard Cowling was a brave and beautifully over the top Aldolpho, and Andy Whalley a spiky, cigar chewing, Feldzieg. Beth Thomas conducted a lively unseen band, Jo Harris made them all dance their socks off, and Frances Hall directed. Hey ain’t I married to her? Makes not a jot of difference other than, unlike other directors, she gets the chance to kick this self opinionated old bastard out of bed.

But what about the Drowsy Chaperone? Isn’t she what the show is all about? Actually she isn’t and although Sharon Robinson played her alcoholic lines with pithy aplomb she is a bit of a marginal comic character. If I had the title role in this I would have thrown at least three strops. It’s really ‘The Man in Chair Musical’ but that’s even less catchy than the one chosen. The Chaperone, drowsy and red, was just one of the crazy team he conjured up. And from that first dangerous moment, a long and clever speech delivered in the dark, you just knew you were going to enjoy it. Not all the performances were top notch, I’m not blind even if I don’t want to be kicked out of bed, but they blended with style in a show which deserves every award those astute Americans gave it.

St Andrews Players did it justice and that, on your 60^th Anniversary, can’t be bad.

Roy Hall

The Drowsy Chaperone (St Andrews Players)

The Drowsy Chaperone is my sort of musical. Probably because it isn’t one. It’s more a play about a nerdish and lonely man bringing a pretty naff one to life. It’s awfulness makes it almost wonderful. At least to him. Stand outs amongst the cast conjured for our entertainment were Joanna Yirrell as a Hollywood queen, Sarah Albert as the obligatory vacuous blonde and Steve Peters as the beautifully crafted Man in Chair. Not everything worked but overall I loved it. If you didn’t go because you had never heard of it then you missed a treat. Roy Hall

Full review to follow

A P McCoy, Sweet Prince, and Me

I never was one for name dropping. Oh all right, I once spent a week swimming in the nude with a very famous actor. Ain’t saying who, but perfectly true, as dropping names along with trunks might land me in the law courts. But I am gonna drop one name. Tony McCoy. A P McCoy as he is known in the horseracing game. Superstar, legend, fifteen times NH Champion, and runaway winner of the BBC Sports Personality of the year. Can’t remember when but it must have been after he won the Grand National at his fifteenth attempt (Don’t Push It) as jockeys rarely get the recognition they deserve. Met him last Friday, chatted, had a photo with him, and left thinking what a nice chap he is. Hope he thought the same of me. I mean, let’s face it, I may not be a legend but I know at least three folks who reckon I am only nine pence short of a shilling.

I met the nice and helpful Mr McCoy because he rode a friend’s horse in a race at Towcester last Friday. It wasn’t Cheltenham or Aintree and the race (a NH bumper) won’t register on the great scheme of horseracing things. But A P McCoy, racing legend in case you have forgotten, gave our party the lowdown both before and after the race. So pleasant and informative you would have thought he was riding the favourite in the Cheltenham Gold Cup. The horse, Sweet Prince, finished third and we were all delighted. Will never be an Alberta’s Run (see blog profile) but will give its delightful owner a lot of fun when it enters the world of handicapping hurdling. Being trained by Jonjo O’Neill (another racing legend) there was always the possibility that AP (don’t take me long to get familiar) would one day ride him. But in his second race? In a bumper? At Towcester? That’s a bit like Colin Firth turning up for a cameo at Harpenden Hall or Wayne Rooney having a fling with Luton Town FC. As I told one of our non horseracing party, we were in the presence of an icon. She’s a bit deaf and I think she thought I said iron which may explain why she kept admiring my shirt. Light blue and white, colours of the Greek flag and Sweet Prince. I know how to impress racehorse owners. Greece might go belly up but I reckon our five year old, a real trier based on his first two runs, may make his mark. The McCoy factor meant he went off favourite at Towcester (11/4) but he never threatened to win. We didn’t mind. A hot evening, nobody took their clothes off, and we cheered like mad when he plugged on for third. Bit frisky in the winners enclosure for the first three. Reckon he tried to kick me as they showered him with well deserved water. Many would say that our Sweet Prince has taste.

Epsom this week – Derby and Oaks – and then Royal Ascot. Vow and The Fugue should go well for the fillies and fancy a punt on O’Brien’s Astrology in the Derby. My sort of price (20/1) even though Camelot and/or Bonfire both look the real deal. Won’t see Sweet Prince there. Putting his feet up after Huntingdon and Towcester. Much more important. Mr McCoy, legend, superstar, would agree. Roy Hall