ALAN Ayckbourn’s Ten Times Table, the debut production by the Classic
Comedy Theatre Company, will play the Grand Opera House, York, from February 10
to 15 next year.
This touring show is produced by impresario Bill Kenwright and his team
behind the Agatha Christie, Classic Thriller and Classic Screen To Stage
theatre companies for more than 15 years.
Premiered in January 1977, Ten Times Table is “the one with the committee
from hell and a fete worse than death”.
In the long-since grand ballroom of the Swan Hotel, a most miscellaneous
assemblage gathers to conduct the business of the Pendon Folk Festival.
Unfortunately for excitable chairman Ray, his calamitous committee
quickly divides as his wife, Helen, has a bone to pick.
Add a Marxist schoolteacher, a military dog breeder and an octogenarian
secretary, and the table is set for a tumultuous comedy by committee.
In the cast will be Robert Dawes, Deborah Grant, Mark Curry, Robert
Duncan, Elizabeth Powers, Gemma Oaten and Craig Glazey.
Tickets are on sale on 0844 871 3024 or at atgtickets.com/york.
Scrooge The Musical, Pick Me Up Theatre, Grand Opera House, York, until Sunday, December 1. Box office: 0844 871 3024 or at atgtickets.com/york
FOR years and years, Pick Me Up Theatre artistic director Robert
Readman has applied for the performing rights for Scrooge The Musical, more in
hope than expectation.
This year, at last, the answer was affirmative, and so Readman
reckons he must be the first director/producer to stage Leslie Bricusse’s
musical on this scale since Bill Kenwright’s long-running tour show.
Those were the days with Tommy Steele in the lead, with
songs specially added for his knees-up brand of showmanship, but Readman has restored
the 1992 score, when Bricusse transferred his 1970 film musical to the stage as
a vehicle for Anthony Newley, six new songs and all. Back come the likes of
Good Times, the best in the show, says Readman.
Ironically, if anything, there are too many songs, or, more precisely, there are not many memorable songs, making it feel like too many.
This is in part because the dialogue is largely true to Charles Dickens’s novel, save for the occasional modernism, and you wish for rather more of it, but another song is always nudging it out of the way.
While you could not call it a “sung-through musical”, it is veering towards that style, yet the great joy of Dickens’s A Christmas Carol lies in its storytelling and the myriad ways of presenting it, whether James Swanton’s one-man show, Alexander Wright’s pub supper two-hander with audience participation or Deborah McAndrew’s beautifully resonant adaptation for Hull Truck Theatre.
Readman goes for spectacle, garland upon garland of snowy white flowers decorating the stage; a huge door; a big four-poster bed; loud, very loud, sound effects for Jacob Marley’s entry, rattling chains et al; echoing voices; a company of more than 40; and two flying sequences. One for Tony Froud’s Marley; the other for Rory Mulvihill’s Ghost of Christmas Present and Mark Hird’s Ebenezer Scrooge, where they are held in suspense rather more than this ghost story holds us, in the absence of more darkness.
Hird’s diminutive Scrooge carries the last residue of his
wonderful Captain Mainwaring in Pick Me Up’s Dad’s Army, and consequently he is
humorous from the start, full of bluster rather than the coldness of a blasted
heath. You find yourself liking him, even when he is mithering and being
miserly, rather like Rowan Atkinson’s penny-pinching Mr Bean, but Scrooge’s
transformation is still highly enjoyable in his impish hands.
What’s more, his scenes with Young Ebenezer (Frankie Bounds) and his lost true love, Isabel (Jennie Wogan), and later with Bob Cratchit (Alan Park), Tiny Tim (Sonny Love) and the Cratchit family, are poignant to the core. Bounds, by the way, is the pick of the young talents, with a lovely singing voice in Happiness, while Olivia Caley, as the Ghost of Christmas Past, definitely has a future.
Look out too for Flo Poskitt’s comic cameo as Ethel Cratchit:
not for the first time this year, she gives a peach of a supporting
performance. Maybe next year, a director will reward her with an overdue lead.
Mulvihill amuses by lounging like Jacob Rees-Mogg in the
House of Commons, in his Christmas green silks and ermine; Sam Johnson leads
his musical forces with customary skill, and Iain Harvey and Readman’s choreography
has most fun when Andrew Isherwood’s Tom Jenkins leads the stand-out Thank You Very Much.
Overall, however, while it may feel “Bah Humbug” to say it, by
Pick Me Up standards, this Scrooge falls
short of a Christmas cracker.
LOUISE Henry will swap flat whites for Snow White next week after being picked to lead the Grand Opera House pantomime cast in York.
Louise, 22, from
Knaresborough, works at the Hoxton North café bar in Royal Parade, Harrogate,
but will join rehearsals for Three Bears Productions’ Snow White And The Seven
Dwarfs from Monday (December 2) for the December 13 to January 4 2020 run.
After playing Liesl
von Trapp in York Stage Musicals’ The Sound Of Music at the Cumberland Street
theatre, now she will star as Princess Snow White alongside Mark Little’s
villainous Lord Chamberlain, regular dame Steve Wickenden’s Nurse Brexit, ’Allo,
’Allo! star Vicki Michelle’s Wicked Queen and Martin Daniels’ Muddles.
From producer Chris
Moreno’s search for a local principal girl in Three Bears’ fourth Opera House
panto, Louise was among 30 invited from the many applicants for a day’s
auditions in May.
After queueing in the rain in the line of Snow White hopefuls that formed along the stage door wall, she won through to the shortlist of 12 for the afternoon’ s second session and was then picked for panto principal girl after a nervous wait.
“The auditions were
on the Wednesday, and they rang me just as I was setting off to work on the
Friday afternoon,” Louise recalls. “I’d been refreshing my emails, hoping for
news, and it was such a euphoric moment when the phone call came.
“I’m so thankful to have been chosen. I’ve
been beaming whenever I’m reminded that I’m signing my first professional
contract. I’m really looking forward to getting into the theatre and putting
the show together. Performing is all I have ever wanted to do and I feel so
lucky that my Christmas this year will be doing just that.”
Although Louise has not studied at drama school
since leaving school, “I’ve had acting and singing lessons for as long as I can
remember and I’ve done lots of theatre work, like school plays when I was at
King James’s in Knaresborough,” she says.
“From the age of nine to 17, I went to the
ACTAcademy in Harrogate, run by Kelly Creates, when we took part in the
Harrogate Festival of Speech and Drama and did The Big T talent show at
Harrogate Theatre, and I’ve had singing tuition with Jacqueline Bell in
Wetherby too.”
Louise impressed in Nik Briggs’s April production of
The Sound Of Music, playing the eldest von Trapp daughter, Liesl. “I was 21
playing 16, and the next in age to me was 12, playing 15!” she says. “It’s such
a nice show to do because it’s so honest, and it was sad when it came to an end
as we all made such good friends.
“It was lovely to be able to become familiar with the
Grand Opera House stage too before doing the panto.”
Since The Sound Of Music, Louise has appeared in
two more York shows, the first being another Nik Briggs production, Joseph
McNeice and Matthew Spalding’s new musical comedy, Twilight Robbery, at 41
Monkgate in May.
“I played Jane, the daughter, who’s 40 years old,
so I went from one extreme, 16-year-old Liesl, to another…and now I’ll be
playing Snow White!”
The nearest she has come to playing her own age was
her most recent role, a young Australian woman, Gabrielle York, in Rigmarole
Theatre Company’s debut production, Andrew Bovell’s apocalyptic family drama When
The Rain Stops Falling, at 41 Monkgate in November.
Now her focus turns to her professional bow, billed
as “York’s very own Louise Henry” in Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs.
“I’ve done one panto before, Aladdin, an amateur one
for the Pannal Players when I was maybe 14,” says Louise,
Looking forward to starting rehearsals on Monday,
she says: “This opportunity is what I’ve been waiting for, and I’ve just got to
have faith in my abilities.
“Snow White is on stage for most of the time, so I’ll
always need to react in the moment, and that’s something that will add to my
repertoire of skills, which I’m always working on.”
Imagine how Louise feels as the first night approaches,
knowing she is taking on the title role in a star-laden show. “I know! It’s my
show! How crazy is that!” she says. “When I rang my sister to tell her I’d got
the part, she didn’t believe it…and when I rang my mum, I had to say, ‘no, I’m
not kidding’. That was a really fantastic day!”
Louise Henry stars in Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs, Grand Opera House, York, December 13 to January 4 2020. Box office: 0844 871 3024 or at atgtickets.com/york.
NO Horizon, a new musical
that tells the forgotten story of a Yorkshire maths genius, will tour to York
Theatre Royal next April after more than a decade in the making.
Andy
Platt’s show is inspired by the life of Nicholas Saunderson, a blind scientist
and mathematician from the West Riding village of Thurlstone, near Penistone, who
overcame impossible odds to become a Cambridge professor and friend of royalty.
Often described as an 18th
century Stephen
Hawking, Saunderson was born in 1862 and by the age of one he was blinded by
smallpox. In an era before
Braille, it is said he taught himself to read by running his fingers over the
gravestones in a local churchyard.
He learned Latin and Greek and became Lucasian Professor of
Mathematics at Cambridge, a post also held by Sir Isaac Newton, Charles Babbage
and the aforementioned Stephen Hawking.
In his
day, Saunderson spent time with kings and queens and had a reputation that
spread across Europe. Remarkably,
his field of expertise was not in mathematical equations, but in lecturing
about optics.
It is thought that Saunderson, who was elected a member of
the Royal Society, may have been the earliest discoverer of Bayes’ theorem, a
mathematical formula for determining conditional probability.
Described by singer and
BBC Radio Two presenter Elaine Paige as “one to watch out for”, Platt’s musical
will run in York on April 9 and 11 – no performance on Good Friday – as part of
its 2020 northern tour mounted by Right Hand Theatre, in the wake of an Edinburgh
Fringe run in 2016.
The show was first
written in 2003 by Platt, a former headmaster who rediscovered Saunderson’s
remarkable journey after it was forgotten by history.
“Saunderson’s achievement as the Stephen Hawking of his day
was phenomenal,” says the writer and producer. “I wanted No Horizon to
entertain and move the audience at the same time as restoring Saunderson to his
rightful place as a national icon. Next year’s tour is the culmination of a
15-year dream.”
The lead role of Saunderson will be played by the partially sighted Adam Martyn, from Doncaster, South Yorkshire, who trained at Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts.
He will be on the road in the 2020 tour from March 19, when No Horizon opens at
The Civic, Barnsley, the nearest major theatre near to Saunderson’s birthplace.
After further shows there
on March 20 and 21, the tour will head on to the Viaduct Theatre, Halifax,
March 26 to 28; Leeds City
Varieties, March 31 and April 1; Cast, Doncaster, April 2 to 4; Harrogate
Theatre, April 7 and 8; York Theatre Royal, April 9 and 11, and Millgate Arts
Centre, Delph, Saddleworth, April 15.
Helen Reid, producer at Right Hand
Theatre, says: “I’m so excited we’ve managed to pull off and organise a northern
tour. It’s only taken over a decade to do it!
“We couldn’t have done it without the
support of our fan base at the Edinburgh Fringe and locally, to help bring the
show to a wider audience.
“We
look forward to seeing our old fans and new fans alike at any of the northern
venues. The support we’ve had so far from the public and celebrities has been
immensely rewarding for Andy and the producers. We thank them all.”
The 2020 tour is funded by Arts Council England and Foyle
Foundation, co-commissioned by Cast, Doncaster, and The Civic, Barnsley, and
supported by Sheffield Royal Society for the Blind.
York tickets are on sale on 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk; Leeds, 0113 243 0808 or cityvarieties.co.uk; Harrogate, 01423 502116 or at harrogatetheatre.co.uk.
THE Ebor Players mark the
25th anniversary of their first pantomime by staging Mother Goose
from December 2 to 7 at Bishopthorpe Village Hall, near York.
David Rose will play the
title role after “taking a huge break with tradition” last year when, for the
first time in more than 20 years, he switched to the dark side as the villainous
Abanazar in Aladdin.
“Although I thoroughly
enjoyed the change, this year I’m back in frocks for my traditional role as dame,”
he says.
The Ebor Players were formed in 1994 in Bishopthorpe. “The aim was to present a pantomime in the village,” recalls David. “Now, 25 years later, the Players just go from strength to strength.
“Our pantomimes today bear
little resemblance to those early years. The group has evolved to present a
much slicker, more professional-looking show. This year’s show, Mother Goose,
has a cast and crew of more than 40 people and is a riot of colour, music and
laughter, with something for everyone.”
Performances will start at
7.30pm each evening. “Our Saturday night adults-only shows have always been so
popular and oversubscribed, so this year we’ve introduced a Wednesday evening
adults-only – 16 plus – cabaret-style event, but at the same price as our
regular shows” says David. “So you can come along, have a drink and let your
hair down for the evening.”
Tickets cost £8 for adults, £6 for children, at ticketsource.co.uk\ebor-players, on 07591 297221 or via the Ebor Players’ Facebook page.
YORK company Pilot Theatre have assembled
the cast for next year’s world premiere of Crongton Knights.
Adapted for the stage by Emteaz
Hussain from Alex Wheatle’s award-winning novel, Corey Campbell and Esther Richardson’s
co-production will be launched at the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry, from February
8 to 22 before playing York Theatre Royal from February 25 to 29.
In Crongton Knights, life isn’t easy on
the Crongton Estate. McKay and his mates favour keeping their heads down, but
when a friend finds herself in trouble, they set out on a mission that goes
further than any of them imagined.
Pilot Theatre’s show will take you on a
night of madcap adventure as McKay and his friends, The Magnificent Six, encounter
the dangers and triumphs of a quest gone awry.
The pulse of the city will be alive on
stage, propelled by a soundscape of beatboxing and vocals laid down by the cast
and created by musician Conrad Murray.
Rehearsals will begin in Coventry on January 6 2020. Leading the cast will be Olisa Odele as McKay, having played Ola in Chewing Gum on E4 and PC Merrick in BBC1’s Scarborough, while Kate Donnachie will take the role of Bushkid; Simi Egbejumi-David, Festus; Aimee Powell, Venetia; Khai Shaw, Jonah; Marcel White, Nesta, and Nigar Yeva, Saira.
The production team is led by Corey
Campbell, artistic director of Strictly Arts Theatre Company and co-artistic
director of the Belgrade Theatre for 2021, and Esther Richardson, Pilot’s
artistic director. The designer is Simon Kenny; lighting is by Richard G Jones,
who lit The Railway Children at the National Railway Museum, York.
Crongton Knights will be the
second of four co-productions between Pilot Theatre, Derby Theatre,
Belgrade Theatre, Coventry, and York Theatre Royal, who last year formed a partnership
to develop theatre for younger audiences in tandem with the Mercury Theatre,
Colchester.
From 2019 to 2022, the
consortium will commission and co-produce an original mid-scale touring production
each year. Each show will play in all the consortium venues, as well as touring
nationally.
The consortium’s first
production, Noughts & Crosses, was seen by more than 30,000
people on tour this year, with 40 per cent of the audience being aged under 20.
After the Coventry and York runs, Crongton Knights will be on tour until May 9, with further Yorkshire performances at the Lawrence Batley Theatre, Huddersfield, from March 31 to April 4. York tickets are on sale on 01904 623568, at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk or in person from the Theatre Royal box office.
WHO is your favourite Scrooge? Albert Finney? Tim Curry?
Patrick Stewart? George C Scott? Lionel Barrymore on the radio?
Maybe Michael Caine in The Muppets’ Christmas Carol? Jim Carrey?
Or how about Jim Backus as the voice of Mister Magoo in Mister Magoo’s Christmas
Carol, or even Bill Murray’s Frank Cross in Scrooged?
Mark Hird, who plays Scrooge from tomorrow (November 26) in Pick
Me Up Theatre’s Scrooge The Musical at the Grand Opera House, York, has no
hesitation in picking Alastair Sim from Brian Desmond Hurst’s 1951 film,
Scrooge.
“I loved his performance! He was unashamedly nasty, but
there was something in his eyes, that glint, that made you think there’s
something going on there,” says Mark, who is leading Robert Readman’s cast,
fresh from directing this autumn’s Pick Me Up musical, Monster Makers,
at 41 Monkgate.
He now adds Charles Dickens’s
Ebenezer Scrooge to a diverse Pick Me Up CV that includes Captain Mainwaring inDad’s Army, Colonel Pickering inMy Fair Lady and Uncle Fester in
The Addams Family, and he is particularly enjoying performing the songs in Leslie
Bricusse’s musical.
“The songs really help
in bringing out Scrooge’s thoughts, whether in the 1970 film musical with
Albert Finney or the stage version with six extra songs. You discover new
things every time you do it.” says Mark.
“I’ve had the chance
to play some really cold, nasty characters: there’s nothing redeemable about Inspector
Wormold in Betty Blue Eyes or The Beadle in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of
Fleet Street, but, on the other side, I also get to play all the ridiculously
loveable characters, like Captain Mainwaring, Uncle Fester and Colonel
Pickering.
“So, in many ways,
Scrooge is more interesting because he goes on a journey from one to the other,
and it’s really fun as an actor to make that transition, but also not to make
him black and white. There are reasons in his past for some of the things he’s
doing.”
Time for a quick
refresher course: based on Dickens’s Victorian cautionary tale A Christmas
Carol, Scrooge tells the tale of old miser Ebenezer Scrooge on the night he is
visited by the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Yet To Come. Here that tale
is told in an “all-singing, all-dancing, all-flying” show.
All-flying, Mark? “Yes, we have some flying in this show.
Scrooge has to fly with Rory Mulvihill’s Ghost of Christmas Present, and Tony
Froud’s Jacob Marley will float above the stage to sing his big number,” says
the Scotsman.
“I haven’t flown on
stage before, but I’m not scared of heights. I love walking the hills in Scotland.”
Joining Mark in the
company will be Alan Park’s Bob Cratchit. “The advantage we have doing the show
at the Grand Opera House, rather than our other home at 41 Micklegate, is that you
can put on a big spectacle, but you can also have intimate scenes too, such as Cratchit
and Tiny Tim’s scenes,” says Alan.
“But the experience
of performing at 41 Micklegate develops that intimate form of acting, which you
can then take into the bigger theatre,” says Mark.
He and Park see the contemporary resonance in Dickens’s story. “It’s amazing to look back at the impact Dickens’s book had on politicians, as well as general readers, concerning the inequality of working conditions for the working classes, and the cruelty Cratchit faces. That strikes a chord today,” says Mark.
“Cratchit thinks ‘this
is my lot; I will make the most of what I have’, and he sees Scrooge as alien
to his world, because that’s how society is,” says Alan.
“No politician will
change Scrooge, but the three Ghosts do have an impact, which makes him change
himself.
“But what’s more
depressing is that if A Christmas Carol were to be played out in modern times,
I’m not sure there would be sympathy for the Bob Cratchits of this world.”
“Maybe we need
another Dickens for this age,” says Mark. “If the Ghost of Christmas Yet To
Come brought Dickens to 2019, I think he would be horrified.”
“You could argue that
we need the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come to visit some of our politicians
right now,” says Alan, as the winter-of-discontent General Election fast approaches.
Pick Me Up Theatre’s Scrooge The Musical runs from Tuesday, November 26 to Sunday, December 1 at Grand Opera House, York. Performances: 7.30pm, Tuesday to Sunday; 2.30pm, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. Box office: 0844 871 3024 or at atgtickets.com/york.
YORK
company Baron Productions are to stage Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s Georgian
comedy of manners, The Rivals, next month.
Premiered
at Covent Garden Theatre, London, in January 1775, its latest York production
is being directed by Paul Toy, who also will play bombastic
rival suitor Bob Acres in 7.30pm performances at the Quaker Meeting
House, Pickering, on December 7 and St Mary’s Church, Bishophill Junior, York,
from December 12 to 14.
Company
founder Daniel Wilmot says: “The story of Captain Jack Absolute’s clandestine
courtship of the cynical, yet romantic, Lydia Languish, under the noses of
their respective guardians, blustering Sir Anthony Absolute and hilarious Mrs
Malaprop, is one that has made me smile from the first time I read it.
“Given that
it’s in keeping with our company’s tradition of theatre with a ‘thoroughly
dashing edge’ – period settings, witty dialogue, lush costumes, occasional duelling,
sometimes even in character – it seemed the perfect choice to bring a laugh or
two to the winter months after our darker production of Hamlet this summer.”
Wilmot formed
Baron Productions in 2015 to produce and direct the swashbuckling pirate romp Crossed
Swords, since when they have performed Oscar Wilde’s The Picture Of Dorian Gray
in 2016, Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre in 2017 and a Yorkshire tour of
Shakespeare’s Hamlet this year.
“The choice
of The Rivals is a poignant one for me as well,” says Wilmot. “I did the show
back in 2012 as a rehearsed reading at the York Theatre Royal Studio, under the
direction of Edward Pearce, and lovely Ruth Ford was in the cast as well, playing
Mrs Malaprop of course.
“Neither of them is still with us. I have a lot of happy memories of working with them, so aside from liking the show, I wanted to do a fully-fledged version dedicated to them and their memories.”
Toy’s cast features Steve Mawson as the domineering Sir Anthony Absolute; Margaret Davey as Mrs Malaprop; Daniel Wilmot as Captain Jack Absolute; Raffy Parker as Lydia Languish and Dave Parkinson as the argumentative Irish baronet Sir Lucius O’Trigger.
Tyler Cooke will play the hapless lovelorn Faulkland; Meg Davies,
his long-suffering partner Julia; Zoe Glossop, pompous butler Fag; Molly Ridley,
Acres’ terrified servant David, and Amy Fincham, conniving housemaid
Lucy.
Toy has
set the piece at the turn of the 19th century. “This allows for lots
of dashing Poldark-esque costumes, the occasional
wig, and a healthy dose of swaggering and swashbuckling,” says Wilmot. “He’s
also promised a little singing as well.”
Tickets cost £10, concessions £8, under 18s £5, at ticketsource.co.uk/baron-productions or on the door from 7pm each night.
YORK
Musical Theatre Company will stage Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s Jesus
Christ Superstar from November 27 to 30 at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York.
Company
newcomer John Whitney will lead director Paul Laidlaw’s cast for this 1972 rock
opera, a “musical phenomenon” that follows the last week of Jesus’s life through
the eyes of Judas Iscariot, exploring the struggles and personal relationships
between his followers and disciples.
For this
gritty and touching emotional rollercoaster ride, Lloyd Webber and Rice’s score
parades such favourites as Superstar, Everything’s Alright and I Don’t Know How
To Love Him.
Laidlaw is
joined in the creative team by musical director John Atkin, overseeing a cast
led by Whitney’s Jesus, Marlena Kelli’s Mary Magdalene, Peter Wookie as Pilate
and Chris Mooney as Judas.
“We were thrilled
to have such a great response to auditions, particularly from so many new faces
to the company,” says Laidlaw. “We’ve always been proud of the fact that we
welcome any new people to join any show that we do, and if you’re new, you can
walk into lead roles, and that’s what’s happened.
“Our
actors playing Jesus, Judas, Pilate and Mary Magdalene are all new to the company
and it’s really encouraging to see. The strength in the singing is staggering
and is going to sound just fantastic on stage. We really can’t wait to show
York audiences all our hard work.”
Further
principal roles go to John Haigh as Herod; Chris Haygard as Simon Zealotes;
Martin Harvey, Caiphas; Matthew Clare, Annas; Simon Trow and Malcolm Poole,
Priests; David Martin, Apostle Peter, and Heather Richmond, Maid.
In the ensemble will be Helen Barugh; Victoria Hughes; Helen Goodwill; Samantha Hindman; Jane Holiday; Elly-Mai Mawson; Karen Mawson; Jennifer Page; Amie Stone; Holly Inch; Amy Lacy; Paula Stainton; Charlotte Wetherell; Matthew Ainsworth; Derek McMahon and Andrew Pilot.
Tickets for the 7.30pm evening shows and 2.30pm Saturday matinee are on sale at £18, concessions £16, at josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk or on 01904 501935.
Hello And Goodbye, York Theatre Royal Studio, until November 30. Box office: 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk
HELLO again
to in-house productions in the York Theatre Royal Studio with this revival of
Athol Fugard’s 1965 South African play Hello And Goodbye.
Associate artist
John R Wilkinson had lamented the hiatus since the fading away of such Studio works
as Blackbird, Blue/Orange and The White Crow and his own show, Can’t Stand Up
For Falling Down, six years ago, as he spoke of the pride and spirit engendered
by this resurrection: the very last word uttered in Fugard’s “biting yet beautiful
parable”, by the way.
“The blue magic of
that space has always given rise to intense, intimate storytelling,” said Wilkinson,
whose production is exactly that: intense and intimate.
Hello And Goodbye
is a two-hander, albeit with the “presence” of a third family member, the
father to Johnnie (Emilio Iannucci) and Hester (Jo Mousley).
Hester is making
an unexpected, unannounced visit to the family home at 57A Valley Road, Port
Elizabeth, after an absence stretching back longer than the aforementioned Studio
hiatus.
Iannucci’s Johnnie
already has delivered a restless, psychologically fevered monologue, one that
establishes both the dysfunctional state of the family and the unnerving dark,
even gothic, humour at play in Fugard’s writing.
Chatting afterwards
with Iannucci, he said audiences had laughed at some performances, not at
others, but the play had worked both ways.
The way it goes may
well depend on how you react to Johnnie telling Hester that he and their
disabled Dad have been getting on well enough, but she cannot disturb him because
he is asleep in the room next door. Put bluntly, his sleep could not be deeper.
If Johnnie is
nervy, neurotic, repeatedly reaching for biblical quotes, Mousley’s Hester is
frenetic in her desperate search for the £500 that she believes their father has
squirrelled away somewhere in the house.
Johnnie can keep
the house if he lets her find and keep the money, a task that involves him
bringing through case after case that trigger traumatic memories of their past.
Their already fractured relationship only worsens as Fugard meditates on
family, selfishness and redemption, set against the social upheaval in South
Africa at large.
Hello And Goodbye brings to mind the discomfiting Sixties’ plays of Samuel Beckett and Harold Pinter, not least in a set design that mirrors the frayed, wounded state of mind of the sparring siblings, as designer Laura Ann Price scatters the stage with debris from the crumbling, smashed-out back wall.
Wilkinson has cast
superbly: after his Studio debut in the children’s show E Nesbit’s The Book Of
Dragons in December 2017 and his Romeo in Shakespeare’s Rose Theatre’s Romeo
And Juliet at Blenheim Palace this summer, Iannucci has hit new heights here,
calling on his physical theatre skills, his feel for black comedy and his
relish for a surprise.
Mousley is a brilliant
pick too, making her Theatre Royal debut after a year of outstanding performances
in the Leeds Playhouse Pop-Up Theatre Ensemble. Her Hester has the disruptive force
of an Ibsen, Chekhov or Greek tragedian female lead, and together with Iannucci,
they settle on a mutual South African accent that is another impressive feature
of Wilkinson’s intriguing, fascinating production.
In conversation,
he called Hello And Goodbye “weird”, smiling impishly as he said it. Make that
weird good, not weird bad.