Tag: Alfred Uhry

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REVIEW: Black Sheep Theatre Productions in Parade, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, until tomorrow ***1/2

On trial: Dan Poppitt’s Leo Frank, front, with Jack James Fry’s defence lawyer Luther Rosser, left, Jack Hooper’s prosecution lawyer Hugh Dorsey and David Copley Martin’s Judge Roan

IN an age of programmes being plucked from the ether via QR codes or reduced to a piece of paper with a cast list and production team, Black Sheep Theatre Productions buck the cost-cutting trend by printing a superb, glossy-covered yet earnest old-school version in A4 size.

Written in the style of a newspaper article for The Atlanta Georgian, the highly detailed two-page synopsis is followed by lead actor Dan Poppitt’s fascinating essay The Truth Behind The Tale, exploring this controversial slice of American history from 1913.

Cast profiles are comprehensive too, revealing the wide range of theatre backgrounds and diverse experience, from Leeds performer and entertainer Reggie Challenger, best known for his Bob Marley and reggae tribute act, to University of York English Literature student Eloise Shneck and theatre, writing, directing and performance student Oskar Nuttall.

Molly Whitehouse’s Lucille Frank and Dan Poppitt’s Leo Frank in Black Sheep Theatre Productions’ Parade

Bringing it all together is company founder, director and musical director Matthew Peter Clare, whose programme note speaks of the York company being dedicated to “creating bold, emotionally resonant and artistically ambitious works”, born out of a shared desire to challenge expectations of what amateur theatre can achieve through its depth of storytelling.

Black Sheep are committed to telling “very human stories, interrogating identity, morality, relationships and the complexities of the human condition”, from Elegies For Angels, Punks & Raging Queens to Songs For The New World, The Hunchback Of Notre Dame to Clare’s own work Inner Selves, a study trauma, mental health and fractured bonds, in an exploration of “otherness, politics, prejudice and queer media”.

Parade fits that bill in its 1913 story of the persecution/prosecution of Leo Frank, a studious, eloquent Jewish factory manager from Brooklyn, who had taken up a superintendent’s post at a Marietta pencil factory, near Atlanta, Georgia, swapping New York for the Deep South somewhat cautiously  after his wife Lucille’s uncle invites him to join the company. Leo (Dan Poppitt) will end up being charged with the murder of 13-year-old factory worker Mary Phagan (Eloise Shneck).

Jonny Holbek’s zealot Tom Watson, reprising the role he first played in 2009 for Encore Theatre Productions, this time stepping in at three weeks’ notice

No spoiler alert is required here because Parade is based on a true story, one that ends with Leo’s lynching and clan hanging, but still shocks in its brutality, not least in the starkness applied by Clare, who likes his productions to “place emphasis on substance over spectacle”.

Despite this Tony Award-winning 1998 show being the work of Driving Miss Daisy’s Alfred Uhry and The Last 5 Years’ Jason Robert Brown,  the chances are that you may not be familiar with Parade or its Dixie, blues, gospel and R&B songs, given that your reviewer can find only one reference in The York Press files to a past production here.

Directed by Gilly Adam and Craig Kirby and produced by Jenny Scoullar, it formed  Encore Theatre Productions’ debut show in the Alan Ayckbourn Theatre at York College in its first and seemingly only York staging in October 2009. Whatever happened to Encore Theatre Productions, by the way?

Jack Hooper’s bent prosecution lawyer Hugh Dorsey holds the floor. In the courtroom shadows are Dan Poppitt’s defendant Leo Frank, left, Jack James Fry’s defence lawyer Luther Rosser and David Copley Martin’s Judge Roan

Parade is back on parade in York at a time of rising media coverage of anti-Semitism, chiming with Leo Frank’s own experience in 1913 when such sentiments were prevalent, against a backdrop of post-American Civil War poverty and prejudice.

Faced by bent prosecution lawyer Hugh Dorsey (Jack Hooper), the salacious reporting of Atlanta Constitution hack Britt Craig (Richard Bayton); the white supremacist poison of zealot politician Tom Watson (Jonny Holbek, reprising his scary 2009 role) and the unreliable testimony of chief prosecution witness Jim Conley (Reggie Challenger), the heavy-drinking factory janitor, how did Leo ever stand the chance of a fair trial?

Within that framework, a re-kindling of a love story plays out between the stern, strict, Hebrew-reciting Leo and his wife Lucille (Molly Whitehouse). She is described as “assimilated” for putting being Georgian first, compromising her Jewish faith in his eyes, only for her to find new strength in adversity when standing by her convicted husband in challenging the verdict by confronting Georgia’s principled  Governor, John Slaton (Mark Simmonds).

University of York students Oskar Nuttall and Eloise Shneck in the roles of Frankie Epps and Mary Phagan respectively

The original New York production ran for only 94 performances from 1998 to 1999, but its songs are better than that, all the more so for being placed wholly in the spotlight when the staging and lighting is minimalist (combining most effectively on the bare backdrop to evoke “the old Red Hills “ of Georgia). A raised platform with a hole for Mary Phagan’s coffin and boxes that double as seating suffice for set design.

The impact, therefore, is emotional rather than visual, albeit that physicality plays its part too. Poppitt gives a lead performance of serious, outspoken demeanour, his singing his best yet on the York stage; Whitehouse’s Molly grows ever more impressive in her resolve. Hooper’s Dorsey has plenty of the night about him; Simmonds cuts a lone, principled figure as Slaton; Nuttall and Shneck announce talents to watch.

The multi-role playing choreographer Charlie Clarke, Bayton’s duplicitous reporter Craig, Jack James Fry’s dual roles as defence lawyer and prison guard, Joycelyn Searles Duncan’s Minner McKnight, David Copley Martin’s Judge Roan and Georgina Burt’s lying Iola Stover make their mark too. Challenger’s That’s What He Said is the most characterful, soulful vocal of all.

Molly Whitehouse’s Lucille Frank in discussion with Richard Bayton’s court reporter Britt Craig

Clare leads his eight-piece band with typical conviction, driving its diversity of reeds, horns and strings, topped off by Jez Smith, on particularly striking form on drums and percussion.

Parade remains a brave, stark, challenging musical, delivered in that manner by a progressive York company unafraid to explore, to jolt, to ask questions and demand answers.   

Black Sheep Theatre Productions present Parade, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, tonight, 7.30pm; tomorrow, 2.30pm and 7.30pm. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrwontreetheatre.co.uk.

Charlie Clarke: Parade assistant director and choreographer in her role as Mrs Phagan

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Black Sheep Theatre puts justice on trial in Parade at Joseph Rowntree Theatre amid religious intolerance and racial tension

Dan Poppitt, Charlie Clarke and Georgina Burt in rehearsal for Black Sheep Theatre Productions’ Parade

MURDER in myriad forms is making its way on to North Yorkshire’s stages this spring, whether Tigerslane Studios’ real-true-crime courtroom drama Murder Trial Tonight IV: Death Of A Landlord at York Barbican last Sunday or Joe Kinosian and Kellen Blair’s madcap musical whodunit Murder For Two, “putting the laughter into manslaughter” at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, from Saturday.

Next comes York company Black Sheep Theatre Productions’ staging of Jason Robert Brown and Alfred Uhry’s stirring Tony Award-winning musical Parade, first performed in 1998 and now more topical than ever in its exploration of love and hope against the odds, set against a backdrop of religious intolerance, political injustice and rising racial tension.

The tragic true story of the trial and lynching of  a man wrongly accused of murder will be brought to life anew at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, from April 1 to 4.

The setting is 1913, when Leo Frank, a Brooklyn-raised Jew living in Georgia, is put on trial for the murder of 13-year-old Mary Phagan, a factory worker under his employ. Already guilty in the eyes of everyone around him, his only defenders are a governor with a conscience and his assimilated Jewish wife, who finds the strength and love to become his greatest champion when the world seems against you and receiving a fair trial might prove impossible.

Director/musical director  Matthew Peter Clare welcomes the chance to put Parade on parade. “It was due to be done in Leeds but that production got pulled because of Covid,” he says. “It’s not been done in York for at least a decade, and it’s fantastic for us to get hold of the rights, but it is an upsetting piece.

“It’s set in Marietta, near Atlanta, Georgia, post the race riots there, but pre the Great Depression and it’s based on a real-life trial of Leo Frank, who worked in middle management as a superintendent in a pencil factory.

“When one of the employees, Mary Phagan, is murdered, instead of doing a proper investigation, they arrest the nearest Jewish guy – whereas the the nearest black guy is let off because of the race riots, when politically it now wasn’t seen to be right to prosecute a black man.

“So they go with prosecuting Leo Frank, with all the prejudices  of the public heavily influencing the trial with the attitude of ‘he’s Jewish, so get rid.’”

Parade chimes with Black Sheep’s policy of presenting “theatre with a point  that encourages audience reflection”. “This is a show that, like our productions of Elegies For Angels, Punks And Raging Queens and Falsettos, is pushing the concept of ‘other’ to the front and shows the impact of moving against the ‘other’ at a time of racial prejudice,” says Matthew.

Playing the role of Leo Frank will be Black Sheep regular Dan Poppitt. “With regard to Leo, we said from very early on in rehearsals that he was not raised in Atlanta, unlike his wife Lucille, but from Brooklyn, and only moved there when offered a job by Lucille’s uncle, so Leo is seen as a Jewish man first, whereas Lucille is seen as Georgian first, Jewish second,” he says

“These are the nuances that we wanted to promote: the significance of his Jewish heritage and how that leads to prejudice.”

Dan has been particularly keen to be authentic in his portrayal. “Like having to learn Hebrew,” he says. “I’ve studied it phonetically to make sure that the dialogue is pronounced accurately.

Eloise Schneck rehearsing her role as Mary Phagan in Parade

“It’s a case of speaking it properly and with clear intention and how it should be delivered in society at that time.”

Molly Whitehouse is playing Leo’s wife Lucille, an assimilated Jewish woman, which means she “adopts the language, dress and secular cultural habits of the majority population”.

“I’m a northerner first and had a very secular upbringing,” she says. “That regional identity that you draw so much pride from, especially as a queer, working-class woman, can put you on the edge of the community.

“In Lucille’s case, she is already so close to the border of what’s acceptable in Georgia.”

Charlie Clarke has four roles in Parade, two on stage, as Mrs Phagan and Sally Slaton, and two off, as assistant director and choreographer. “I don’t do things by halves!” she says. “Luckily with Matthew directing and being the musical director too, I can spread what I do.

“As choreographer and assistant director, we’ve spoken about how each actor has to give each character their own identity, like Reggie Challenor playing two characters [Jim Conley and Newt Lee] who are the complete antithesis of each other.

“We’ve also discussed how, first of all, they’re all representing real people on stage and how they must make sure that’s pushed through in their performances – and the cast have been really receptive to that.

“We have to ensure we tell the story with truth because, before it’s a musical, it’s a true story.”

Dan rejoins: “I think, especially with a stage show, it’s very easy to forget they’re real characters, but every single person in the show was a real person with a life from before the show’s story began.”

The design will be “incredibly minimalist,” says Matthew. “The blocks we used in Falsettos will be used again, but in a different way, not to evoke houses but the red hills of Georgia. They’re being utilised either as part of the choreography or they’re serving as the landscape.”

Should you be wondering, Parade is so named because the story opens and closes on the day of the Marietta parade for the Confederates’ Memorial Day. “So that’s the framing device, celebrating Georgian identity, but unfortunately there’s a dark underside to that identity, where it prevails, being regardless of the truth in this trial,” says Matthew.

Black Sheep Theatre Productions in Parade, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, April 1 to 4, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk

Who’s in the cast for Parade?

Dan Poppitt as Leo Frank; Molly Whitehouse, Lucille Frank; Reggie Challenor, Jim Conley/Newt Lee; Eloise Schneck, Mary Phagan; Oskar Nuttall, Frankie Epps/Young Soldier; Mark Simmonds, Governor Slaton/Old Slaton; Charlie Clarke, Mrs Phagan/Sally Slaton; Pauline Tomlin, Minnie McKnight; Jack Hooper, Hugh Dorsey; Richard Bayton, Britt Craig; Georgina Burt, Iola Stover;  David Copley Martin, Judge Roan; Jack James Fry, Luther Rosser/Officer Ivey; Sophia Razak, Essie, and Sarah Rudd, Monteen.

Who’s in the production team?

Director and musical director: Matthew Peter Clare; assistant director & choreographer: Charlie Clarke; assistant choreographer& welfare officer: Jack James Fry; costumier: Molly Whitehouse; sound designer: Ollie Nash; lighting designer: Adam Kirkwood; stage managers: Megan Bostock & Steve Hibbs.

Coming next from Black Sheep Theatre Productions

They did the monster match: Dan Poppitt’s Alan and Molly Whitehouse’s Minnie in Black Sheep Theatre Productions’ poster for Love At First Bite

JOSH Woodgate will direct Dan Poppitt and Molly Whitehouse’s seductive new work Love At First Bite at Theatre@41, Monkgate, from June 4 to 6.

“Dating can be hell, but what if one of them was a creature of the night?” ponder the co-writers.

What happens? Alan and Minnie meet at a speed-dating night. A spark flickers. Dates follow. Laughter lingers.

“Yet beneath the rhythms of a familiar rom-com, something waits in the dark,” say Poppitt and Whitehouse, who will play the lovers. “One of them is a vampire — but the secret shifts. Each night, the actors trade fangs, and the audience is left to wonder who is hunter, who is prey.”

Blending sharp-fanged wit with a brush of gothic shadow, Love At First Bite toys with romance, rewrites folklore and invites audiences to consider what it means to love…and to hunger!

Woodgate’s production will mark Black Sheep’s return to Theatre@41, Monkgate, after last year’s staging of The Tempest and The Inner Selves. Tickets for the 7.30pm evening performances and 2.30pm Saturday matinee are on sale at tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.