The Kings Theatre

Aug 5-21

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Script:  Stagecraft:   Performance: 

Just as the Beowulf poem is derived from one single Dark Age manuscript saved from a fire in the 18th century, so too did Tennessee Williams’ only copy of his ever-endearing play, The Glass Menagerie, stumble blindly through the pitfalls of fortune into existence. Left in the dorm of a pretty student he was trying to seduce, it was kindly posted back to him, from where it was re-posted to his agent Audrey Wood. Telling him off for the sheer ridiculousness of risking your only copy of your masterpiece to the labyrinthine lottery of the American postal service, Williams replied he would have been able to recreate it from memory – perhaps he would, but certain nuances may have been lost that make the play such a joy to behold.

‘Memory Play,’ in fact, is the term coined by Williams to moniker the The Glass Menagerie – Williams’ first major contribution to dramaturgical excess, explaining through the mouth of Tom Wingfield,  ‘The play is memory. Being a memory play, it is dimly lighted, it is sentimental, it is not realistic. In memory everything seems to happen to music. That explains the fiddle in the wings. I am the narrator of the play, and also a character in it. The other characters are my mother Amanda, my sister Laura and a gentleman caller who appears in the final scenes.‘ In a world where the dysfunctional family is almost the norm, the Menagerie cannot have as much impact as it did when it burst onto Broadway in the 40s. Even so, its themes still resonate, & the encapsulation of the post-modern southern belle in the character of Amanda Wingfield is a museum piece which is a credit to the spirit of the theatrical arts and its ability to bring to life such visions of the past.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pddUuIaUbf0

It is director John Tiffany’s favorite American play, so when he found himself chatting to Diane Paulus, director of the American Repertory Company, the germ-seed was planted. Then he met his Amanda, casually – the esteemed Broadway actress Cherry Jones with her native southern drawl – a catalytic moment that propelled the idea into orbit, which has just burnt its way through the celestial spheres to land quite parachute-gently onto the Kings Theatre stage.  Cherry told the Mumble about her casting; ‘I realized that I am one of the last people of the right age to play the part who actually knew women like that. I was born in Tennessee in 1956, so when I was ten years old the women who were Edwina’s & Amanda’s age were in their late 70s & still vital to our community. I knew them well. They were the church choir directors; they were the little ladies who would invite us for cheese & biscuits & hot chocolate out of demitasse cups; they were women whose fathers & grandfathers had fought in the American civil war.’

Amanda’s daughter Laura is a cripple – although the word is used cautiously in the house – perhaps a polio victim like Roosevelt, we never actually find out the true cause of her limp, which actress, Bury’s own Kate O’Flynn, plays with a Byronic shuffle across the floor. For me, O’Flynn is the real star of this play – her understated yet uncannily accurate portrayal of the insular Laura really does bring the play to life. The story hinges around the household receiving a gentleman caller, a friend of her brother Tom, who like a lamb to the slaughter comes for dinner innocently, the sitcomesque developments about which constitute the mainstay of the second half of the play. The first half is more of a family drama, when we see the abjectly depressing youth of Tennessee Williams in the city of St Louis condensed into an hour of tense dialogue all under the dramatic domination of Amanda, a caricature based his own mother, Edwina Williams. Indeed, after the 1944 Chicago premier of the play, Laurette Taylor – who first played Amanda – met Edwina in the street outside the theatre & asked her,’How did you like yourself?’ — ‘O Laurette, you were wonderful,’ replied Edwina, curtly.

Tom, played by another Broadway stalwart, Michael Esper, is so much Tennessee Williams himself… observing the play in the mid-2oth century must have been the closest to reality television our grandfathers ever got. For starters, Tennessee’s actual name  is Thomas Lanier Williams, while ‘Tom’ is a type-writer tapping wannabe author, who haunts the movies as a getaway from his humdrum existence – just like the early Tennessee. Its composition comes from the most creative years of his life, the early 40s when he was wandering North America – Mexico, Hollywood, New Orleans, New York – a time in which the Americans were knocking back they liquor & dancing while the world disintegrated beyond the oceans. This unreal reality, this national decadence, is deftly reviled throughout the play, which is unashamedly satirical without being grotesque.

The set was splendidly laid out – wooden furniture, a telephone a gramophone, & of course the cabinet which contained the glass animals – the menagerie – which Laura spends all her time on cleaning & refining. The performances were sparkling; the constant fussyings of the supercilious, ‘bewildered by circumstance’ ‘I wish we’d wallpapered the walls’ Amanda, the facial expressions of the distance-peering Laura, the tribulations of ‘How lucky dead people are’ Tom desperate to escape, & of course the lovely, moving scenes between Laura & Jim, her gentleman caller (played with a great realism by Seth Mumrich). There is also the finest moment, when Amanda turns up for dinner wearing the same fancy dress she wore as a Blue Mountain debutante to the Governor’s Ball at Jackson, the same dress she met Tom & Laura’s father in – but now the flowers had faded & been removed & the passage of the decades hung heavy in the air. Yes, this, & everything else about the Menagerie forms a vivid portrait of a half-life that haunts us all with a brutal starkness. It is fantasy, I guess, but one drawn from the very rivers of truth.

Reviewer : Damian Beeson Bullen

Nova @ India Buildings

3rd – 20th August (14.00)

Script:  Stagecraft:   Performance: 

Designed around the 1662 comedy of the great French comedic Playwright, Moliere, The School of Wives is a play about desire and passion.  Known as one of the greatest actors in comedy of his time, Moliere gave us such classics as The School of Wives.  A Lord, a young lover and a pair of  inadequate servants make for a good tale of near misses and tribulations. The set is fine, the space is used well, & with an excellent use of period costumes the atmosphere is made comfortable and believable as our young, beautiful girl is plucked from the hands of poverty to begin her fight for love.

TSFW is a serious, yet shockingly funny take on an old classic born well before its time, brought to Edinburgh by Roll Up Theatre  With underlying jokes directed at the smug sexual part of the show, the laughs where creeping out between bright, crisp and finely tuned acting as all the cast delivered their parts with intent. The two servants are played beautifully, using their ability to mock the master they create a chamber of laughter. At all times this is a show of great physicality – bodily movembents combine with facial expressions to describe the feelings at hand, & furnish in the viewer an emotional attachment to the characters & their situations. The leading male shone in particular, & to witness such ability tocompletely pull in an audience with such skills is endearing.

When a production is taken from centuries ago and brought forward to the modern world, it requires remouldingto suit the changing tastes of a zeitgeist. With that in mind, does TSFW achieve this? I would say yes, & after the performanceI got the head’s up from Roll Up Theatre themselves, who told The Mumble, ‘Our adaptation invigorates Moliere’s classic with new dialogue and new characters, promising to bring both razor sharp wit and the darker subtexts of paranoia and possessiveness to the fore in this masterful exploration of male fragility and domestic politics.’ Step-by-step their show pulls you in, until you arrive at the crux & crossroads of the play – a decision has to be made regarding this raging love triangle. Uncle, young lover or the loyal maids… who will it be?  Funny, serious, twisted and gripping, this is a must see show for any Moliere adept or any lover of live theatrical drama… & you will be, like I, happily surprised!

Reviewed by Raymond Speedie

Greenside @ Nicholson Sq

Aug 16-20 (18:30)

Script:  Stagecraft:   Performance:

The Real CS Lewis

David Payne is becoming rather famous for being another man – the 20th century literary heavyweight, CS Lewis. He is already doing one reflective piece on the life of Lewis at this year’s Fringe, but is also sandwiching this little baby into the middle of proceedings. The scene is Oxford, 1963, & we are witness to the singing swan of a life-long friendship between the two progenitors of the fantasy genre – Lewis & Tolkien – played in a fatherly fashion by David Robinson. What follows is a brisk survey of Jack & Tollers years together, romantic reminiscences from their youth flow into sabre-rattling regrets from their decisions in later life, such as Tolkien’s Catholic rejection of Lewis’ divorcee wife. The tone is best exemplified by, when at one point, Tolkien ruminates on how he did not work hard enough on getting Lewis the poetry chair at Oxford, to which Lewis remarks that his friend was, ‘The Lord of the Strings.’ That Lewis never got the chair is no great loss to the establishment (I’ve read his poetry) but what we do learn – if Payne’s performance is to be believed – is that when Lewis died, he was a loss to humanity & to one human in particular.

The two parts are perfectly cast – especially when Tolkien’s brooding brow battles with Lewis’ angelic countenance while they discuss the nuances of creating their fledgling fantasy genre. They share sparkling & serene conversation, punctuated occasionally by Meg Ellisor’s Hatty, a young American lady who brings in the tea like the chorus at the altars of a Pindaric ode. The entire play is something of a confessional by Tolkien, who is really the central figure in the play, & an excellent paced & poised one too. They are only doing the play this middle week, so I urge any lover of both theatre & said literary giants to catch ‘Of Wardrobes & Rings,’ before it is too late.

Reviewer : Damian Beeson Bullen

Greenside @ Infirmary St

Aug 15-27 (13.50)

Script:  Stagecraft:    Performance:

As you enter the theatre for ‘The Man Who Built His House To Heaven,’ you are faced with a striking scene. Against the black velvet curtainrie & under a bright spotlight stands a set of scarlet red step-ladders, to which is soon drawn, like a moth to a flame, our protaganist. Welcome to the world of Keenan Hurley, who delivers an extremely detailed all-American soliloquy with DeCaprionic ease. His tale is of the golden boy at college who built his life to order – wife, kids, house, job, he was living the suburban dream. ‘It felt good, a little, for a moment…’ But was that enough? It was time to add space & storeys to his home.

https://vimeo.com/156567994

What follows is akin to what Imhotep must have gone through when building the burial pyramid of Pharaoh Djoser in 2,700. A yearning for something beautiful, but making it up as one goes along. As we watch Hurley unfold his multi-layered tapestry of words, one discovers his creation is a metaphor for man’s spiritual wasteland, & that certain something which dwells deep in us all, that is to say the dissatisfaction in the futility of existence. A tale of obsession that is both dark & light, & one which has the crowd chuckling throughout, Keenan Hurley’s charisma & the excellent mood-swathing lighting add to a psychological journey of some merit.

Reviewer : Damo Bullen

Greenside @ Infirmary Street

Aug 15-20 : (16.10)

Script:  Stagecraft:   Performance:

It a tough market, the Edinburgh fringe, everyone trying to do something different, to stand out from the ground. Well, this year’s offering from Birmingham’s Blue Orange Theatre has certainly done that. As we take our seats, we are invited into the manic mind of writer obsessively struggling against his deadlines & the creative flow of his book. Intriguingly, wondrously, his characters are clad in in angel white upon the stage, & slowly become parley to the creative processes of the writer… nagging & nit-picking away as they try to reshape & improve their individual lots. In essence, then, Paper In My Pants is a play which offers a fascinating glimpse inside the mind of a writer very much wrestling with his creative demons

Its all a bit like the Shining & a bit like the Numskulls, a comic strip I used to read in my youth, or that recent Pixar animation, Inside Out.But its better, of course, because the characters are deeper, with real-life concerns & conversation. As they manifest themselves outwith the writer’s imaginations & trip through their glitzy chit-chat, I’m like this is really good stuff, & one of the few plays I’d like to see again, just so I can get to grips with the many nuances involved in Paper In My Pants.

.Reviewer : Damian Beeson Bullen

Pleasance Pop-Up: The Club (Venue 320)

Aug 15-22, 24-29

Script:  Stagecraft:   Performance:

This year the award winning Not Too Tame Theatre Company brings us a site specific and immersive, party production. Upon entering the club the cast are already in full swing: dancing energetically, there is a protest taking place and audience members are adorned with Electric Eden wristbands and neon face paints. This is a story of seven individuals with conflicting viewpoints making a stand against everyday injustices. The plot is centred around an eighty something folk singer who dies at the hands of developers moving him on from his favourite busking spot. The play forces us to look at the bigger picture, not only to look out for ourselves but to work together for a better society.

Each scene is blended together with nostalgic rave music and choreographed dance routines, where the audience is encouraged to participate. Every character delivers an engaging performance which highlights social dilemmas in everyday life, but more impressively the cast not only perform the show but also wrote the script along with Director Jimmy Fairhurst and Producer David Mumeni. The experience leaves the audience feeling they were a part of the community ready to join the protest. The only aspect that would have improved the finale would have been a last dance to unite audience and cast. Perfectly choreographed dance routines, creative monologues, a banging sound track together with a dynamic cast makes this show a must see on your Fringe calendar.

Reviewer : Laura & Emma Murray

Greenside @ Nicholson Square

Run Completed      

Script:  Stagecraft:   Performance:

 “Soulmate: A person ideally suited to another a a romantic partner or friend.”

Derived from the poetry of Tim Burton, this uncanny play, directed by Kat Osborn & acted upon by the Burnley Youth Theatre crew, follows the story of Luna, the altruistic sole of the moon & her reprobate, The Cobbler.

The story embraces the weird & wonderful in all of us & wholeheartedly accepts that our ‘sole’ mate may not always be our perfect match. Told through rhythmically synchronised young actors (ages 15-21) who are appositely accompanied by eerie piano music (Jack Herbert), this play genuinely touches the soul whilst taking you on a journey of realisation & self-exploration.

Taking on our ‘soul’ as the sole of a shoe, the characters set out to find their perfect match, in their case, a shoe which typically contrasts the attributes of their own. The problem is that they are held by The Cobbler, a lonely but spiteful sole who forces his captivates to work for him by day. His powers are overdrawn by night when Luna seeks to find each sole tangled in The Cobbler’s spite a match.

The talent these young actors possess is really something special, they captivate the characters they play profoundly & professionally, entwining multiple storylines into one, & along with the delightful music, it almost feels like you’re watching a Tim Burton movie in the flesh!  This charming play was definitely worth the watch, highlighting the importance in attracting our opposites to create a truly superlative match.

Reviewer : Robyn Donnelly

Summerhall Venue

16-28th Aug

18.05

£16 (£14)

Script:  Stagecraft:   Performance:

Scorch is a one person theatre performance, based on real life events. The script relays the real life event as a self confessed story; about a gender confused young person whom becomes besotted in love and unwittingly makes the mistake of a lifetime, without ever intending to cause harm or loss to anyone.

Different aspects of Kez’s routine are played out using the cylindrical stage space. Each area becomes known as a place in Kez’s life. Monologue is spoken as though daydreaming but occasionally is recited with full awareness of the audience and interactions are gestured, so Kez can undo emotionally in front of imaginary friends.

An engaging performance with dynamic use of mime and dance, it leaves one with big questions about sexual consent, the judicial system and should the media need to be held responsible for the effects they can have on someones mental wellbeing?

Great use of light to reflect emotion and also to indicate social media interaction; supported by good sound effects. The imagination invented a prop which was far more elaborate than anything possible on stage with the space available. I somehow saw a futuristic style alien spaceship bedroom, with the ship windscreen being a double interactive user interface. Just for a moment, then the mind would travel off into new space and time with Kez somewhere else.

Reviewer : Bobbi McKenzie