THEATRE REVIEW: Forbidden Broadway - Vaudeville Theatre

Something an off-Broadway institution, musical theatre satire show Forbidden Broadway can currently be seen over on our shores, at the Strand’s Vaudeville Theatre, more specifically, having transferred from the Menier Chocolate Factory.

Razor sharp and devilishly witty, the show lovingly (or so it claims) rips to shreds a whole host of musical shows, performers, writers and more, perfectly pinpointing the source of humour in each individual musical. Unlike its original American counterpart, however, this version focuses almost exclusively on shows with are either on in the West End at the moment, are touring or at the very least fall within recent memory. Comedy comes from recognition, after all, and there are nods, well perhaps stabs would be more appropriate, to some pretty huge shows. From Billy Elliot to Phantom of the Opera via Wicked and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, I would wager that most people in the audience would have been familiar with at least one or two shows in the parody repertoire.

And even if they weren’t, each sketch has enough silly, slapstick comedy in there to keep you going if you’re not getting the in-jokes.

Brought to life by a ludicrously talented cast, including Merrily We Roll Along’s, also on at the Menier, Forbidden Broadway is unfailingly funny throughout. For me the Les Miserables section, turning ‘One Day More’ into ’10 Years More’ and having great fun with the rotating stage was a particular highlight, in fact I would merrily have watched an full-show spoof of it, as was the Idina-bashing of Defying Gravity and Let it Go. Cristina Bianco's impression of Kristen Chenoweth is also well worth a mention, although admittedly by the nature of the show everyone will have their own personal favourites.

Laugh out loud funny, this is a great night out, particularly if you’re going with a gang of theatre nerds, professionals or a combination of the two. Oddly though, and I’m not sure whether this says good or bad things about the show, although I mean it as a compliment, the overwhelming effect on me when leaving the theatre was one of wanting to go and see again every one of the shows I’d just seen ridiculed.

I’ve also had every single one of the sketch songs in my head over the past few days since I saw it. And with musical theatre, there isn’t really a higher compliment than that.

★★★★★

- Jen

@jenniferklarge

Follow @AssortedBuffery on Twitter
Or like our Facebook page

Watch the trailer here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4arIIDKEUM

THEATRE REVIEW: Handbagged - Vaudeville Theatre - ★★★★

For just over ten years, The Queen and her then Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, were the two most powerful women in Britain. Born just six months apart, one was born into her role whilst the other chose it. One, despite the most privileged upbringing imaginable, hovered, and indeed still does, somewhere in the political centre, even, dare I say it, leaning slightly left. The other, despite being the daughter of a shop keeper, went on to become a Prime Minister viewed, probably correctly, as one of the most controversial and right-wing Britain has ever seen.

What went on in the weekly meetings between the two of them, closely guarded by the Palace, will never be divulged, leaving us only with speculation. Which is where Moira Buffini’s Oliver Award winning comedy Handbagged comes in. Currently at the Strand’s Vaudeville Theatre, having successfully transferred from the Tricycle, its script functions as an imagining of what may or may not have been said at those meetings, based on historical context and what was in the press at the time. And probably some guesswork and artistic license to boot. Despite its focus on just two characters, the play has a cast of six. Each of the leading ladies is portrayed by two actresses apiece, as each has both an older and a younger self – usually all on stage at the same time. The Queen is played by both Marion Bailey as her older self, and by Lucy Robinson as her younger counterpart, whilst Fenella Woolgar and Stella Gonet take on the younger and older PM respectively. Actors Neet Mohan and Jeff Rawle then divide the remaining roles up between them.

Unsurprisingly, however, it is the four women, and the excellent script they’re gifted with that really carries this play. Not a line is delivered out of place- each is deployed with impeccable comic timing as the two women argue with restraint, and even politeness over major political issues, as well as struggling to even make connect enough to make basic conversation. Their inability to find a mutually enjoyable choice of cake for their meetings is a particularly revealing example. The meta-theatrical element of having two women portraying each leading lady also allows for some deliciously barbed disagreements in all directions, even between older and younger versions of the same character, really helping the alleged ‘clashes’ leap off the page into a live, comic existence. The general hilarity is only added to by the spooky accuracy of each actress’s portrayal of the political and historical icons. Fenella Woolgar as Mags, the younger of the two Margarets, particularly shines, although really I’m splitting immaculately coiffured hairs.

Despite all the comedy, and believe me there’s plenty of it, this play is also really quite interesting, covering the entire span of the Iron Lady’s rule, with mentions of riots, apartheid, Balmoral and Rupert Murdoch, to name but a few. As someone who grew up in the 1990s, I knew relatively little about the 80s political struggles which really defined Thatcher’s time in office. It was also worthwhile to see the Queen’s own troubles, with Charles and Diana and the Commonwealth mapped against Thatcher’s political timeline, as this only added to the contrast between the two women, and to the verging on tender poignancy with which their latest years are covered in the latter quarter of the play.

It was precisely this history, however, that a great deal of my fellow audience members seemed to struggle with. I’ve been trying ever since leaving the theatre to block out one particularly loud American tourist whispering, if you can call it that, ‘Is this before or after Victoria?’ to the person sat next to her. Though it pains me to admit it, perhaps she’s got a point. Throughout Handbagged, Neet Moham, as the youngest member of the cast, alludes to events the ‘younger members of the audience’ might not know about, explaining it and bringing them back in. It occurred to me, seeing just how many tourists were in the audience, that an odd ‘and the tourists amongst you won’t know this’ explanation or two might have helped considerably.  As a comedy, Handbagged  is hard to fault. It just may have benefited from being slightly more inclusive in some places, great that it is for a knowledgeable British audience that the reference are so specific-  if only so that more people could laugh as heartily at the jokes as the rest of us were.

Really, though, that is a small quibble in the context of what is an immensely quick witted, and astonishingly well performed play. The characterisation is excellent, and never strays into ‘handbags at dawn’ middle aged warring women caricatures, despite what the taglines say. As the Queen herself says, when asked if the meetings are different because the new PM is a woman, ‘No. It is different because she is Mrs Thatcher.’

The play’s greatest success lies in how clearly it pulls that off. It’s fun, but clever fun- a real insight into what might have gone on between the two formidable leaders.

And you don’t even have to sit around a rainy Balmoral picnic to get it.

Handbagged is running at the Vaudeville Theatre until 2 August.

http://www.nimaxtheatres.com/vaudeville-theatre/handbagged

★★★★

Jen

Follow @AssortedBuffery on Twitter
Or like our Facebook page.

You can read my own blog here or follow me on twitter here

THEATRE REVIEW: Great Expectations

Almost every other review I’ve read of Jo Clifford’s adaptation of Dickens’ classic bildungsroman has kicked off proceedings with an obligatory pun on its title. Compelled to do the same, I should therefore point out that I trundled off to Great Expectations the play at the Vaudeville with absolutely no expectations whatsoever, seeing as decades of TV and film productions have taught us nothing if not that Dickens adaptations really can go either way.

My expectations were raised somewhat after seeing the set, which really is stunning. Cobwebs hang from absolutely everything in the elaborately decorated room set up, emphasising the eerie presence of jilted bride Miss Havisham, with her rotting wedding cake given centre stage. There’s also a mantelpiece, windows with light artfully streaming in, chairs and even light fittings. It’s impressive. Which is a good job really, as it is the only setting we see for the entire production, but more on that later. Fresh from a UK tour, this show is the first full length Great Expectations to ever be presented in the West End. And cast aside, unfortunately at times it is easy to see why.

It’s clear that the play wanted to bring out elements of the book you may well discuss in a book group or seminar, but miss on a casual read through. This dogmatic following of the themes of the novel, however, whilst admirable, and fairly rare these days, means that many ideas feel thrown in and at odds with the nuances of a stage show. Taylor Jay-Davies does a good job of heading up the cast as young Pip, but this is spoiled somewhat by the haunting presence of his older self, played by Paul Nivison. Whilst this is certainly an interesting idea, and draws attention to the novel as a first person memoir, you can’t help but wish that he’d just give the poor boy five minutes to hold the fort on his own without the constant fear of accidentally tripping up his adult persona. It’s nothing short of a relief when one finally sits down and leaves the other to it.

Jay-Davies' earnest performance is matched by that of the equally genuine Josh Ellwell, as Joe Gargery, with Jack Ellis (Jaggers), Rhys Warrington (Herbert Pocket) and Sarah Robertson (Biddy) giving other performances of note. Grace Rowe grates a little as Estella, but her impassioned final speeches go some way to reconciling her to us, and Paula Wilcox certainly looks the part as the infamous Miss Havisham, but lacks the presence to make the character as terrifying as she should be. Difficult though it admittedly is to match a theatrical performance to a well-established literary character, the majority of the cast leave a little to be desired when held against their fictional counterparts, leaving most of the play feeling a bit flat.

This isn’t helped by the lack of set changes. In a show where none of the performances particularly grab you, and the lines of the story are blurred by the aesthetics of trying to include a visual representation of every trope, as an audience you start to daydream about set changes. Maybe one will happen when Pip goes to London? No. Maybe there will be a different set in Act 2? No. I fully appreciate that, given the detail of the Miss Havisham set, budget may well have been an issue, but then again it does seem as if some sort of statement was being made through the use of only one set of scenery. I’m not 100% sure what it was, but I think there was one in there somewhere. Again, this is admirable, but as a Great Expectations as well as theatre fan dying to see what the famous graveyard and marsh scenes would look like on a stage, I was more than a little disappointed to see them played out on a dining room table. The whole thing looks beautiful, don’t get me wrong, despite the fact that the heavy handed Gothic moments make you wonder if Tim Burton didn’t direct a considerable part of it, but again it’s as if the creative team got a bit caught up in the idea of showing the production in cinemas, and forgot about the fact that, first and foremost, the action is happening on a stage.

I’m told that somewhere in the foyer there was a note about how we ‘won’t see another Dickens adaptation like this for 200 years’, or something to that effect. And no, I daresay we won’t. He remains as notoriously difficult to adapt as ever, with only one of the many individual threads of the wider tapestry of each piece ever managing to be tugged at once, leaving the others forgotten about and neglected. Like Miss Havisham herself, perhaps Dickens should be left alone for a bit? Not necessarily in a dusty room with a rotting cake like Paula Wilcox but just on a shelf, in a book where he belongs.

 **

http://greatexpectationstheshow.com/

Jen

Haven’t you noticed? We’re now on Facebook! Like us here and make our collective day.

You can also read more of my stuff here: https://memyselfandtheothers.wordpress.com/

Or you can follow me on twitter here: https://twitter.com/jenniferklarge