It’s a good choice for a school play. Shakespeare in Love has a big cast and lots of meaty roles. And it works especially well for a school which is boys only other than in the sixth from because the company run by the hapless Burbage (Matteo de Lorenzo – pleasing performance) and his rivals, were of course, all male.

James Bradburn, directs his cast (Head of Drama is Chris Chambers) to make imaginative use of the big playing space and there are some excellent stage grouping moments. The show is slickly paced too.

Barney Sayburn excels as Shakespeare. He has plenty of stage presence and brings colour and nuance to the role  as he works though his love affair with wannabe actor Viola  De Lesseps (Anna Brovko – warm and convincing) and the gradual development of Romeo and Juliet.  Arthur White, diminutive and feisty, is great fun as John Webster and Alex Molony’s Kit Marlowe is enjoyable.

But the real stars of this show are Tom Stoppard’s script and the side stage band directed by Ralph Barlow. (I had forgotten just how clever Stoppard’s writing is here. He weaves quotes and cross references in continually. I hope the young people acting it are aware that, for example, “Give me to drink mandragora” “The play’s the thing” “Brave new world” “sick of self love” and dozens of other lines are Shakespeare’s own words. It’s sad, though, that when John Webster makes a particularly blood-thirsty remark and then reveals his name, I am the only audience member who laughs.

Trinity School is famous for its music (Trinity Boys Choir etc) so it’s  a treat to hear/see it shining on its own patch. The all-student band provides arrestingly good period music on instruments such as lute, viol, psaltery and spinet alongside trumpets and flutes. Half a dozen fine singers stand behind them producing some pretty impressive harmony. The music sits between scenes and often under dialogue to provide atmosphere.

And that, perversely, creates occasional problems because sometimes there are issues with the acoustic and sound system so that words aren’t always audible despite the use of radio mics. This show is staged in the school’s very large concert hall rather than the smaller theatre next door and, clearly, that has created challenges although it’s a lovely thing for the cast and creatives to be able to work in, and fill, such a large space.

An enormous amount of hard work and dedication has gone into this show and it’s a joy to me to see so many young people, of all abilities, working together and producing something worthwhile. Well done, all.

First published by Sardines: https://www.sardinesmagazine.co.uk/review/shakespeare-in-love/

Rebecca Crankshaw is riveting. She holds the audience in the palm of her hand as Tracey treating us to her memories, thoughts and life story as she potters about in her kitchen cooking Christmas dinner for 21 noisy and demanding people who can be heard in the next room.

This beautifully written, scrupulously observed play is very funny but it’s also pretty poignant as we gradually learn why the in-your-face Tracey is married to a fat prick (“Actually” she says wryly. “That’s not fair. He isn’t fat”) with a ghastly vegan mother who loves to lay down the law. Then there’s Jackie, the friend who’s been beside her since she was nine years old. Usually Jackie would be there at Christmas having a laugh with her in the kitchen and we eventually realise why she isn’t – and that isn’t funny at all.

It’s a powerful  60-minute, one-hander, not least because Crankshaw’s timing and voice work are so accomplished. She treats us to a hilarious account of attending and hilariously subverting a séance she once attended with her mother in law and Jackie. Then there’s meeting and being captivated by a glamorous American named Gregory – and the dashed dream which follows. Tracey is very witty too about how to “bag a bloke” although Crankshaw plays this with a nuanced sense of brittleness. It’s a very charismatic performance.

The play, written by two men, is partly a feminist crie-de-coeur. Tracey really doesn’t deserve to be a solitary kitchen skivvy single-handedly fulfilling the complex dietary needs of 21 people. When the rebellion finally comes it’s such a relief that you want to cheer.

Because the Bridge House studio space is small and simple, sets there are usually quite basic but directors Luke Adamson and Joe Lindoe have really pushed the boat out for this one. A fitted kitchen, including a fridge and lots of cupboards hugs two sides of the square space so that Crankshaw can work with real food and at one point we get steam – all pretty convincing although it must be quite complicated to stage manage.

I did wonder, though, about the food waste but at the end Crankshaw speaks, as herself, to the audience and explains that there’s a collection for a local food bank to offset this. Nice touch and people seemed to be donating quite generously after the performance I saw.

First published by Sardines: https://www.sardinesmagazine.co.uk/review/21-round-for-christmas/

As always I watched the final curtain call with what I think of as a “Chickenshed lump” in my throat. There is something profoundly moving about seeing two hundred or so people on stage, celebrating a visually and vocally vibrant, totally inclusive musical theatre achievement.

This is a very original take on Jack and the Beanstalk, positioned a very long way from pantomime to which it is a refreshing antidote.  Jack (Hector Dogliani who doubles the role in other performances with Ellie Carroll) has a realistic family. His widowed mother is anxious, distracted, volatile and dependent on foodbanks or going without. A troubled dreamer and a bit of a loner he is badly bullied by other teenagers (chilling scenes) until he discovers the Beanstalk computer game in the arcade his late father used to own. The show then comprises his big scale working through three challenging levels until he finally “meets” the giant and comes to terms with his situation so that he can face the future with courage, confidence and self knowledge. Oh yes, Dave Carey who wrote this show is a highly talented man. And, primarily a musician, he also gives us some terrific music, partly live and visible on an overstage platform, and some pre-recorded. He gets lots of applause from me, too, for using a youth band.

The show, whose huge ensemble is beautifully choreographed, includes avatars, monsters, a colourful set, lively dancing (especially from the utterly splendid Courtney Dayes as Dance Boss 1), real drama and lots of kindness. I am always impressed by the glorious cast mix at Chickenshed including wheelchair users, people with Downs Syndrome and other conditions, child Chickenshed members, Btec and degrees students, and staffers, many of whom have been involved with Chickenshed since childhood. Ashley Driver, for example, who has been a member since he was a child, is a graduate of both Btec and degree programme and is now part of the tutoring and mentoring team. He excels as the forceful, glittering Pinball Wizard in this show. There is a given in the choreographing of Chickenshed shows that anyone who needs help is unobtrusively scooped up or taken by the hand and led within the ensemble. It’s a lovely thing to notice.

Hector Dogliani plays a lonely introvert at the opening, gradually and skilfully revealing a rounded, much happier person. And he sings beautifully – lots of tuneful, well controlled warmth.

This show works with over eight hundred people because the ensemble operates in four rotas. I saw the yellow rota doing a fine job. I marvel at the discipline with which they make their entrances and exits and can only wonder how on earth you manage a cast that size, some of whom are very young, backstage.

Inclusivity is what underlies all this so every word of the show is integrally signed by a large number of very competent signers who are threaded into the action. Some of these are children so that’s excellent too. I also like the way short solos are distributed across the ensemble so that lots of young people get the chance to shine. It isn’t always easy, given the crowded stage, to spot who is holding the hand mic and having a moment of glory but the blending in is a Chickenshed trademark.

I suspect that this is going to be one of the best Christmas shows I see this month.

Image: Billy Goose (Kat B) and Priscilla the Goose (Ruth Lynch). Photo by Manuel Harlan

Hackney has a culture all of its own and as a visitor from Catford, and the other side of the tracks – sorry, river – its pantomime always makes me feel a bit of an outsider. This year’s rather pedestrian effort was no exception.

We’re in Hackney Woods where Will Brenton weaves a somewhat contrived story about a beauty parlour, run by kindly Mother Goose (Clive Rowe). Then alas, acquiring a source of wealth from her pet goose’s golden eggs, she is seduced into the idea that she wants to be beautiful. And, of course, although she succeeds and gets glamorous, that is never going to work out well.

Of course fabulous Clive Rowe is good, sings strongly and, as director, does his very best to hold it together and Kat B, as ever, is charismatically rueful and funny as Billy Goose. Otherwise, I’m afraid it limps along with a lot of mis-pacing.

For example, there are several spotlight solo numbers which are well enough sung but are overlong for this context and feel like time fillers. Then there’s a very peculiar scene giving us the history of Hackney Empire – 120 years old this year – which, although quite interesting, is totally out of place here.

Worst of all is the way this cast – almost all of them – mis-time dozens of jokes so that they fall repeatedly flat. Even the slosh scene, which brings an “audience member” (I have my suspicions) on stage is tame. The timing of gags is a pretty basic pantomime skill so this is puzzling.

Rebecca Parker looks good (lots of leggy height and glittery black) and sings well as Demon Queen but her speech is blurred and often inaudible which is down, presumably, partly to her delivery and partly to iffy sound management. Tony Marshall is moderately funny as the exaggeratedly East End  Squire Purchase (and I like the punning name) and Holly Mallet is feisty as Jill Purchase.

Meanwhile the four piece band, led by Alex Maynard, is doing a grand job at the front. There is, for example, some lovely guitar work from Charlie Laffer.

There were some enthusiastic adult insiders laughing very loudly and supportively in the press night audience and relatively few children. The boy – maybe 8 – who was the only child in my row sat impassive throughout.

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  Billy Goose (Kat B). Photos by Manuel Harlan

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  Demon Queen (Rebecca Parker) and Full Ensemble.

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  Jack Goose (Ope Sowande), Jill Purchase (Holly Mallett), Full Ensemble and Young Ensemble.

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  Mother Goose (Clive Rowe) .

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  Mother Goose (Clive Rowe) and Ensemble.

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  Squire Purchase (Tony Marshall) and Full Ensemble, Jack Goose and Jill Purchase.

First published by Sardines: https://www.sardinesmagazine.co.uk/review/mother-goose-6/