Review. Much Ado About Nothing. Oddsocks at Nottingham Castle

To this reviewer's memory Shakespeare's sunny comedy Much Ado About Nothing set in sun drenched Messina has no references to rain in the text. So no 'the rain it raineth every day' no '… falleth as the gentle rain' no '… thunder, lightening nor in rain' and saddest of all no ' You say that you love the rain but you open your umbrella when it rains. You say that you love the sun, but you find a shadow spot when the sun shines'.

Thus so, it is down to the talented Oddsocks cast to add as many 'rain' and 'wet' jokes on their rain soaked stage as they perform their wacky version of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing at Nottingham Castle. The best of all must be Hero's (Lucy Varney) parting ad lib as she is jilted at the altar by Claudio (Peter Hoggart). Distraught and confused by Claudio's rebuff and abuse on her wedding day she storms off with her quip of annoyance “And it rained!” hanging in the air.

A slightly longer play than their gloriously funny Twelfth Night production playing as part of their summer season and, in some respects a slightly less zany show, Oddsocks' Much Ado retains much of Shakespeare's clever word play and yet is still as playful and inventive.

As the rain pours down on the wet but undaunted audience there are laughs a plenty and the verbal sparring between Benedick (Kevin Kemp) and Beatrice (Rebecca Little) is done with much wit. Actor Gavin Harrison constantly amuses as he quadruples up in the quick change roles of Don Pedro, Don John, The Sexton and Friar Francis. Peter Hoggart and Lucy Varney as loved up Claudio and Hero go for possibly the longest stage kiss in the history of theatre. Leonato performed by Andy Barrow is in turns hilarious and threatening and shares the same penchant as his Twelfth Night character Malvolio for revealing his under garments and this time his muscular torso as he wrestles with Claudio. Oddsocks style of adding in modern pop songs works particularly well in this version and the songs and music are delivered with panache.

Interval

Oddsocks always introduce their play with an outdoor theatre flourish and introduce each other by their actor alter egos with names only the totally daft pun based English sense humour could make up; Will Barrow, Miles Power, Penny Sillen, Doug Witherspade, Ophelia Rarse and Arthur Petesake.

 

An energetic, downright silly, utterly professional and totally inventive theatre company Oddsocks have a devoted fan base all over the country. That same fan base and newcomers to the Oddsocks scene all have one thing in common – well two things – they don't care about the rain if they are being royally entertained and – they really love it when the actors single them out and nick their cheese!

This rather damp evening the Oddsocks company even applauded the audience for staying to the end and as the final claps disappeared into the night air the rain finally stopped.



#BritpopBard
@Oddsockstweets

Promotional video. Derby Theatre. The Rise and Fall of Little Voice.

Promotion video for The Rise and Fall of Little Voice at Derby Theatre by Jim Cartwright. Showing Friday 31st October to Sat 22nd November 2014. Directed by Sarah Brigham, designed by Dawn Allsopp and Musical Direction by George Dyer.

Cast:

Tracy Brabin: Mari
Rebecca Brierley: Little Voice
Kevin McGowan: Ray Say
Sue Vincent: Sadie
Tom Meredith: Billy
Ged McKenna: Mr Boo

Derby Theatre. Interview with John Godber and cast

Interview with John Godber, Shobna Gulati and Joe McGann.

 

Copyright Phil Lowe

I caught up with playwright John Godber and actors Joe McGann and Shobna Gulati during one of the early rehearsals for a new touring production of Godber's bitter-sweet romantic comedy April In Paris that originally premièred on April 23^rd 1992 at the Spring Street Theatre in Hull by the Hull Truck Theatre Company as part of the Hull 1992 Festival. The original featured John Godber himself as Al and the then Jane Clifford as his stage wife Bet. The play has had many a professional showing since and when it was performed in the West End with Gary Olsen and Maria Friedman in the two roles it was nominated for a Laurence Olivier award as Best Comedy of The Year. 2010 saw a revival of John Godber and Jane Godber (neé Clifford) in the play and now Godber is directing a touring production with Joe McGann and Shobna Gulati as unemployed builder Al and his competition mad and long suffering wife Bet.

John Godber told me that in the original production he wrote the script without reference to any children as in real life he had no children back then but the latest script refers to grown up children that have fled the nest and this element gives the story an extra human depth that he felt it lacked before.

Godber is a well known theatrical name both for amateur and professional societies and I was keen, on behalf of Sardines, to find out his view on amateur societies performing his plays. He said “Well you're delighted that anybody wants to do your plays. I know that my plays get done a lot in amateur circles which is great. There is obviously a connection otherwise people wouldn't venture to do them. I guess sometimes they choose the most difficult plays to do and sometimes they'll choose Bouncers for example. This is a very very difficult play to do. I've seen it performed by amateurs both good, bad and indifferent to be quite honest.”

He continued “I know that there is a thriving amateur scene and years ago I was involved in a project with the Little Theatre Guild. BT got involved too and they commissioned a play called Happy Families and then that play was performed at forty-eight theatres on the same night. It was in the Guinness Book of Records as the largest opening of any play anywhere. It variously went from theatres in the north who kind of understood the work to theatres in Tel Aviv who sent us a video and they didn't quite understand what 'failing your 11 plus' meant! And you know, poetry is that which is lost in translation. You know, we need amateur theatre to survive. We need all theatre to survive realistically because it breeds participants and audiences and interest and so long may it thrive.”

I broached the subject of the many productions of April In Paris that had been done over the years and wondered if the work was suited to an amateur company putting on a production of what is quite a challenging piece for two actors. What I meant was, given the sparse nature of the text and extremely subtle hues of interpretation by which the show might fail or succeed dependent on the actor's skills, was this truly possible in the amateur field. John replied “This isn't the easiest of plays for amateurs to do. It's heritage is in France. The language is connected with economic exchanges and is extremely spare and I wrote it very very quickly. It was part and parcel of what we were doing at Hull at the time. Frankly we needed a play that was cost effective. I did it for nothing and Jane did it because she lived locally so there was no overnights or travel expenses so it only cost us one salary. I was going through a thing then, at that time, experimenting with how little I could say on the page. This is Brecht's influence I think. There is very little to get hold of on the page. This version however, there is a little bit more, not a lot more because going back and looking at the play I thought that I had under-written the play a little bit too much. I also thought that our attitudes to Europe have hardened over the last twenty-two years both pro and anti. I think that if a play's gonna work then it has to stand up within the social milieu that is relevant at the time otherwise it becomes a museum piece. I didn't want this to be a one of those.”

image by Robert Day

Always curious to know whether a writer has seen any amateur productions of his plays I ventured to ask John if he had personally seen any amateur productions of April In Paris and whether they were as good as any in the professional sector. His answer was short and sweet. “No to both questions! No I've never seen one and I couldn't imagine frankly, with the greatest humility I can muster, that they'd be any better than this production!” This gem was received with a wave of gentle laughter from all the professional team involved.

I explained that I had done a fair amount of research into the creation and life of April In Paris by John Godber and one thing that had stood out for me was there were references to the singer Madonna in my stage script of the 1992 production and I wondered if she had been cut from the new version. John was amused by this and said that she was still alive and about fifty-six so the connection in the script was actually still very relevant because it refers to her being the same age as Al. References that had been changed from the 1992 script were because of the underlying theme of Britain's connection with Europe and that Europe as a socio -political entity was still prevalent in our collective minds at the moment. Godber said that the best way he could describe it was that what happens in the play is we realise we are an island nation but of course 'no man is an island'. Within that dialectic there's the problem for us as a country within Europe. He continued with “I understand that even today the Scots will say that they are happy to be separate but they want to keep the pound.”

I thanked John for his comments and feelings and moved over to talk to actors Joe McGann and Shobna Gulati sitting close by in the heated rehearsal room on this chilly day in the former School of Art on Green Lane in Derby.

I was curious about their experiences of the rehearsal processes given that they were now two weeks into the rehearsals. Joe told me that it was a happy cast and crew and much discussion had gone into portraying the characters truthfully and in discovering their back stories in earlier rehearsals. He added that he loved the rehearsal process and as an actor it is a privilege to be able to come to work and not just on the things they do like working on a great text but, the chances to sit and chat about it and taking things apart and reconnect them. Joe continued “To try and shoehorn a play into your head and at the same time find your journey through it - it's so much further away than digging ditches for a living. It is a true privilege to do this kind of thing and at the moment, with it being a two hander I wouldn't say that I've got it all in yet but it IS going in and it is a good part of the process. I think it improves you over time and I think it improves you as a person in the rehearsal process if you listen and if you are diligent about the work. I think then that you understand a lot more about the play, about life and about yourself by going through and yes, I'm enjoying it very much.”

copyright Phil Lowe

I asked Joe (whilst being conscious that I hadn't spoken yet to Shobna within the interview) whether he felt that any of his character's personality reflected any of his own traits. He was very forthcoming in his response and emphatically replied “Yeah, I would say that any frustration that I felt as a younger man, not so much now because of the job I do, I remember, not so much in Liverpool because I felt involved in culture there and the city as a whole with the Beatles and such but my memories are that of a seventeen year old. I moved down from Liverpool to London and, especially amongst other men of my age, it seemed a cultural desert and they just weren't interested in the same things that I was and I remember thinking then 'you need to get out more, you need and do something!' I used to work in Soho and as pretentious as it sounds, it's the truth, I used to go and rest my head by going and gazing at pictures, not only in the National Portrait Gallery but I used to look at the water lilies and I used to find that that used to set me at the centre of the graph. I'd go in there and I'd go in the National Portrait Gallery and bearing in mind that Punk was going on all around I 'd settle myself by getting myself theatre tickets as well as spending time in the art galleries. This is how my character Al recognises his soul too, through art and beauty. There is that element for a thirsts for knowledge and thirst to improve.”

Shobna said that Al doesn't know in the beginnings of the play's story that he has that thirst but he finds it as the story progresses. Joe relied that Al has his eyes opened and his soul opened in Paris and that is what he sees as saving him and potentially saving his marriage.

Being slightly devil's advocate I then asked Shobna how close she would say that within the body of the theatrical story that Al and Bet's marriage is 'on the rocks and heading for disaster' within this childless married couple.

She was keen to point out that here had been a change in the dramatic text and now Al and Bet have children albeit grown up children who have left home. Shobna said that she would argue that the relationship is not 'on the rocks' and it is how it is every day. She explained further that it is a very loving relationship and it is just that they have just got used to each other and used to each other's ways and connections through argument. She emphasised that if it is done right you will see that as an audience, and contrary to any misunderstanding socially, their dialogue verbal and implied is not in a 'grounds for divorce situation' but conveys that the couple understand each other implicitly. They communicate and they may growl at each other, but that's the nature of them being married for over thirty years.

I interjected that it is a 'loving growl; and Joe added that the 'gloves are off'. Or as Shobna amusingly joked “We are happy to fart in each other's company!” This caused much ribald amusement and merry laughter and was declared the potential headline of this article! The terms 'a pump' and/or ' a pardon' were laughed over in this most relaxed of interviews. I continued to chat for another fifteen minutes with the writer and cast and thoroughly enjoyed the honour of watching the first hilarious act in rehearsal.

A longer version of this interview about the production will be available in the August edition of Sardines magazine.

The play starts its countrywide tour in Derby at Derby Theatre Friday 27th June to Saturday 12th July 2014. For bookings ring 01332 593939 or go to www.derbytheatre.co.uk.

Lace Market Theatre. Review of Till Eulenspiegel - Reloaded.

As part of the theatre exchange between Nottingham's Lace Market Theatre and two German theatre groups from Karlsruhe, a second theatre piece was shown by Theater Die Käuze on 16^th and 17^th April 2014. This was Pascal Paul Harang's fresh and colourful reinterpretation of a selection tales of the legendary prankster, Till Eulenspiegel. The production drew in some near capacity audiences.

Theater Die Käuze performed the piece, Till Eulenspiegel - reloaded in an eclectic mix of styles through the mediums of story telling, dance – modern and ancient – drama and broad comedy. The piece was broken up into a fractured spectrum of short scenes covering the life of Till from his birth to his death.

There are over fifty stories surrounding the impudent trickster and Pascal Paul Harang has wisely cut the work down to less than half that amount for his theatrical presentation. The cast of thirteen work as an ensemble throughout with Mathis Harang and Joshua Wetterauer playing the boy Till in different performances and showing off their individual dance skills as well some fine acting.

 

The charismatic Viktor Müller plays Till as an adult and does so with an edge of comic malevolence coupled with charming wit. He is seen as almost literally dancing rings around the characters that persecute him and on whom he takes his wicked revenge.

The ensemble worked well together considering the different practicalities of the Lace Market stage compared to the much smaller stage at the company's theatre in Karlsruhe. There were over thirty parts in all and all were clearly delineated. The piece was costumed in a mix of modern and historical to show how the stories of Till are still relevant to society today. Till himself was always in red to illustrate his position as an outsider.

 

Till Eulenspiegel sought to illustrate the foolish nature of mankind and their innate snobbery and this was particularly well illustrated in the paintings scene where the buyers were practically orgasmic in their vocal gasps whilst looking at a blank wall and fooling themselves they could see wonderful commissions. I liked the touch with the red noses especially.

 

 

Some English was injected into the piece and there was an authentic conversation between Viktor Müller and Marius Schmidt as the clown. Their protracted conversation was well acted, well spoken with local references and drew a round of applause from the audience but I was technically unsure where this conversation fitted into the piece.

There was an interesting use of visual styles and creative application of live sound effects plus the benefit of surtitles for the English speaking audience. All in all a thought provoking piece vigorously performed by Theater Die Käuze from Karlsruhe.

 

 

Review: Me and Me Dad. Reform Theatre Company.

Me and Me Dad is written by Nick Lane, writer of Housebound and My Favourite Summer and performed at the Derby Guildhall (on tour) by a talented cast of three by the Reform Theatre Company. The show originally started life through the Hull Truck Theatre Company though its programme and practice of developing promising writers and encouraging new theatre pieces.




The story of Me and Me Dad begins just after Dave’s mum dies and Dave has to make a decision about what to do for the best. Like many family units, Dave’s mum always did the cooking in the family household and was very good at it. On the death of his wife, Pete, Dave’s dad, suddenly finds he has no idea how to cook. He may be inept and ignorant in the kitchen, but he’s not stupid. In fact, like his son, he is very likeable but this is going to be one long grind in the kitchen. So, putting his failing acting career on hold for a month, Dave returns home to look after his father, primarily to teach him how to cook. Well, that’s the theory, anyway. Playwright Nick Lane mines an emotionally rich seam of a very personal story and the play tackles an even more difficult and individualised subject than that of unrequited love that fed the prequel, My Favourite Summer. This time round the characters of Dave and his father are discovering how to fend for themselves, a loss of their own identities and how a young man can suddenly be forced to be a parent to his parent. Built into the story is the notion of the fear of getting things wrong, for all parties.

The two male leads are brilliantly and realistically played by David Walker as Pete and Ryan Cerenko as his frustrated son, Dave. Walker brings the husband and father who cannot let go of his dead wife poignantly to life and, to quote his son, “hovers around like a moth in shoes”. This character is no cardboard cut-out dad figure. Nick Lane has created a wonderfully believable character in Pete Lee, a man full of human variety; from obstinate to silly and full of lovable characteristics, even if very much set in his ways. Even his constant farting is somehow endearing.

Cerenko has the task of carrying the play through narration and acting out the often frustrating journey of the son in his mid-twenties. He is often subtly put down by his father and by the mad neighbour Joyce (Susan Mitchell) who treats him as if he is still a small boy. Cerenko carries this role off to perfection, instantly likeable as Dave, a character full of fluctuating confidence, one minute confident of his ability to teach his dad to cook and the next confused and hurt by his dad’s actions especially when his father tries to chat up his girlfriend, Susie.

The ragged jigsaw of a set, the family home, looks as blown apart as the family unit. As the play opens fine dust is rising in the living room as father and son are left alone to cope on the day of the funeral. It looks as if an emotional bomb has gone off but miraculously the furniture and the two estranged men are still standing.

The acting and direction are superb throughout but the acting honours must go to Susan Mitchell who plays the three female roles of Jean, the late departed mum and wife; Joyce, a loud and batty neighbour and terrible cook; and Susie the confidently brash girlfriend of Dave. As time flits back and forth throughout the play Mitchell inhabits each role to perfection: the caring and softly spoken mother Jean, very emotionally strong near the end in a tear jerking scene. Mitchell then becomes Aunty Joyce – a loud but well-meaning neighbour who cooks for and secretly fancies Pete and finally, as a complete transformation, we have the girlfriend Susie, smart, sassy, sexy and somewhat manipulative.

The dialogue is funny, touching, occasionally emotionally raw and judiciously uses a clever technique of two characters saying the same line in unison to reinforce the notion of family bonds. There are good displays of emotive bonding and the very believable cast’s chemistry works well to create a very engaging and rewarding evening at the theatre.

Me and Me Dad is directed by Keith Hukin

This review was originally written for The Public Reviews website 25th April 2013

Review by Phil Lowe.

Review: I Was A Rat! at Nottingham Playhouse

This fabulous stage adaptation of Phillip Pullman’s very popular book, I Was a Rat! has arrived for the first time in the UK via the Birmingham Repertory Theatre Company, in association with Nottingham Playhouse, Ipswich New Wolsey Theatre and Teatro Kismet, Bari (Italy). It is adapted and directed by Teresa Ludovico with an English text version by David Watson.

Ludovico is the artistic director of Teatro Kismet in Bari, southern Italy and is best known in the UK for her thrilling and physical productions of Beauty and the Beast, The Snow Queen and The Mermaid Princess. Watson joined the Birmingham Rep's scheme for young writers in 1999 and has gone on to write twelve plays including I Was a Rat!

 

 

Author, Philip Pullman’s glorious and gripping story, of a boy called Roger who fervently believes he was a rat, is brought to life on the Nottingham Playhouse stage until 13^th April 2013. It combines humour, fantasy, and a stunningly theatrical adventure and this moving and darkly comic tale slowly reveals its roots to a well loved fairy tale.

As the play unfolds, a scruffy young boy knocks on the door of an elderly London couple – Bob and Joan. They were unable to have a child of their own and take the boy in, feed him and give him a name. The lad claims, over and over, that he was a rat and is puzzled to be in an alien world full of human beings. The strange, but instantly likeable lad, begins to act just like the creature he claims he was by playfully rolling around and gnawing on anything he can find, including pencils. Bob and Joan, lovingly played by Tyrone Huggins and Lorna Gayle, try to teach him some manners but are unsure what to do with him for the best. They decide to venture out with Roger to the authorities for them to sort the matter out. Unfortunately, they have no luck finding a home through these channels as neither the police, the school or the town hall clerks will do anything to help. The rat boy is very much an innocent in an unfamiliar world.

 

 

Roger instinctively runs away from a thrashing on two or three occasions and, once out of the protection offered by Bob and Joan, Roger is exploited and abused by all and sundry including The Philosopher Royal and the owners of a very scary Commedia del arte style circus and even a bunch of urchins that act like Fagin's gang. He is treated as a freak yet desperately tries to see the best in all his tormentors. In his despair he ends up imprisoned and sentenced to 'stermination. Will Bob and Joan rescue him? Will the lovable Roger ever find happiness again?

As in the style of Italian Commedia del arte, the Playhouse stage is mainly bare. Through a combination of thrilling lighting effects, theatrics, mime and dance and the tremendously talented cast, whose witty physicality and engaging fluidity allow the story to unfold, each moment becomes a truly magical piece of theatre. There is a feeling of improvisation bursting from the performers but the show is magnificently rehearsed to the point where the actors are very confident and professional in their story telling expertise and appear to be 'playing' with the piece. The audience loved each new event and the style of presentation.

The outlandishly fabulous costumes and live music give the piece a historical context and a nightmarish sense of the absurd, ranging from the bizarre and silly, tall hatted, policemen to the garish tormenting clowns of the circus and the eerie beaked politicians and macabre, Judge and Jury. All was beautifully and energetically choreographed and each episode of the story of the rat boy carried the spectacle along in and easy to follow but, often unpredictable way.

Various props were used including regular usage of a very tall chair that allows the performers not only to make terrific use of the stage area but also, to give an advantage of loftiness or power to particular characters as Roger encounters them. The various fight scenes were spectacularly done as were the energetic dance sequences performed by Fox Jackson-Keen, as Roger. He is a fine actor and dancer and has previously played the lead in the West End Musical, Billy Elliot and Roger in the Birmingham Rep production.

The story's local newspaper, the Daily Scourge, was a common theme throughout with the news hounds vocally 'hounding' the 'Monster Rat in the Sewer' and exploiting every possible angle to sell the papers through scandal and sleaze. The scene in the sewers with the scared police officer seeking out 'the monster' was priceless, at once dark and scary and then comical as the two meet head to head.

There are some stunning quick changes from the main cast of eight to the point that the audience didn't even realise that certain actors were playing two or three characters in one scene. All of the multi-talented cast were superb, including the Playhouse youth group as the urchins.

The posters for the show recommend the minimum age of audience to be seven plus. It is an intelligent show for all the family but not for the tiny tots. This is one of those funny and intelligent shows you would happily go and repeatedly see in order to catch all the theatricality again and again.

Dead Funny by Terry Johnson - a reflection.

Playing Nick in the Lace Market Theatre's production was a hoot from start to finish with some superb direction from the director Pat Richards.

 

 

 

At the time of rehearsals we pondered whether Dead Funny will work quite as well, decades down the line, as the bygone comics like Benny Hill and Frankie Howard fade from memory, but written against this tale of collective obsession and of crumbling marriages we did find it very, very funny. It was particularly funny at one rehearsal up in the top room of the theatre when Dave Bilton was doing his opening 'naked' scene with Beverley Saint as his frustrated stage wife and a potential new member was being shown the building and ended up being shown a naked man stretched over four chairs with his stage wife kneeling before him! We think she joined.

Set in Easter 1992, Terry Johnson’s tragi-comedy centres on a group of hero-worshipping neighbours, fixated on British comedians of music-hall tradition. Benny Hill has just died and the dwindling numbers of the Dead Funny Society prepare a wake. Gynaecologist Richard (Dave Bilton) is as indifferent to his wife Eleanor’s obsession to give birth as she is to his with dead comics. The unease of their relationship and that of other relationships is implicit throughout the play. Brian comes to tell Richard, as the chairman of the Dead Funny Society of the death of Benny Hill and he interrupts a painfully comical attempt at sexual massage.

Brian and Richard decide to hold a celebration of Benny's life the following Wednesday and invite the other members of the Society. As the party progresses the mood darkens as the tension and revelations of the various relationships come to light. Custard pies and sausage rolls are thrown and I got to empty a bowl of trifle over Dave's head every night! All this in reaction to finding out that my baby is not my baby at all but fathered by Richard.

Another unlikely catalyst is the gentle neighbour Brian who 'comes out' during the evening's entertainment and was a superb performance of inner pain coupled with superb comic timing by Malcolm Wilson in the Lace Market production in November 1999.

 

 

It is an hilarious comedy, needs brilliant comic timing, the ability of the cast to recreate classic comedy sketches and participate in frantic custard pie fights as the tragedy unfolds. Plus a great backstage crew adept and cleaning up the mess every night. As the main thrower of food stuffs I was told to be very careful not to get any on the borrowed furniture. The medical torso was hired for £23.50 for three weeks.

 

 

                                                                     


I particularly enjoyed the scenes during the 'Dead Comedians' celebrations where we performed the comic sketches like Morecambe and Wise's “Boom -ooh – ya -ta-ta”, the 'in the box' sketch of Jimmy James and the impersonations of Frankie Howard, Max Miller and Tony Hancock. I remember that we worked very hard at the comic timing including some word rehearsals at Dave's house at the latter stages. Great fun!

 

Review from Philip Ball (Nottingham Evening Post)

Darker side of comedy

Dead Funny

Lace Market Theatre
Philip Ball

Pat Richards has brought together a hard working cast to provide the impersonation needed to carry Terry Johnson's play.

They are all members of the Dead Funny Society who gather together in homage to the legendary Benny Hill, Frankie Howard, Jimmy James and Morecambe and Wise. The comic routines are brilliantly done but Dead Funny has a deeper and sharper tone.

Adult audiences will not be disappointed as observations on sexual attitudes are explored with wit and perception. The cast run through familiar routines whilst conveying the angst between their characters.

Malcolm Wilkinson has the best lines as Brian on the edge of the divided relationships between Richard (Dave Bilton), and Ellie (Beverley Saint) Nick (Phil Lowe) and Lisa (Melanie Gallie).

Trying out a stand up comedy set

Last Wednesday I took part in a 'Tesco's Got Talent' competition in a semi final at the conference suite at the Leicester City Football ground. I had already won a preliminary round in my current workplace with a stand up routine about butcher's shops and the meat and fish counter at Tesco.

Tesco have very strong guidelines about being rude about customers so the observational comedy I devised and wrote was more about the joke being on me than being about the customers really.

The set comprised of two jokes about butcher's shops ( themes were a cheeky rabbit and an intelligent dog) then I moved into observations about me being able to speak a bit of three languages namely French, German and Chinese. I went on to explain that we have a lot of Chinese customers and that they appreciate my attempts to be polite and I demonstrated that and then went into mock Chinese as I demonstrated verbally what I could do to their sea bass. The joke was on me as, after a lengthy explanation, it turned out they didn't speak Chinese.

Then I told the audience a true story about a strongly accented customer who said that he wanted "To piss" and that my colleague Paul was attempting to show him where the loos were. It turned out he wanted 'two piece' of salmon.

For the final part of my act I told the audience that I do the counters' announcements on the mike at work and that I had a fantasy that the Daleks had opened a branch of Tesco and I wondered what the announcements would be like. I do a good Dalek impersonation and proceeded to do three Dalek calls echoing subjects that normally happen in the supermarket.

I had woken up early (3am) the day I was due to perform and had some funny ideas that I wrote down but later in the day decided it was best to stick with the routine I was familiar with rather than adding new material last minute.

On the evening of the Tesco's Got Talent gig, I followed a young woman (No! not that kind of followed!) who was on first doing a dance routine. I was on second. Another twenty three acts were to follow, mostly singers.

The conference room was very wide and the stage was a temporary, poorly lit affair in the middle of the room by the back wall. I was confident in my material after some rehearsals at home and I found that I had to compete with a lot of chat from the tables whilst I was performing. It wasn't like the theatre or a comedy club where folk go quiet and let you entertain. I didn't let this put me off and used my skills to get the attention from the audience, the most important ones of looking and sounding confident and eyeballing each section of the audience and the judges as I spoke so that they all felt included. I got some laughs (always good for a comedian!) and the material that went down well was the Chinese language section and the Daleks in Tesco material.

The judges said that I had done very well with writing my own material, the timing of the humour and the originality of my act. I wasn't the outright winner but I got a trophy for my efforts, a fun night and a few beers and some food. The experience has made me think about doing an open mike slot at a proper comedy club sometime where people actually go to see and listen to the comedians rather than chit chat about their social lives during a set.

Play it Again Sam - a superb production.

'Play it again Sam' by Woody Allen.

The Lace Market Theatre.

September 2004.

I think if there ever a play I was able to get the opportunity to be involved with again, as the lead, it would be Woody Allen's silly three act farce 'Play it Again Sam'.

Original poster framed

Max Bromley directed the Lace Market Theatre production back in 2004 and also designed and built the set with a wonderful backdrop of New York apartments. This was another play where the cast wanted to move into Alan Felix's fictional apartment as it was so well designed and constructed. The photos accompanying this article were taken during a dress rehearsal and the empty book cases were actually full of American books and authentic magazines for the show.

Alan Felix (the Woody Allen character) lives in New York and is a writer for various film magazines. He has an obsession for Humphrey Bogart and sees him as the ultimate macho man who always 'gets the dames'. Alan Felix is the opposite of macho cool; nervy,  a hypochondriac, desperate for love and sex, nerdy and self consciously witty. He has just been dumped by his ex wife is feeling very down at the start of the play.

His best friend, Dick ( a workaholic) and his attractive wife Linda try to set him up with a new woman on a series of disastrous dates. Each date gets worse and worse and in the Lace Market Theatre production we had one actress playing his ex wife Nancy plus all the other women he dated. This led to some very funny scenes where Alison, who played all the would be girlfriends, would go off stage as one character, rip off the costume and come back on as another character. As the play is essentially a New York farce all the actors had similar moments to deal with especially when things hot up and Alan Felix starts to date his best friend’s wife Linda and feels impassioned but dreadfully guilty at the same time. Typical Woody Allen fare and enormous fun to do.

Sally who played Linda recalls being helped with a really fast change backstage and the zipper caught on the dress she had to remove, to then put on another, before I opened the door to let her.in. I don't think the audience heard her repeatedly and frantically whispering “Not YET, not YET!” If I'd have opened the door the audience would have seen far more than they should have!

 

A lot of the action is based in the apartment and we used the front of the stage areas for outdoor scenes such as the 'day in the park scene' the 'disco scene' and the 'art gallery'. The main lighting for the apartment was dimmed with the acting areas lit to suggest the venue. We sourced a selection of film posters featuring Bogart and some were directly referred to in the text.

 

In the auditions there was a worry that we would struggle to get a man to be convincing in the Bogart role but then John Parker stepped and did the Bogart character brilliantly. Likewise, a new member called James Walker was just right as my best friend Dick in all his comedy incarnations.

 

 

The text was often very fast paced and quirky and very very funny. Most rehearsals we were in tucks at the ridiculous plot and the great wit that Woody Allen is renowned for in his comedies. Max Bromley's superb direction helped us all with the comic actions and comic timing and made sure that the show was the huge success that it was. Plus, of course, the support from backstage and the sound and lighting technicians.

Playing Alan Felix, I spent quite a lot of time reading about Woody Allen and watching some of his earlier comedies to get the quirky nuances and vocal coughs and ticks that he employs when talking and was thrilled and delighted when, almost at the last minute, I managed to get a pair of glasses from Nottingham's Gray and Bull optician's that were the same as Woody Allen's 1960's library glasses. This pair had no glass in them and that really helped with audience being able to see my eyes. A lot of feelings are conveyed through the eyes.

 

One of my fondest memories from the show, and there are many, was a fantasy scene where the character of Linda comes on to Alan Felix big time and throws him to the floor then pounces on top of him. Sally (Linda) and I could hardly contain ourselves from laughing all the way up to the dress rehearsals and then the director decided to add in a sultry soundtrack of  Serge Gainsbourg's 'Je t' aime'. How we got through each performance with a live audience there I do not know!

 

Edited notes I made to myself after the last night:

'I was on such a high last night that I couldn't sleep and finally grabbed fours worth at 4am this morning, finally dragging myself out of bed at 10am Sunday morning. No more looking in the mirror mouthing words by Woody Allen. I think I'll miss that.

 

For starters I've wanted to do this play since it was announced that it would be the first play of this artistic season and the opportunity came up to play Alan Felix, the lead part (practically Woody Allen) and the rest of the small cast chosen, were perfect. The director Max has been a source of inspiration throughout the whole three months rehearsal. A great teacher and an absolute pleasure to work with from start to finish. The rehearsals were very hard work, particularly as I am working full time as well, but very fulfilling and fun. Thanks goodness I took a week off work to do this.

 

Our last night was a dream come true, a full and very appreciative audience who laughed at everything, even things we thought were funny but with some audiences hadn't raised a titter. What a fabulous feeling to generate laughter through Woody's play and lines; my character and our cast's interpretation of events unfolding on the stage. By the end of the longer second act the whole place was buzzing with excitement and we were eager to 'whack it to 'em' in the third and final act. And we did!

As the curtain closed on us and we got ready for our line up we were like little kids at Christmas, bouncing around with joy and a tremendous sense of achievement. Two curtain calls and a standing ovation, cheers, clapping and a sea of delighted faces followed and us brave four were grinning from ear to ear. The curtain closed for the last time and we all gave each other big hugs and sincere “well dones” to close the experience. What a feeling! Great camaraderie and a brilliant job well done.

We had ten minutes in the bar where we were heartily congratulated by the remaining audience and club members. Extremely positive comments all around. All that effort I and my friends had put in over the last three months had paid off. I am so pleased and proud of myself and the stirling efforts from the director, other actors, the backstage crew and technicians to make the whole thing a success.

After all that applause there then came the call to go back downstairs and help take the set down. A mammoth job but with some extra hands it was done in two hours and the stage swept clean by midnight. Then we wearily climbed back upstairs to some welcome food and champagne and a calm down and a chance to look back on our week. Our sound man, Daniel, gave me a lift home and I unpacked my 'prize' of a big framed Casablanca poster and I shall put that up in my bedroom later today.

 

I have decided to keep the glasses as a memento and I am still covered in bruises from the 'action' during the week. They will heal and my wild hair will be shorn early next week so I don't look quite such a geek!'

Sunday 26^th September 2004

Great times, great laughs and I wish I could 'Play it Again Sam' again.




                                                                     

 

To order a script of Play It Again Sam click Amazon link above.