Wise Children, by Emma Rice @ Storyhouse, Chester

“We gonna rock down to Electric Avenue 
And then we'll take it higher …
Oh we gonna rock down to Electric Avenue”

Or were we? As the tune rocked out and the audience jigged along in their seats, all the lights went out! As this was an Emma Rice production, you’d be forgiven for thinking that this was a part of the show. But several seconds later and a few quips from the actors, the audience realised that this was an ironic blip to what had been a highly charged and entertaining evening.

“Oh and we were just getting to the good bit!” quipped Gareth Snook – aka Dora Chance. A few minutes later, someone had obviously shoved 50p in the meter and the lights came back on…actors hurriedly rushed back to their places to carry on as though nothing had happened…and then the runaway caravan developed a mind of its own and nearly pushed poor Lady Atalanta who was sat in her wheelchair off the stage! I don’t know why I was giggling…I was in the front row and nearly had the cast sitting in my lap!

These technical glitches apart, Wise Children was a totally different theatrical experience to what I am used to. I always think that I’m not a fan of musicals…but then I can merrily rattle off a list of the musicals I’ve actually rather enjoyed. Whilst Wise Children is not advertised as a musical, there are a number of songs and routines throughout that keep the production moving at a high tempo. At the interval I said to my friend that it was a shame there wasn’t a soundtrack to buy as the cast sounded exquisite and there were occasions I found myself wanting to sing along (despite not knowing the lyrics!)

Wise Children is a book by the acclaimed novelist Angela Carter, it is also the name of the theatre company Emma Rice created upon her well-publicised departure from The Globe in London. Shakespeare purists lamented her appointment and proclaimed she had destroyed Shakespeare. I can’t possibly comment. I have never seen a play performed at The Globe and I’m most definitely not a purist when it comes to Shakespeare. In fact, the only times I’ve ever truly enjoyed his work have been when actors and directors have stepped outside the box and put a new spin on it (Andrew Scott in Hamlet being a perfect example of this!)

Some might have thought Emma Rice would disappear without trace from this “fall from grace,” but in Wise Children she has shown herself to be innovative, brave, bold and an obvious lover of the late Angela Carter, who herself was not one for sticking with tradition.

 “Happy Birthday to us. We used to be song and dance girls.”

Wise Children could be regarded as a love letter to the theatre. It is April 23^rd, Shakespeare’s birthday, and in Brixton twins Nora and Dora Chance (Etta Murfitt and Gareth Snook) and celebrating their 70^th birthday. They have been invited to their father’s 100^th birthday party; himself the greatest Shakespearean actor of all time and also a twin!

On the stage, acrobats, clowns and performers are limbering up. An old style caravan sits upstage and two young girls arrive, skipping, laughing and dancing. The performers head towards them but are stopped in their tracks as the girls start singing:

“I have sharp teeth within my mouth, inside my dark red lips. And polish bright hides my sharpened claws, in my fingertips…”

These are not girls to be messed with, and the carnivalesque air starts to show a darker side, that there is more to the girls than meets the eye, then the door of the caravan opens and we are transported to 49 Bard Street Brixton, the home of Nora and Dora Chance. This is their life story, through the highs and the heartbreaks of love and mistaken identities, this is a roller coaster of emotions celebrating all that is good about showbusiness, family, hope and the need to forgive.

Nora and Dora know who their father his, but he has never acknowledged the fact – that is, until they receive an invitation to his 100^th birthday party. This is their chance to tell their story and although time may have aged them, Murfitt and Snook are playful and sassy as they chronical their lives.

It becomes clear that Dora is the one with the common sense as puppetry and a talented cast take us back in time to pivotal points in Nora and Dora’s tale as share their dreams, their hopes, their ambitions with us. Katy Owen (Grandma Chance) brings the twins up in her own unique style and she is ever much the scene stealer as the over-the-top streetwise gran!  (Think Catherine Tate’s “gran” character and you’ll be both shocked and having hysterics as she teaches you a thing or two!)

There are various musical numbers such “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” and “Electric Avenue” that make you want to get up and sing. And there are various beautiful touches of genius, when the cast are waving flags to represent flames, or Peregrines “Rupert Bear” trousers fading in colour as he gets older, to butterflies flying around the stage. This was a production full of imagination, storytelling, fun and laughter, and perfect for transporting you away from the drudgery of the day.

Storyhouse - 19 March 2019 - 23 March 2019

Richmond Theatre - 26 March 2019 - 30 March 2019

Belgrade Theatre - 02 April 2019 - 06 April 2019

Brief Encounter - The Lowry, Salford

Brief Encounter was voted the twelfth best British Film by Time Out magazine in 2017. The 1945 romantic drama shows Laura, a wife and mother, have a chance encounter with a handsome stranger on a railway station that she falls in love with.

The film starring Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard started life as the play Still Life by Noel Coward. The Times critiqued it as “a serious and sympathetic study of humdrum people suddenly trapped in love”. Ten years later, Noel Coward's play was brought to life on the big screen by David Lean. It became one of cinemas masterpieces, nominated for three Oscars and for a number of years it was voted one of the best films ever made.

Released just after the end of WWII, it showed the British stiff upper lip in all its glory. Focusing on the day to day drudgery people went through, shopping, returning library books and taking some solace in a trip to the cinema; it also showed underneath the façade that a generation of people who had survived the war were only just about holding things together.

Unlike most tales, there aren’t good people and bad people in this story. This story works because everyone is essentially good, but trying to make hard decisions. Trying to make the right choice is never easy; today it is often hard to go with what we want and what society will allow. This is probably why it is a film that despite its age will never grow old.

I wasn’t sure how Emma Rice could bring this classic film to life on stage, but she has waved her magic wand and created a wonderful image of a story which echoes the film. She hasn’t pushed the classic film to one side; she has incorporated it into her play, made it an important part of the production. Sitting in the theatre, looking at the red stage curtains, as the lights go down and the usherettes pass amongst the crowd, you’d be forgiven for thinking you were about to watch the film.

‘I’m a happily married woman. Or rather I was until a few weeks ago. This is my whole world and it’s enough, or rather it was until a few weeks ago.’

Housewife Laura (Isabel Pollen) bumps into married GP Alec (Jim Sturgeon) at a railway station café. She has something in her eye and Alec comes to her rescue, removing the piece of grit and embarking upon a magical romance. But this production highlights not only the romance developing between Alec and Laura, but also the throws of young love between Beryl and Stanley and the last chance romance between Myrtle and Albert. Each relationship is given the stage time it needs to exhibit the magic and the heartbreak that love can bring.

Beryl (Beverly Rudd) and Stanley (Jos Slovick) bring an air of carefree fun as they steal a kiss and a cuddle after work before heading off to the chippy. Rudd’s charm and comic timing is impeccable and she takes your breath away as she belts out several musical numbers. Then there is Myrtle (Lucy Thackeray) who brings a warm charm as she dishes out cups of milky tea and freshly baked buns to the customers of the railway café, making sure there’s always an extra something special for stationmaster Albert (Dean Nolan).

In amongst the mirth and merriment there is the growing love story between the quintessentially British Alec and Laura. As the lovers head out in a rowing boat (that very romantic British pastime) they literally fall into the brink. The scene cleverly switches from a black and white movie of the actors on a screen to becoming real life colour as a boat on wheels is moved around the stage.

‘That’s how it all began. Just by me getting a little piece of grit in my eye.’

The majority of the play takes place at the station. From a toy train being pulled around the stage, to a black and white projected train pulling into a platform, to a smoke machine covering the stage as the steam train rattles on by; it was inspiring to see just how many different incarnations of a train arriving and leaving a railway station that there could be.

This is theatre at its best. It is a memorable show which embraces the original film with dazzling performances from a multi-talented cast who not only sing but play big brass band numbers throughout the show.

Following a run at the Birmingham Rep Theatre and The Lowry, Salford, the play moves to London for a six month run in the West End. (2^nd March to 2^nd September 2018.)

https://www.oldvictheatre.com/whats-on/2018/brief-encounter for ticket information.

Romantics Anonymous – Sam Wanamaker Playhouse at The Globe

I keep telling people, myself included, that I’m not a fan of musicals, I prefer a good ole fashioned play…and then I list some notable exceptions; The King & I, Cats, Showboat, Phantom of the Opera, Carousel, The Rocky Horror Show! I then realise that I do like musicals, I just don’t like the modern trend of taking some famous songs and then bunging them on stage with a thinly veiled storyline tying them all together. So when I was asked if I wanted a ticket to see Romantics Anonymous, I was a bit, well, meh! I didn’t know much about it, but I still said yes to a ticket!

Press reports show the public has had a love hate relationship with Emma Rice since she was appointed Artistic Director at Shakespeare’s Globe. I’ve seen a few plays at the Sam Wanamaker whilst she has been in situ, and I have enjoyed them all, but reports on how some of Shakespeare’s most loved plays have been toyed with at The Globe have left me relieved that I’ve not borne witness to them. I found it interesting that she had chosen a musical as her final production for Shakespeare’s Globe, but then I realised it would be the first musical to be presented in the Playhouse; and that it is rather in keeping with a lady who has shook up the establishment at The Globe. It’s a loud and proud goodbye with head held high; she is not shying away into the night.

As I took my seat, a lady dressed like a French mime artist was handing out chocolates. Do not eat in now, she said to me in French. Eat it when you’re told to in the play. “C'est magique!” I don’t know about magic, but my French is appalling, so it was amazing I could grasp what she was saying. I settled down for the start of the play…everyone on stage was speaking French. Oh dear Lord I thought, if I have to concentrate this hard for the entire play my head will explode. My prayers were answered, we were told to eat our chocolates (eating chocolate can be understood in any language) and by the power of chocolately magic I could suddenly understand everyone…it was as if they were suddenly speaking in my native tongue!!

Romantics Anonymous is an adaptation of the movie Les Émotifs Anonymes. It is the tale of Angélique, a woman overwhelmed by her emotions, who seeks respite by making chocolates with love, care and patience. The making of chocolate is her form of therapy, it is a comfort for her to make chocolate, as it is a comfort for most of us to eat it! Angélique is quite content secretly making chocolates until her boss dies and she has to face the real world. In order to seek help from her crippling shyness she joins a support group Les Émotifs Anonymes. Jean-René runs a chocolate factory, but it is falling apart at the seams. He spends his days burying his head in the sand listening to self-help tapes and speaking to the ghost of his dead father. But don’t be misled, as we dip in and out of the melancholy affairs of their hearts, and they battle with their feelings, Michael Kooman’s music combined with Christopher Dimond’s often cheeky lyrics will have you doubled up in laughter. “One rule we must enforce, don’t think about sexual intercourse!”

Limerence (also infatuated love) is a state of mind which results from a romantic attraction to another person and typically includes obsessive thoughts and fantasies and a desire to form or maintain a relationship with the object of love and have one's feelings reciprocated.

Shyness between would be lovers is a story as old as time, and shared by people across the globe. In the mid 1960’s a psychology professor, Dorothy Tennov, interviewed a number of people afflicted by overwhelming shyness when it came to affairs of the heart. She coined a new word, limerence, which she said produced “sometimes incapacitating but always unsettling shyness.” Symptom’s included heart palpitations, stammering, sweating and fainting, and our shrinking violets show on stage how debilitating shyness can be. When our hero and heroine finally go on a dinner date we’re a mixture of emotions watching them; Angélique (Carly Bawden) has crib cards with varying topics of conversation, whilst Jean-René (Dominic Marsh) has come prepared with a number of garish shirts to change into as each one gets soaked with his nervous sweat! We cringe and laugh with them as they try to do their best in what for them is a stultifying experience.

Whilst the whole of the cast is brilliant, a stand out performance is given by the multitasking Joanna Riding (Stella, Holby City, Heartbeat) she starts off playing an officious overseer in the factory, (looking as though she belonged on the cobbled streets of Corrie) but then steals the show playing Angélique’s mother, complete with black bra and plenty of leopard print as she belts out words of advice to poor Angélique. But it’s when she takes to the wheel for the funniest car chase you’re ever likely to see staged that will leave you in stitches!

In an often depressing world, Romantics Anonymous lifts the lid on the encroaching gloom and transports the audience into a world of sweet, joyfulness. Emma Rice should be justifiably proud of her swansong; she is leaving the Globe on a theatrical high...rather like Jean-René and Angélique dancing on air in an impressive finale.

Romantics Anonymous is playing at The Sam Wanamaker Playhouse until 6^th January 2018. 

http://www.shakespearesglobe.com/romantics-anonymous