REVIEW: Woman in Mind at the Chichester Festival Theatre

Sir Alan Ayckbourn has written and produced more than eighty full-length plays since his first in the late fifties and established himself as one of Britain’s most prolific and successful comedy writers. In the sixties and seventies, he had a string of hugely successful plays based largely around middle-class families in crisis but often with a brilliant theatrical trick that made them stand out from the rest. In 1985 he wrote Woman in Mind which has a very different darker feel but is still firmly rooted in the eighties culture. When do you remember your local Doctor last visiting you at home three times in a 48-hour period! Or did he?

It is written entirely as if seen through the eyes of Susan, a woman in a loveless marriage with an errant son who avoids contact with his parents. She has developed an alternative reality with an imagined family. Following an accident, with a rake in her garden, we see her increasingly confusing merger of these two realities. The characters she imagines as her mental state declines are like a collection of stereotypical stock characters from a seventies Ray Cooney farce, the bumbling vicar, the cheery old Doctor, the wayward young man, the incompetent housekeeper, the upper-class fool, and the attractive blonde bride. Yet here the tone is darker, the comic moments mildly amusing rather than laugh-out-loud funny and the interplay between the two alternative worlds too often misses the opportunity for her spoken out loud lines to be misheard by the other alternative world.

REVIEW: Othello at the Watermill Theatre

Since William Shakespeare’s Othello was first performed in 1604 it has built up a reputation from the theatrical greats who have played the leads over the years. Paul Hart’s production boldly reimagines the story by adding modern music to draw out the emotions and themes, casts the scheming Iago as a woman and sets the whole play in a modern military base in Cyprus. It creates a vibrant exploration of its themes of domestic violence and the clawing desire for power and control. Each of the lead characters needs to portray both the external presentation of their position but also their inner selves so the play is less about race and more about basic human nature and desire.    

Sophie Stone, a founder of the deaf and hearing ensemble theatre company, dominates the stage as the scheming antagonist of the piece, Iago adapting her style to each encounter to create maximum influence over the manipulable persona she meets. From her loutish ensnaring of Rodrigo (Ediz Mahmut) to her seductive controlling of Emilia (Chioma Uma) and misleading guidance of Cassio (Yazdan Qafouri) she slowly and effectively draws the net around Othello with an obsequiousness feigned loyalty. As she says “I hate the moor” but only we can see this as her plotting evolves. We obsequiousness don’t need to hear Billie Ellish’s “Bad Guy” to know that her villainy is at the heart of this story.

REVIEW: Into the Woods at the Theatre Royal, Bath

 

The combination of Stephen Sondheim’s extraordinary score (less than a year after his death), Terry Gilliam’s outlandish creative ideas, Leah Hausman’s extensive operatic movement and choreography, a cast with the Julian Bleach recreating the weirdness of The Grinning man and Audrey Brisson captivating us as she did in Amelie, the evocative staging of a Pollock’s Toy Theatre and the glorious setting of the intimate Theatre Royal Bath combine in this production of Into the Woods in theatrical alchemy to create a wonderful celebration of this amazing composer. Sondheim’s music can be something of an acquired taste, but once acquired the joy never leaves you. Though the songs are not as memorable as those from Gypsy or Sweeney Todd, there is a wonderful tongue-in-cheek joy to the mash-up of traditional well-known fairy-tale stories and its commentary on the human condition with its themes of growing up, morality and wish fulfilment. This version does not seem so macabre as I recall it, although the majority of characters do die, the staging and childlike setting of the toy theatre give it a more engaging emotional connection so that the final songs of “No One is Alone” and “Children Should Listen” are much more touching and meaningful.

Gilliam’s creative stamp is throughout the show with moments reminiscent of his Monty Python animations and his more outlandish movies. The dressed proscenium arch and forestage which mirrors Pollock’s toy theatre centre stage immediately set the tone as you enter the venue. The young girl playing with it, placing the tin cans and vases on stage brings you into her world of imagination before she invites you to watch the show. The delightfully comic Milky White (played with great physicality by Faith Prendergast) looks and acts like the girl’s toy. The Baked Bean tin becomes Rapunzel’s tower and the 2d sets look like they have been cut out of the Toy Theatre kit. The use of the stage left box in the false proscenium for the Stepsisters (Charlotte Jaconelli and Jamie Birkett) is also very effective. When the Giant arrives, it is a cross between the Monty Python giant foot and the terrifying doll’s head from Toy Story. Visually it's stunning in its theatricality and creativity.

REVIEW: Bugsy Malone at the Mayflower Theatre in Southampton

The 1976 Alan Parker Film Bugsy Malone caught the attention and passed into movie folklore with its very young cast and splurge guns in creating a spoof musical based around the gangster wars of the American prohibition era and starred the wonderful Jodie Foster as the speakeasy singer Tallulah and Bonnie Langford as Lena. There was a charm and humour in the combination of the young performers and light touch delivery of such a grim and violent period of American history. It is a somewhat bold move from producers, Kenny Wax and Theatre Royal Bath, to revive the Lyric Hammersmith 2015 production with a cast of young leads (aged from 9 to 15) with a team of chaperones, and an ensemble of young adults, many making their musical debuts for an extensive UK tour of the larger regional theatres which began in Bath Theatre Royal in August. 

When we caught up with the tour at the huge Mayflower Theatre in Southampton in a one-third full stalls auditorium, there was no denying the production values invested in the touring show. The false back wall portrayed the entrance to the basement Speakeasy with a beautifully coloured bar truck and flown tables taking us inside the venue with elegant ease. The car chase was also wonderfully brought to the stage with a pedal car and strobe effect lights. Indeed, there was an appropriate air of theatricality by Director Sean Holmes setting many of the show's numbers as staged performances and with the occasional breaking of the fourth wall. When a character is shot with the splurge guns a photographer appears to capture the death and in the flash of light, the character rises and walks off. It captures the charm of the original for the stage. The practicalities of staging mean however the splurge guns are reduced to splatter guns and then finally shoot out which was a glorious slapstick scene in the film is somewhat muted. The show is very well lit by Philip Gladwell with neon signs and good use of spotlights and strobes to highlight the action.

REVIEW: All’s Well That Ends Well at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre

In forty years of theatre going, I had never seen William Shakespeare’s All’s Well That Ends Well so it was a delight to travel up to Stratford upon Avon to see the Royal Shakespeare Company’s latest production on a summer evening. The beautiful setting by the river where we sat for an hour before dining a three-course meal in the excellent the Rooftop Restaurant of the theatre was a perfect prequel to the play. Yet this production of what is often described as a “problem play” fell far short of these expectations in part due to the restricted view from the stalls seat alongside the Stage left walkway from the thrust stage to the back of the auditorium. No doubt other audience members had a different experience to ours but the director Blanche Mcintyre’s decision to frequently place cast members where the walkway joins the stage quickly caused the Scene 1 irritation to change to frustration and became a massive distraction so that the performances could not be enjoyed.

In well over a third of the scenes, a character (often it seemed the lead Bertram) stood upright facing upstage with their back to the walkway addressing another character in perfect alignment so we could see neither’s face. Clearly, a thrust stage encounters this problem frequently and directors ought to be aware of the effect and have sightlines and blocking checked. Characters can move and turn to draw the audience in, and the upstage characters' position can be varied moving more centrally onto the thrust rather than standing upstage. If you can’t see the performer's face and emotional expressions it's very hard to engage with Shakespeare’s language unless it is delivered with a perfect rhythm and tone and too often this cast failed to do so.

REVIEW: Jack Absolute Flies Again at the National Theatre

There was a time when a visit to the National Theatre guaranteed the very best in productions and performances and we rushed to book when the season’s programme dropped through our letter box, now we wait for the reviews to tempt us to go online to book a visit to the ageing concrete venue that is looking the worst for wear around its edges. Shows like Warren Mitchell in Death of a Salesman (1979), Guys and Dolls (1982) and Anthony Hopkins in Pravda (1985) remain some of the greatest production I have ever seen. Another two memorable shows were the 1983 production of Sheridan’s The Rivals with Geraldine McEwan and Fiona Shaw and Richard Bean’s One Man Two Guvnors (2011) so we were tempted by the generally favourable reviews for Richard Bean’s reworking of the classic restoration comedy the Rivals into Jack Absolute Flies Again. The result was an amusingly pleasant Saturday night in a two-thirds full Olivier Theatre.

Bean’s reworking with Oliver Chris takes the basic love story from The Rival’s moves it from Bath to a Second World War Airfield (on the pretext of celebrating the Eightieth anniversary of the Battle of Britain, sadly missed due to Covid delays) and adds some of the comedy elements that worked so well in One man two Guvnors as the cast regularly break the fourth wall. However, in that hit, the cast created believable characters and the farce had a logic that made it funny. It was played for laughs with brilliant slapstick but was never over the top nor relied heavily on sexual innuendo. In this latest adaption despite the best efforts of the cast the comedy feels more laboured, the jokes more often miss the mark and none of it seems remotely believable! 

REVIEW: Half a Sixpence at Kilworth House

The musical Half a Sixpence first came to the stage in 1963 and its romantic story of rags to riches to rags and back to riches of Arthur Kipps became a hit for Tommy Steele on film and on stage. It's rather dated feel of class attitudes and female roles was updated in 2016 by Julian Fellows with new songs by Stiles and Drewe and it is this version that the delightful covered but open-air setting of Kilworth Theatre in Leicestershire is staging this season until 28th August. Very well staged and wonderfully choreographed this is a lively and enjoyable evening entertainment with a marvellous cast who fill the spacious stage with brilliant routines. 

Although Dominic Sibanda may not have the cheeky chappie sparkle of Tommy Steele’s original Kipps, he does bring a more nuanced performance of a young man out of his depth in a new world and as he sings in one of the new songs “In the middle there’s me”. He starts uncertainly without Steele’s bravado, but we can see his love for Ann (Laura Baldwin) and his nativity in dealing with James Walsingham (Tom Pepper) who we can all see is on the make! He moves elegantly and is at his best leading the big original numbers such as in the charming “Half a Sixpence”, the delightful “If the Rains got to fall” that closes Act 1 and the barnstorming “Flash Band Wallop” which closes the show. 

REVIEW: Whistle Down the Wind at the Watermill Theatre

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s 1996 musical Whistle Down the Wind represents an ambitious production to mount in the intimate space at the Watermill in Newbury but Director Tom Jackson Greaves has assembled an adult and junior cast that rises magnificently to the task. The first half is stupendous as they create believable well-defined characters, move with a beautifully choreographed ease, and deliver a succession of delightfully enjoyable songs. In the second half, the flaws in Lloyd Webber’s plot are accentuated and the actor-musicians seem to dominate the stage, frequently handing guitars to each other, making it feel overcrowded and detracting from the strong central performances. 

The musical is a complex interweaving of many themes as the original book is relocated from Northern England to the American Southern bible bashing states in 1959. Racial hatred and segregation, evangelical religious themes, grief over a parental death and teenage rebellion overwhelm a rural community when a fugitive takes refuge in a barn. There are hints of Lloyd Webber's earlier musicals Jesus Christ Superstar and Phantom of the Opera with its central relationship between the tattooed flawed man and the innocent young girl and the betrayal of his location by the community. The music is a mix of gospel, rock, and country but the best-known song in the show is “No matter what”, which became a 1998 hit for Boyzone.

REVIEW: Camp Albion at the Watermill Theatre

As theatres around the country wait to hear whether the Arts Council will include them as a National Portfolio Organisation in support of the new ACE 10-year strategy to “recognise and champion the creative activities and cultural experiences of every person in every town, village and city in this country, and to ensure that more people express and develop their creativity and create more opportunities for them to enjoy the widest possible range of culture”, the Watermill in Newbury is staging a perfect example in its latest production and related activities.

After a thirteen-venue outdoor tour of local towns and villages, the production of Camp Albion arrives for a two-week stay at the Watermill Theatre. Its themes of protest against authority, ecological campaigning, youth culture and mental health pressures will resonate strongly with many under thirties while the dilemma of a road system fit for purpose versus the environmental damage its construction causes will remind their parents of the difficult decisions and compromise that society needs to sometimes face. One campaigner says “it’s a protest, not a war” but at times these standoffs feel more like war than simply putting across a point of view.

REVIEW: Dreamboats & Petticoats – Bringing on back the Good Times! at the New Victoria Theatre, Woking

For audiences nervous returning to the Theatre post covid or choosing between which shows to see, here is a show that delivers exactly what it promises on the poster. It’s a feel-good musical Jukebox of Sixties hits sung by a youthful energetic cast that is full of nostalgia. You can’t help tapping your foot, singing along with the choruses, and smiling at the dated references. For those over Sixty, it is a delightful trip back to a simpler time and an entertaining two hours.

The production is not a surprise with its pedigree stamped all over it. Bill Kenwright as producer and director knows how to put together a cost-effective show. Marks and Gran have written better scripts but link the songs with a very simple story of romance amongst aspiring singers. Laurie Mansfield and Decca Records know their way around the catalogue of pop music of the period. The title has extensively toured in two previous editions and been to the West End and this latest version is subtitled after the 1969 hit by the Love Affair, “Bringing on back the Good Times!” but it is the same formulaic set-up.

REVIEW: Barefoot in the Park at the Mill at Sonning

Neil Simon’s 1963 comedy Barefoot in the Park was made famous as a film with Robert Redford and Jane Fonda as the newlywed couple Paul and Corrie and has been acclaimed as one of the funniest comedies ever. It relies on the two central performances to ring the most laughs from the simple plot that explores their relationship in the second week of their marriage. The Mill at Sonning’s latest production which runs until 20th August and is directed by Robin Herford is fortunate to have two such actors.

Hannah Pauley, raised in the United States, easily fits into her role as the enthusiastically in love Corrie. From her first appearance bouncing around the empty compact sixth-floor apartment in excitement, awaiting the arrival of her furniture and her new husband from work, she convinces us that she is head of heals in love, full of optimism and an independently free spirit with great facial reactions and a winning smile. As the play progresses, we feel the mood change with growing self-doubt and we will her to find the joy in life again that made her want to walk Barefoot in the Park during a New York winter.

REVIEW: A Murder is Announced at the New Victoria Theatre, Woking

Agatha Christie remains the Queen of Crime and her 66 detective novels are still masterful examples of the genre today. She adapted several herself very successfully for the stage including of course both Mousetrap (in 1952) and Witness for the Prosecution (in 1953). Indeed, both are still in the West End today. The latest production of Witness for the Prosecution which started in 2017 is a wonderful atmospheric production. The tour of A Murder is Announced (written as a book by Christie in 1950) which has wound its way around the county visiting over 50 venues before arriving in Woking, started too in 2017 and many of the same cast are still involved. Adapted from the book by Leslie Darbon in 1977 the stage version is a slow burner with a complex plot of hidden identities and plenty of exposition without any of the truly great characters of Murder on the Orient Express or any of the thrilling moments of Witness for the Prosecution. It seems at times to be uncertain whether to play it for laughs and even the (spoiler alert) two deaths lack drama, one played out on a darkened stage and the other comically overplayed.

It is set in the “two drawing rooms” of an early Victorian House in Chipping Cleghorn which on the wide New Victoria stage is a sprawling room in which all the chairs seem lined up in a straight line across the mid-stage, good for the audience to see the characters who are often sat down but rather unconvincing as a realistic residential room. Worse still from my seat, I could not see the stage right wall which I believe contained another exit to the Garden and where two shots embedded themselves in the wall. Characters occasionally disappeared from sight as they moved towards this wall. Furthermore, the full box set had no masking above it allowing us to see through to the rear wall and into stage left flies which distracted from the otherwise well-dressed set.

REVIEW: Footloose at the New Victoria Theatre, Woking

The adaption of the films of the twentieth century for the stage and creation of jukebox musicals around artists’ catalogues has become a regular feature of West End and Regional Theatres. They benefit from a familiarity with the title and the music but have to live up to our memories of the original versions and often fall short of the expectations. It was, therefore, a delight to find at the New Victoria Theatre in Woking that the adaption of the 1984 film Footloose on its UK tour is much more than a celebration of eighties American culture and is a story with heart and emotional engagement with a strong feelgood vibe, some cracking good songs, and some lovely comic touches.

It is a simple story of three relationships and the impact on their lives of the death of four young people in Bomont five years earlier. Reverend Moore and his wife Vi are grieving over the death of their son Bobby and have banned dancing in the town. Their rebellious daughter, Ariel, is grieving too the loss of her brother and falls for the newcomer to the town Ren who carries the burden of being abandoned by his own father. Willard is one of the few local men to befriend him but struggles in his relationships too despite his affection for one of the local girls, Rusty. As the story plays out, we find ourselves caring about these individuals and their relationships.

REVIEW: Bleak Expectations at The Watermill Theatre

The Watermill in Newbury has developed its own style of production that now seems to dominate each season’s programming. On the one hand, they present actor-musicians musicals like Our Man in Havana, Wicker Husband & Assassins, on the other hand, they stage new wordy comedy shows like Wipers Times, Trial by Laughter, and Spike. They set generally high production standards with clever settings and good ensemble casts that make the most of the intimate auditorium. There is however a slight sense that the creativity is being stifled by the familiarity with the style of shows they programme. 

The latest offering is Bleak Expectations, a modern reimagining that borrows from Charles Dicken’s narrative style novels of Bleak House and Great Expectations and builds a tale about Pip and an escaped convict who becomes his benefactor and saviour. Written by Mark Evans, there is a whiff of Cambridge Footlights revue about the fast-paced episodic format combined with the smugness and “too clever by half” writing of Monty Python’s Flying Circus and like both of these when it works it is excellent but the two fifty-five-minute acts at times drag as the storytelling is stretched from its original format of 28-minute radio episodes. The production seems to say laugh if you are clever enough to get the reference and there are plenty of laughs, but the parody of Victorian melodrama and sensibilities does at times wear thin.

REVIEW: Rogers & Hammerstein’s Some Enchanted Evening at the Barn Theatre

The Barn Cirencester’s promotional brochure promises for Rogers & Hammerstein’s Some Enchanted Evening an “enthralling review of some of their most stunning compositions with a glorious parade of genuine hits” and Director Paul Milton explains that the show is “carefully constructed” presenting some of the songs with “a twist or unexpected interpretation”. For this to be true the audience needs to be familiar with the song and its original context. Although nearly everybody in the audience will be familiar with the five big fifties musical hits, Oklahoma! Carousel, South Pacific, King and I and The Sound of Music from either stage shows, or the film versions they are unlikely to recognise songs from State Fair, Allegro, Flower Drum Song, or Cinderella. It is only in the final medley that the show finally takes off into a celebration of their hit songs with “My favourite things”, “Lonely goatherd”, “Oklahoma”, “June is busting out all over” and “Happy talk” before the title song “Some Enchanted Evening”, all genuine hits which at least sending you home humming the tunes and smiling.

Before that the careful construction is a rather bizarre concept by Jeffery Moss, creating more of a sense of a rehearsal room or audition with sound checks in the opening twenty minutes with house lights on. Without any narration or song list to guide us you spend the first few moments trying to recall the song and the show it was from and before you know it, they have switched to another song in not so much a medley as a mash-up. Each of the performers is given a stage name connected with the Composers but for no discernible reason, Nellie (a character in South Pacific) sings "I Have Dreamed" from the King and I but Will (from Oklahoma) sings ”Younger Than Springtime" from South Pacific.

REVIEW: Busman's Honeymoon at the Mill at Sonning Theatre

Dorothy L Sayers British literary creation of the aristocratic detective Lord Peter Wimsey should perhaps be as familiar to British TV and Theatre audiences as Agatha Christie’s Poirot, but David Suchet’s masterful TV portrayal and countless film adaptions have completely eclipsed him. It is a very long time since the 1970s and Ian Carmichael’s radio and TV portrayal which I have vague memories of, so it is perhaps overdue to see a restaging of this story first staged in 1936 and made into a film in 1940! Unlike Peter James’s rather macabre plays about Detective Roy Grace, this is a detective mystery where the emphasis is on romance and the feelings of the detective rather than the crime itself, although as it turns out it is a rather quirky and unusual murder method although the clues are well signposted throughout the show.

Lord Peter Wimsey is the archetypal British gentleman of the period educated at Eton and Balliol College Oxford and then suffering PTSD during the First World War where he met Sergeant Bunter who becomes his valet (for twenty years) before meeting Harriet Vane who he marries in 1935. In this play, we meet all three as they arrive at Talboys in Hertfordshire for their honeymoon only to discover the body of the former owner, Noakes, in the cellar. In the course of his detective work his relationships with both are fully explored and his intelligence and literary knowledge are often displayed. James Sheldon captures the quietly superior character while revealing some of his inner turmoil and regrets as well as his love for Harriet. Vane is played by Kate Tydman as a delightful loyal wife with an understanding of crime and intellect to match him and their choreographed moves elegantly portray their love and relationship. Bunter is portrayed by George Telfer as the upright stiff and loyal servant who rather curiously gives shoulder massages to his new mistress! 

REVIEW: Prima Facie at the Harold Pinter Theatre

Post Pandemic audiences have returned to theatre seeking uplift and distraction from the global woes, so it is a bold move by Empire Street Productions to stage a new straight play in the West End with a powerful heartfelt message for something to change in the legal system dealing with sexual assault cases. The statistics show over 170,000 recorded sexual assaults in the year to September 2021( an increase of 12% over the preceding year) and 37% of these were rapes. The programme highlights the long tortuous delay between filing an accusation and the case being heard in court. It also challenges the audience as they take their seats looking into the neatly ordered chambers of a sexual assault defence barrister to consider their own unconscious bias about sexual offences, the victims and the perpetrators and the meaning of consent. How would we act if selected for jury duty on such a case? This reflection that the programme prompts summarises not just the context but the narrative of the play. So, it requires a tour de force performance and some smart and slick direction to bring the arguments, so clearly set out in HHJ Angela Rafferty’s article, to life on the stage. Jodie Cromer duly delivers in a remarkable gripping one hundred-minute one-woman performance which marks her West End Debut.

This is a legal game of two halves. In the first section, she explores how she became a defence barrister in sexual assault cases, prides herself on never “coming second” (losing a case) and revels in the role of challenging and exposing the inconsistencies and gaps in the prosecution case. It’s a brilliant engaging performance, energetically prowling around the stage, setting the scenes, and grabbing the audience’s attention with glaring eyes and pointing fingers. She is at the top of her game; funny, witty, sexy, provocative and in control. There are tiny insights into her Liverpudlian background and some self-doubt which she has to overcome to succeed, culminating in a quick sexual encounter with Julian on the sofa of his chambers establishing that rape does not have to be between strangers in a first encounter.

The UK Pantomime Awards: A Roundup!

The UK Pantomime Awards were held on Tuesday 19th April at the beautifully refurbished Trafalgar Theatre in the heart of London’s West End celebrating the achievements of the 2021/22 season where Venues and Producers had to battle to keep the shows on as Covid symptoms affected cast, crew and front of house staff. It was a magnificent opportunity to share stories and applaud successes with all the major Pantomime Producers and many of the in-House shows being represented there. The main sponsors Butlins added to the fun with four redcoats on the red carpet and assisting in the Awards.

Of course, there are over 200 professional Pantomime each year, so the competition was fierce with shows nominated from across the breadth of the UK from the Millennium Forum in Londonderry (Best Panto 900+) in the West to the New Wolsey Theatre in Ipswich in the East of England (Best Panto 900+) to Eden Court Inverness (Best Panto under 500 seats) in the North to the Octagon Yeovil (Best Principal Girl nominee) in the Southwest and all places in between.

REVIEW: The Red by Original Theatre (Online)

The Critics Circle Awards announced on 3rd April that they would be giving The Original Theatre a commendation for Exceptional Theatre Making During Lockdown. More than any other Theatre Company they demonstrated extraordinary innovation and creativity as they developed their techniques to create compelling and gripping streamed drama for our home consumption. They are at their best when the production takes on a cinematic feel while retaining the sense of being live as in the wonderful Into the Night in December 2021. This latest offering is completely different. The Red is a very polished theatrical staging of a radio play filmed in a single location in the Vaults. It is very well acted and produced with a powerful very personal feeling message but lacks the energy, drama, and innovation of some of last year’s work.

The Red (not to be confused with Red, the John Logan play about Mark Rothko) is a story about temptation and grief written by Marcus Brigstocke originally for Radio 4 reflecting on his own battles with alcoholism. Benedict has been a recovering alcoholic for 25 years having become addicted at 17, he says the addiction started before his first drink. We find him in the cellar of his father’s house while his father’s wake is taking place upstairs reading a letter as part of the executors’ instructions. Surrounded by 948 bottles of wine, his father regrets that they never drank the 1978 bottle of Chateau Lafite Rothschild together which he laid down when Benedict was born. The hour-long drama then becomes a will he won’t he battle as he debates with his father in his head whether it is safe to have just one glass.

REVIEW: Our Man in Havana at the Watermill Theatre

It has been a very long time since I have read a Graeme Greene novel having studied the Power and the Glory at school but the title Our Man from Havana nevertheless has a strong resonance because of the Alec Guinness film of 1959 and its theme of spy relationships set in Cuba just ahead of the seismic change in the country with the emergence of Fidel Castro and the breakdown of the relationship with America which gave the book a prophetic feel. It was somewhat bold to adapt the book into a new musical and the progress of the development as always was anything but straightforward. With a director for the first workshop, a director for the casting in 2019/20 and a third, Abigail Pickard Price for the actual production the vision for the staging must have evolved over the course of its final development. 

The final show which opened at the Watermill Newbury on the 11th of April is a curious mix described as a rollercoaster comedy in its promotion. It has the feel of a cross between the 1967 David Niven version of James Bond, with Rowan Atkinson’s Johnny English character and Peter Seller’s Inspector Clouseau with some Noel Coward style patter songs and Cuban rhythms and percussion. The comedy of those spy/detective creations is never quite matched in this production. The Programme also describes Havana as the “mistress of pleasure” but we never really get a sense of the casinos, gambling houses and horse racing that attracted the rich and famous but are rather left in seedy bars, clubs and homes.