Theatre 2017: Review Twenty-Five: Don't Call Me Shirley

Don't Call Me Shirley, The Blakeney Players, Blakeney Village Hall, Norfolk. July 2017

It was a  lovely sunny evening as we left the city for the drive to the coast for this summer treat, but the unpredictable weather did thwart our plans for a walk on the marsh before hand!

However by the time the rain started we were in the village hall waiting for the curtains to part and as ever from the very start we were giggling (by the end we were practically rolling in the aisles).

As ever you had to be there to understand why this was so funny but making the inability to remember lines a plot point was inspired and a Monty Python style hand of God delivering the lines to the cast utter genius.

The scenes with Sherlock Holmes making fun of Benedict Cumberbatch's name were very funny as was his dream of being knighted by Queen Victoria - who was channelling  Miranda Richardson's Queenie from Blackadder and using a whoopee cushion!

As I said you really had to be there.

The plot wasn't the point but the cast having fun and infecting the audience with the same happiness was as ever a joy. I'm not wishing the year away but I'm hoping that the dates for the Christmas show are announced soon!

Theatre 2017: Review Four - Murder, Margaret & Me

Murder, Margaret & Me, The Maddermarket Theatre, Norwich. January 2017.

I hadn't planned on a midweek excursion to the theatre this week but the arrival of an email while Mr Norfolkbookworm and  I were sitting in a local pub advertising this caught our attention.  Well to be more accurate it caught Mr N's eye - he is a great fan of Margaret Rutherford's work and she is also 'his' Miss Marple.

It isn't hard to persuade me in to a theatre outing and while I'm not a huge Agatha Christie fan the premise of the play sounded intriguing:

Queen of Crime, Agatha Christie didn't want Margaret Rutherford to bring her fabled spinster to life. And Margaret Rutherford was mortified at the prospects of sullying her reputation with something as sordid as murder... 

This is the story of the real reason why the acting legend and "the funniest woman alive" didn't want to take on the role that made her celebrated across the world. Margaret and Agatha form an unlikely friendship filled with high tea, brandy snaps and gossip. Meanwhile Agatha turns detective herself and she's on a mission. She's determined to unearth Rutherford's tragic and shocking secret.

I'm not going to talk much more about the plot, you either know the secret or you don't (Mr N did, I didn't) and the way the story unfolds is a delight if the story is new to you. Equally if you have a Norfolk Library card you can borrow the biography about Rutherford that this play draws heavily on.

This was an amateur production from the Norwich Player and while it was a little creaky in just a couple of places I was enchanted from the start to the end and more importantly this three-hander convinced me utterly that I was watching Agatha Christie and Margaret Rutherford explain their friendship with the spectral interfering of Miss Marple herself.

Miss Marple is the Me of the title and in a wonderful twist she was portrayed as 'my' Miss Marple - Joan Hickson! In a way she was the weakest character as she struggled with her lines the most but being a sherry drinking, interfering old lady this could be explained away as being in character.

The tow people sitting behind us commented on something I noted - just how much scenery kept being carried on and off stage. This is one of the things that can really bug me (it was something I commented on when I saw The Wipers Times last year) but when Mr N and I discussed this afterwards he suggested that it was another way of showing the utterly cluttered way in which Rutherford lived and so was a conscious staging choice.

I'm not 100% convinced but this niggle certainly didn't ruin my night out and for an impromptu night out on a very cold night I came away feeling I'd seen a very competent drama which was performed with poignancy, humour and great love for the characters.

Theatre 2017: Review Two - The Emperor's New Clothes

The Emperor's New Clothes, The Blakeney Player, Blakeney, Norfolk. January 2017.

What a way to forget the grey, damp, chilly January weather!  As ever the Players have created a wonderful piece of theatre - this time their most faithful pantomime I think I've seen them perform, but of course with that very local twist.

As ever full of jokes on all levels: from the names (Sheik N'Not Stirred) to the lovingly ripped off famous productions (Miss Saigon this time) and the best ones of all coming from the audience ("Hello boys and girls" calls the Prime Minister, "Hello Nanny" replies a small child in the front row...!)

These really are shows where you have to be there to really find them at their funniest and the over enthusiastic smoke machine at the end of Act One (along with a miss behaving prop) really were delights but the whole show was funny from start to finish and it has to be said this is a group of actors unafraid of anything, including very cleverly done stage nudity.

It doesn't matter what sort of mood you are in before settling into the plastic chairs in the village hall as soon as the curtain goes up you are swept away by a tide of goodwill and enthusiasm which sets you up for the rest of the day/week/winter and has you demanding the dates of the next shows as you leave the hall.

(As ever knowing the cast means that I am always going to be incredible biased when reviewing anything the Players put on but I do think that their productions stand up there with the best professional shows,)

Theatre 2016: Review Twenty

Brian, the Switch and the Wardrobe, Blakeney Player, Blakeney. July 2016.

as ever this cannot be an impartial review - the whole cast now feel like family that we just don't see too often!

It doesn't seem possibly that the year is already more than half over and that it is time for the Blakeney Player's summer show.  The weather always seems to be nice on these summer outings and it was a lovely drive up to the coast and we even had time for a nice Cromer Crab salad supper...but I digress.

Brian, the Switch and the Wardrobe was great fun, the audience is taken back to the Norfolk coast in 1958 at a time where the end of the pier theatre is falling down and the cast behind the times - a bigwig from London is invited to come along and save the day...

However this is all with the unique Player's take which takes the strengths of the players and then works the rest out around them. The new writers did this brilliantly and managed to give a new feel to the show whilst keeping the unique style we've come to love, the plot was very strong in this show. As ever the choreography is incredible but it has to be said the narrator stole the show for me.

No more details - tickets are still on sale go see it yourself!

I always love looking for the influences the group have used and in this one I certainly got aspects of The Play that Went Wrong as well as the obvious ones that are shown, the use of Spamalot also had me in stitches.

As ever I left Blakeney Village hall with a huge grin on my face and looking forward to the winter show!

Theatre 2016: Review Two

Sleeping Beauty and the Daleks, The Blakeney Players, Blakeney. January 2016.

as ever this isn't an impartial review - after all I do know one of the cast!

It was a wet and wild day when we ventured up to the coast for this winter's treat from the Blakeney Players but as ever the drive was worth it.

The simple tale of Sleeping Beauty was here reworked so that Frozen and Doctor Who were integral parts. The Princess Jean was a thoroughly modern girl in a kingdom who'd stupidly forgotten the events of her Christening.  A young(!), brave, athletic prince was found to rescue her but only with the help of some rogue female Daleks longing to become good enough to grow legs and lose their traditional form.

As ever the script and plot (which were extremely funny) isn't entirely the point of this play - it is about the cast having a good time, many terrible puns, some wonderful dance routines and a final gag that is so diabolical that remaining in your seat as realisation dawns becomes hard.

I'd love to know how Princess Jean managed to keep so still and feign sleep while so much was going on around her (and what tricks the cast played on her during rehearsal) and I'd also love to know who has taught the cast how to fall on stage with such comic effect.

I already can't wait for the summer show!

Theatre 2015: Review Nineteen

Mummy Mia, The Blakeney Players,Blakeney. July 2015.

As ever this review comes with the disclaimer that I know one of the cast and that I'm never going to be anything other than positive about the Blakeney Player.

This is a show that is totally impossible to review without you all thinking I've been indulging in illegal substances.

We opened with the music from the film Lawrence of Arabia and a sheikh staring into the desert distance as a pantomime camel appears on stage.

The next to appear on stage was explorer Gertrude Bell, the hieroglyphics expert Rosetta Stone and their colleagues Ray and a reluctant explorer, Livingstone.

Thanks to the magic of a cursed tomb we then slipped back in time to the reign of King Tut Tut and the invention of the pyramid. We visited the royal palace, a bazaar in Cairo and a camel race before ending up with the King from Memphis. There was also a dancing camel and an on-stage sand dance in the style of Wilson, Keppel and Betty.

You really had to be there but I can say that this is the most fun I have from curtain up to curtain down since the last Players' show!

The highlight of the show was the illusion dance (here's one I found on line but the Players' version was much better!) but from the dreadful puns to the grand finale this was a show that left us all with aching sides, big grins and a sense of wonder.  I don't want to wish time away but I'm already looking forward to the Christmas show.

I'm not the only one to really enjoy the show - the EDP reviewed it very favourably too!

Theatre 2015: Review Two

Rapunzel...a hairy tale! The Blakeney Players, Blakeney. January 2015.

I'm not one for panto as a rule but as ever will make an exception for anything that the Blakeney Players stage thanks to knowing at least one of the cast!

This year's offering started with an incredible rendition of Circle of Life from a well known cartoon and stage show, complete with presentation of the baby to the audience, and really didn't look back from there.

It was full of timely gags about buying local and eating well and in the best tradition of panto had the leading boy played by a girl and the comedy dame played by a boy - both of whom seemed to relish their roles.

There were puns galore and some great song and dance routines and the evil hench-women were fabulously evil* (and inspired by Edward Scissorhands). The costumes were great and the wigs an integral part of the plot but it was the special effects that stole the show - I don't think I've seen anything finer on the professional stage. And who knew you could do that with a string of sausages?!

To try and explain the plot would ruin the whole thing, it really is a case of 'you had to be there' but I really didn't know that there were that many lettuce based gags out there!

Hats off to the whole cast and crew - can't wait for the summer show!

* full disclaimer - I've known one of the hench-women since she was two so may be (but really am not) biased in my review of this role, she's the one in black with the frightful wig in the photo above!