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| Jack’s full of beans |
JACK AND THE BEANSTALK
Hackney Empire by Sam Jones
THE Hackney Empire continues to rise to new artistic heights
with its Christmas pantos. Clive Rowe, the buxom panto dame with
the brash delivery and voice like a gust of hot tropical air, guarantees
a good night.
Equally Susie McKenna, who has created some stunning pantos, is
at the helm again as well as taking on one of the lead baddies.
However, panto would not be panto without its young audiences, and
my nephew and niece were recruited to add to the squeals. I knew
the production cracked it when the cynical niece watched silent
(she seldom stops talking), while the lad leaned over to tell me:
“The giant’s very clever, Auntie!”
So there we have it. It is, indeed, splendid. Rowe does great work
as a cuddly, northern mum Dame Daisy Trot to innocent Jack (Matt
Dempsey) who smilingly sells the family’s prized cow for a
bag of beans. When they grow into a beanstalk, Jack climbs to the
top and finds the Giant’s castle and the fortune that will
keep his family in comfort forever.
Tameka Empson, as the charming sidekick Off Her Trolley Molly, is
always tremendous. She skates, she dances, her lines are witty and
her portrayal is very ‘street’. McKenna and Michael Kirk
as Broad Bean and Runner Bean are angry green baddies with a boyish
line in snot jokes.
McKenna could pass for a sassy Bette Midler with her great charisma.
Natalie Wright is a cute, throaty chicken while, although we never
see them, two extraordinary voices Sharon D Clarke’s Diva Harp
and Cavin Cornwall’s Giant dominate the second half. The scenery
and effects are occasionally quite superb. The only minor criticism
is the singalong song had a rather difficult first line making it
tough to sing along, while Earth, Wind and Fire’s Shining Star
obviously left the younger generation indifferent.
Otherwise it is a stirring ensemble effort, an impressive night
and very highly recommended.
Until January 7
020 8985 2424
A bawdy triumph
SOPHIE TUCKER
New End Theatre by Ronan Murphy
SOPHIE Tucker’s One Night Stand is a highly entertaining
blend of wit and song, a celebration of an overlooked show business
star of the 20th century. Tucker was a Jewish immigrant to America
from Russia who had achieved stardom on Broadway through unswerving
ambition, a great singing voice and no small amount of bawdy charm.
This success was in spite of a curvaceous figure that Broadway producers
were loath to put on stage initially.
The play re-tells the story of Sophie’s life in the songs that
she sang, shifting from classic vaudeville tunes to mournful blues,
as well as covering the sexual advice set to music that was a major
feature of Tucker’s later career.
This device depends on the performers to convince as musicians,
which both Sue Kelvin as Sophie and Russell Churney as her accompanist
on the piano do so admirably. Kelvin is instantly magnificent, a
powerhouse of charismatic energy, while Churney adds a wonderful
deadpan wit to his many roles as the various men in Sophie’s
life.
The script is sharp, with strong comedy routines appealing on a
number of levels, both cerebral and slapstick. Along with the laughter,
the play also offers a powerful glance into the price Sophie’s
ambition leads her to pay, with her youthful abandonment of her
son a constant recurring scene.
The play’s strength is the songs themselves. They work brilliantly
in the context of the play, which is a genuine crowd-pleaser.
Until January 14
0870 033 2733
Tropical tyrant created by colonial oppression
THE EMPEROR JONES
The Gate by John Courtney O`Connor
THE American born O’Neill was an ex-British merchant seaman
and a socialist. He documented his early experiences in his plays
Bound East for Cardiff and The Hairy Ape.
Lacking the assuredness and confidence of an American dramatic tradition,
he used many European techniques before he found his style.
He wrote plays that were not normally considered to be accessible
to a middle-class audience and The Emperor Jones was staged in 1920
in Cape Cod by the Provincetown Players – a progressive amateur
theatre company.
The play then moved to Greenwich and Broadway: it was acclaimed
critically and was a commercial success.
Using expressionist techniques, it was one of the first plays to
put the experiences of black Americans centre stage.
The play is set on an un-named West Indian island where the main
protagonist, Jones, an ex-convict and Pullman car porter (Paterson
Jones) has set himself up as a self-styled emperor, with the aid
of a cockney character, Smithers (Paul Wyett) a shiftless, cowardly
‘agent provocateur’.
We are told by the ‘Black Irish’ author that, if Smithers
represents British imperialism, then Jones is a metaphor for the
growth of black capitalism.
Thea Sharrock’s brilliant production captures the complex personality
of Jones and the tragic history of African Americans. This is a
post-colonial analysis of the black American experience with a terrific
performance by Joseph as the despot. Under Sharrock’s direction
and with an ingenious set design by Richard Hudson and lighting
by Adam Silverman, the audience looks down on a rectangular sandpit,
fenced with bamboo mesh, within which unfolds Jones’ history
and that of his people.
A Coup de Teatre is achieved by dancer and choreographer Dwayne
Barnaby’s witch doctor and his spectacular haunting dance intensified
by sound designer Gregory Clarke’s amplification.
The emperor confronts his violent background and his people’s
history, whilst lost in a West Indian forest, through a collection
of hallucinatory scenes, which demonstrate the author’s use
of expressionism. Brilliant!
Until December 17
020 7229 0706
An unrivalled energy
ALICE IN WONDERLAND
Chicken Shed by Emily Dugan
THERE are few theatre companies better qualified to do a production
of Alice in Wonderland than the Chicken Shed. Their vast, exuberant
cast give this musical an energy unmatched on the West End.
A creative approach to set design is true to Lewis Carol’s
fantasy. The series of large and tiny doorways that move seamlessly
across the back of the stage give the illusion of Alice’s size
shifting. And the mock turtle scene, created when a rose bush opens
out like a clam, to reveal a beach inside, is magical. This set
within a set also fits in well with the games already played with
scale and reality.
The Chicken Shed’s policy of inclusion brings together disabled
and able children of all ages, professional actors and signers.
The use of sign language by the cast could have been distracting,
but under the direction of Charlotte Moulton-Thomas, the signs are
so freely delivered that they become an extension of the character’s
gestures.
This is brilliantly pulled off by Alice, played by Belinda McGuirk,
who makes the emphasis of each sign reflect the emotion in her lines.
Unlike your average C-list celebrity panto, this has the capacitity
to fuel a kid’s imagination long after the end. This is the
kind of spectacle whose sheer scale, colour and energy could stimulate
you, even if you were unable to understand the words.
Truly inclusive, imaginative and entertaining, this puts you in
the festive spirit. If you only take your children to one Christmas
show this year, make it this one.
Until January 14
020 8292 9222
CLICK HERE FOR LISTINGS |
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Don't waste your finest on relatives
DO you enjoy or endure Christmas? It isn’t only that we’re
bullied into spending money we haven’t got.
FULL STORY
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