DICK WHITTINGTON
December 13, 2010
Milton Keynes Theatre until Sunday, January 16, 2011
FOR several years now, it’s been as consistent as midnight mass, as funny as a Morecambe and Wise Christmas Special and as shiny as the star of Bethlehem. Milton Keynes Theatre’s pantomime is always a highlight of the season.
They have had the good fortune for the past couple of years to be steered to these reliable heights by the immensely talented Bradley Walsh, helming the mayhem almost by force of his own charming personality. No such fairy dust at work this year, more’s the pity.
Instead, we get a solid, workmanlike version of Dick Whittington, still liberally sprinkled with glitz and glitter but never quite reaching the realms of the magical.
Everything is perfectly acceptable – there are no gaping holes in the script, no buttock-clenching turns from soap stars, no inappropriate adult gags. But that’s about it.
The main USP, to use the advertisers’ jargon, is a 3D sequence in the second act which does make a pleasant change and works very nicely, but it is a bit of a worry when the most appealing factor in an expensively dressed Christmas show is a pre-recorded film insert.
Among the live cast, Dirk Benedict (Face from The A-Team) makes a snappily attired King Rat, Shona Lindsay a sweet-voiced Fairy Bowbells and Gavin and Stacey’s Joanna Page a wide-eyed Alice Fitzwarren.
In Bradley Walsh’s shoes, the simply named Tucker tries just a bit too hard as Idle Jack, while Graham Hoadley’s Sarah the Cook is serviceable if a little unimaginative. And if anyone can shed light on the inexplicable popularity of Britain’s Got Talent finalists Stavros Flatley, who trot out their one-joke turn then proceed to milk it to death, I’d be fascinated to hear it.
In the interests of fairness, it should be noted that the audience went wild, but I’ve long since stopped trying to second-guess the tastes of Milton Keynes theatregoers. For me, it’s a run-of-the-mill, by-the-book panto by numbers. And that’s not quite what MK has come to expect from its festive offering.
FROZEN
October 21, 2010
Madcap Theatre, Milton Keynes, until Saturday, October 23, 2010
THERE’S certainly no shortage of ambition in this small-scale, big-hitting professional production tucked away in the backwaters of Milton Keynes.
On the face of it, Bryony Lavery’s 1998 play dissecting the motives and make-up of a serial child killer has the makings of a heavy evening. And whatever you feel about the playwright’s arguments – personally I find them simplistic and highly questionable – there’s no denying the dramatic possibilities of such a dark, complex subject.
Director Rosemary Hill, whose company The Play’s The Thing is staging this production in the Madcap Theatre community venue in Wolverton, plunders these possibilities for all they’re worth. Played out on a stark, simple set (Kevin Jenkins), the piece – which is mostly a series of self-justifying monologues – builds to an affecting conclusion.
Much of the credit for the depth and power of the evening must go to the three impressive performers, who take the raw material and wrangle from it some emotional meaning to leaven the psychological analysis. Drew McKenzie makes the killer Ralph a vulnerable loner, sympathetic if never quite understandable.
Helen Dickens, as the mother of one of his victims, has the toughest journey, from the agony of her 10-year-old daughter’s disappearance to the unemotional forgiveness of the perpetrator 20 years later. It’s a journey she accomplishes with a combination of inner steel and a delicate touch of humour and pathos.
Erika Sanderson, as the American forensic psychologist whose study of Ralph provides the framework for the action, offers a carefully judged blend of professional rectitude and personal collapse. Indeed, of all the characters, hers is the one who most neatly fits the title of the play, frozen as she is in a single moment of her life from which she is seeking escape, just as much as the killer or victim.
It’s no easy ride, but the company deserves acclaim for the attempt, and the bravery of staging such difficult and unapproachable work with such a strong result is a major achievement in itself.
December 13, 2010
Milton Keynes Theatre until Sunday, January 16, 2011
FOR several years now, it’s been as consistent as midnight mass, as funny as a Morecambe and Wise Christmas Special and as shiny as the star of Bethlehem. Milton Keynes Theatre’s pantomime is always a highlight of the season.
They have had the good fortune for the past couple of years to be steered to these reliable heights by the immensely talented Bradley Walsh, helming the mayhem almost by force of his own charming personality. No such fairy dust at work this year, more’s the pity.
Instead, we get a solid, workmanlike version of Dick Whittington, still liberally sprinkled with glitz and glitter but never quite reaching the realms of the magical.
Everything is perfectly acceptable – there are no gaping holes in the script, no buttock-clenching turns from soap stars, no inappropriate adult gags. But that’s about it.
The main USP, to use the advertisers’ jargon, is a 3D sequence in the second act which does make a pleasant change and works very nicely, but it is a bit of a worry when the most appealing factor in an expensively dressed Christmas show is a pre-recorded film insert.
Among the live cast, Dirk Benedict (Face from The A-Team) makes a snappily attired King Rat, Shona Lindsay a sweet-voiced Fairy Bowbells and Gavin and Stacey’s Joanna Page a wide-eyed Alice Fitzwarren.
In Bradley Walsh’s shoes, the simply named Tucker tries just a bit too hard as Idle Jack, while Graham Hoadley’s Sarah the Cook is serviceable if a little unimaginative. And if anyone can shed light on the inexplicable popularity of Britain’s Got Talent finalists Stavros Flatley, who trot out their one-joke turn then proceed to milk it to death, I’d be fascinated to hear it.
In the interests of fairness, it should be noted that the audience went wild, but I’ve long since stopped trying to second-guess the tastes of Milton Keynes theatregoers. For me, it’s a run-of-the-mill, by-the-book panto by numbers. And that’s not quite what MK has come to expect from its festive offering.
FROZEN
October 21, 2010
Madcap Theatre, Milton Keynes, until Saturday, October 23, 2010
THERE’S certainly no shortage of ambition in this small-scale, big-hitting professional production tucked away in the backwaters of Milton Keynes.
On the face of it, Bryony Lavery’s 1998 play dissecting the motives and make-up of a serial child killer has the makings of a heavy evening. And whatever you feel about the playwright’s arguments – personally I find them simplistic and highly questionable – there’s no denying the dramatic possibilities of such a dark, complex subject.
Director Rosemary Hill, whose company The Play’s The Thing is staging this production in the Madcap Theatre community venue in Wolverton, plunders these possibilities for all they’re worth. Played out on a stark, simple set (Kevin Jenkins), the piece – which is mostly a series of self-justifying monologues – builds to an affecting conclusion.
Much of the credit for the depth and power of the evening must go to the three impressive performers, who take the raw material and wrangle from it some emotional meaning to leaven the psychological analysis. Drew McKenzie makes the killer Ralph a vulnerable loner, sympathetic if never quite understandable.
Helen Dickens, as the mother of one of his victims, has the toughest journey, from the agony of her 10-year-old daughter’s disappearance to the unemotional forgiveness of the perpetrator 20 years later. It’s a journey she accomplishes with a combination of inner steel and a delicate touch of humour and pathos.
Erika Sanderson, as the American forensic psychologist whose study of Ralph provides the framework for the action, offers a carefully judged blend of professional rectitude and personal collapse. Indeed, of all the characters, hers is the one who most neatly fits the title of the play, frozen as she is in a single moment of her life from which she is seeking escape, just as much as the killer or victim.
It’s no easy ride, but the company deserves acclaim for the attempt, and the bravery of staging such difficult and unapproachable work with such a strong result is a major achievement in itself.
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