The production is blessed with good acting, impeccable timing and a sense of style, mischief and swagger which accentuates its high points. Pretty much everyone is trying to best everyone else with an armoury of quips, quibbles and quizzical asides and, happily, Luscombe seeks to make the most of this.
Constant eruptions of anger, sexual frustration, discrimination of town against country and English against Irish, and hostilities of son against father, servant against master and mistress run as a guiding set of threads through every scene; and assorted categories of gendered vanity, both misogynist and misanthropic, provide the root of much of the humour, some of it still unsettlingly cruel and mocking
This is a true song and dance show. It’s raison d’être is to afford an opportunity for spectacular routines and fabulous singing. Here that task is given a real boost by Musical Director Andrew Corcoran. The sound is lush, full and very welcome.
Director Maria Aberg certainly confronts the challenges Wildefire offers head on. There is some starkly realistic violence – the murder of Spence and it’s aftermath is especially powerful. Scenes of chaos, rioting and domestic violence are loud, confronting and seared with pain. Indeed, this is almost certainly a better production than the play deserves.
Billed and promoted as “a play exploring the future of life on earth and climate change”, 2071 may be many things, but a play it is not. Nothing theatrical happens. There is no engagement between stage and audience.
This is the strongest of the three Goodall offerings the Union has produced this year. Tapner’s musical direction, an excellent cast led by Catherine Mort, and a vibrant, tuneful and polyphonic score combine to produce a real theatrical treat.
When Made In Dagenham is focussed on the fairy tale, it is completely engaging, very funny, heart-warming and genuinely affecting. And intrinsically British. It runs the whole spectrum from cute giggle to silent, handkerchief-drenching tears; a musical roller-coaster with more highs than lows.
On any rational view of it, this is not a revival but a complete re-imagining of the original work. It is not an attempt to recapture the magic of a first run or to cash in on an established success. It is a completely new creation, in terms of content, style and tone, and unlike its predecessor, it’s purpose is clear, focussed and spectacularly realised.
