REVIEW: Kathy Kirby Icon, White Bear Theatre ✭✭

Harry McLeod, Jeremy Gagan, Michael Scott Wiseman. Photo: Oliver Kratz Kathy Kirby : Icon

The White Bear

24th October

2 Stars

They say that two heads are better than one, and I headed to the White Bear in Kennington, to see if their double bill of musical theatre would prove the maxim to be correct.

The theme that brought the two plays together was the British singer and one-time Eurovision entry Kathy Kirby. The plays had two separate authors and settings but shared a common cast and set of characters, and the same backing band.

I Play for Me was the story of Elliot Figueroa, a (fictional) rock singer and the support act for the young Kathy Kirby in the early 60s. He eventually falls out with his manager, the infamous Bert Ambrose, before escaping on a cross-Channel ferry. It’s here that he meets Billy-Boy, a boy with special needs, who is escaping his own domestic problems. The two develop a friendship, which is used as a handy device to look back at Elliot’s turbulent career through a series of flashbacks.

This was certainly my favourite of the two plays, mainly due to the strong leading performances from Eddie Mann as Elliot and Harry McLeod as Billy-Boy. The interactions between the two were the most appealing scenes; Mann was authentic as a rebellious rock star, complete with flowing locks and prowess on the guitar. McLeod also put in a touching performance whilst playing a very difficult and complex part; he is clearly a considerable talent and shone brightly during both halves of the double bill.

The rest of the play, however, was lumbered by some clichéd dialogue and an unremarkable plot, especially the interactions between Elliot and Ambrose, which rarely rose beyond standard biopic fare. The problems with the Ambrose character continued into the second production, but here he seemed badly underwritten, coming straight out of Central Casting as an out-the-box ‘evil manager’.

Kathy Kirby: Icon has bags of potential but failed in the execution. It features an unhappy and vulnerable Kirby in her flat, reflecting on her career. There are various flashbacks of her career peaks, such as performing at Eurovision and to millions of viewers on TV talent shows. It also commendably does not shirk the more miserable parts of her career, like when she was playing in bingo halls to keep her career burning.

Maggie Lynne as Young Kathy. Photo: Oliver Kratz

The premise is a good one, however it is lumbered by the sort of hackneyed dialogue which ultimately sank Dusty, a show with a similar proposition. The dreaded ‘I made you what you are’ makes an appearance, along with the similarly trite ‘Who is the real Kathy Kirby.?’ A lot of the more interesting elements of Kirby’s life are told to the audience as if from a Wikipedia article; a bit more editing is required to make the dialogue feel more natural.

By far the most uncomfortable aspect of the production is the treatment of Bert Ambrose, Kirby’s manager and romantic partner (who allegedly stole a lot of her money). As previously mentioned, he is not a well-written character (and was not redeemed by a rather bland performance from Jeremy Gagan) but his role in this show was truly bizarre.

There is clearly an issue in how to portray him as he was dead for much of the end of Kathy’s life but he is needed to take part in the earlier flashbacks. The solution embarked upon here was to wheel him out in a coffin whenever he was mentioned in passing after he’d died, only for him to spring to life to take part in dialogue or a musical number.

Tina Jones as Kathy. Photo: Oliver Kratz

It was probably meant to be irreverent but it was instead fairly ghoulish and jarring; at least two joyous musical numbers took place with a dead body in front of me (featuring dancing undertakers no less!). This thematic confusion continued throughout; some emotional credit would be built up through an honest portrayal of the older washed-up Kathy and then knocked down by something bizarre like Kirby dancing with the ghost of Ambrose who had just leapt out of a coffin.

There were a few bright spots; Maggie Lynne as the younger Kathy provided the musical interludes, possessing a show-stopping voice that was a pleasure to listen to. Tina Jones and Lloyd Morris also had some lively chemistry as the older Kathy and her new post-Ambrose manager. However, despite these spirited efforts, it wasn’t enough to lift the evening beyond the average.

Biopics are not easy to get right, however despite two sterling efforts at The White Bear, neither of them really hit the mark. Whilst it will no doubt be of some interest to Kirby’s fans, it may be a less inspiring evening for anyone else.

Kathy Kirby: Icon plays at the White Bear Theatre until 8 November 2015