Tezza's Theatre Place

Chaplin Birth of a Tramp – Photographer credit Davor@OcularCreative Charlie Chaplin is one of those actors that I thought I knew a bit about. I knew he was born and lived around the Elephant and Castle area – there used to be a pub named after him by the shopping centre. I also knew he was a star of many silent movies but fell out with Hollywood during the McCarthy era and moved to Switzerland. Of his life before fame, I knew nothing but thanks to the good folks at Arrows & Traps, and writer Ross McGregor, and their play  Chaplin: Birth of a Tramp , at the Jack Studio Theatre, I now know a lot more than I did before. The show starts in 1928 Hollywood where Charlie Chaplin (Conor Moss) is auditioning Virginia Cherrill (Laurel Marks), for the female lead in his next film. Cherrill has no real acting experience, but Charlie remembers her from a modelling shoot on Santa Monica beach. During the audition, Charlie’s brother, and business manager Sydney (Toby Wynn-Davies) comes i...

LEAVE A COMMENT Dad’s Army is still one of the absolute joys of the television world. Over 9 series, and 80 episodes, we followed the ups and downs of a group of, on the whole, elderly men in a quiet seaside town, ready to put their lives on the line in defence of their country. First transmitted in between 1968 and 1977, the show is regularly repeated on BBC2 on a Saturday night, and still pulls in 2 or 3 million viewers. The highly successful radio spin-off gets regular airings on BBC Radio 4 Extra. With such an iconic show, it might be thought to leave it alone. You can’t improve on perfection – and I’m sure the makers of the recent disastrous movie would concur. However, two men felt there was something more that could be done and last night I was lucky enough to see a performance of the  Dad’s Army Radio Show  at the British Library. The first thing to say is that Jimmy Perry and David Croft’s writing is still as fresh today as it ever was. The three episodes tha...

Cinderella: A Fairytale Well, it’s pantomime time once more and as excited youngsters head off to the traditional Christmas entertainment, not many of them will give thought to the history of this particular theatrical genre. I mention this, as one of the most popular pantos is also one of the oldest, dating back in one form or another to the story of Rhodopis, recounted by the Greek geographer Strabo around 7 BC, about a Greek slave girl who marries the king of Egypt. Over 2,000 years later, I found myself heading over to the Jack Studio Theatre in Brockley for the latest version of the story as  Cinderella: A Fairytale  opens for the festive season. Now, this is no ordinary version of the classic story. Young Ella (Molly Byme) is a girl who spends as much of her time as possible in the woods round her house, communicating with the birds that live there, who have become her only friends since the death of her father. Her home life is not great thanks to her stepmother (B...

Radiant Vermin by Philip Ridley Getting on the housing ladder these days is no easy task. There are lots of schemes to help but in order to get that first rung on the ladder, many couples have to compromise their wishes to get something. One plan is to buy a property that needs renovating. The idea being, get it cheap, spend a couple of years with the old DIY manual then sell it on for a fortune. This is great plan unless you are someone like me who is to DIY what Liberace was to subtlety, in which case you might need a helping hand and in Philip Ridley’s  Radiant Vermin  at the Brockley Jack, that help comes in the strangest way possible. Ollie (Matthew John Wright) and Jill (Laura Janes) have both good news and a problem. The good news is that they are expecting their first child. The problem is that they are living in a poky flat on an exceptionally bad estate – where drug dealing and suicide (even in the same family) are the norm – and there seems little chance o...

Urinetown, The Musical There are some words that just go together. For example, ham and eggs, fish and chips, gin and tonic, etc and if you are a writer of theatrical pieces, then two words that have to go together are dystopian and future. I can’t think of a single show I’ve seen where the future looks bright. Still, it makes for good theatre and one of my favourite dystopian future shows is currently being put on by one of my favourite production companies. Welcome then to the SEDOS production of  Urinetown: The Musical  at the Bridewell Theatre. In a dystopian future, water shortages have become so bad that in a bid to conserve the limited supply, all private toilets are forbidden by law and if you need to spend a penny, then you need to have a penny (or more) to give to the custodian of the official toilets run by UGC. The laws are rigorously enforced by the police, personified in Officer Lockstock (Luke Leahy) and his sidekick Officer Barrel (Stephen Kellett) who ensu...

Chutney – © Rah Petherbridge Photography A few years ago, my dad and I had a long and heated discussion about attraction and what attracts one person to another. And when you look around at couples you know or see, I’m sure at some time you’ve thought to yourself ‘why are those two together?’ Attraction can be based on many things. Physical appearance, background, interests, religion, all of these can be factors. Sometimes though, as in the case of the protagonists of  Chutney  at the Bunker Theatre, the real reason they were attracted to each other doesn’t become fully apparent until long after the relationship has begun. University sweethearts Claire (Isabel Della-Porta) and Gregg (Will Adolphy) have been together for 6 years. They are the classic DINK, settled into their nice middle-class life. Gregg is a teacher and Claire has some high powered job with a long, long title in an agency. They are the ultimate example of an up and coming power couple. What more could...

LEAVE A COMMENT Our Country’s Good Transportation was a horrific punishment in many ways. People convicted for, what would be today, the tiniest crimes were taken from their families and friends, stuck on a ship for months, travelling in appalling conditions and then dumped in the colonies to serve out their time which could be anything from a few years to the rest of their lives. Not just that but when they got to the colonies, there were none of the trappings of a civilised country. Everything was rough and ready, living in tents, limited food and horrendous punishments for any misdemeanors, inflicted by, on the whole, rather brutal members of the army forced to be moved from their comfortable billets and look after the prisoners. For some, the worst aspect of life in the penal colonies was a lack of anything to do. But in Timberlake Wertenbaker’s 1988 play  Our Country’s Good  at the Bridewell Theatre, both the convicts and the guards definitely find ways to pass the ti...

Liberty Rides Forth! As I sit at my desk, a blank screen with a flashing cursor in front of me, I sometimes say a silent prayer asking for some form of divine intervention to give me an idea of what to write. This is the same problem facing the hero of David Kent’s new musical  Liberty Rides Forth!  Which has just started its run at the Waterloo East Theatre. In a suburban flat, things are not going well for Trevor (William Hazell). He has a simple life plan, write a hugely successful novel, make millions and get the girl – someone from his office called Susie who he has loved from afar for a long, long time. Unfortunately for Trevor, his plan has one major problem – he can’t write. Trevor is keen, he has done his research on how to write and has started lots of books in various styles but, to date, he hasn’t actually finished one and been able to add those magical words ‘the end’ to his magnum opus. Fortunately, Trevor is about to get some assistance in the shape of three...

Ben Adams as Dad, Bea Holland as Mum and Guy Rhys as Bernard in Not Now Bernard at the Unicorn Theatre. Photography by Camilla Greenwell Want to get some peace and quiet and keep the little ones entertained for a while? Well, you can do no better than pop along to the Unicorn Theatre for their production  Not Now, Bernard . Based on David McKee’s book of the same name, this is the story of Bernard (Guy Rhys) a young boy who just wants to be noticed by his parents. Unfortunately, his Mum (Bea Holland) and Dad (Ben Adams) are too preoccupied with important things like watering plants, and watching the cricket to respond to his warnings that there is a monster in the garden that wants to eat him with anything more than a perfunctory ‘not now Bernard’. Then one day, he goes out to play in the garden and, while he doesn’t return, something larger and hairier does. Having not read the original book I wasn’t sure what to expect from this production, but as soon as I entered the aud...

The Unbuilt City: Sandra Dickinson (Claudia) and Jonathan Chambers (Jonah) – Photo by PND Photography People keep secrets. They keep things from their nearest and dearest, their friends, random members of the public. They also have a tendency to keep things. When my grandmother died and we were clearing the house, we found every utility bill she had ever received kept in a folder in her desk. I mention this because the idea of keeping secrets and things is at the heart of Keith Bunin’s one-act play,  The Unbuilt City  which is getting its European premiere at the King’s Head Theatre The story takes place in the Brooklyn Heights townhouse of Claudia (Sandra Dickinson), a reclusive socialite. It’s a cold February and she is welcoming a visitor in the shape of Jonah (Jonathan Chambers) a young man on a mission, He has two things on his mind. One finding out if Claudia has certain, almost mythical, item in her possession and two, if she has it, convincing her to part with it....

Blueberry Toast prod images. Adrianna Bertola and Matt Barkley. Credit Helen Maybanks & Soho Theatre. Back in the day, many toys were operated by a clockwork mechanism, You would wind the key, feeling the spring inside tighten up until it would go no more, then push a button, the spring was released and the toy would charge off doing whatever it was supposed to do. I mention this because the idea of winding a mechanism until it goes off is at the heart of Mary Laws’ play Blueberry Toast which is receiving its European premiere at the Soho Theatre. On a normal Sunday morning, poetry teacher Walt (Gareth David-Lloyd) is marking texts in the kitchen of his lovely suburban home. His doting wife Barb (Gala Gordon) has asked him what he would like for breakfast and, having got his order, has started to make him blueberry toast. Whilst breakfast is beig prepared, the couple’s children, the whimsically named Jack (Matt Barkley) and Jill (Adrianna Bertola), are working on a four-act pl...

A sockful of custard Between 1951 and 1960, once a week virtually every radio set was tuned to the BBC Home Service and families would sit around listening to the madcap stories being transmitted on The Goon Show. At the heart of the show was one man, a comic genius by the name of Spike Milligan. For many youngsters, this name may not instantly draw gasps of recognition, but Spike was a comic genius of the first order and it was a sad day when he died in 2002. However, if you missed him, there is a chance to get a feel for the man with  A Sockful of Custard  at the Pleasance Theatre in Islington. A Sockful of Custard  is the work of Chris Larner and Jeremy Stockwell, two men who definitely know their Milligan. It is not a documentary by any means, but takes the audience from Spike’s early life in India, through to the family moving to the UK, his part in World War II – or as Spike memorably called in in his autobiography “Hitler, my part in his Downfall” – and on t...

Skin Deep the Musical Feather Fan There are two things that unite pretty much every single person on the planet. The first is that we all have a body and the second is that there is something about that body that we would like to change. No matter how perfect everyone else may think our body is, there is something that, us is not right. Now if I were to list everything that I dislike about my body then this would be the longest review in the history of reviewing. However, maybe we should all take a deep breath, relax and just enjoy what we have. That’s the central theme of Lambco Productions new show  Skin Deep the Musical  which I saw at the Stockwell Playhouse. Skin Deep  is an in-depth and extremely entertaining study of human attitudes to their bodies. Hosted by Diana Diamonte (Shani Cantor)  Skin Deep  takes the audience and Diana’s boys – Dan (William Frazer), Max (Adam O’Shea), Phil (Nick Brittain) and Richard (Daniel Timoney) – on a tour of the vari...

l-r Holly Sumpton, Matt Hunt, Samuel Fogell. Photo credit Robert Workman Between 1950 and 1966 actor-manager Brian Rix ran a series of plays in the West End. Because of their location and the type of play they were, they soon became known as the ‘Whitehall Farces’. Now, since those days, the Whitehall Theatre has changed its name to the Trafalgar Studio and, whilst there are still many farces along the road in Whitehall, there hasn’t really been any play as successful as Brian’s five were. However, as Mark Twain once didn’t say, reports of the death of farce are grossly exaggerated and a stone’s throw from Whitehall, in the Criterion Theatre, farce is alive and extremely well in Mischief Theatre’s  The Comedy About a Bank Robbery . Set in 1958 Minneapolis City,  The Comedy About a Bank Robbery  tells the story of Mitch Ruscitti (Matt Hunt) and his accomplice Neil Cooper (Samson Ajewole) as they set out to rob the crookedest bank in the most crooked town in America of...

Ruthie Henshall as Mama Morton in CHICAGO – credit Tristram Kenton The Prohibition era was not necessarily the shiniest of moments in American history. Bootlegging, speakeasies and organised crime all increased during the nationwide constitutional ban on the production, importation, transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages that ran from 1920 to 1933. Stil, there is one bright spot, and that is that without prohibition, we would never have had the John Kander and Fred Ebb’s wonderful  musical   Chicago  which has recently been revived at the Phoenix Theatre. Chicago  is the story of the pursuit and fragility of fame as we follow the story of two notorious women accused of murder. Vaudeville performer Velma Kelly (Josefina Gabrielle) is charged with murdering her sister and husband and Roxie Hart (Sarah Soetaert) facing trial for the murder of her lover Fred Casely (Chris Warren Drake). Roxie is terrified but the matron of the jail “Mama” Morton (Ruthie Hen...