Theatre Reviews
The Blue Angel
Open Space Theatre Company
St. Edmund’s Hall, Hoxne
Tacky decadence is the keynote of Pam Gems’ version of the well-known von Sternberg film.
Thin as a play, thinner as a musical, it uses explanatory vignettes, like film scenes, between production numbers.
It may not have the crackling menace of Cabaret but there is something about it, an odd glow of appeal.
Director David Green may have seen parallels with pre-war Germany and our own difficult times, echoed ironically by the tinny refrain of Happy Days Are Here Again.
Following the iconic Marlene Dietrich is well nigh impossible, not least since Lola seems an androgynous figure. All the best Dietrich impersonations are by men.
Not that you would want to miss Emma Martin, an easy girl to become obsessed with. Tall and attractively hetero, with a Vogue face, she is a star turn.
Then, as now, there was no fool like an old fool when a girl flashes her suspenders. Paul Baker charts the downward path of the stuffy professor with painful transparency.
Dafydd Westacott, Jake Kubala and Zack Flegg give pleasing energy and cheekiness to the roles of the students.
Some of the actresses must have thought that their days as cabaret dancers were over. But the mixture of bimbos and mature women helps to re-create the atmosphere.
Basil Abbott
The Tempest
WARTS
Redgrave Church
WARTS can usually be relied upon to do something out of the ordinary.
How many other local groups would present Twelfth Night in the style of Casablanca, or Our Country’s Good in the round?
Tim Hall’s production of The Tempest takes its tone from silent, Gothic films and movies like The Abominable Dr. Phibes.
One innovation is having three Ariels (Kathy Mills, Lynn Wilson and Carys Allen), like pesky WI members who have been at the parsnip wine. Their breath is the tempest and they control the hapless castaways like puppets.
An impressive cast is led by Steve Humfress, bringing all his experience to the magus-like Prospero.
Rob Johnson’s wild, Neanderthal Caliban is full of rage and pain, as well as being a dab hand at the organ. The live music is actually played by Peter Creswell.
Rhiannon Ellis (Miranda) and George Eddy (Ferdinand), young lovers in Our Country’s Good, again bring youthful freshness to their roles.
The group is blessed with a strong male contingent – Dave McGeevor, Richard Telford, Keith Charman, David Neeve, Graham Freeman, Derek Mitchell, John Tate, Mike Daly – all performing up to the hilt.
But a special word for Phil Isbell (Antonio), who had never acted until the previous production; but already has the assurance of a veteran.
Basil Abbott