BLONDE BOMSHELLS OF 1943 To 12 August.
Bolton/London.
BLONDE BOMBSHELLS OF 1943.
by Alan Plater
Octagon Theatre Bolton To 1 July.
Mon-Sat 7.30pm.
then Hampstead Theatre 10 July-12 August 2006.
Mon-Sat 7.30pm Mat Sat 3pm.
Audio-described 5 August 3pm.
Captioned 27 July.
Post-show discussion 1 August.
Runs 2hr 35min One interval.
TICKETS: 01204 520661.
www.octagonbolton.co.uk (Bolton).
020 7722 9301.
www.hampsteadtheatre.com (London).
Review: Timothy Ramsden 26 June.
Gonna take this sentimental journey?
Bolton and Hampstead aren't natural bedfellows. Saturday night in the 2 has its differences. And while Mark Babych has been stirring up a storm in his time as director of Bolton's Octagon Theatre, creating a vivid, varied theatre that encompasses the deep textual detail of I Just Stopped By To See The Man and the exuberance of Paul Hunter's recent Accidental Death of an Anarchist< /i>, it's still hard to see how Alan Plater's triple-cream gateau of sentimentality, his fond fondant account of an all-women war-time showband, will translate from the open-stage, open-hearted directness of the Octagon and its audiences to super-sophisticated Hampstead subtlety.
This time Plater's foregone, deliberately or not, his killer wit. The comparatively few (for him) jokes aren't especially original, nor particularly funny. Plot's never his strong point (situation's that provoke wit are more his style) and it goes on not being his strong point here. The first act's essentially an extended band audition to replace band-members lost to active duty after visiting American bases in Britain. A naive schoolgirl, a George Formby-imitating nun improbably sent by her Mother Superior to aid the war effort, a sexy upper-class virgin and a bloke somehow hoping to evade conscription by appearing on a public stage, join the pros.
Such events as occur after the interval barely keep things going till the real point of the evening, where the various wartime hits and standards finally coalesce into an extended concert section, the occasion being a wireless broadcast. The whole thing's framed by young Liz's present-day recollection of her grandmother's memories of this day in 1943, a device that ladles on the sentiment yet further, especially with the reprise of the young woman's song in the mouth of the older young (so to speak) woman. A few stabs at serious feeling are unconvincing, the kind ofsudden, unearned sentiment that's theatrically embarrassing, while any social comment (wartime bringing the exhilaration of freedom from domestic life) is all too brief.
Bandleader Betty tells the newcomers they've to be flexible, playing and singing. This company does both, and acts as well. They do it all finely, though the rather deliberate manner of speech tends to make heavyish weather of such humour as there is. I should add that a full Bolton Moday night audience clapped, joined in and cheered mightily; the general enjoyment was palpable and I gather the show's been something of a cult-hit there, the sort they could revive and will talk about for years. Hampstead, it's over to you.
May: Ruth Alexander Rubin.
Patrick: Chris Grahamson.
Vera: Sarah Groarke.
Grace: Barbara Hockaday.
Miranda: Rosie Jenkins.
Betty: Elizabeth Marsh.
Liz/Elizabeth: Karen Paullada.
Lily: Claire Storey.
Director: Mark Babych.
Designer: Libby Watson.
Lighting: James Farncombe.
Sound: Andy Smith.
Musical Staging: Elizabeth Marsh.
Musical Director: Howard Gray.
2006-06-27 18:43:49