FROM A JACK TO A KING. To 22 February.

Oldham

FROM A JACK TO A KING
by Bob Carlton

Coliseum Theatre To 22 February 2003
Tue-Thu; Sat 7.30pm Fri 8pm Mat
Runs 2hr 25min One interval

TICKETS 0161 624 2829
Review Timothy Ramsden 1 February

The story's Shakespeare; the music's rock 'n' roll. All in the name of fun.Here's a show that's beyond criticism. This story of ambition in the rock world, set to a heap of mid-century tunes, has to be taken on its own terms. It's a good night out in Oldham for all who like that sort of thing. And there should be enough of those to keep the Coliseum doors swinging through February.

What Bob Carlton has is sheer, lowbrow cheek. Rather than merely stringing a load of songs to a spurious narrative, he gives us camped-up Shakespeare.

This show doesn't have the ready-made focus of Return to the Forbidden Planet, with its sci-fi fifties B-feature taking the strain of adapting The Tempest to a post-Freud popular audience.

Instead, it relies on a cram-'em in approach. The story's Macbeth transferred to the music world, with young Eric Glamis adopting the stage name Thane Cawdor before seeing-off Terry King (being by now nothing but a hound dog), all under the watchful eye of impresario Duke Box (you're right, it does get worse. That's the whole point).

Songs flood in for briefish appearances, while Shakespeare quotes crop up with groanworthy aptness. Not merely from Macbeth; Romeo and Juilet, Henry V and others offer their plums and cherries for Carlton's crop for all I know he's slipped in a line from Timon of Athens to test rocking scholars in the stalls.

It scores for bare-faced audacity, along with Carlton's compilation skills. Kevin Shaw's high-energy production keeps things moving, staying true to the mood of unpretentious fun. Early in the run, there were moments when either some voices or the sound-desk needed strengthening, and Beverley Edmonds' choreography could have been hoofed more smartly in places.

But Celia Perkins' skeletal design suggests both castle and rock-set, flexibly meeting the action's needs while clearly waiting for Jailhouse Rock to come along as encore. Performances have a wickedly serious and seriously thin - veneer, Max Rubin's Eric growing in assertion, Ruth Alexander belting out Queenie's numbers and Adam Keast a cheekily transatlantic gumshow on the case to suggest Carlton began his show with more than a nod to Chandler's mean streets in mind.

Queenie: Ruth Alexander
Duke Box: Matt Baker
Terry: Howard Gay
Laura: Tracey Holderness
Joe Macduff: Adam Keast
Eric: Max Rubin
Farrow: David Gay
Harrier: Matthew Hewitt
Hecate: Kerry James

Director: Kevin Shaw
Designer: Celia Perkins
Lighting: Phil Davies
Sound: Charlie Brown
Musical Director: Howard Gay
Choreographer: Beverley Edmonds

2003-02-11 10:14:07