GOOD GOLLY MISS MOLLY! To 13 March.
Oldham/Basingstoke
GOOD GOLLY MISS MOLLY!
by Bob Eaton
Coliseum Theatre Oldham To 21 February
Tue-Thu, Sat 7.30pm Fri 8pm Mat 14, 21 February 2.30pm
then Haymarket Theatre Basingstoke 24 February-13 March 2004
Mon-Sat 7.45pm Mat 28 February, 4, 13 March 2pm
Audio-described + Touch Tour 13 March matinee
TICKETS: 0161 624 2829
www.coliseum.org.uk (Oldham)
01256 465566 (Basingstoke)
Review: Timothy Ramsden 30 January
A generous slice of Potteries pie served up well as Lancashire hotpot.This 1989 musical has a theatre history niche. Originally given at Newcastle-under Lyme's New Vic Theatre it was very much a local story, based in fact. A resident's group had fought off town-planners' intended demolition of their houses in favour of enhanced renovations of existing homes.
A few years earlier it might have been one of the (original) Vic's famous local documentaries of the five Pottery towns' life present and past. But Bob Eaton, ex-teenage strummer, fused the info-play with the compilation musical to form this fictionalised account. It caught the tenor of a time no longer rooted in old industrial tradition and political earnestness. Whether it dumbed-down the documentary, or wised-up the string-of-songs musical, Miss Molly soon went far beyond its original environs, and has now been handsomely set in a fictional town not unlike Oldham.
How they'll take to it at the Basingstoke transfer, goodness knows. What in Lancs. seems natural enough could become stereotypical, or downright ethnic, in the deep, commuting South. Still, the tunes at least will travel. As will the performances.
Eaton's script, as director Kevin Shaw must realise, doesn't demand subtlety, just soap-opera surface reality. It's emotionally manipulative how else have the heroine near-blackmail a Councillor into supporting the cause by threatening to out his sexuality? Play, production and performance work round this tactfully, but can't hide there's an ethical quandary being circumvented.
It isn't the sort of play where Molly investigates, or reflects on, her behaviour, here or elsewhere. It's easy laughs and easy identification. Ambiguity hasn't a chance, any more than atonality in the music. Stirring tunes all the way, heart-racing or sentimental, carry narrative feelings to go with them. And in such a good cause, as Victoria Street awaits the vital decision, remembering the community's past, the local pop group that was (and in some cases still is), the triumphs and tragedies of daily life, you'd be a churl not to be swept along.
So come on in and feel good helped by a fine cast, like the splendid Nicholas Lumley in a succession of cameos, old and not-so-old, all built round Sue Devaney's splendid Miss M. Swinging with youthful nerve and bubble, solidifying movement in middle-age, it's a splendid central performance in a joyful, if not over-thoughtful, evening.
Brian: Ray Burnside
Eddie: Phil Corbitt
Molly: Sue Devaney
Jack: Howard Gay
Lucille: Sarah Groarke
Ronnie: Richard Hague
Bridget: Tracey Holderness
Wesley/Stevie: Robin Johnson
Grandad: Nicholas Lumley
Stan: Chris Talman
Director: Kevin Shaw
Designer: Richard Foxton
Lighting: Phil Davies
Sound: Charlie Brown
Musical Director: Howard Gay
Choreographer: Beverley Edmunds
2004-02-10 23:05:25