KEEP ON RUNNING. To 12 June.
Hornchurch
KEEP ON RUNNING
by Bob Carlton
Queen's Theatre To 12 June 2004
Tue-Sat 8pm Mat 12 June 2.30pm
Audio-described 12 June 2.30pm
BSL Signed 2 June
Runs 2hr 40min One interval
TICKETS: 01708 443333
www.queens-theatre.co.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 25 May
Rock n' Roll-backed rollercoaster summer-show of love set in the singing sixties.The 1960s: if you were there you can't remember them. Nor can you if you weren't born then either. Though, you might imagine you remember them, there have been that many retro/tribute/nostalgia shows, films etc. What distinguishes Bob Carlton's piece is that the music carries and comments on the narrative, rather than being the show's sole point.
Having hitched his rock-compilations to Shakespeare, it's interesting to see Carlton adapting the method to an original tale. The band takes centre-stage, though Marty and the Matadors transmogrify into The Myth of Sisyphus. Carlton takes his music seriously, but sees through the pretensions of his musician-characters.
There are plentiful period references: Billy Cotton, TV quiz-shows, steady jobs at Ford in Dagenham. Plenty of local references too. Factory worker Bob, his art-student friend Don, Don's girl-friend Michelle and wild-card Kathleen, variously mooch around the Mocha coffee-shop, dance at the Ilford Palais, smooch in the Romford Odeon and watch football at Upton Park (Arsenal fans be warned: this is serious West Ham territory).
The evening has two dramatic strengths. There's the hectic crash of devil-may-care and socially orthodox lifestyles. Kathleen represents the first, staying true to it till the end. Bob's supremely the second and, as James Earl Adair's older Man, literally lives to tell the tale.
As it moves between 1966 and 1969, the action also distinguishes the sixties as supercharged 1950s and as a decade recreated, separate from the past. The interval separates these two worlds. In costume, sound and body language, Asian influences mix with hallucinogenic drugs to mark out a new youth world, away from the concrete down-to-earthiness of the society where sixties teens started out spreading their wings.
And there's always the music to enjoy, belted out by this company as to the melody born (sad reflection, one of the best songs, California Dreaming', is now commodified as a cinema ad. to sell cars). This is the kind of show the Queen's cast, members of the theatre ensemble cut to the chase ' were hired to do and it shows.
Man: James Earl Adair
Don: Philip Reed
Bob: Simon Jessop
Michelle: Maria Lawson
Kathleen: Emily Gardner
Marty: Jonathan Lockwood
Dancer: Nick Lashbrook
Matador/Tea Lady/Hippie Girl/Usherette/Doctor: Jane Milligan
Matador/PC: Scott Finlay
Matador/WPC: Wendy Parkin
Director: Bob Carlton
Designer: Dinah England
Lighting: Chris Jaeger
Sound: Whizz
Musical Director: Carol Sloman
Choreography: Kraig Thornber
2004-05-26 02:03:16