MARTHA, JOSIE AND THE CHINESE ELVIS: till 10 March
Birmingham
MARTHA, JOSIE AND THE CHINESE ELVIS: Charlotte Jones
Birmingham Rep: 0121 236 4455/ www.birmingham-rep.co.uk
Runs: 2h 20m, till 10 March
Review: Rod Dungate, 21 February 2007
Fun but flimsy
There are terrific performances in this play but they add up to rather less than the sum of their parts. Charlotte Jones has written a broad farce drawing on a lot of intriguing issues – an adult with learning difficulties, obsessive compulsive disorder, prostitution, transvestism – all interesting. But the trouble is the play never goes anywhere with them; they appear to be there merely to titillate us. The play is naughty enough to enable people to feel daring, but never daring enough to be dangerous.
So the evening, while entertaining (often very entertaining) has a disquietingly old-fashioned feel.
Josie lives with her daughter, Brenda-Marie; she has a cleaner, Martha. Josie is a dominatrix, Brenda-Marie is a young adult with learning difficulties, Martha is a staunch catholic with obsessive-compulsive disorder. Josie is 50 as the play happens, so cross-dressing client Lionel insists on a quiet party, inviting along an Elvis impressionist (who’s Chinese.) The cat’s set among the pigeons when Josie’s estranged daughter, Shelly-Louise turns up.
Souls are bared while bodies remain decorously covered (mostly decorously.) During soul-bearing speeches the play clanks and clatters, but all ends happily after twists and turns. In a fantasy, feel-good ending, we learn we should all set out to fulfil our dreams.
Maureen Lipman is totally marvellous as Martha; she is such an accomplished character performer – in this play she creates a woman who’s really stark and staring, but has charm, honesty and about whom we really care. She also brings the house down with the best one-liner: ‘I’m stuck in a whorehouse with a Jew.’
Lesley Dunlop is a delightfully sparky mum as Josie and Paul Courtenay Hyu is entirely endearing as the novice Elvis. He has the potential to liven up any party.
Martha: Maureen Lipman
Brenda-Marie: Michelle Tate
Josie: Lesley Dunlop
Lionel: Derek Hutchinson
Chinese Elvis: Paul Courtenay Hyu
Shelly-Louise: Emily Aston
Director: Rachel Kavanaugh
Designer: Paul Farnsworth
Lighting Designer: Paul Pyant
Sound Designer: John Leonard
Choreographer: Craig Revel Horwood
Dialect Coach: Sally Hague
Assistant Director Derek Bond
2007-02-23 20:01:58