PATRICK AND BERNADINE. To 1 November.

Loughborough.
PATRICK AND BERNADINE
by Dan Hagley

Something and Nothing Theatre Company at Loughborough Town Hall.
1 November.
8pm.
Runs 1hr 30min No interval.

TICKETS: 01509 231914.
www.loughboroughtownhall.co.uk
Review: Jan Pick 4 October at Solihull Arts Centre.

The Fame Game.
The Solihull Arts Centre hosts this gentle, bitter sweet comedy, staged by the small but ambitious Something and Nothing Theatre Company. The play, written by Dan Hagley, concerns a second rate performer, Patrick, on the cabaret and holiday camp circuit, belting out covers of past pop hits with his singing partner, Bernadine. But the glamour and glitzy lifestyle is a sham. When Bernadine, tired of sleazy lodgings and a second rate career, gets the chance to take part in a national TV Pop Idol contest and leaves the Act, Patrick, naturally, is not best pleased.

This amusing, if rather predictable, story is held together by some very good acting from its three performers. Hagley as Patrick and Eleanor Jones as Bernadine both gain audience sympathy, and there is an excellent performance from Alison Belbin as Reen, Bernadine’s mother, disapproving of her daughter's career move and, as her 50th birthday approaches, rebelling against the inevitability of aging.

The set is deftly transformed from tacky backstage dressing room to small town video hire shop and, as the characters deal with the fantasies of trying to live their dreams and the disappointments of harsh reality, they come to realise that there is value in the mundane and that friendship is the key to real happiness.

Patrick: Dan Hagley.
Reen: Alison Belbin.
Bernadine: Eleanor Jones.

Director: Lorna Laidlow.
Musical Director: Gerard Swift.

Sponsor: Central Pallet Company Ltd.

2008-10-08 01:40:53