PINAFORE SWING. Tour to 20 November.
South
PINAFORE SWING
The Watermill, West Berkshire Playhouse
Until Saturday 11th September then tour to 20 November 2004
Running Time: 2 hours
Review: Stewart McGill, 2 August 2004
Fizz, camp and tomfoolery pass a pleasant summer evening in style
After a stunning Sweeney Todd at Watermill, now enjoying a London season at Trafalgar Studios, John Doyle's music-theatre ensemble return to their creative home to give a cheeky take on HMS Pinafore by Gilbert and Sullivan. Really the show departs fully from the operetta to become a nostalgic tribute to the 1940s swing era set aboard the love ship, P4 and crossing the seas of romance.
Quite honestly there is no plot and despite a loose structure of intertwined relationships the show is really a summer fizz of excellently staged numbers, tumbling one after the other in a cabaret of memories. I think it is important to recognise that as the characters and any storyline are so secondary in this show that they virtually go overboard before the ship has set sail. Doyle's strengths here are his mix of types and stereotypes. Try a sea voyage in the company of The Butterfly Sisters and you will see what I mean, Kerry James, Claire Storey and Nina Lucking are just great in what my daughter describes as a quirky glamorous style typical of Doyle's casting in this genre. It really works and their playing is superb.
Sarah Jane McClelland's art deco set reminds me of Odeon glamour when the picture house was a work of some art and, once more, the tiny Watermill stage serves perfectly.
Was I disappointed? Well, after Todd it was going to be a hard act to follow. I did feel the company's reworking of The Gondoliers in 2001 had more substance, style and characterisation but as an evening's entertainment this certainly does no harm. I think I would suggest newcomers to Doyle's unique concept of music-theatre actor/instrumentalists should go to Trafalgar Studios and catch the best Sweeney Todd I have ever encountered as exemplary of the company. Pinafore Swing undertakes an autumn tour thanks to long overdue Arts Council funding, I wonder this if the best show to go out on the road but for its sheer style and warmth it should win friends. Sarah Travis once again is responsible for the musical arrangements and direction doing a fine job, as ever. Now, how about another Sondheim for 2005?
Cast
Joe: Kieran Buckeridge
Hee Hee Butterfly: Kerry James
Bee Bee Butterfly: Nina Lucking
Jenny: Gemma Page
Jim: Steve Simmonds
Dee Dee Butterfly: Claire Storey
Jack: Ben Tolley
Captain: Stephen Watts
Director: John Doyle
Musical Director: Sarah Travis
Designer: Sarah-Jane McClelland
Lighting Designer: Richard G Jones
Sound Designer: Gary Dixon
Choreographer: Elizabeth Marsh
2004-08-02 20:32:51