PLAYING LIFE till 27 September.
PLAYING LIFE: Nowell Wallace.
Sudden Productions at the Old Joint Stock Theatre.
Tel: 0121 200 0946: www.oldjointstocktheatre.co.uk.
Runs: 55m, no interval, till 27 September
Review: Rod Dungate, 25 September 2008-09-26
Grabs you and holds you tight.
Here’s fringe theatre at its best. A new play, an unusual format, intimate and exquisitely suited to the venue – the wonderful Old Joint Stock theatre in the centre of Birmingham.
PLAYING LIFE is a one-woman monologue with a crucial difference. It’s the story of Louise, a jazz singer; she’s flawed and full of pain (‘I’ve had enough of me’). Louise escapes from her pain through her music and uses her pain to inform her music. So the crucial difference about this monologue is that it’s also a musical – the performance, itself, is a kind of cabaret, fitting beautifully, therefore, into a cabaret setting in this pub theatre. The show constantly ‘double takes’ on itself – reaching a climax at the end when Louise says, before singing PLAYING LIFE: ‘This is one I wrote myself.’ Who wrote it? we wonder – Louise (ie playwright) or Siobhan (actor); our absorption into the play-world is satisfyingly complete.
Louise’s is a tragic story of a child brought up in a dysfunctional family. This feeds into her present love life – potentially destroying her good relationship with Daniel; her relationship with him is undermined by her relationship with herself. The ever present music, though, ensures the play doesn’t become maudlin – the music lifts it beyond this.
Siobhan Doyle plays Louise simply and without fuss or show; she contacts us directly. She has a great singing voice too. An early delight is BLUEBERRY HILL – how wonderful to hear the song again and how well she makes it her own. Louise’s circumstances are encapsulated as she sings, later: ‘I wish I could be like a bird in the sky . . . ‘ A feeling, I think, we all relate to.
Matt Ratcliffe accompanies her throughout as jazz pianist. His playing is sensitive and inventive – a perfect complement.
Louse: Sibhan Doyle.
Jazz Pianist: Matt Ratcliffe.
Directed by: Lucy Poulson.
2008-09-26 09:55:01