SOMETHING BLUE. To 16 March.

Scarborough

SOMETHING BLUE
by Gill Adams

Stephen Joseph Theatre To 16 March 2002
Runs 1hr 35min One interval
TICKETS 01723 370541
Review Timothy Ramsden 9 March

Seen the one about the ageing hippy, the frump and the camp hairdresser? Well, here's a chance to see it again.The blueness (as in jazz, rather than films) is part of the paraphernalia for young Pam's wedding, which is booked for prestigious Beverley Minster 1997, on what turns out to be the day of Princess Diana's funeral.

Weddings should also have something new – and Adams can be credited with a selection of keen one-liners and some purposeful mid-action revelations. But mostly it's the somethings old and borrowed that rule the stage for this brief evening out.

The action's set in a trendy Hull hairdressers', and this is such a Hull Truck play you wonder who let it out to wander up to classy Scarborough. Jokey familiarity rules, nothing's gone into too deeply for comfort and the dramaturgy's decidedly dodgy.

Exits and entrances are at the mercy of momentary needs. Adams creates extended scenes at the expense of some opportunistic comings and goings. At one point Vera's cosmetic face-mask develops an itch for no reason except to send her rushing out for help when she's no longer wanted for dialogue.

In the so-thin sentimentality that passes for feeling in less brisk moments Johnny styles Pam's hair as they talk of his dead lover Jimmy. His family put it about he died of cancer. But Jimmy was gay, so we know what that means, don't we? Don't we? Just in case, a line's slipped in. That's right, it was Aids. And that is scriptwriting for beginners.

A fine cast do what they can, including Tracey Sweetinburgh's happily pregnant, junk-food stuffing Mandy, hanging about the scene for easy laughs and a contrast to the angst elsewhere, rather than to be anyone much in her own right.

Gillian Wright manages Vera's fall from pretension, a tumble through the usual unhappily-married woman clichés, with dignity. Sally George's Sandra, back from India, suffers a running joke about stinking feet while looking the essence of clean-living health. But, hey, who's bothering about consistency; the next joke'll be along in a couple of lines?

Johnny: Bryan Kennedy
Mandy: Tracey Sweetinburgh
Pam: Amanda Abbington
Vera: Gillian Wright
Sandra: Sally George

Director: Laura Harvey
Designer: Pip Leckenby
Lighting: Katharine Williams
Costume: Christine Wall

2002-03-12 08:08:55