THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT. TO 13 jANUARY.
London
THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT
by Thelma Ruby.
New End Theatre 27 New End NW3 1 JD To 13 January 2008.
Mon; Wed-Sat 7.30pm Sun 5pm.
Runs 1hr 20min No interval.
TICKETS: 0870 033 2733.
www.newendtheatre.co.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 27 December.
This is entertainment – and more; joyous and moving.
Virtually all Thelma Ruby’s 82 years have been spent on stage and this show, timed alongside her autobiography and account of life with her late husband Peter Frye, will delight anyone who knows her work and intrigue people with any interest in the history of performance. Here, with considerable agility and barely no concession to age, Ruby sums up what seems to have been a delightful life, for her as for audiences.
She recalls itzy-bitzy tunes from fluffy Edwardian and Georgian variety. Her timing’s perfect in a revue-sketch where accompanist Jonathan Williams is freed from his ivories but can’t get a word in. And having proved her longevity in song and (by implication) dance, she drops her bombshell.
What’s entertainment she suddenly asks. And doesn’t give the answer that might be expected from the show so far, but a statement of belief in the transforming power of theatre. This is someone who’s done Shakespeare as well as variety. Staging Orson Welles Chimes at Midnight seems to have been a nightmare for everyone except Welles, but Ruby mentions guidance from Jonathan Miller that shows how an actor can be helped by intelligent direction.
She loves Fiddler on the Roof, and has played Golde three times. She says it becomes universal by being so precisely local; players in a Japanese production couldn’t imagine it working outside their country. But the Golda who ends the evening portrays Ruby’s belief in theatre. With her husband, Ruby made a two-character play from William Gibson’s drama about Golda Meir, Israeli PM in the years following the Six Days’ War.
During a round-the-world supposed holiday, the play was performed in a Japanese church, prompting an early-morning serenade of thanks, and in near-whispers to persecuted Jews in the USSR. Then, when apartheid Pretoria wouldn’t relax its whites-only rule, Ruby and Frye (a lifelong socialist) responded with a preview for a Black audience.
It was a triumphant vindication for theatre as human communication. And it forms a fine culmination for this journey of a lifetime, moving from toe-tapping frivolity to encompass the world. It’s a voyage in splendid company.
Cast: Thelma Ruby.
Accompanist: Jonathan Williams.
2008-01-02 23:29:40