THE HUNDRED AND ONE DALMATIANS: Smith [adapted Glyn Robbins]
Nottingham
THE HUNDRED AND ONE DALMATIANS
by Dodie Smith adapted by Glyn Robbins
Theatre Royal To 29 July 2006
Mon-Sat 7pm Mat Wed 2pm
Runs 2hr 30min One interval
TICKETS: 0115 989 5555
www.royalcentre-nottingham.co.uk
Review: Alan Geary: 25 July 2006
Ditching all things Disney, this comic and touching story of the triumph of courage and love is ideal for all ages.
Glyn Robbins’s adaptation of the well-loved story ditches all things Disney and brings the original children’s classic honestly to the stage. Helped by Toyah Willcox, as Cruella de Vil (who else?), Director David Longford and the Royal Company make it into excellent entertainment.
Those unfamiliar with the book might miss some satirical humour. But, given a character who was expelled from school for drinking ink and who likes eating purple meat, it’s designed to appeal to the child’s anarchic imagination.
Characters are cheerfully caricatured. Willcox’s Cruella has great rapport with her audience, who, on the first night, managed to give as good as they got. It’s like panto in July as well when Saul and Jasper Baddun (Graham Watts and Jason Wrightam, the latter in a shrunk-in-the-wash teddy-boy suit) are let loose among the audience
The auditorium is well used too during the starlight barking when messages are being relayed back and forth. A few actors make it sound as if scores of dogs far and near are involved.
Dogs and other animals behave like humans when humans aren’t on stage, like animals when humans are about. Such is the skill of the actors that when all the puppies are together it takes next to no imagination to be convinced that they are dalmatians. Matt Grainger and Emma Carlton (Pongo and Missis) and the others capture the canine movements and physical behaviour beautifully; the family of retrievers is done particularly well.
There are good, almost farcically comic, performances too from Gary Gensler and Monika Johnson as Mr and Mrs Dearly; her blonde innocence contrasts nicely with Cruella’s black and white hair-do and comic-book evil.
It’s sometimes touching - for example, in the scene where old Sir Charles thinks he’s seeing the ghosts of dogs he loved in his boyhood. But it’s always a heartening story, with courage and love triumphing over evil and adversity, and ideal for the children.
Cruella de Vil: Toyah Willcox
Mr de Vil: Steve Raven
Pongo: Matt Grainger
Missis: Emma Carlton
Mr Dearly: Gary Gensler
Mrs Dearly: Monika Johnson
Nanny Cook: Barbara Wisbey
Nanny Butler: Maggie Burrows
Persian Cat: Louise Shaw
James: Kelvin Coleman
Four Servants: Mark Taylor, Elizabeth Eastgate, Claire Mann, Nicola Sutcliffe
Perdita: Estelle Smith
Prince: Darren Law
Spotty: Kari Hill
Farmer: Margaret McCarthy
Saul Baddun: Graham Watts
Jason Baddun: Jason Wrightam
Great Dane: Dale Buckland
Twilight Barkers: Elizabeth Eastgate, Claire Mann, Nicola Sutcliffe
Golden Retriever: Chris Teasdale
Golden Retriever’s Wife: Deborah Porter-Walker
Corgie: Louise Hendy
Spaniel: Francesca Sundquist
Sir Charles: Malcolm Seymour
Lieutenant Cat: Nicola Curzon
Colonel Sheepdog: Gary Keane
Collie: Kelvin Coleman
Bull: Russell Walters
Billie: Darren Law
Cruella Understudy: Sue Morgan
Director: David Longford
Designer: Lindsey Bradford
Lighting: Michael Donoghue
Sound: Ollie Wade
Choreography: Caroline Burn
Movement: Ruth Dawes
2006-07-26 17:02:44