THE RISE AND FALL OF LITTLE VOICE. To 5 October.

THE RISE AND FALL OF LITTLE VOICE
by Jim Cartwright

Coliseum Theatre. To 5 October 2002
Mon-Thu/Sat 7.30pm Fri 8pm Mat 28 Sept 2.30pm
Runs 2hr 10min One interval

TICKETS 0161 624 2829
Review Timothy Ramsden 14 September

A right royal row of a production, even if the eventual outcome's a bit muffled.It's a scream: from the moment Gillian Cally's glamorous wreck, all face powder and kinetic limbs, shouts in the opening dark Kevin Shaw's production delivers Cartwright's dysfunctional family comedy - family relationships as haywire as the household wiring- like an in-yer-face custard pie.

Everything's loud around Mari. Latest man Ray's an agent and self-promoter, open-armed cheer covering self-interested contempt for her in Ged McKenna's performance. The far side of him's Loo Boo, a beery manager proud of his club's reputation as the aspirant artiste's graveyard. Alexander Delamere dispenses heartiness and threat around the theatre during the interval, but he's already made clear to Ray who's king in this entertainment castle.

This raucous crew set the tone for much of the play in the pumped-up dialogue Cartwright's given them: Shaw's vigorous production catches all the hectic vulgarity.

The trio are complemented by Janet Parkinson's beautifully-judged neighbour. Her outsize Sadie's lost all control over her appetite, downing cups of sugar trimmed with tea, and eating her cornflakes dry if there's nothing else. Parkinson finds a vocabulary of tone in Sadie's repeated 'OK's, hinting at the human heart which takes care of LV when Mother's once again off the rails.

Celia Perkins supplies another attractive set to enhance a Coliseum production. A fore-shortened staircase winds recklessly from the downstage squalour, up to the haven of LV's bedroom. Crazy-angled the windows might be - who could see the world straight brought up by Mari? But the neat pastel-pink warmth of LV's retreat makes a strong contrast with the dirt and disorder elsewhere.

LV (Little Voice) is nearly silent, except with Billy,who meets her while installing Mari's 'phone. Michael Hugo matches his character's reserve and fresh spirit admirably and Aimee Thomas is convincing in the big transition from shyness to unwilling public display of her one talent down Boo's boozed-up club: belting out the great standards in perfect imitations of showbiz's greatest songstresses. This young pair have the outer silence and inner reflection which entirely contrast the older generation.

But LV has to find her own voice, with Billy's encouragement, free of Mari's crushing personality. This comes into the open only in the last minutes. The mother-daughter scene is played in a dark-lit corner - rightly in realistic terms. But the scene doesn't quite liberate LV for us: it comes over like a crammed-in theme rather than the inevitable outcome of these relationships.

Mari Hoff: Gillian Cally
Mr Boo: Alexander Delamere
Billy: Michael Hugo
Ray Say: Ged McKenna
Sadie: Janet Parkinson
LV: Aimee Thomas

Director: Kevin Shaw
Designer: Celia Perkins
Lighjting: Phil Davies
Sound: Phil Davies, DanielOgden
Musical Director: Richard Atkinson
Dance Advisor: Beverley Edmunds

2002-09-15 13:54:18