I had seen Gemma Arterton talking about it on the Graham Norton show and told the Long Suffering Husband I probably wouldn't want to go and see it, as I'm not a huge fan of Ms Arterton (because of her fake posh/pretending to be Cockney accent that would be so much better if she spoke as she had as a child) and I worry about any show that has to rely on a big name.
Walking to the theatre district I was struck by the all-male statues (another blog to follow) and I wanted to see some history about a woman. By the evening there were signs on every wall saying that Gemma Arterton was indisposed and the roll of Nell Gwynn would be played by Paige Carter. The ushers were apologising and the rage and irritation were palpable throughout the whole theatre.
"What? What do you mean," blustered a man in an expensive suit and great coat behind me.
His wife patted him on the arm, "She's sick, darling."
"They can't do that to us. They should have at least sent us an email. I will write a strongly worded letter. I might even get the lawyers onto it."
In the theatre's defence they might not have known of Ms Arterton's 'indisposition' soon enough. They certainly didn't know at 10am when I bought my tickets. Her voice may have disappeared halfway through rehearsals, she might have tripped over the A-frame outside the theatre and be stuck in A&E waiting for an X-Ray, she might have had a dodgy prawn sandwich for lunch, or she might have been unwell, as in 'Jeffrey Bernard is unwell.'
It was an ironic twist to a play about how one woman's celebrity was so important to the survival of the Playhouse.
Poor Paige must have felt the audience hostility as she delivered her lines. Truthfully, she wasn't the strongest actress on that stage but in a cast of brilliant women even Gemma Arterton would have found that claim tough. She settled into it by the second half and stopped trying to do Gemma pouting impressions, which was a huge relief to me.
This is a brilliantly funny, feminist play that shouldn't need a pretty named star to make people go and see it. It is written by Jessica Swale with a take on history that gives women modern day characteristics of being funny, wily and intelligent. The older woman is perfectly written and performed sublimely by Michele Dotrice. Sasha Wadell, Sarah Woodyard, Anneika Rose were all brilliant. Obviously, though the woman to go and see it for was Greg Haiste, if only because he "got his tits out" and what a beautifully sewn pair of tits they were. He might have been right when he said, "No woman can play a woman like I can play a woman."
It's probably not a musical that you would go to for the music, as it's authentically Renaissance in style, with lutes, recorders and simple bawdy music hall ditties. (Yes, I was in my element)
Whether you are a fan of the recorder or not I guarantee you will leave the theatre singing, "I can dance and I can sing and I am good at either and I can do the other thing..."
And if you need one more reason to see it (regardless of who is in the lead role) then go for the very cute, waving, King Charles Spaniel.
No comments:
Post a Comment