Cinderella Assembly Hall Theatre Tunbridge Wells Review

Cinderella

Assembly Hall Theatre

Tunbridge Wells

11 Dec 2010 to 2 Jan 2011

(Performance seen 21 Dec 2010)

Cast

Buttons : Shaun Williamson
Cinderella : Emma Nowell
Ugly Sister : Bobby Kent

Ugly Sister : Marcel Deaville
Baron Hardup : Richard Colson
Fairy Godmother : Julian J Nagle

Prince Charming : Ben Harlow
Dandini : Charles Brunton

Villagers : Luke Alexander, Alexandra Handy-Ferrie, Sam Lathwood, Eleanor Palmer, Alison Pope, Helena Sowe

Village Children from: Deborah Lamb Theatre School, The McAllister Brown Dance School

Apologies that this review is later than usual due to unforseen circumstances.

To all my visitors I wish you a Happy Christmas and a good 2011.

Once again because I have one more Cinderella to see (Hastings) this one will not get a rating until I have seen that show. All 3 shows will then be allocated a score. (This has now been done)

This is once again a very entertaining family pantomime and it was good to see that like with Eastbourne a live Orchestra is used (Michael Bradley on keyboards, Neil Bowman on Bass and Tommy Bates on Drums).

The sets are nice and the Cinderella curtain is especially pretty. The finish of the sets was more subdued, being soft and subtle, rather than the vivid colours of the Devonshire Park show. I have to admit I prefer the more vivid Disney-like look.

Julia Nagle is a fine Fairy Godmother and sings beautifully although the character is quite dignified and refined and I must admit I prefer the complete scattyness and eccentricities of Gillian Wright's version.

Richard Colson's Baron Hardup is fine but the script for this character is not as strong and humorous as it could be.

The same applies to the ugly sisters. Marcel Deaville and Bobbie Kent have spectacular costumes but the humour never reaches anywhere near the continuous hilarity of Chris Jordan's production.

Sadly, whilst I have no real objection to it for entertainment, we have to resort to the squirting the audience with water pistols routine. OK the kids laugh but there are so many other ways of being humorous, it just seems so desperate.

A couple of real Shetland ponies provide the ahhhh factor pulling Cinderella's coach. Perhaps to avoid stressing the animals it has to be so but it's a shame this couldn't have been done towards the front of the stage rather than half way back.

Unusually, there's no principal boy in this production. Prince Charming and Dandini being played by bone fide 100% authentic males in the shape of Ben Harlow and Charles Brunton.

Thankfully, this is where this production begins to shine. What an incredible vocal combination these two performers make. It's of no great surprise that they have recently both been in the national tour of Disney's Beauty And The Beast.

We're on a roll of good stuff now and Cinderella comes in the lovely shape of TV's Hi-5 presenter Emma Nowell. She has an incredible vocal range and is perfectly cast in this show. Emma has played Linda in Blood Brothers both on tour and in The West End  and in addition to a varied theatrical CV she has also performed for the Abu Dhabi Royal Family at their palace.

The last time we met Shaun Williamson was after 'Porridge' at the Devonshire Park Theatre in Eastbourne. It was really good to meet up with him here in Royal Tunbridge Wells where he plays truly lovable Buttons as opposed to lovable rogue 'Fletch'.

There's always one role that an artist is always remembered most for. In Shaun's case it will probably always be as Barry Evans in Eastenders. It was refreshing to see that Shaun doesn't mind his past staying in the present as references to his Eastenders days occurred in the script.

The on stage relationship between Cinders and Buttons works particularly well and this is one of those productions where the headline artists really are the stars of the show. Unlucky in love in Eastenders with Janine he's equally as unlucky with Cinders but at least he lives to tell the tale this time.

All in all a great traditional family pantomime and well worth a visit this Christmas.

Finally huge thanks again to both Shaun and Emma who both agreed to a charity signing for Great Ormond Street Childrens' Hospital.

Porridge Review Shaun Williamson Devonshire Park Theatre Eastbourne

Porridge
Devonshire Park Theatre
Eastbourne

23-28 November 2009
(show seen 23/11)

Cast
Fletcher - Shaun Williamson
Godber - Daniel West
Mackay - Nicholas Lumley
Barrowclough - John Conroy
Grout - Peter Alexander
Blanco - Richard Tate
Ingrid - Claire Andreadis
Jessell - Jon De Ville
Prisoner - Michael Ellis
Prison Visitor - Ambrosine Falck
Warren - Haydn Oakley
Ives - Mark Pearce

Prison Officer - Richard Saade
Crusher - Matt Weyland
Mclaren - Ryan Winston

The reproduction of iconic TV series on the stage seems to be the "in thing" at the moment. Recently we've had Dinnerladies and Last Of The Summer Wine, now the iconic prison comedy written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais gets its turn.

I am sure many of the large audience were, like me, very familiar with every episode of the TV series. I'm one of those people who has seen Porridge so many times I know the script coming long before the lines actually arrive.

The stage show is a direct lift of a series of scenes from different episodes of Porridge. The same dialogue and one-liners being linked together by a small amount of new material. Somewhat surprisingly perhaps it works very well. If somebody sat and watched this show who had never seen Porridge I don't think they would be aware it is a sort of "hashed together" production.

But most people sitting in the theatre would have seen Porridge at some point and would therefore be looking at how well the cast can reacreate the characters they have become so familiar with.

To be honest my verdict is a bit mixed on this front.

Singer, actor and after-dinner-speaker Shaun Williamson is given the somewhat formidable task of playing "Fletch" the role so superbly played by the late, great Ronnie Barker. Personally I think he was the perfect casting to play the lovable rogue. Shaun had clearly studied Barker's method of performance and mannerisms but stops short of trying to do a direct impersonation, this is more than enough for an excellent delivery of the script and a superb comedy performance.

However, there are certain characters for whom there was no choice but to try to 100% replicate accents and somewhat exaggerated mannerisms because this is what any Porridge fan would be looking for.

Many excel in delivery, others are more than sufficient, some don't quite hit the spot, some are completely different and one major character is missing completely.

I'll cover the latter first. No Lukewarm? What a strange decision that was to leave the oh so camp gay out of the show. Christopher Biggins was such a permanent feature in the programme he seems a strange character to miss out.

Some who excel in their impersonations of the TV cast are

1. Nicholas Lumley (Mr Mackay). From talking to him I know how much work Nick put into studying the performances of the late, Fulton Mackay. His perseverance pays off in abundance. It would be difficult for anybody to deliver not just the convincing Scottish accent but also those distinctive looks (or is that glares?), the walk, the raised eyebrows and every other distinctive trait which Mackay was known for. Nick Lumley was a superb casting for this show.
2. Fletch's cellmate, Godber, is played by Daniel West. Played well too. Not only does he sound incredibly like the late Richard Beckinsale's character he also looks uncannily very like him too.

3. On to Warren played by Haydn Oakley. Sam Kelly played the incredibly dim, but hilarious, Warren in the show. He is one of those characters you would think would be so hard to do justice to on stage. Well Haydn's resemblance to Warren is utterly amazing. So good he could have been cloned from the original.

4. David Jason played Blanco on TV and Richard Tate (who was previously in Dad's Army at the Devonshire Park) has to fill his shoes on stage. Again another perfect casting for this show with Richard doing the character proud.

5. Claire Andreadis (who again was not so long ago at the Devonshire in the role of Mimi in 'allo 'allo) played Ingrid, Fletch's slightly dippy, bimboish daughter. Again another fits-like-a-glove role.

6. McClaren - not an easy character to take on by any means - but Ryan Winston does a fine acting performance and has the accent spot-on too. He is yet another good lookalike in this production.

A couple were so nearly there:

Crusher (Grout's minder) is played by Matt Weyland who certainly looks the part as the hefty thug. Peter Alexander is almost there too as "top dog inmate" Harry Grout. Looks wise - excellent, mannerisms - excellent. I just felt something was lacking. Perhaps it was that in the TV Show Peter Vaughan was sort of sickly-nice-yet-oh-so-nasty? The nastyness just didn't quite come over.

A couple didn't hit the mark at all for me.

John Conroy's "Mr Barrowclough". I didn't think this was near enough to the weak, gullible prison warden we saw played on TV by Brian Wilde (who is also sadly no longer with us having passed away in 2008).

Ives: Now this is the oddest thing of all in this show. On TV Ives (Ken Jones) is a short, white, podgy, balding, regularly sick, middle aged-man who like many characters is slightly daft. Yet in this production Ives is a young black man in his 20's and the character of Ives seems to be completely different. Michael Ellis is fine with the material he has been given but it seems so strange that in a production which has taken so much care to reproduce an iconic TV show one character has been completely changed. My only guess at the reason for this may be that perhaps Michael is also understudy for Ryan Winston's character, Mclaren? This would at least make some sense.

However, a couple of quirks aside, this is a great show and it does do the TV series and all those actors who are sadly no longer with us justice.

The set is relatively simple yet at the same time very convincing. It recreates everything from the central prison area with the backdrop of cells, Fletch's cell, the courtyard and even the boxing ring in the gym. You don't need a lavish set to recreate what is, after all, the most bland place anybody is ever likely to be unfortunate to live in.

We thoroughly enjoyed this and I think the vast majority of the first night audience did too.