The Beast's Pen

Writer: Henry Filloux-Bennett      Director and choreographer: Jonnie Riordan

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Back in the days when Michelin stars were a thing of the future for the UK and Fanny Craddock was teaching the nation to cook, a 12-year-old Nigel Slater was learning his craft by helping his Mum to make jam tarts and mince pies in her Wolverhampton kitchen. Now a famed food writer, Slater’s autobiography of his adolescent years has already been adapted for television, but, if the ingredients here are familiar, the art comes in mixing them afresh to serve up a tasty treat that is distinctively theatrical.

Sam Newton is a marvel as Nigel, holding centre stage for almost 90 minutes, as his character finds that the end of childhood is a time of fun and discovery, but also of pain and loss, his experiences all linked to the aromas and tastes of the kitchen. Nigel would have been a near contemporary of Adrian Mole and he shows similar traits to that fictional character, possessing both innocence and youthful wisdom as he makes casual observations directly to the audience while he goes about his daily life. 

“It’s impossible not to love someone who makes good toast” declares Nigel and his doting Mum (Lizzie Muncie) makes good toast. However, at Christmas, she dies shortly after incurring Nigel’s wrath by leaving the mincemeat off her shopping list and Nigel is left with his bad-tempered Telegraph-reading Dad (Mark Fleischmann), whose only contribution to the culinary arts is a disastrous attempt at spaghetti Bolognese.

Things get worse for Nigel when Dad takes up with the cleaner, Joan, played by Marie Lawrence as a vulgar woman with a thick Black Country accent. War breaks out, but Joan has the advantage of being an ace cook. Writer Henry Filloux-Bennett throws a fair amount of sharp wit into the mixing bowl and Newton’s excellent comic timing does the rest. The production credits include a Food Director (James Thompson), presumably responsible for the nibbles that are handed around the audience in addition to Walnut Whips, which, we are instructed, can only be consumed on the command of Slater senior.

Director Jonnie Riordan strikes a good balance between comedy, sadness and 1970s nostalgia. He adds zest with several choreographed routines, performed to pop tracks of the era. There are darker elements in Slater’s story, but Riordan wraps them in a glow of warmth and rarely lets his production be anything other than good fun.

Performance date: 8 August 2018

This review was originally written for The Reviews Hub: http://www.thereviewshub.com

Writer: Nick Cassenbaum

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Nick Cassenbaum charmed the 2016 Edinburgh Festival with Bubble Schmeisis his love letter to a traditional Jewish bath house in the East End of London, not too far from the Bermondsey birthplace of Michael Barrymore, the subject of this new hour-long show.

Cassenbaum’s blend of affection, sentimentality and humorous storytelling are as distinctive as before and just as irresistible. His memory for trivial detail enriches his stories and, when this extends to remembering the names of audience members, his shows become intimate group conversations. This show is as much a tribute to his late Nana Sylvie as to the TV star whose rise and fall has been reported to excess in the tabloid press. It was Nana Sylvie who gave 6-year-old Nick a VHS compilation of Barrymore clips as a Christmas gift and it was she who mentored the promising young entertainer of the family, encouraging him to tell risqué jokes to a group of aunts.

The show understands that childhood heroes remain heroes forever. Eric Morecambe topped an audience poll at this performance, but, for Cassenbaum, the presenter of ITV shows such as Strike It Lucky and My Kind of People has no competition. Using audience participation extensively, Barrymore’s career is charted largely through his appearance on This Is Your Life and we get the picture of a man who was as much a showman in his private life as in public, a purveyor of anarchy, mayhem and chaos in both.

Revelations about Barrymore’s sexuality did not seems to dent his popularity with the British public, but the tragedy which occurred at his home in 2001 triggered what Cassenbaum describes as “homophobia in the media” and toppled him from his pinnacle.

 The entertainer, whose catchphrase was “awight” (ie “all right”) is alive and, according to reports, well following addiction problems. Apparently, he has not yet seen this tribute, which is a pity, as it is very likely that he would find it his kind of show.

Performance date: 6 August 2018

This review was originally written for The Reviews Hub: http://www.thereviewshub.com

Book: Fiona English      Music and lyrics: David Eaton      Director: Benji Sperring

⭐️⭐️

Lin Manuel Miranda’s smash hit Broadway musical Hamilton has already been followed across the Atlantic by the off-Broadway parody Spamilton and now, within a matter of weeks, comes this new variation, based loosely on the life and career of Britain’s World Formula 1 champion. What next we wonder, Hamilton (Neil and Christine)?

Standing behind a row of toy cars, boy and girl racers (two of each) begin with a string of disclaimers, presumably to dodge writs from Miranda, Hamilton and others, but the most significant one is to prime the audience not to expect too much rap (“it took years to write Hamilton”). This is a disappointment, because Miranda demonstrated how rap can advance story-telling and give a musical an unstoppable rhythm. With so little rap, the show often stalls and all that we get are David Eaton’s very ordinary songs linked together by tired jokes and too much talk.

What Fiona English’s book tells us is that, in common with so many sporting superstars before him, Lewis is not very interesting. He is portrayed here by Letitia Hector as a naive young man who has zero personality, mentored by his team boss (Jamie Barwood). He contrasts with a red-cloaked, pantomime villain  Fernando Alonso (Louis Mackrodt). “You can’t be a winner just by driving fast” Alonso advises the novice, pointing him in the direction of branding and high profile girlfriends. Enter Pussycat Dolls singer Nicole Scherzinger (Liberty Buckland), whose involvement with Lewis is seen here as more of a publicity stunt than a romance.

Director Benji Sperring harnesses the energy of the four performers well, but he is hampered by a stage that is too big and the whole feel is of a show being poorly thought-through and quickly thrown together. There is clear scope for improvement and it should all become slicker during its run. In the meantime, good humour is not enough to carry it and it is good only in patches, as chequered as the flag that our hero wants so much to pass first.

Performance date: 4 August 2018

This review was originally written for The Reviews Hub: http://www.thereviewshub.com