Stage: The gardens of love

The Pleasure Garden
by Glenn Chandler
music Charles Miller
dir Fenton Gray
with Sam Baumal, Jay Worley, Rory-Charlie Campbell, Ashleigh Harvey, Jennie Jacobs, Bea Amora Wong, Steve Watts, Jonathan Harlaw
Above the Stag Theatre, Vauxhall, London • 15.Sep-17.Oct.21

Campbell, Worley, Harvey and Baumal

The adept team at Above the Stag are back with a new musical for the autumn season, blending light comedy with darker drama. Set where the theatre sits today in Vauxhall, but nearly two centuries ago, the show highlights both the vast differences in London's landscape as well as similarities deeper in the culture. The idea of a fading society caught up in bigotry and war are eerily familiar, which makes the show's mix of comedy and melancholy a bit of a challenge.

It's the 1850s, and Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens has been one of London's leading entertainment venues for nearly 200 years, with acres of cultivated trees and flowers, including some overgrown areas favoured by those looking for a romantic hideaway. Meanwhile, public performances draw in crowds to watch musicians, circus acts and fireworks, plus rides in hot air balloons and military re-enactments, all of which are part of this story. But from the 1840s, the owners struggled to make the park financially viable, and its days are numbered.

Jacobs and Watts

Among those wandering through the trees are Ralph (Jay Worley), a well-dressed clerk who catches the wide-eyes of soulful gardener Tom (Sam Baumal). As their romance blossoms, Tom gets a job offer he can't refuse from the leery Lord Roger (Rory-Charlie Campbell), whose wife Lady Maude (Ashleigh Harvey) has begrudgingly been living with his inability to resist temptation. Also roaming around the park and becoming entangled in this story are two people concealing their true identities: young Captain Antrobus (Jennie Jacobs), who is preparing to head to the Crimean War, and the lively performer Princess Saura (Bea Amora Wong).

There are some terrific comical touches along the way, mainly in Lady Maude's riotously funny asides. Accompanied by excellent on-stage musicians, the songs are peppered with witty wordplay and lots of innuendo, even as the show retains a prudish sense of Victorian morality. And the sets are nicely designed with colourful video imagery and inventive effects work. So it feels strange that the story and tone are so gloomy and never remotely sexy. This awkward mix undermines the romance between Ralph and Tom, leaving it feeling strangely unresolved from the start.

Wong

The cast members give it everything they've got, and are terrific at adding little touches of emotion and humour in just the right places. They also sing beautifully, often with full-voiced power. The likeable Worley and Baumal have chemistry together, although the direction never exploits it. Campbell and Harvey steal the show with their amusing antics. And Wong has terrific presence in a complex role. Less effective is Steve Watts as a range of side characters; his French officer is enjoyably blustery, but his hermit never quite feels like part of this story.

While the strong issues around identity are carefully woven into the narrative, the show is framed with telling present-day scenes that briefly touch on the current construction boom in the area, where blocks of flats are being built as investment properties for Russian and Arab billionaires, sucking the life out of the community. Perhaps a bit more development of these themes, as well as a little more joy in the love stories, might have given the plot and characters a more jaunty kick.

Worley and Baumal

23.Sep.21

Stage: Two 19th century tales

Fanny & Stella: The Shocking True Story
by Glenn Chandler • music Charles Miller • dir Steven Dexter
Above the Stag, Vauxhall • 8.May-2.Jun.19

Pearce as the trial judge

Originally staged in 2015 at Above the Stag's previous venue, this musical gets a welcome revival on a bigger stage. Based on real events, it's a sharply well-written exploration of gender and equality set in 1870 London. Writer Glenn Chandler sets out the story as a musical hall variety show, using comedy and witty songs to recount a series of events involving cross-dressing performers Frederick Park and Ernest Boulton (Tobias Charles and Kieran Parrott). Their alter egos Fanny and Stella hilariously re-enact their story as entertainers on The Strand who cavort around town with their wealthy benefactors. They get in trouble with the law for leaving the theatre in drag, but were never convicted of sodomy. The show recounts their relationships with various men, including Lord Arthur Clinton (Christian Andrews), Louis Charles Hurt (Tom Mann) and American diplomat John Safford Fiske (Blair Robertson).

All of this is played with a cheeky sense of humour on a vaudeville stage, as the actors continually torment the theatre manager Grimes (Mark Pearce) by demanding random personality traits and accents in the side roles he's playing. Each of the six actors plays multiple roles as the story unfolds, bringing a lively sense of raucous energy to each scene. And Chandler keeps the narrative moving briskly along, packing in fascinating real-life details along with the amusing musical numbers, which are infused with eyebrow-raising innuendo. The staging is superb, with subtle set changes that make the most of the witty costumes and the side entrances, which are through closets.

The real Boulton and Park

Through all of this, the uniformly excellent cast layers the general silliness with subtle but powerful emotional resonance that extends to some knowing thematic commentary about how long it has taken society to grapple with the issue of human sexuality. Park and Boulton's scandalous trial predated Oscar Wilde's by 25 years, a full century before Stonewall. Frankly, this is an unmissable show. And it would easily work on an even bigger stage.

NOTE: I also reviewed Above the Stag's staging of Fanny & Stella in May 2015.

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The Swell Mob
by Flabbergast Theatre
Colab Factory, London Bridge • 4.May-25.Aug.19

A hit on the Edinburgh Fringe, this immersive theatre experience takes audiences back to a swirly, surreal version of 1830s Britain. The audience and the actors mix together in a wildly ornate pub, drinking bathtub gin and whispering secrets as a preacher orates in the corner and a dog sleeps through the ruckus on a sofa. It's a ribald evening full of activities, including dance, puppetry and cabaret. A croupier encourages me to place a bet on a bare-knuckle fight held in the basement. The match is electrically well-choreographed and thrilling (alas, his betting tip was off). In a back room, a shady lady leads us in a seance to figure out how to escape from this lurid place. It has something to do with the lowlands and Layla, a woman who seems to be everywhere I turn, telling me crazy things. A lonely man with a bleached-white face is lurking as well, and no one seems to be able to see him. Later someone gets shot. There are boisterous songs, and a climactic moment of soul-sucking horror.

The cast is flat-out excellent, bringing earthy physicality and vivid personality to each role, interacting easily with the audience. Although what all of this means is somewhat unclear. This is one of those events at which the more you get involved, the more your own narrative begins to take shape. At the centre of the performance is a supernatural mystery, so all of the instructions, songs and dramas work together to create both atmosphere and a story.

It's certainly a vivid experience, made even more fun by the fact that they encourage you to dress in costume to make it even more difficult to tell who's part of the show and who's in the audience. But then, everyone's part of this show. And it's a lot of lively fun. It's also the kind of event you could return to several times and find a new story each time. But be warned: if you don't work at it, the plot is elusive, leaving lots of atmosphere but little that grabs hold.

Shadows on the Stage: Notes on a scandal

The Sins of Jack Saul
dir Steven Dexter • scr Glenn Chandler • music Charles Miller
with Jack McCann, Michael Gonsalves, Sam Chipman, Ciaran Bowling, Hugh O'Donnell, Felicity Duncan, David Mullen
Above the Stag Theatre, Vauxhall • 11.May-12.Jun.16

Above the Stag continues to stage ambitious productions in its uniquely intimate space under a railway arch in Vauxhall. This musical reunites the team behind last year's hit Fanny & Stella for another true story from the seedy side of Victorian London.

Born in Dublin, Jack Saul (McCann) became a notorious prostitute in late 19th century London. He was immortalised as the central character in his infamously pornographic 1881 memoir The Sins of the Cities of the Plain (the title refers to Sodom and Gomorrah). He was also an outspoken activist long before such a thing existed, refusing to back down as he was drawn into the Cleveland Street Scandal in 1889, when the police sweep of a gay brothel threatened to reveal the names of high-profile clients from politicians to aristocrats.

Playwright Chandler tells this story through a framing device as Jack discusses his life and fate with the devilish Fergus (Gonsalves) while various scenes emerge around them. The other five actors play multiple characters who circle around Jack, including family members, clients, fellow rent boys and figures from his trial. Most scenes include songs, from conversational numbers to a few nicely memorable tunes.

All of this is fascinating, with telling details about an intriguing element of London's history and a willingness to honestly confront issues that have been obscured over the decades. But the abstract staging means that it remains rather academic. The set has been recycled from the previous production into a kind of brutalist collection of Escher-style stairs and platforms that don't offer any particular insight into the characters or situations, even with the astute lighting and sound touches. And the costumes are equally generic, mainly theatrically goth coats and black jeans.

Still, the actors bring the various elements of Jack's story to life, with individual scenes that resonate strongly. McCann's performance is soulful and engaging, although Chandler's script never quite makes Jack into a fully fledged character. His passion is completely missing from the role, as is any meaningful sense of his sexuality. His interaction with Gonsalves' smirking Fergus offers the occasional hint of interest, but never generates any spark. Other relationships are more emotional, although the remaining actors play three to five characters each, so the inter-connections never quite develop.

Jack Saul is a superb subject for a play like this, and this production offers what feels like a general overview. It never feels like much more than an introduction. And a more resonant and perhaps more outrageous approach could have made it more entertaining and enlightening. Perhaps the biography Chandler has also written will shed more light on his personality and personal life.