Stage: What happens in Malta...

Straight and Narrow
by Jimmie Chinn
director Mark Curry
with Lewis Allcock, Todd Von Joel, Carol Royle, Kerry Enright, Harriett Hare, Damon Jeffrey, Gavin Duff
sets/costumes David Shields
lighting Vittorio Verta, James Whitmarsh
Above the Stag, Vauxhall • 3-28.Aug.22

This revival of the late Jimmie Chinn's astute mix of comedy and character drama has sadly had its run cut short when Above the Stag Theatre abruptly shuttered its doors on 7th August. It's a terrific show that plays out like an especially witty sitcom even as it begins digging deeply under the surface. There's a lot going on between these beautifully realised characters, and the themes feel as timely today as they did when the play was first staged in 1992.

Narrated to the audience by Bob (Allcock), the show unfolds out of sequence in a clever way that builds intrigue into the humorously awkward situations. He begins with a little stand-up monologue that highlights the central idea about how we so easily tell little lies in an effort to protect each other. Without ever preaching, the show then unpicks this idea with farcical precision, revealing a series of relationships in ways that draw out telling insight.

It's 1980s Manchester, and Bob shares a kitchen installation business and a home with his partner Jeff (Von Joel). But his drama-queen mother Vera (Royle) thinks Jeff is just a housemate who is distracting Bob from finding a wife. The story begins as Bob's sisters are housesitting while he and Jeff are on holiday in Malta. Lois (Enright) is heavily pregnant with her fourth child with Bill (Jeffrey), who hilariously has learned to stay out of the family chaos. Nona (Hare) is still reeling that her husband Arthur (Duff) ran off with another woman, although he turns up later.

Then Bob and Jeff return home, and something momentous has happened in Malta. Bob is wounded, Jeff is confused, and Vera is the only one who doesn't know that they are a couple in a crisis. What follows expertly puts each of the characters on the spot, forcing them all to examine the point where the truth and lies are coexisting in their connections to each other. And since neither Bob nor Vera are particularly good at facing the truth, they're the ones who are going to have to take the trickiest journeys.

Each cast member hits the comical beats expertly while adding layers to his or her character, drawing out intriguing details that provoke strong reactions even as we're laughing. Their amusing interaction echoes with terrific one-line zingers. Royle is the scene-stealer, reeling off the best jokes (most of which Vera doesn't get). And the writing smartly shifts the audience sympathies back and forth between Bob and Jeff, giving Allcock and Von Joel some very strong moments along the way. All of which makes this a show that gets under the skin and keeps us thinking about both its smaller joys and its resonant kick. Keep an eye out for another revival.

photo by PBG Studios • 6.Aug.22

Stage: Did he get a fair trial?

Sydney Fox’s Crime
writer-director Glenn Chandler
sets & costumes David Shields
lighting Joseph Ed Thomas
with Sebastian Calver, Amanda Bailey, Mark Curry
Above the Stag, Vauxhall • 20.Apr-7.May.22

Based on a real court cast from 1929 that is still being questioned, this nicely staged drama pulls the audience into the multi-layered intrigue using a simple set-up and just three characters. At just over an hour, it feels perhaps a bit light, more like a fringe show than a proper theatrical piece. And while playwright Glenn Chandler never quite grapples with the themes in the text itself, the dramatisation raises several big issues, leaving the audience with plenty to chew on.

It opens as Sydney (Sebastian Calver) has been charged with murder and is meeting with his barrister James Cassels (Mark Curry) in his prison cell. James is concerned that several aspects of Sydney's life will make him deeply unsympathetic to a jury, from his long history of petty crimes to his unapologetic homosexuality. Then as Sydney recounts his relationship with his mother Rosaline (Amanda Bailey), their scenes are enacted on the opposite side of the stage. Clearly very close, especially after Sydney's brothers died in the Great War, Sydney and Rosaline had a messy life together, living well above their means until she died in a suspicious hotel fire.

Calver's role is demanding, as he plays Sydney at various ages, shifting between a jaded prisoner and a lively con artist as Sydney recounts his story to James on one side of the stage and interacts in flashbacks with Rosaline on the other. The young actor has a likeable presence on-stage that generates sympathy even with his blithely criminal proclivities. And he also just about overcomes the generally arch dialog. Bailey has some terrific moments as Rosaline, although there always seems to be more to their relationship than we can see. A song-and-dance interlude lightens the tone but doesn't offer much insight. And Curry brings an earthy authenticity to James, especially when he delivers his punchy opening argument.

If you're unfamiliar with the true events, the trial's outcome remains enticingly unpredictable, although of course the underlying bigotry in British society never offers much hope. Even if the story is nearly a century old, it's laced with ideas that make it remarkably current, from the effects of endemic homophobia and class-based prejudice to the inventive desperation of people who struggle to make ends meet. And because Chandler has added a few fictional touches (such as a chillingly elegiac final scene), it might be worth expanding the play to include some other characters and a deeper sense of motivation. That said, leaving these things between the lines is engagingly provocative.

for information, visit ABOVE THE STAG • photos by PBGstudios • 21.Apr.22