The Wizard of Oz

 Curve, Leicester

24^th November, 2022

“Where troubles melt like lemon drops”

The Wizard of Oz was one of the first musicals I ever saw on a school trip to Leicester’s Haymarket in 2000. It was one of many introductions to theatre that got me hooked for life. Jump forward two decades, and seeing the many young families in the audience at Curve last night, it’s great to think that Nikolai Foster’s new production will introduce a whole new generation to the theatre. Made famous by the 1939 motion picture, Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg’s musical The Wizard of Oz has been staged countless times from the RSC to Madison Square Gardens. It’s a part of American culture and has even inspired other work from The Wiz to Wicked to great acclaim. In this new Made at Curve production, adapted by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Jeremy Sams with additional music by Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Tim Rice, it is L. Frank Baum’s 1900 novel that Foster has mined to present an American fairy tale with plenty of wit, heart and courage.

At the core of The Wizard of Oz is a tension between the push-and-pull of home, the grey humdrum routine pitted against the allure of elsewhere. In ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’, that great “hymn to Elsewhere” as Salman Rushdie called it, Georgina Onuorah’s Dorothy yearns to escape Kansas farm life. As the song swells, Ben Thompson’s animated Toto leaps around Dorothy and cocks his head as Onuorah’s voice fills the auditorium and our hearts. Lloyd Webber’s new songs further this idea. In Professor Marvel’s ‘Wonders of the World’, he sells Dorothy a vision of seeing the world: “New York City, glass and metal/Everest unconquered mountain”. Dorothy’s journey to an unknown world has been dazzlingly realised by Foster using Route 66 to take us from the American frontier to a Las Vegas-inspired Emerald City.

Along the way we meet the intellectually challenged Scarecrow, played as a lovable yokel by Curve regular Jonny Fines, the stoic soldier-esque Tin Man (Paul French) with a tendency to cry himself into rusty stasis, and the burly-but-bashful Lion (Giovanni Spanó). The trio team up with Dorothy and Toto to form a rag-tag quintet of wandering souls, the chemistry between them wonderful. The characterisation of the characters is where Shay Barclay’s choreography shines. From the Scarecrow flip-flopping about the stage and sliding down the yellow brick road, to the Tin Man’s stiff, robotic movements, Barclay and the actors really nail the physical embodiment of the characters.

As we go west along the yellow brick road, we’re introduced to an Oz dripping in capitalism. The Disneyfication (or Ozneyfication) of Emerald City is a joy to discover. You’ll find your eyes poring over Colin Richmond’s spectacular design and Douglas O’Connell’s impressive projections to spot the Americana in which everything from corn cans to petrol tanks are stamped with the Oz brand. O’Connell’s video design elaborates this further. In the heart of Emerald City, we see McOznald’s, Ozbuck Coffee, and productions of The Wiz and The Return to Oz advertised on skyscrapers. Even the Poppy Hill Motel is inspired by the hotel in Hitchcock’s Psycho hinting at a more sinister side. Like Vegas itself, whilst the neon lights and sugar rush may provide Dorothy with a glimpse of life away from Kansas, Oz is a dizzying sight which has her yearning for the safety of home. Rachael Canning’s costumes enhance the Americana and provide granular texture: Tin Man tattooed with corporate logos; The Lion in American football gear; Glinda’s Penelope Pitstop-inspired entrance outfit; the Flying Monkeys sporting denim biker jackets. All of these design elements speak the same language and Foster has brilliantly brought them together so there is a cohesiveness between them.

There’s a lot to admire here. I particularly liked George Dyer’s musical arrangements: ‘The Merry Old Land of Oz’ has moved away from the saccharine tune it is in the film to a punchier melody which befits the Oz we see on stage. I also really enjoyed seeing a new take on the Wizard/Professor Marvel. Played brilliantly here by Mark Peachey, these characters are less the aging cynical trickster and more an optimistic showman trying to peddle an unachievable dream. Ellie Mitchell (stepping into the role at the last minute) and Christina Bianco are equally fabulous as the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda respectively. Mitchell provides a more modern take on the villain, overseeing an oil drilling industry. In Lloyd Webber’s standout addition of ‘Red Shoes Blues’ which shows some of the witch’s motivation (“She's prissy, she's clueless, and I want her shoeless”) Mitchell’s vocals shine.

With the movie embedded in our consciousness, staging a new production must be a daunting prospect. In a sharp production which comes in just over 2 hours there are a lot of ideas to unpack and it passes in a flash occasionally like a fever dream. But there’s no doubting this Wizard of Oz is fun, revitalised and spectacular.

The Wizard of Oz plays at Curve, Leicester until 8^th January, 2023. For more information please visit The Wizard Of Oz - Curve Theatre, Leicester (curveonline.co.uk)

Paul French (Tin Man), Jonny Fines (Scarecrow), Giovanni Spanó (Lion), Georgina Onuorah (Dorothy) and Ben Thompson (Toto) in The Wizard of Oz. Credit: Marc Brenner.

Kimberly Akimbo

 Booth Theatre, New York

13^th October, 2022 (Preview)

“I like your point of view”

In a recent NY Times interview, playwright David Lindsay-Abaire and composer Jeanine Tesori reflected on their time collaborating on Shrek the Musical (2008). Whilst adapting the 2001 DreamWorks movie, the pair expressed a wish to make a musical together with the same intensity and focus as writing a play. The result, after a seven-year passion project, is Kimberly Akimbo: a musical based on Lindsay-Abaire’s 2001 play of the same name about a 16-year-old girl who has the body of a 72-year-old. Following an award-winning Off-Broadway run last year, the musical has now opened on Broadway. On its second preview, Kimberly Akimbo is a heart-warming, nourishing musical and a first-rate example of book and score complementing each other beautifully.

Using Lindsay-Abaire’s play as the main source provides the musical with a book which has a solid structure. Set in late 90s New Jersey, the show focuses on Kimberly Levaco and her dysfunctional family. Having recently moved house due to her aunt assaulting their neighbour, Kimberly has to balance making new friends at the local rink with hiding her dad’s alcoholism from her mom, herself a bit of a wastrel. But Kimberly is no ordinary teenager. Born with a disease that ages her body abnormally quickly, we hear that most people with her condition only have a life expectancy of about 16 years. Like with his Good People (2011), Lindsay-Abaire is interested in the promises and rhetoric of the American Dream not being fully realised; characters with imperfections and major flaws but with hopes, fears and good intentions buried somewhere beneath the surface. And in the centre of the storm is Kimberly, played with such authenticity by Tony Award-winning soprano Victoria Clark. We not only believe she’s 16 but her optimistic outlook and bright sparkle in her eyes is endearing without ever being overly sentimental.

The believable characters and strong plot are both enhanced by Tesori’s music. Like in Fun Home (2013), her playful melodies crack open the characters’ inner lives to give them depth. In ‘Make A Wish’, we hear Kimberly’s letter to New Jersey’s Make A Wish Foundation who’ll choose only one of her three wishes. “I bet you pick whatever’s cheapest, haha, smiley face” is typical of her warm humour. Whereas her first two wishes are fun and typical of a teenager, the song becomes an ever-growing list of things Kimberly, like any normal teenager, would wish for. The relentlessness then halts to allow Kimberly to wistfully long for a simple homecooked family meal. In ‘Anagram’ we see Kimberly inwardly work through her feelings for her nerdy classmate Seth: “A little odd, a little off, a bit unorthodox”. The simple melody powerfully grows to her realising she likes him. This is accompanied by Seth, who shares Lindsay-Abaire’s love of word games, working out an anagram of her name. Recognition has to go to Justin Cooley as Seth. Only Murders in the Building has taught us of the gems of multi-generational friendships (although here they’re the same age), and the innocent chemistry between Clark and Cooley is pitched at exactly the right level.

Kimberly’s maturity and optimism are at odds with her family of reprobates. Their immaturity is the source of much of the show’s humour, but the songs expand their characters to give further insight into their pain. Aware that their daughter may not live much longer, and expecting another imminently, we begin to understand how their first-time round being parents has both been not long enough and also painfully drawn out. And what cracking songs they are! In ‘Hello, Darling’, Alli Mauzey’s accident-prone Patti expresses her hopes for her new born and her fears she’ll have the same condition as Kimberly. In the fast-paced patter song ‘Happy For Her’, Steven Boyer displays tongue-twisting verbal dexterity on a drive to school in which he plays the over-protective father. But the show’s breakout star is Bonnie Milligan as Aunt Debra. ‘Better’, an upbeat hymn to do whatever it takes to “make your shitty life better”, is a hilarious skewering of the typical ‘feel-good’ song.

If Lindsay-Abaire creates a believable world, it is meticulously rendered by David Zinn: a cluttered kitchen diner complete with Maxwell house coffee tub; the school hallway; an ice rink complete with snow and real onstage skating. And when the side wall opens up to reveal Kimberly’s bedroom, we can see the same level of detail go right into the wings. Ice skating pictures and Dawson’s Creek posters adorn the walls, and a globe and giraffe teddy show what she still dreams of doing.

Kimberly Akimbo is destined to be the musical of the season and I’ll be rooting for it at next year’s Tony’s. Running through Times Square in the pouring rain afterwards didn’t hamper us sharing the show’s upbeat view on life. Indeed, “When life gives you lemons… you’ve got to go out and steal some apples because who the fuck wants lemons?!”

Kimberly Akimbo plays at the Booth Theatre, New York, booking to April 2023. For further information, please visit https://kimberlyakimbothemusical.com/

Victoria Clark in Kimberly Akimbo. Credit: Joan Marcus

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

 Curve, Leicester

Wednesday 2^nd November 2022

“Land of the living dead”

Deborah Moggach’s book, These Foolish Things, is perhaps better known for its starry 2011 film adaptation The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel which spawned an unlikely reality-tv franchise, and delighted viewers young and old with its ‘fish-out-of-water’ quaintness. Now Moggach adapts her work for a new theatre tour, offering audiences a warming dose of genteel patter amidst sultry tropical climes.

Having recently taken over the family Hotel business in Bangalore, young Sonny hatches a plan to boost income by offering British retirees assisted living accommodation with lashings of sunshine, bottomless gin and tonics and an iffy culinary mix of tikka masala and toad in the hole. When the Brits arrive there’s the usual clash of cultures – the Brits are shocked by the caste system, while the Indians muse upon English rules of politeness – but, predictably, the characters all learn from each other and the experience enriches their lives.

Despite a large cast of characters, I felt that Moggach never really got under their skin, and the result is that most feel underdeveloped and one-note – the anti-woke boor, the glamourous cougar, the holier-than-thou xenophile. This also extends to the depiction of India in the play, which, despite some underpowered attempts to address colonialism, is rather trite and reliant on stereotype. The India presented is one defined by call centres, ‘Delhi-belly’, arranged marriages and a love of cricket – a pretty blinkered and British view of the culture.

Moggach fares better when touching on the poignancies of growing older. The hotel guests feel young at heart, but often speak of society’s tendency to view them as already ‘half-dead’. This theme of trying to recapture youth is more tangibly addressed in Dorothy’s (Richenda Carey) mysterious search for her childhood friend - who turns out to be much closer to home than she’d anticipated. The loneliness of old age is also tenderly explored. At one point Hayley Mills’ Evelyn regrets all the things she never got to talk about with her late husband. The initially timid character has a more natural evolution throughout the play, growing with confidence as she makes friends and learns to express herself. Yet, in her quietly blossoming relationship with Paul Nicholas’ Douglas, the feelings left unspoken between the pair hint once more at the old-fashioned British restraint the OAPs are fleeing from. I enjoyed Mills’ more nuanced performance, which plays nicely on her earnest likability.

While I found The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel rather sedate and over-long (at least 40 minutes could be cut from the running time), I appreciate that I am probably not its target audience. Those around us were audibly enjoying the play, chuckling along in recognition, creating an endearing atmosphere. The production benefits greatly from Colin Richmond’s sumptuous design and Kuljit Bhamra’s original music, which is both upbeat and evocative, making for a sweet and feel-good finale.

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel plays at Leicester’s Curve until 5^th November as part of an extensive UK and Ireland tour until June 2023, including a run on a transatlantic cruise in December. For further information please visit https://marigoldshow.com/#tourdates 

Hayley Mills and Rula Lenska in The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. Credit: Johan Persson

Sister Act

 Curve, Leicester

17^th October, 2022

“I got bikers and addicts and punks in the pews”

1977, Philadelphia. Most of the city’s churches have been converted into nightclubs, theatres or other places of debauchery(!). The church of Our Lady in Perpetual Sorrow is also on its last legs: pews are empty, collection plates are being stolen, and its superfluity of tone-deaf nuns could soon lose their home. Into this comes Deloris Van Cartier (an impeccable Sandra Marvin), a whirlwind of big hair, sequin dresses and unruliness forced to take refuge at the convent after witnessing a mob murder. Although the conflict at the heart of Sister Act, based on the 1992 movie starring Whoopi Goldberg (who is co-producing this production), is probably well known by now, it is a delicious concept that seems to have always been destined for the stage. This Curve co-production of Alan Menken’s and Glenn Slater’s 2009 musical has arrived in Leicester after a summer run at London’s Eventim Apollo.

Whereas the movie is set in 90s San Francisco, moving the musical to 1970s Philadelphia works really well. It’s a time where the city was facing waves of depopulation, high crime rates and drug problems alongside a thriving funk and disco music scene. It’s a perfect backdrop, then, for a world of seediness, crime and the transformative powers of music. Menken captures the influential Philly Soul sound in standout songs such as “Fabulous, Baby!" and “Raise Your Voice” along with plenty of songs more in keeping with the ‘traditional’ musical theatre style for which he’s perhaps well-known. It’s not his most memorable of scores, but there are a lot of songs which establish and advance character. Slater’s lyrics help achieve this wonderfully. I particularly liked “The Life I Never Led” in which Sister Mary Roberts (Lizzie Bea blowing the roof off with her vocals) realises her confidence and self-worth that Deloris has helped her find. Like all good culture clash comedies, the characters all gain something from each other. Deloris is more than just a backroom singer and the nuns are more than just their habits. There’s also a strong subplot involving one of Deloris’ old flames, the police officer Eddie Souther. Graham MacDuff has a great number with multiple quick changes in which he transforms from slightly incompetent steady Eddie to a disco diva! I’m also pleased that “Haven't Got a Prayer” has been kept in the show (written for the Broadway production in 2011), in which Lesley Joseph’s tight-lipped Mother Superior wrestles with her faith due to her growing frustration with Deloris.

Cheri and Bill Steinkellner’s book with additional material by Douglas Carter-Beane moves the story along nicely and has some funny one-liners: at one point Deloris is shocked at Mary Roberts’ claim she’s a postulant, exclaiming ‘I ain’t never never sunk that low!’ In other parts, it has a more difficult job to balance the frothy comedy with the darker parts of the story. The gangsters, for instance, are reduced to stereotypes. That being said, there’s a delicious number where Jeremy Secomb’s nightclub owner/mob boss Curtis Jackson vows to find Deloris. The menacing lyrics such as ‘And when I find that girl/ I'm gonna kill that girl!/ I'm gonna wham! Bam! Blam!/ And drill that girl!’ are nicely juxtaposed against the grinning mobster backing dancers. It’s a fun moment which, like the musical as a whole, embraces the escapism of musical theatre.

Sister Act plays at Leicester’ Curve until 29^th October as part of a UK tour. For further information, please visit https://www.sisteractthemusical.co.uk/uk-tour/

Sandra Marvin as Deloris Van Cartier. Credit: Manuel Harlan

Bugsy Malone

 Curve, Leicester

4^th October, 2022

“You’re gonna be remembered for the things that you say and do”

Sean Holmes’ 2015 Lyric Hammersmith production of Alan Parker’s Bugsy Malone, based on his 1976 film, has been triumphantly remounted for a UK tour. Set during the Prohibition era, two rival gangsters, Fat Sam and Dandy Dan, along with their cronies wreak havoc across the speakeasies and dives of underworld New York. As in the film, the lead characters are all impressively played by child actors to help create a pastiche of black and white mobster movies. Machine guns and knives are swapped out for splurge guns and custard pies; get away vehicles are now pedal cars; and caricatures of gangsters become lovable rogues.

Much as the film was born out of Parker’s love of gangster movies, the same sense of boundless joy comes over the footlights in Holmes’ staging. Paul Williams’ memorable songs are all performed with glee and are skilfully brought to life by the ensemble in Drew McOnie’s choreography. McOnie demonstrates why he’s one of the leading choreographers of his generation, injecting pizzazz into the big numbers particularly “We Could Have Been Anything” and “So You Wanna Be A Boxer”. Jon Bausor’s designs are in keeping with the film and further romanticise the setting as well as reimagining them for a theatrical context. The audience enters to a backstage area of a theatre, a black wall and fire escape dominating the stage. Onto this comes the low tables and brightly lit cocktail bars of Fat Sam’s speakeasy, the world of showgirls, and a race to get the best splurge guns.

The ensemble cast are all having a blast with their finest Noo Yoiker accents. At this performance, Charlie Burns has the audience where he wants them as Fat Sam, lording over his own scene changes and complaining at his sidekick Knuckles for cracking his knuckles. Rayhaan Kufuor-Gray is his equal as rival mob boss Dandy Dan. And Ellis Sutherland as caretaker Fizzy gets one of the biggest cheers of the night for his rendition of “Tomorrow” as he, with a mop in his hand, longs for the life he could have had as a dancer.

The plot for Bugsy isn’t its strongest and this can sometimes make the musical come across as quite sketchy but this is not to detract from the fun that’s had on stage and in the audience. And whilst the final scene understandably doesn’t get as messy as the same sequence in the film, there are plenty of moments of pure elation here.

Bugsy Malone plays at Leicester’s Curve until 9^th October and is then touring until February 2023, including a London run at Alexandra Palace Theatre from 3^rd December until 15^th January. For more information please visit Bugsy Malone: The Musical – The classic musical live on stage! (bugsymalonethemusical.com)

The ensemble of Bugsy Malone. Credit: Johan Persson

Othello

 Curve, Leicester

21^st September 2022

‘When you shall these unlucky deeds relate,

Speak of me as I am’

 

Of all Shakespeare’s plays, Othello is arguably the one that has the most pertinence in the contemporary world. Frantic Assembly grasp this notion and bring the play bang up-to-date, accentuating the modern-day issues at its heart in their fast-paced, expressive and surprisingly gory adaptation (first produced in 2008, now revived in a co-production with Curve). Class, race, sexism and territorialism simmer beneath a veneer of bogus loyalties and gang culture, creating a pressure cooker of tension which eventually boils over in spectacular fashion.

Director Scott Graham and co-adapter Steven Hoggett centre the action in a run-down pub, the local haunt of a street gang led by a battle-worn Othello (Michael Akinsulire) and his ‘lieutenant’, Michael Cassio (Tom Gill). The opening scene sets the tone in an exciting whirlwind of lust, violence and camaraderie (both genuine and false) in a near wordless feat of choreography. Frantic Assembly are masters of movement and that is demonstrated to thrilling effect here; the punches carry weight and the fighting is fused with an often striking lyricism. The use of movement to convey key aspects of the story is an ingenious tool, keeping the plot hurtling forward towards that inevitable doom, where perhaps more traditional productions could get bogged down by the wordiness of Shakespeare’s verse (I say this as someone who loves Shakespeare!). So much of Othello and Desdemona’s (Chanel Waddock) relationship here is played out through choreographed moments of tenderness, passion and aggression, and by focusing on this intimacy we invest more in the characters, making the denouement all the more tragic. I also particularly enjoyed the collaboration between choreography and Laura Hopkins’ set design during the scene where Iago and Roderigo (Felipe Pacheco) conspire to get Cassio blind drunk. The walls of the set undulate in dizzying inebriation while the actors lunge, fly and swoop through the pub, pausing only for more shots of alcohol. At other times the walls of the pub expand and contract, creating cinematic zoom effects, homing in on, or isolating individual characters. Every considered detail of this production unites to create a lean yet engrossing portrait of modern Britain.

An unnervingly still presence amidst the frenetic revelry is Joe Layton’s Iago; a man that picks up on the tiniest details, who calculates from shadowy corners (at one point he literally sinks into the walls of the pub) and whispers poisonous untruths into the expectant ears of his acquaintances. Here, the racism directed towards ‘the Moor’ is of a very 21^st Century flavour; Iago is jealous of his prowess, both physical and sexual, and much is made of Iago’s vengeful belief that Othello has slept with his wife, Emilia (Kirsty Stuart). The racism displayed makes us even more uncomfortable as it holds up a mirror to the hypocrisies and everyday prejudice that is still rife in the world today.

Similarly, as the racism of the past is reflected in the present, Graham and co have also shone a spotlight on the misogyny at the heart of the play. Just as Bianca (Hannah Sinclair Robinson) is dismissed, slurred at and thrown to the ground, Emilia and Desdemona are the victims of the most violent language and actions. The image of Desdemona’s limp body suspended in her husband’s chokehold will haunt me, just as Iago’s final burst of aggression towards Emilia is horrifically shocking (and bloody). The previous scene between the women in the ladies loos as they lament ‘these men!’ is depressingly fatalistic, as they eventually concede to ‘let them use us well […] the ills we do, their ills instruct us so’; just as the production creates an authentic portrait of working-class territorial gang wars, so too does it depict the harsh reality of domestic violence and commonplace misogyny in society today.

The cast all play their parts with a rawness and passion that befits the intensity of the piece, and as an ensemble they move as one, creating an electric atmosphere. Frantic Assembly demonstrate again why they are one of the most exciting theatre companies working today. By stripping back Shakespeare’s play to its bare bones, the group have produced a play which is action-packed, accessible and relevant to contemporary audiences without losing any essence of the original. I was fully absorbed by this sordid microcosm from start to bloody end.

Othello plays at Curve until 1^st October 2022 followed by a UK tour. It then plays at the Lyric Hammersmith from 19^th January to 11^th February 2023.

For full tour details please visit: https://www.franticassembly.co.uk/productions/othello-2

Frantic Assembly's Othello. Credit: Tristram Kenton.

The Clothes They Stood Up In

 Nottingham Playhouse

17^th September, 2022, matinee

“It never rains, but it pours”

Adrian Scarborough adapts and stars in the first stage production of Alan Bennett’s 1997 novella The Clothes They Stood Up In at Nottingham Playhouse. About a married couple who return from the opera to find their flat completely empty, the piece reflects on how we’re prone to complicating our lives with belongings, and explores unrealised dreams in a stifled marriage. In Adam Penford’s production, which has the pacing of a thriller, the result is a hugely enjoyable dark comedy in which Scarborough captures the essence of Bennett.

In adapting it from the page, Scarborough maintains the fluidity of the novella. We start in an opera house after the curtain falls on Così Fan Tutte quickly followed by a scene on the bus home. These short scenes demonstrate some witty observations which help to establish the characters of Mr and Mrs Ransome (Scarborough and Sophie Thompson). Firmly rooted in the trappings and routines of middle-class life, Scarborough quickly introduces us to the predicament in which they find themselves. On entering their Notting Hill apartment, they find it stripped bare. Furniture, clothes, pictures, teabags, even the toilet roll! Anything that’s not been nailed down and even some things that are have mysteriously vanished. Assuming they’ve been burgled the couple set about rebuilding their lives whilst also trying to solve who done it, how they pulled it off and why. One of the biggest achievements is that the play feels like it’s always belonged on the stage and feels part of the theatrical canon. I’ll avoid spoilers, but there’s a striking similarity with Bennett’s Enjoy (1980) in which the council wants to demolish a terraced house and rebuild it brick-by-brick in a museum. The accumulation of belongings over a lifetime is somewhat central to his People (2012) as well. In this way, it also somewhat reminded me of Michael Frayn’s Here (1993) in which, faced with an empty flat, a couple begin to construct their lives together.

Objects, then, carry meaning: they reflect where we’ve come from and what our social status is. Robbed of these possessions, what are we left with? For Rosemary Ransome in particular, it invites her to start again and think of new possibilities. She befriends the man who runs the corner shop, she discovers the internet, daytime TV and beanbags. The burglary even has some sexual awakenings. Thompson portrays her liberation, kindness and quiet hopes with care. Ultimately, she learns how to accept to let go and this is what sets her free. Maurice’s relationship to objects is more complex, in fact they seem to torment him more and more. Like with Ned in Jez Butterworth’s Parlour Song (2008), which also deals with disappearing belongings in a nightmarish world of middle-class inertia, Maurice loses his sense of self along with his belongings. Scarborough hilariously plays Maurice’s building frustrations, at one point climbing a drainpipe to try to retrieve them.

Scarborough has chosen to modernise the setting. References to mobile phones and Brexit occasionally jar with other dialogue but I feel this helps to emphasise how insular their lives are. The play is so much about the Ransome’s idiosyncrasies but, outside their flat, we’re privy to the very different world of multicultural, 21st century Britain. References to police waiting times, petty street crime, drug addiction and more show that Bennett firmly has his finger on the pulse of societal issues. Ned Costello, Charlie de Melo and Natasha Magigi all deftly bring to life a range of supporting characters to people the play.

From corner shops, buses, warehouses and (a range of!) apartments, Robert Jones’ eye for detail in his design is superb. Elevating the apartment slightly looks aesthetically pleasing but also adds to the feel that the Ransome’s lives are compartmentalised. As well as being a much welcome addition to Bennett’s work, Penford keeps the pace moving nicely so it feels like both a thriller and a comedic romp. It certainly gave the audience what they were looking for at the performance we saw.

The Clothes They Stood Up In plays at Nottingham Playhouse until 1^st October. For more information, please visit https://nottinghamplayhouse.co.uk/events/the-clothes-they-stood-up-in/

Adrian Scarborough and Sophie Thompson in The Clothes They Stood Up In.
Credit: The Other Richard