Skip to main content

Review of Quality Street at Royal & Derngate (Royal), Northampton

Before J. M. Barrie wrote Peter Pan he was actually more famous for the now little know farce Quality Street. Written in 1901 and set during Napoleonic times about a hundred years before that, this is a rather fabulous if extremely lightweight play. The play itself is now hardly ever performed, with this production from Northern Broadside and the New Vic Theatre one of the very few professional productions since the Second World War. including only one since then in London. It feels very unfair on the play considering that it is rather good entertainment, and nice to have a charge from the same endlessly regurgitated shows that come round and round like a bad penny.

The story tells of two sisters who start a school "for genteel children", following one of the sister's "suiter" heading off to serve in the war. That suiter Captain Valentine Brown however wasn't really interested in the sister Phoebe Throssel though, or was he? Much confusion ensues when Phoebe's niece Livvy "appears" culminating in much hilarity.

In addition to J. M. Barrie's original play, this new version from director Laurie Sansom captures anecdotes and play opinions from Halifax workers at the Quality Street chocolate factory that this play inspired the name of. It is an interesting and entertaining aspect of the show and gives modern commentary upon the play as the cast members play representations of these people in the show. They open the proceedings, provide set changes and further play comments, and finally discuss the play at the end with the characters of Barrie's play. It is a unique premise and generally works extremely well.

Leading the cast as Phoebe is a delightfully strong performance from Paula Lane, sharp clarity of delivery, and full to the brim of the period, with the exception of her brilliant anachronistic dance moves. Aron Julius as Captain Brown has a great towering presence, vocally strong and cutting a fine figure. His comic touches also are sublime, with a first-class moment in his removal of Livvy late in the second act.

Louisa-May Parker gives a suitably mousey performance as Susan, Phoebe's sister, and her reaction and handling of that Livvy moment (it is the best scene of the play, so my apologies for the second mention) is totally priceless and resulted in tears of laughter from this reviewer. Gilly Tompkins as Patty, and indeed factory worker Barbara, is also hilarious, effortlessly stealing every scene she appears in. The rest of the cast also delight in this very strong company, with no bad egg among them.

Jessica Worrall's set design is a curiosity, nicely dressed with furniture, albeit, somewhat plain at times, but structured by a very strange metal framework including gates. It works, but only just. Where perhaps the lavish beauty of the piece is lost on the set, it is very much found in the work of the costume design team, particularly the gowns for the ball designed like the chocolate wrappers of Quality Street. A nice touch. Add to this, some rather curious, but entertaining child puppets, and you have a nicely visually appealing show.

Quality Street is lovely entertainment, and it is a crying shame that it is rarely performed. It attempts nothing ground-breaking, but just simply entertains in a gentle way, but also provides a few truly cracking moments of humour. A sweetly delightful piece of theatre.

Absolutely spiffing and relaxing entertainment!
⭐⭐⭐

Performance reviewed: Tuesday 4th April 2023 at the Royal & Derngate (Royal), Northampton.

Quality Street is at Royal & Derngate until 8th April 2023.

For further details about the Royal & Derngate and to book tickets see their website at http://www.royalandderngate.co.uk

Production photos: Andrew Billington


Popular posts from this blog

Review of Lord Of The Dance at Royal & Derngate (Derngate), Northampton

The stage show Lord of the Dance possibly needs little introduction to most people, as it has become a legend and now, in this touring version, subtitled rather immodestly, 25 Years of Standing Ovations, it reaches a landmark anniversary. Those that do not know of the show would probably well know its spiritual fathers Michael Flatley, and even more likely Riverdance , from which Lord of the Dance sprung with a proper spring in its step. During the interval of the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest, Riverdance hit the world by storm as Michael Flatley and his troop of dancers possibly presented the most famous part of Eurovision ever, certainly of the non-singing variety at least. Here, this touring show brings that same style Flatley created from traditional Irish dancing across the country once again and it is truly something special to see. The concept of the show is simply a battle between good and evil told through dance, and some captivating and stunning songs performed by Celyn Cartw...

Review of Rambert Dance in Peaky Blinders - The Redemption of Thomas Shelby at Royal & Derngate (Derngate), Northampton

The Rambert Dance Company is the oldest such company in Britain having first performed in 1926. However, despite this, this was my first encounter with the group in my ten years of theatre-going. Coupled with this, it was also my first encounter with Peaky Blinders , having never seen the show, and only knowing a few vague things about it. My companion for the evening however was very familiar with the show, allowing some background behind the show. It turns out though,  Rambert Dance in Peaky Blinders - The Redemption of Thomas Shelby needs a little more than a good bit of knowledge of the show, as despite this production having incredible style, there struggles to be a cohesive structure to the show and the storytelling. Much more than other dance shows as well. The first act does a whistle-stop tour of the first five seasons and while it is a feast on the eye, and on the ear, it gets extremely confusing at times. The second act is freestyle and drifts away from the stories tol...

Camden Fringe Review: FEET by Emma And Lawrence Wrote A Play at Etcetera Theatre, London

While some issue plays tend to miss the point of providing fun and entertainment as well as making their point on a relevant issue, FEET is certainly not one of them. Written, produced, directed and performed by the two-person team of Emma And Lawrence Wrote A Play, this is clearly a labour of love of the two, full names Emma Brown and Lawrence Smith, it is fun and engaging throughout. It's "issue" is loosely about selling your body for money or art and how far you might be willing to push it. Lucy Winwood (Emma Brown) is your typical young actress, struggling hard to get those money making roles, or roles in general, and in need of money she stumbles upon the world of feet fetishism (as you, of course, would) and slowly from just images of her feet sold online, it becomes feet in jelly and then finally personal meetings with clients for full on feet interaction. The path that FEET takes is that is this denigration of your body in selling your feet actually worse than...