Skip to main content

Review of Bert's House at Royal & Derngate (Royal), Northampton

Bert's House
is a true Northampton homegrown production from On The Shore Productions, this piece has been written, cast, produced and opened on stage for a short tour at the beautiful Royal Theatre at the centre of Northampton, and while here for two nights it found a loving local audience to set it off on its adventures.

Bert's House tells the tale of kindly guest house owner Bert and his trials and tribulations within his slightly ramshackle Dunedin Guest House residence in what appears to be an equally ramshackle seaside resort. The house, it seems, is also, a draw for the most quirky of visitors, and equally wacky staff. However, it seems, that a few of both the residents and staff have nefarious reasons for being there.

Bert's House is an extremely quirky affair, floating in a surreal world, which both follows its own paths as well as paying endless tributes to British comedy through the years, including many nods to sitcoms of yesteryear. The script, from standup comedian Lou Chawner, who also stars as Bert, veers from the hysterical to the awkward on many occasions, and while it does have a plot, of sorts, it is, very predictable, so much so that it doesn't even hide any potential twists.

There is also an all too regular habit of it feeling very much a standup work as structurally it is less successful as a play, but more that of a standup routine, come sketch show. If that is what you are expecting, it is great entertainment perhaps, and allows you to forgive the misses in the jokes. Those looking for a straight comedy play might feel slightly short-changed perhaps though. It is extremely funny at times, however, and especially much stronger in the second half as the characters bed down. Without a doubt, there are some genuinely brilliant moments. Bert's ukelele tribute to Emily for instance and bellybutton antics. Be warned though, while this isn't an overly sweary show, there are some extremely rude jokes peppered across the evening.

The cast has a mixture of success. Chawner is likeable as Bert and knows very much his Northampton audience very well, but how this works away from town will depend as he has a mostly unknown audience to play to. Lisa Ronaghan's Emily does feel overplayed for wackiness, with very little shade in her performance. Elsewhere Taresh Solanki suffers dramatically from the weakest character of Michael Robinson, who, when hen-pecked by his wife, is given rather a lot of simply excruciating material to perform. As his wife, Mrs Robinson however, Gemma Boaden very quickly improves into the second act from a very rocky first impression.

The strongest performances, and indeed characters are, however, the simply brilliant Mr Stevens, played by Scott Bradley. It's a magical character responsible for the bulk of the humour in the show whenever he appears in a variety of garish, nightmare-inducing costumes and situations. Finally, there is a superb, centred performance from Isla Fleury as Jane, without question the strongest in the show, getting the balance of making her character comic but totally believable. Excellent!

Bert's House is directed with pace by Dan McGarry, allowing us to get away from those moments that miss the mark as quickly as possible and it has to be said that the set from Deborah Mingham, while, very simple, is actually rather delightful and fits the show extremely well.

Summing up, Bert's House is a success, but, there is at times a little too much rough material, and does have a feeling that it isn't quite finished. Perhaps, the whole thing will gel as it progresses through its tour, and I really hope, as a truly bold effort to get a show like this on stage, coupled with touring, it gets the success it deserves.

Slightly rough around the edges, but Bert's House still has much to offer.


Performance reviewed: Friday 1st April 2024 at the Royal & Derngate (Royal), Northampton.

Bert's House was performed at Royal & Derngate on Thursday 29th February and Friday 1st March 2024 only but is on tour.

Tour details can be found at https://linktr.ee/ontheshore

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

Photos: Rebecca Cockcroft


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 Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at Milton Keynes Theatre

There have been numerous productions of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's groundbreaking musical since it first appeared in 1968 and opened in the West End in 1973. One might wonder if there is still room for another tour. However, judging by the packed audience in Milton Keynes Theatre for the opening night of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat , much interest remains for this show. Also, with this production first seen at The London Palladium in June 2019, and with a few production elements altered, Joseph still has, after all those years, the room to change and evolve. However, the question is, does this change help or hinder the show's history? For those unfamiliar with Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, it tells the story of Joseph, Jacob's favourite son, in a lighthearted and musical style that jumps between various genres. Joseph's brothers are somewhat envious of him, leading to them selling him into slavery to an Egyptian nobleman. As for ...

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...