A Small Mind At The Theatre

I have a confession to make from the outset here, I have neither read or have any recollection of ever having seen the movie Gone With The Wind. Incredible for sure for such a classic, but I feel certain that if I had watched a four hour film at any point in my life, I might have remembered it. This allowed me to feel the pain of the conscripted screenwriter Ben Hecht (Jof Davies), who hasn't read the book, as producer David O Selznick (Graham Follett) and Victor Fleming (Victor Guse) attempt to bring the novel to life in front of him. There are times that writer Ron Hutchinson perhaps makes Moonlight and Magnolias a little too wordy, however it does make the shear panic of the five day script writing our pain as well as those trapped in this cramped office with no other company than bananas, peanuts and occasional startled visits from Selznick's confused assistant Miss Poppenguhl (a nice performance of descending panic from Kate Ellis). It's a fun and chaotic play base...

As has often been the case I arrived totally cold as to what I was going to see and experience from The Playhouse's production of The Sunshine Boys. The writer Neil Simon was unknown to me (research today has told me that he wrote classics The Odd Couple and Barefoot In The Park, and it is true, shockingly, that I have seen neither), therefore what I was going to get either way was a surprise. All I really knew was that is was a comedy. How sharp, witty and caustically funny is was to be was a remarkable surprise. It was also great news to discover that one of my favourites of the Playhouse regulars, Graham Follett, was the main star. In all the shows I have seen, I have admired his generally soft and gentle approach to the roles. It was however a huge pleasure to see him playing against that type I have previously seen in the role of Willie Clark, a opinionated, miserable and often downright rude ex-vaudeville star, one half of a long dissolved double act. He is immediately perf...

I had my very first experience with J. B. Priestley in September this year with the smart and stylish BBC production of An Inspector Calls. Therefore I was greatly looking forward to seeing the Playhouse Theatre's production of Priestley's play I Have Been Here Before. There is a surprising similarity with An Inspector Calls mysterious Inspector and this plays Dr Gortler, both arrive unexpected and have a dramatic effect on every other single member of the audience. Playing Gortler is Graham Follett, with the same solid German accent he confidently had in The Dame Of Sark. I commented in my review of that, how much of a star he was with the controlled but very softly delivered nature of his lines. In this he was once again the same, pulling the strings of all the other characters via Priestley's fascinating script, but delicately. Follett's portrayal actually sets the pattern for everyone in this production as it all feels one of the more naturalistic plays I have s...

I am beginning to enjoy many of the amateur productions that Northampton offers as much as many of the professional ones. Some would say that this should be at odds with common sense because they have neither the budget, the time or the skilled actors (shall stop your right there buster). This is amateur dramatics darling, that is what it is all about. I have taken a liking a little more to these amateur ones perhaps because the performers seem more human to my unskilled eye. They occasionally fluff their lines, much like I forget to buy the milk. They didn't last night though at the rather quaint Playhouse Theatre. Maybe a hesitation or two, but certainly nothing involving cries from behind stage. The stage in question was, to quote the programme "the drawing room of the Seigneurie of Sark" and rather lovely it was as well. A typical am-dram set, not complicated and very functional. The play that took place upon it was The Dame Of Sark by William Douglas Home (brothe...