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Stars explained: * A production of no real merit
with failings in all areas. ** A production showing evidence of not
enough time or effort, or even talent, and which never breathes any real
life into the piece – or a show lumbered with a terrible script. *** A
good enjoyable show which might have some small flaws but has largely
achieved what it set out to do.**** An excellent show which shows a
great deal of work and stage craft with no noticeable or major
flaws.***** A four star show which has found that extra bit of magic
which lifts theatre to another plane. |
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Delightful play, pity about the name The Odd Couple (Female Version) Billesley Players The Old Rep, Birmingham **** IT is the play with just about the ugliest, clumsiest name on the circuit, but Iain Neville's production ensures that it overcomes its built-in bracketed drawback with aplomb. Even so, it is hard to believe that a playwright
as felicitous as Neil Simon could not have thought of a title that
matched his talent and reputation, instead of treating the original male
version as a convenient hook on which to hang another story of
ill-assorted apartment-sharers. That said, this is an account that brims with
well-furnished fun. The sloppy Olive and the meticulous Florence have
been thrown together when Florence's marriage has fallen apart after 14
years. As we watch their partnership develop, we have no qualms about
enjoying its chuckle-filled fruits. For us simple theatregoers, this was
a marital disaster made in heaven. Florence – or Flo – is the hygienic, fussy fanatic, though no one seeing her pick up those littering crisps on the first night, not on the same day that they had been dropped because the curtain had also dropped in the meantime, would have had cause to suspect this, had the unscripted tidying been seen in isolation. But this account by Sheila Parkes is a delight of
disciplined orderliness – spiced at one point by her extraordinary
attempt to unblock Flo's ears and only straining her throat for her
trouble. INNOCENT IMPISHNESS Gemma Harris, as Olive, is a joy of innocent impishness beneath a wondrously curly wig which at times she did not seem to trust to remain in place. Not that this was allowed to get in the way of a lovely performance as the woman required against her will to keep her hormones in check in the absence of any male company. She has a way of puffing her cheeks as part of a
wild, wide-eyed grin that is irresistibly infectious. This is a splendid pairing and it thrives on its
responsibilities as the centrepiece of the plot – but it does have
amusing support all round, particularly from Leon Salter and Edward
Fellows in their version of two amiable Spaniards who are inadvertently
at war with the English language. Then there are Claire Davies (Silvie), Patricia
Hands (Renée), Samantha Broome (Vera, the blonde who has been known to
spend 20 minutes talking to a security guard before discovering he was a
statue) and Jo Wall (Mickey, the New York cop who appears to spend her
off-duty life in uniform as she joins the others in an eternal board
game). All make a pleasing contribution, with Claire Davies having a
particularly joyful exit line. This is a happy production by a talented group.
It is a shame that its two-day run is over before the world at large
realises it has started, but those patrons alert to its circumscribing
are very well rewarded, To 11.06.11. John Slim |
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