In this new and engaging musical written by
Kirsten Childs, young Viveca Stanton AKA Bubbly, (Karis Jack), lives her
life in a bubble.
As a young middle-class black girl, living in
1960’s California, the civil rights movement is in full swing and her
family’s advice to the obvious racism around her is to smile.
She progresses to school where cruel white
children advise her to stop being an ‘Oreo’ (great biscuits she says!)
pretending to be white and get real.
Her white, blonde doll Chitty Chatty, (Jessica
Pardoe) advises the fantasist bubble as a continuing option – then
monumentally breaks down to tell the truth about Vivica’s potential as
an intelligent black girl with real dreams.
As Vivica develops in ‘new love’ era of the
1970s, she meets hippy ‘Cosmic Rainbow’ (LLanyll Gove) tells her that
her ‘real’ hair makes her look like Jimi Hendrix. It is the start . . .
She grows up, moves to New York to pursue her
dream of being the ‘best dancer in the world’, and her new influences
offer different advice – and in a nice touch, a different actor (Sophia
Mackay) takes over, watched by the younger Vivica, cuddly her even
younger self as a doll. Her minder and neighbour Gregory Robinson (Jay
Marsh) gently leads her towards the truth of her own situation. The
scene where they are attacked by the white police officers is truly
shocking.
Enough of the story, the songs were amazing – I
loved each one more than the last but the Dance Class has stuck in my
mind, the beautiful song her father (Trevor A Toussaint) sings. Granny’s
advice (Shelley Williams) is just plain brilliant; a gospel number about
advice to Lucas (Ashley Joseph), Vivica’s first grown up love, to always
have a spare woman. Sharon Wattis plays mum and Matt Dempsey plays
Director Bob who chooses Vivica at the start of her career on Broadway.
All the company play many, many parts throughout.
I did think of Hairspray a few times, but that’s
no bad thing, and enjoyed the energy and honesty of the piece. It has a
story to tell, across several decades and, though the battle isn’t won,
this piece offers a useful parable of one woman’s journey of standing up
to internalised and institutional racism. Directed by Josette Bushell-Mingo,
this co-production by Belgrade Theatre and Theatre Royal Stratford East
runs to 08-04-17.
