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The Indecent Musings Of Miss Doncaster 2007

Lion and Unicorn Theatre

Reviewed – 10th August 2019

★★★½

“Some lines are stellar but the occasional too-easy joke could be lost without ill effect”

2007 was a big year. The first iPhone hit the shelves, as did the last Harry Potter book. We got Gordon Brown as PM. And, in Doncaster, our ‘Miss Donny’ is crowned Miss Doncaster, with the sash and tiara to prove it. A starry start indeed – but The Indecent Musings of Miss Doncaster 2007 shows what happens next. And, spoiler alert: this is where the glamour ends.

The one-hander, written and performed by Annabel York, spans confessional, spoken word and stand-up, and although just how biographical it is isn’t clear, it’s hard not to see it as intimate. Staging (design by Elle Loudon) supports this; lighting and choreography are exceptional. The sound design (Jacob Welsh) is terrific; scenes of Donny dancing work brilliantly, with clever and thoughtful music choices and just the odd scene where the sound levels are awry and we struggle to follow York’s quickfire delivery.

Sound effects are also strong. The gentle hiss and suck of Donny’s father’s ventilator in the quieter moments she spends beside him (and the staggering silence that follows once it’s turned off) are particularly poignant. Given that the use of props is almost non-existent, effects do the hard yards in giving us a sense of place.

In the same vein, Rebecca Loudon’s skill in direction is clear, especially in the detail that sets up each scene – the clever little adjustments to the office chair height that tell us that Donny is once again slouched at the desk at her ghastly office job, for example.

Naturally in any solo show all eyes are on the performer, and the clearly-talented York doesn’t disappoint. Primarily a comic piece, almost all scenes are played for laughs. This is perhaps a shame, as York’s excellent and nuanced acting gets a fuller airing in the few emotionally-charged scenes. Make no mistake, though – York is incredibly funny, and throws herself around to terrific effect. We’re introduced to a cast of characters through her, not least the pageant queen persona, Miss Doncaster 2007, herself.

Garbed in the full regalia of evening gown, pink sash and twinkly crown, it’s this version of Donny that opens and closes the production. This deadens the night’s impact just a little; the opening scene is one of the weakest of all and the all-smiles characterisation of Donny’s showbiz embodiment is less affecting and harder to like. After the journey Donny has gone on, it feels reductive, too, to return to the crown and fixed grins at the end.

Generally, the whirlwind of Donny’s chaotic life can risk feeling a bit one-note; exploration of the emotional impact of some of her fraught sexual encounters, for example, including ones where her dates’ behaviours are downright abusive, is lacking. These disastrous, drunken dates are suggestive of Donny’s vulnerability but that gets lost when they’re unrelentingly played for laughs. This is a pity, as a message about female fragility and strength is suggested throughout (it can’t be an accident that empowering tracks by feminist superstars Lizzo and Janelle Monáe feature).

Scripting could also stand to be just a touch tighter. Some lines are stellar but the occasional too-easy joke (‘I call a spade a spade… unless it’s a shovel’) could be lost without ill effect, and a little more light and dark introduced into those more frenetically active scenes.

Raw emotion does come, though, as we see grief take over from nights out on the town, and it’s here that the performance really sings. Our Donny may not be the darling of Doncaster, crown and all, any more. But a new kind of stardom may just beckon – and she’ll be ready.

Reviewed by Abi Davies

The Indecent Musings Of Miss Doncaster 2007

Camden People’s Theatre until 10th August as part of Camden Fringe 2019

Last ten shows reviewed at this venue:

The Absolute Truth About Absolutely Everything | ★★★ | May 2018

A Fortunate Man | ★★★½ | June 2018

Le Misanthrope | ★★½ | June 2018

Ouroboros | ★★★★ | July 2018

Did it Hurt? | ★★★ | August 2018

Asylum | ★★★ | November 2018

George | ★★★★ | March 2019

Mojave | ★★★ | April 2019

Human Jam | ★★★★ | May 2019

Hot Flushes – The Musical | ★★★ | June 2019

Click here to see more of our latest reviews on thespyinthestalls.com

Alpha Who?

Cockpit Theatre

Reviewed – 7th August 2019

★★★

“a production to enjoy for the spectacle – and not, perhaps, for interrogating the themes too much”

Male suicide rates may be falling, but three of every four people losing their life to suicide in the UK are men. Toxic masculinity is on the rise and better understood, and gender roles are being interrogated more than perhaps ever before. Time, then, for a scrutiny of ‘the masculine’, and this is what creator and performer Matt Franco sets out to do, with remarkable physical vigour, in Alpha Who?

In Franco there’s definitely a sense that the audience are seeing something special. The physicality of this hour-long, one-man theatre and dance piece is astonishing, and it’s no surprise that Franco is drenched in sweat by the time the show ends. He displays a real muscular exertion as he contorts and hurls his frame around in display of the tensions between emotional expression and traditional interpretations of masculinity.

This, though, is perhaps where the production falters. This central premise – that if emotions and vulnerability remain unexpressed, men suffer – is not a new one, after all. There are some striking expressions of the physical impacts of repression, including some uncomfortable but effective on-stage urination, but by the end it feels as though we’ve seen at least one too many scenes of torrid contortions as feelings are variously contained or expelled.

Given, then, that this central tenet of the hazards of male emotional illiteracy is well recognised, there are missed chances here for wider exploration through Franco’s remarkable skill in movement. Frustratingly, even in seeking to explore these themes, some of the existing hoary stereotypes are in fact further cemented; the programme says that ‘if we’re to heal wounds that men hold within themselves, we must first explore how to engage the feminine within’ which surely only serves to sustain the binary ‘emotions = feminine’ that the piece is seeking to disrupt.

Similarly, is it helpful that the on-stage screens that serve effectively as artworks, maps, shields and cages here are pointedly pink and splashed with shapes calling to mind female genitalia? The closing scene is full of the promise of redemption, as our everyman moves towards a fuller range of emotional expression – but in the staging, as pinkish light shines through a screen and silhouettes a foetal Franco, are we being told that to thrive, the ‘masculine’ must simply become feminine? A healthier ‘man’ might perhaps be one for whom emotional health has been defined on its own terms, without needing to continue with the binary of male vs female (and on that note, given that the complexity of gender and its expression is becoming more fully recognised, it feels neglectful that the over-simplicity of ‘male vs female’ isn’t acknowledged).

Missed opportunities feel especially frustrating here given the calibre on display. The quality displayed in lighting design is perhaps explained by the notably large four-strong team of Naia Burucoa, Gail Sixsmith, Saverio Tonoli and Franco himself, and the music, by Sabio Janiak, is excellent. Alpha Who? is a production to enjoy for the spectacle – and not, perhaps, for interrogating the themes too much, at risk of being disappointed.

Lion and Unicorn Theatre

Reviewed – 10th August 2019

★★★½

“Some lines are stellar but the occasional too-easy joke could be lost without ill effect”

In the same vein, Rebecca Loudon’s skill in direction is clear, especially in the detail that sets up each scene – the clever little adjustments to the office chair height that tell us that Donny is once again slouched at the desk at her ghastly office job, for example.

Scripting could also stand to be just a touch tighter. Some lines are stellar but the occasional too-easy joke (‘I call a spade a spade… unless it’s a shovel’) could be lost without ill effect, and a little more light and dark introduced into those more frenetically active scenes.

Raw emotion does come, though, as we see grief take over from nights out on the town, and it’s here that the performance really sings. Our Donny may not be the darling of Doncaster, crown and all, any more. But a new kind of stardom may just beckon – and she’ll be ready.

Reviewed by Abi Davies

The Indecent Musings Of Miss Doncaster 2007

Camden People’s Theatre until 10th August as part of Camden Fringe 2019

Last ten shows reviewed at this venue:

Cockpit Theatre

Reviewed – 7th August 2019

★★★

“a production to enjoy for the spectacle – and not, perhaps, for interrogating the themes too much”

Reviewed by Abi Davies

Photography by Saverio Tonoli

Alpha Who?

Cockpit Theatre until 9th August as part of Camden Fringe 2019

Last ten shows reviewed at this venue: