Tag Archives: Georgina Field

WILKO

★★★★

Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch

WILKO at the Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch

★★★★

“The show doesn’t just lay down the facts. It is a well-informed celebration. A nostalgia trip that also looks forward as well as backwards”

“Sometimes, if you’re lucky, you can tune into the ecstasy of life” declares John Wilkinson (more famously known as Wilko), bathed in the foggy orange glow of the Canvey Island oil refinery. Invariably Wilko was unlucky, yet he still managed to cling onto this ideology for dear life even – or rather especially – when it was slipping away from him. This is a man who bathes in the comfort of certainty; rejects religion and its tatty astrological and spiritual cast-offs in favour of science and creative pragmatism “being given twelve months to live is a great career move”. A rebel poet who never really grew up. An intellectual trapped in a chav’s body.

Jonathan Maitland’s biographical ‘play with music’ goes some way to explaining the outside forces that mould such a contradictory character but doesn’t dig too deep. Using quotations from Wilko himself, mixed with his own dynamic prose and the inimitable sound of Dr. Feelgood, Maitland opts for a more entertaining and dramatic approach. It is both a tribute and a tribute act. Dugald Bruce-Lockhart’s staging is quite a mash-up of styles that, on paper, should never work. On the stage, however, in the hands of a quintet of actor/musos it creates a powerful and compelling piece of theatre.

Wilko famously stated that his terminal cancer made him feel alive. Johnson Willis’ portrayal of him pulses with the same vitality and energy, and uncanny attention to detail. The roughcast Estuary drawl is as full of Shakespeare quotes as expletives and his tantrums burn with misunderstood indignation. If Willis has a strong grasp of the personality, he nails the physicality and musicianship; pacing around the stage with eyes like searchlights, his jerking head movements in time to the stark, percussive chords of his guitar, wielded like a machine gun. Willis’ star turn is matched by Jon House’s Lee Brilleaux – the band’s frontman – who died of cancer at the age of 41. We witness the bitter personality clash and arguments that broke up the band in the late seventies. In Maitland’s narrative they even extend beyond the grave as Brilleaux returns like Marley’s ghost, ultimately leading to a spectral reconciliation. House multiroles, as do the other cast members, displaying versatility and sleight of hand costume changes. David John, when not behind the drum kit brilliantly adopts many personas, as does Georgina Field, who predominantly convinces as bassist ‘Sparko’ with a persuasive, gender-swapped portrayal and stage presence.

“The cast excel at reproducing the Dr. Feelgood sound”

The love of Wilko’s life, Irene Knight, left him a widower a decade before his own cancer diagnosis. Georgina Fairbanks is no wallflower, and she presents a steely Irene, evoking how much she meant to Wilko and how much her untimely death – also from cancer – shaped the musician’s outlook on life. Not so successful are earlier flashbacks to Wilko’s childhood which hint at domestic violence and emotional abuse.

The show doesn’t just lay down the facts. It is a well-informed celebration. A nostalgia trip that also looks forward as well as backwards. Thankfully lacking in sentimentality there is still much pathos. And more than its fair share of humour. We drift in and out of reality as we shift from designer Nicolai Hart-Hansen’s hospital room backdrop to Thames Estuary skyline, to rehearsal room, to stage. The switch from dialogue to music is seamless too. The cast excel at reproducing the Dr. Feelgood sound, complete with the rough edges that “didn’t just usher in Punk, but fucking invented it!” as Wilko would say.

It is fitting that the show concludes with an encore rather than a curtain call. After some gorgeous, slightly surreal moments, including a beautiful a Capella rendition of Leadbelly’s ‘Goodnight Irene’ at Irene Knight’s funeral, the dry ice billows from the stage and the cast launch into a trio of upbeat, uplifting, foot stomping numbers. The band are in full swing, replicating the huge feelgood factor of Dr. Feelgood with staccato precision and virtuosity – particularly House’s impressive blues harp playing.

“Death gives me a technicolour gaze” hollers Wilko. This company give a technicolour performance. The filmmaker, Julian Temple, described Wilko Johnson as ‘one of the great English eccentrics, a great national treasure waiting to be discovered’. Jonathan Maitland’s “Wilko” is its own little treasure. Well worth discovering.


WILKO at the Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch

Reviewed on 7th February 2024

by Jonathan Evans

Photography by Mark Sepple


Previously reviewed at this venue:

THE WITCHFINDER’S SISTER | ★★★ | October 2021

WILKO

WILKO

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Midlife Cowboy

★★★

Pleasance Theatre

Midlife Cowboy

Midlife Cowboy

Pleasance Theatre

Reviewed – 19th September 2019

★★★

 

“All in all this is a lovely little show with the feel good factor”

 

Grab your stetson, pull on your cowboy boots, it’s time to dosey doe your way down to… Swindon. Yes, you heard right. In comedian Tony Hawks’ infectiously loveable new musical, the ‘tourist-free’ town plays host to the action. Following the everyday lives of its locals, who have a penchant for Country and Western, it’s a warm and relatable tale. What starts out as a wobbly and nerve-filled beginning to the show gives way to an assured, barn stomping second half.

Jane (Debra Stephenson) and Stuart (Tony Hawks) are a married couple who run the dwindling Swindon Country and Western Club, which is at a crossroads – much like their marriage. With only one other member, the socially inept Graham (Duncan Wisbey), they are in dire need of some fresh blood, especially if they want to win the coveted Railway Museum Gala Evening prize for best reenactment group. When two new members arrive, the vivacious Penny (Georgina Field) and kind natured Dan (James Thackeray), it certainly helps to shake things up, for better and for worse. Following the personal ups and downs of this motley crew, can this bunch of West Country cowboys put their issues to one side and show Swindon just what they can do?

It’s a welcome change to have a storyline about middle-aged relationships, especially when musicals are littered with young or first love. The writing and performances can turn a little melodramatic or predictable at times but nevertheless it’s still enjoyable to see a couple stuck in the mud, demonstrating how relationships aren’t always rosy. It’s even more refreshing witnessing Penny and Graham trying to find love again, later in life, forced to use such modern necessities as dating apps.

Tony Hawks and Debra Stephenson don’t quite have the acting chops that the other three supporting roles of Penny (Field), Graham (Wisbey), and Dan (Thackeray) have, but they seem fully aware, as a wonderfully tongue in cheek one liner about the ‘characters’ acting ability proves.

The songs certainly carry the show, highlighting Hawks’ comedy writing talent at its best. While some follow the generic Country music themes of love and heartbreak, others unconventionally ponder over Tinder and the joys of Swindon. The musical talents of the cast are admirable, particularly of the the supporting three who all alternate between playing drums, keys, guitar, bass, sax and oboe to name but a few. Stephenson also shows off her delicately pretty voice that suits her character well.

All in all this is a lovely little show with the feel good factor. It takes the cast time to find their feet but when they do it really does click. The story in Midlife Cowboy may be fairly slight with room to find more depth within relationships, but at the end of the day it’s a musical, there to entertain and play some catchy tunes, which it succeeds in doing. A well and truly yee-hawing good time!

 

Reviewed by Phoebe Cole

Photography by Adam Trigg

 


Midlife Cowboy

Pleasance Theatre until 6th October

 

Previously reviewed at this venue:
Aid Memoir | ★★★ | October 2018
One Duck Down | ★★★★★ | October 2018
The Archive of Educated Hearts | ★★★★ | October 2018
Call Me Vicky | ★★★ | February 2019
Neck Or Nothing | ★★★★ | April 2019
Night Of The Living Dead Live | ★★★ | April 2019
Don’t Look Away | ★★★½ | May 2019
Regen | ★★★ | May 2019
The Millennials | ★★½ | May 2019
Kill Climate Deniers | ★★★★ | June 2019

 

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