March 6, 2017 marks the centenary of the birth of a comedy legend: Frankie Howerd, who was and still is “one of Britain’s best-loved comedians”.
A radical, whose courage and innovation as a performer have too often been obscured by cosy nostalgia, he was the first stand-up to dispense with conventional punchlines and slick patter, instead crafting stumbling, surreal streams of insecurity, based on his sense of inadequacy, disappointment and sheer unsuitability to the very job of being a comedian. In his refusal to ‘do’ comedy like everyone else had done, he paved the way for other non-conformists like The Goons, Monty Python and Eddie Izzard.
Set in the living room of Wavering Down, the Somerset home of Howerd and Dennis Heymer, Howerd’s End, is a punchy, passionate, revealing two-handed drama. It explores through a series of flashbacks the development of Howerd’s style of comedy – from his first appearance on the BBC radio programme Variety Bandbox in 1947 to his final performances in the 1990s when he had a reinvention as a cult godfather of stand up.
The play also shines an unflinching spotlight on the clandestine union which made Frankie’s big dipper of a career possible: his extraordinary 35-year relationship with his lover, Heymer, a wine waiter Frankie met in 1958 at the Dorchester Hotel while dining with Sir John Mills. Howerd was 40 and Heymer was 28. He would go on to become Howerd’s manager and anchor, but his existence was strictly guarded from the public, not least because for many years the relationship was illegal and the couple feared blackmail if anyone beyond their immediate circle found out.
Howerd’s End also shows the other cost of fame – Howerd’s neurosis, his unfaithfulness and use of LSD that pushed his career and relationship to the brink of destruction. It also highlights Heymer’s struggle: seemingly content with coming second, yet yearning to hear how much he was appreciated, and wondering if the love into which he had deeply fallen was, in truth, unrequited.
More than simply a tribute show about a comedian who outlasted them all, Howerd’s End is also a piercingly honest love story about a relationship that tried to defy every odd – including death. Above all, the play confronts every human’s toughest challenge: letting go.
“There’s blood, there’s gore and a mighty rock gig score”
So you thought ‘Bat out of Hell, the Musical’ would be your only chance to experience a top notch rock musical this year? Well think again, Lizzie’s in town!
Based around true events of the late 19th century, Lizzie tells the grim story of the Bordens, a well off Massachusetts family comprising Lizzie (Bjorg Gamst), her older sister Emma (Eden Espinosa), their father and stepmother.
The girls’ mother had died when Lizzie was small, but Emma (who was nine years older), remembered her well and despised the stepmother. When she starts to have more and more influence on their father, the girls become deeply concerned about this wretched woman’s impact on their lives. Deadly consequences would follow.
The musical doesn’t directly feature the parents (they ‘sort of’ appear but it would be a spoiler if I said more), instead it focuses on the two sisters, Alice Russell (their neighbour and close friend of Lizzie) and the family’s maid, Bridget Sullivan (Jodie Jacobs).
It’s a dark tale exploring not only the fateful events of summer 1892, but looking at the type of man their father really was and examining the kind of relationships Lizzie was having with her friend Alice (Bleu Woodward) and those around her.
There is a strong rock score throughout which may not at first appeal to lovers of more traditional musicals. Don’t be put off though, there are clever lyrics and the vocal performances of all four of the cast are electric. The songs themselves are all quite rocky in structure but range from ballad to all out headbangers. You’ll be a rock fan before you know it.
Simply staged (which works really well for this style of musical), with some rear projections and a few props. One of the best technical parts of the evening is the lighting (Martin Jensen), which is part rock concert part musical theatre and part awesome! Costume design is also excellent ranging from plain period smocks to sultry leather vixen outfits.
Lizzie is one of those rare productions where you cannot find a single member of the cast you’d describe as outstanding. That’s because in Lizzie they all are, as are the members of the accompanying band (unusually for the theatre they all got to join the curtain call which was a nice touch).
Lizzie was a smash hit last year at the Fredericia Teater, Denmark and it looks like being the same again in Greenwich.
