Tag Archives: Hoxton Hall

Oranges & Elephants – 3 Stars

Oranges

Oranges & Elephants

Hoxton Hall

Reviewed – 25th January 2018

β˜…β˜…β˜…

“the evening becomes muddled when Music Hall and Musical Theatre seem to pitch battle against each other”

 

You can see why Lil Warren, the writer and creator behind β€œOranges and Elephants”, fell in love with Hoxton Hall. Restored to its former glory it seems to bring history to life the moment you walk in. The perfect setting, then, for her new musical about rival Victorian gangs and their links to London’s Music Hall world.

Impeccably researched (Warren is an East End girl herself) it focuses on two all-female street gangs: the β€˜Elephants’ and the more psychotic β€˜Oranges’. We are at the tail end of a long running feud as they battle against their wits, each other, and extinction. The all female cast, far from being a modern day, buzz worthy contrivance, pinpoints the historical truth that this underworld wasn’t just the preserve of men. This is a story of how important your wits are to survive if you are poor and a woman in Victorian London. But gender aside, it is difficult to believe in the characters’ desperation and fear when they often drift into caricature.

The evening is presided over by the ringmaster figure of Susannah van den Berg who narrates with equal measures of gusto and smut, getting the audience firmly on her side. She leads us through the streets of London, and through the action. Into the midst of the gang warfare, the ingΓ©nue (but don’t be fooled by appearances) runaway Mary wanders. She wants to be a Music Hall star, while the leaders of the two gangs both want to β€˜own’ her. Mary is initially ensnared by Flo (a convincingly cutthroat Kate Adams), the leader of the β€˜Oranges’, until Nellie of the β€˜Elephants’ falls in love with her and they try to escape from thievery to the bright lights of Piccadilly.

Although concisely conveyed, the evening becomes muddled when Music Hall and Musical Theatre seem to pitch battle against each other, and the strength of the narrative gets lost in the scuffle. That said, the level of musicianship is consistently excellent and there are some very memorable and outstanding numbers in Jo Collins’ score. Liz Kitchen’s Sondheimesque solo to name one, along with a fierce revenge ballad superbly delivered by the charismatic Rebecca Bainbridge. But the stars of the show are undoubtedly the multi-talented Christina Tedders who plays Nellie, and Sinead Long (the runaway Mary). It is no surprise to see them share a heart-wrenching duet before tragedy strikes. Tedders’ virtuosity on the violin is matched by her singing voice, while Long has star quality written all over her.

At over two hours this is initially a slow burner that does eventually win you over. With a bit of pruning it could make its job that much easier. Yes – it is the perfect musical for Hoxton Hall – but, like the characters within it, it might find it a struggle to outreach its life expectancy if it strays from its home turf. I’d like to think it has a long and healthy life, and if it can adapt and survive, it deserves to find a wider audience out there.

 

Reviewed by Jonathan Evans

Photography by Sharron Wallace

 

Hoxton Hall

Oranges & Elephants

Hoxton Hall until 10th February

 

 

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Salome – 3*

 

Salome

Hoxton Hall

Opening Night –Β 3 February 2017

⭐️⭐️⭐️

“decadent party atmosphere captured perfectly and pleasing to the eye”

 

The Hoxton Hall was certainly looking the part for Anastasia Revi’s take on this Oscar Wilde tragedy. Centred in this beautifully restored 1860s music hall was a banquet table, draped in red and laden with wine and fruit. Vines tumbled from the upper levelsΒ on to the stage. The scene was set.

TheΒ events and characters have been re-imagined and the action is now set in the 1930s. Herod (Konstantinos Kavakiotis) is a debonair slightly sleazy gent celebrating his birthday with his Queen (Helen Bang)Β and guests. In a seamy fashion he begs his beautiful sultry stepdaughter, Salome (Denise Moreno) to dance for him for his birthday and after much cajoling and the offer of any reward she so chooses, she agrees.

Salome performs a ‘dance of seven veils’ for him, satisfying his lust for her. At the end of the dance he asks her her wish. She demandsΒ the head of prophet Iokannan (Matthew Wade), much to the horror of Herod. The reason turns out was that she had unreciprocated love for Iokannan (John the Baptist) and this was her cruel revenge. Herod and his servant (Tobias Deacon) try unsuccessfully to lure her with other treasures such as wondrous jewels or beautiful white peacocks. Yet she refuses and her wish in carried out.

Most of the action takes place around the central banqueting table. The parts that don’t are difficult to see – the seating arrangement (with perhaps the most bizarre numbering system ever) made it difficult to see anything other than directly ahead. There’s no rake and the seats are small and close together which didn’t help matters.

The cast were pleasant to watch, beautiful costumes (Valentina Senna) and some nicely paced action. At times some of the delivery was a bit ‘shouty’ making it difficult to fully comprehend what was being said and indeed follow exactly what was going on.

As previously mentioned, the setting for the play was however superb. The decadent party atmosphere captured perfectly and pleasing to the eye. Yet there seemed to be something missing, some how the characters didn’t entirely fit together.

For me the character Eros (Annabelle Brown), who started off as a strangely charming, instrument playing delight soon became irritating and distracting. Some of the scenes as well became hard to follow (possibly due to not being able to see the characters when they moved away from the table).

 

Altogether fairly pleasing to watch but tricky at times (for me at least!) to follow.

 

Salome is at the Hoxton Hall until 11th February