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WHITE CHRISTMAS

★★★★

The Mill at Sonning

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WHITE CHRISTMAS

The Mill at Sonning

★★★★

“There is a simplicity to the evening that allows the storytelling and the inherent values of its message shine through”

The rain is falling from a dark, wintry sky and storm Darragh is rumbling away in the near distance heralding its arrival across the home counties. But down at the Mill at Sonning, tucked away in a nook by the river, one’s dreams of a White Christmas are being granted – if only for a few hours. Step over the threshold and you are indeed stepping right into the festive season. Just like the ones we used to know.

It doesn’t matter how many times you’ve seen the Crosby and Kaye movie over the years, Jonathan O’Boyle’s revival of the stage version is as fresh as it is familiar. Jason Kajdi and Connor Hughes as Bob Wallace and Phil Davies – the former WWII soldiers turned celebrity double-act – share the same infectious camaraderie as Bing and Danny, but with a more youthful, wide-eyed approach to the world around them. Their bond is a prime example of ‘opposites attract’. Hughes’ Phil cannot get enough of the fairer sex (are you allowed to use that term these days?) while Kajdi steers his character away from love like sheltering from the “unpredictable, irresponsible, unbelievable, unreliable” weather.

The plot, slim as it is, and characterisation (rich as it is) come across with clarity through the fine voices of the cast. The duo recruit sisters, Betty and Judy (Gabriella Williams and Nic Myers), into their act, sweeping the four of them into a tangled romance that forms the backbone of the comedy. They end up in Vermont, New York, at a Christmas holiday lodge run by their old Major General from the army (Mark Curry). The former general sank his life savings into the inn but has fallen on hard times as the lack of snow is keeping his customers away. Hatching a plan to save his business, and restore his self-esteem, Bob and Phil trigger a series of misunderstandings and near break-ups with the girls before realisation and reconciliation comes to the rescue. You get the idea. O’Boyle’s trim and elegant staging will give you a much better idea.

There is a simplicity to the evening that allows the storytelling and the inherent values of its message shine through. Jason Denvir’s uncluttered sets, with David Howe’s lighting are all about atmosphere. This is a show that creates moods rather than spectacle and is all the more heart-warming for these choices. As the sister act, Williams and Myers match the boys’ chemistry, exemplified in the iconic number ‘Sisters’ (also beautifully and hilariously parodied by Bob and Phil). Irving Berlin’s music and lyrics are served well by the core cast and the ensemble who handle the dynamics of the score with ease, from the razzmatazz to the intimate. An unseen seven-piece band perfectly follows – and leads – the highs and lows of Berlin’s melodies and lyricism. All the favourites are all there: ‘Happy Holiday’, Love and the Weather’, ‘The Best Things Happen When You’re Dancing’, ‘I Love a Piano’… and so on. A star turn by Shirley Jameson as Martha, the holiday inn’s housekeeper, lifts her solo number ‘Falling Out of Love Can Be Fun’ into one of the highlights.

The production is in no rush, and the first act shows tentative signs of outstaying its welcome. However, we are in no rush at all for the evening to reach its sugar-coated but deliciously festive and heart-warming finale. We are too busy being drawn into the comfort and joy of the performances. There are no surprises. We know exactly what’s beneath the wrapping. But it is all we could have wished for. It may still be raining outside, but inside the Mill at Sonning it is snowing. Our dreams of a White Christmas have come true indeed. The show is a dream.


WHITE CHRISTMAS at The Mill at Sonning

Reviewed on 6th December 2024

by Jonathan Evans

Photography by Pamela Raith

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Previously reviewed at this venue:

BEDROOM FARCE | ★★★★ | August 2024
THREE MEN IN A BOAT | ★★★ | June 2024
CALENDAR GIRLS | ★★★★ | April 2024
HIGH SOCIETY | ★★★★ | December 2023
IT’S HER TURN NOW | ★★★ | October 2023
GYPSY | ★★★★★ | June 2023
TOP HAT | ★★★★ | November 2022
BAREFOOT IN THE PARK | ★★★★ | July 2022

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Ten Times Table

★★★★

Theatre Royal Windsor & UK Tour

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Ten Times Table

Ten Times Table

Theatre Royal Windsor

Reviewed – 27th January 2020

★★★★

 

“every character vivid and witty as the play builds to its satisfyingly mad climax”

 

Sir Alan Ayckbourn is probably England’s best-known living playwright, and almost certainly its most successful. With more than 80 plays to his credit, he’s celebrated for a string of biting comedies that poke enthusiastic fun at the adulterous middle classes. At 80, he’s still writing, but was at his high point in the seventies and eighties, with a record-breaking five plays once running simultaneously in the West End. These days he’s also often the subject of university theses, with some seeing more than sparkling comedy and huge box office success in the darker side of his writing.

‘Ten Times Table’ was written in 1977, after the playwright endured a year of seemingly interminable committee meetings as his Scarborough theatre prepared to move. Yes, at least in the first half, this is ‘a predominantly sedentary farce’ about committee meetings, according to its author. It’s also something of an allegory for the politics of its day, when union activism was just taking off, and Margaret Thatcher was preparing to take power. But don’t be put off! In the hands of this team of seasoned Ayckbourn performers, directed by the excellent Robin Herford, an excellent evening’s entertainment is guaranteed.

The play opens as Robert Daws (Tuppy Glossop in Jeeves & Wooster) enters the darkened ballroom of a tatty three star hotel. He and Deborah Grant (playing his wife) are the mainstays of the play, which has a large cast by Ayckbourn’s standards. As Ray, Daws has a repertoire of funny vocal mannerisms that are just right for a pedantic committee Chairman. With her big hair and bigger speeches, there’s more than a passing resemblance to Margaret Thatcher in Grant’s smart performance as his wife. Her protagonist is a Marxist teacher of modern history who becomes obsessed with bringing to life a working class hero in a historical pageant (an excellent performance by Craig Gazey, Graeme Proctor in ‘Coronation Street’). The rest of the cast are equally strong, with every character vivid and witty as the play builds to its satisfyingly mad climax.

It’s also worth mentioning some satisfying design backing up the performers in this traditional-looking show (Michael Holt, with sound and lighting by Dan Samson and Jason Taylor).

A play about committees and the posturing follies of British political life? In these capable hands we’re guaranteed a good evening that brought appreciative whistles and cheers from a good-natured audience at the start of its short Windsor run.

 

Reviewed by David Woodward

Photography by Pamela Raith

 


Ten Times Table

Theatre Royal Windsor until 1st February then UK tour continues

 

Previously reviewed at this venue:
The Trials Of Oscar Wilde | ★★★★ | March 2019
Octopus Soup! | ★★½ | April 2019
The Mousetrap | ★★★★ | October 2019
The Nutcracker | ★★★★ | November 2019
What’s In A Name? | ★★★★ | November 2019

 

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