“poignantly explores the highs and lows that come with a long-term relationship”
Over the years there have been some iconic love stories that have been shown on stage and screen: Romeo and Juliet, Kathy and Heathcliff, Elizabeth Bennett and Mr Darcy, Sandy and Danny, Harry once he met Sally … the list is endless. However, it is very rare that you get to see beyond the happy ever after (or the tragic young death in the case of poor Juliet and her Romeo). Old Fools, at the Southwark Playhouse, poignantly explores the highs and lows that come with a long-term relationship. As the show’s playwright, Tristan Bernays, explains: “sometimes (relationships) they’re amazing; sometimes they’re f*****g hard; but that’s the deal. Can’t have one without the other”. With no set and no stage directions, this is a very stripped back and honest piece of theatre. It’s the actors and nothing else, baring their souls and crushing the audience with their honesty.
Through a series of snapshots, we are introduced to the couple Tom (Mark Arends) and Viv (Frances Grey). From their first meet in Paris, right up until their twilight years where Viv is lovingly caring for Tom now struck down with Alzheimer’s, we weave back and forth between the key moments of their life together.
Bernays’ skilful use of language cleverly draws scenes together by topping and tailing them with the same line of dialogue – just under different contexts. Likewise, movement director Lucie Pankhurst proves originality in the way she can smoothly make a moment turn from the embrace of young lovers, to an elderly wife lowering her incapacitated husband down to sit.
The chemistry between the actors Mark Arends and Frances Grey is truly magnificent. Grey effortlessly shifts between the characters of wife, daughter, doctor, whilst Arends gives a heart-breaking performance as a man who is gradually caught in the dreadful grips of such a debilitating disease. The real triumph is seeing Alzheimer’s exposed on stage in such a brutally true light. With statistically more of us likely to develop some form of dementia, Old Fools is a stark reality check of what could lie ahead in our future. Nevertheless, as much as Bernays’ work elicits many a tear and a sniffle from the audience, it also produces some heart-felt belly laughs at his witty repartee between Tom and Viv.
“Tessa Kadler … nails the comedy but melts the heart with the purity of her singing voice”
Written in 1972, “Pippin” uses the ‘play within a play’ concept to recount the story of Pippin, a young prince on his search for meaning and significance in his life. The fourth wall is broken from the outset in what is quite a stunning opening as the players, lead by the formidable Genevieve Nicole as ringmaster-cum-emcee, launch into the prologue number, ‘Magic To Do’.
Jonathan Boyle’s upbeat production at Southwark Playhouse lives up to this promise. Most of the time. That is no mean feat, as in less able hands this show could so easily fall apart under the weaknesses of the book. The story is derived from the real life medieval characters; ‘Pepin’ and his father ‘Charlemagne’, although there is no historical accuracy beyond the use of the names. Charting Pippin’s rite of passage the narration purposefully feels improvised, but the technique grates after a while and any intended poignancy is lost in the confusion.
On his quest for fulfilment, Pippin joins the army fighting for his father, but then leads a political rebellion against him and usurps the throne. Still unfulfilled he flees to the country and sets up home with a widow and her son. But he is still unsatisfied. One could share Pippin’s frustration if this haphazardly lazy fable wasn’t rescued by Stephen Schwartz’s score. What Schwartz brings to the stage is fresh and modern but also recognisable in its influences, tipping his hat to Gilbert and Sullivan, Bernstein, Kander and Ebb, Motown, and adding his own pop sensibilities. William Whelton’s masterful choreography is unmistakable in its homage to Bob Fosse who choreographed and directed the original Broadway production.
Jonathan Carlton’s Pippin is part ‘boy band’ and ‘boy-next-door’, a charming mix that fits the role, but the show stealer is Tessa Kadler as the widow, Catherine, who nails the comedy but melts the heart with the purity of her singing voice.
But overall the initial promise of magic isn’t quite sustained. The comedy doesn’t always work: there is a feeling of trying too hard which is disengaging and which conflicts with the absurdity of the piece. The company should embrace the nonsense, or dispense with the plot entirely. The sideshow quality of Maeve Black’s design adds a touch of seediness and sexiness and Aaron J. Dootson’s lighting is spot on ‘Cabaret’. As a revue this would be the perfect show. The all singing, all dancing cast are faultless and with the eight piece band led by musical director, Zach Flis, it is a quite spectacular evening.
Just as Schwartz’s lyrics proclaim, the committed cast do perform magic. It is quite a conjuring trick to bring to life Roger O. Hirson’s flimsy text. The music has soul, but the story lacks heart.
