Fine and Dandy

Arcola Theatre

Reviewed – 26th February 2018

★★★★★

“a well matched and skilled ensemble who clearly enjoy the challenges presented by playing a huge range of character”

This wonderful tale of the adventures of Ernest Faigele Fine is a gender fluid delight, and should be prescribed for anyone who needs a joyous evening of laughter. Sue Frumin’s play began its life in 1999 as a one person show and has been developed with the Arcola Queer Collective into an energetic, hilarious romp.

The cast of ten almost all play multiple roles, and swap from one to the other with fast paced alacrity. They are a well matched and skilled ensemble who clearly enjoy the challenges presented by playing a huge range of characters that include a snake and God! Rach Skyer is so engaging as Ernest that the whole audience was rooting for them to find their way in life, to get to New York and become a great entertainer. To be truly Fine and Dandy.

There were some fabulous slapstick moments and a real poignancy, some villains and some heroes. And an audience that included quite a few reviewers roaring with laughter.

Jonathan Richardson’s direction is assured and has a lovely light touch. In the program notes they say ‘I like to make theatre which holds to the principle that a beautiful lie is far more important than the truth.’ They have certainly achieved that with this play. It has the lightness of a fairy tale and the energy of a farce, and is a celebration of Queerness that you could happily bring your children to.

The set is basic, with hanging curtains, trunks and a coffin forming most of it, and the many costumes are perfectly designed to allow super fast changes and support the characters they clothe. From the moment the audience enters, the atmosphere of a seemingly chaotic circus arriving in town is established, as characters flap about, argue, rearrange the ‘furniture’ and generally create the world of the play as people take their seats. Then the house lights go down and a genuinely mirthful and exuberant hour ensues. I was humming ‘Misery Farm’ all the way home.

I hope that this show has a life after its short run at the Arcola. It deserves to carry on and take the tale of ‘Ernest/Ernestine Faigele Fine, a singer of cheap ballads and weary tunes, inventor of the worst magic acts in history, a clog dancer of no particular skill and a wandering jew at the turn of the twentieth century’ to a wider audience.

Reviewed by Katre

Photography by Ali Wright

Fine and Dandy

Arcola Theatre until 2nd March

Click here to see more of our latest reviews on thespyinthestalls.com

⭐️⭐️⭐️

“Marianne Hyatt’s Prospero is engaging and draws the audience into the scenes”

The Rose was originally built in 1587 and where Shakespeare learnt his craft. The Playhouse was rebuilt on the original site after remains were discovered in 1989 during an archaeological dig. This small, intimate and quirky theatre makes a fitting venue for The Tempest.

Adapted by Sue Frumin for an all female cast she has made some interesting changes and character developments to the original play.

Prospero played by Marianne Hyatt, becoming a mother figure to Miranda played by Lakshmi Khabrabi, showed a very different relationship to other more traditional interpretations of the play. This relationship worked exceptionally well.

Marianne Hyatt was the most engaging performer and drew the audience into the scenes. She was incredibly articulate in her role of Prospero both in her monologues and in song.

The initial shipwreck scene utilised the wider space very effectively but it was a pity that this wasn’t used more throughout the play.

Lots of the relationships between characters were overtly sexual. Although this was a unique twist which gave a different dimension to the play it took away some of the power of Miranda and Ferdinand’s relationship.

The background music throughout the play was used very effectively. The light projection may have been more effective from another seat but we were unable to see it properly from our seats.

Chatting behind the scenes needs to be kept to a minimum as this occasionally disrupted the performance but this could be due to the fact that we saw it on the first evening.

An interesting new take on Shakespeare but needing more development and focus.

Reviewed by Angela East

Production Images by Ray Malone

This show was reviewed at the first preview performance by prior agreement with the Rose Playhouse Theatre

Tag Archives: Sue Frumin

Fine and Dandy – 5 Stars

Fine and Dandy

Arcola Theatre

Reviewed – 26th February 2018

★★★★★

“a well matched and skilled ensemble who clearly enjoy the challenges presented by playing a huge range of character”

There were some fabulous slapstick moments and a real poignancy, some villains and some heroes. And an audience that included quite a few reviewers roaring with laughter.

Reviewed by Katre

Photography by Ali Wright

Fine and Dandy

Arcola Theatre until 2nd March

Click here to see more of our latest reviews on thespyinthestalls.com

The Tempest

Rose Playhouse Theatre

Reviewed – 22nd June 2017

⭐️⭐️⭐️

“Marianne Hyatt’s Prospero is engaging and draws the audience into the scenes”

The Rose was originally built in 1587 and where Shakespeare learnt his craft. The Playhouse was rebuilt on the original site after remains were discovered in 1989 during an archaeological dig. This small, intimate and quirky theatre makes a fitting venue for The Tempest.

Adapted by Sue Frumin for an all female cast she has made some interesting changes and character developments to the original play.

Prospero played by Marianne Hyatt, becoming a mother figure to Miranda played by Lakshmi Khabrabi, showed a very different relationship to other more traditional interpretations of the play. This relationship worked exceptionally well.

Marianne Hyatt was the most engaging performer and drew the audience into the scenes. She was incredibly articulate in her role of Prospero both in her monologues and in song.

The initial shipwreck scene utilised the wider space very effectively but it was a pity that this wasn’t used more throughout the play.

Lots of the relationships between characters were overtly sexual. Although this was a unique twist which gave a different dimension to the play it took away some of the power of Miranda and Ferdinand’s relationship.

The background music throughout the play was used very effectively. The light projection may have been more effective from another seat but we were unable to see it properly from our seats.

Chatting behind the scenes needs to be kept to a minimum as this occasionally disrupted the performance but this could be due to the fact that we saw it on the first evening.

An interesting new take on Shakespeare but needing more development and focus.

Reviewed by Angela East

Production Images by Ray Malone

This show was reviewed at the first preview performance by prior agreement with the Rose Playhouse Theatre

The Tempest

is at The Rose Playhouse until 2nd July

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