Tag Archives: Turbine Theatre

CLOSER TO HEAVEN

★★★★

Turbine Theatre

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CLOSER TO HEAVEN at the Turbine Theatre

★★★★

“unashamed fun, energised performances and a true, light-hearted celebration of decadence”

Nearly a quarter of a century on from its premiere at The Arts Theatre, Jonathan Harvey’s “Closer to Heaven”, with music from the Pet Shop Boys, is having another stab at getting closer to its goal. Although we’re still not quite sure what that is. So, for the time being it is best to take it at its superficial face value and plump for the sheer entertainment value it provides. It has that in abundance. Simon Hardwick’s revival splashes it over the gossamer-thin text in sexy swathes of flamboyance and camp panache. Designer David Shields has transformed the Turbine Theatre’s space into Vic’s club (surely soon to become a landmark as celebrated as ‘Rick’s Café’), complete with cabaret tables, haze, ultraviolet neon and dancing boys. We are closer to Heaven – the nightclub – than ever before.

Mistress of ceremonies is Billie Trix; a washed-up former icon, afraid to look in the mirror. Although we don’t quite understand why – Frances Ruffelle looks pretty damn good, and sounds sensational when she sings. The purity and emotion shines through, particularly in her solo numbers such as the evocative ‘Friendly Fire’ that opens the second act. She loses a touch of her command when she dips into dialogue, with a voice ravaged by years of abuse and an accent that has clearly lost its way. The owner of the club has a similarly tenuous hold on the proceedings. Filled with as many regrets, Kurt Kansley’s Vic is a bruiser with a heart of gold; a gay man trapped in a divorced father’s body, trying to make amends with a daughter who yearns for somebody to call Dad. His estranged daughter, Shell, is remarkably familiar with Vic’s entourage for someone who has just walked into his life after fifteen years, but we can overlook these discrepancies. Courtney Bowman’s standout performance lifts her character from the shallow text like the pages of a technicolour pop-up book that fold out into three dimensions.

 

 

A love story trickles away as a sub plot. Shell falls for newcomer Dave (Glenn Adamson). Or rather ‘Straight Dave’ as he is known – a nickname that is plainly in breach of the Sale of Goods Act. Dave falls for local drug dealer, Mile End Lee (Connor Carson). A sticky end all round is unavoidable. Adamson’s Dave is a wannabe singer and dancer whose integrity is as ill-fitting as a tight pair of shorts, while Carson’s angelic looks fail to betray any notion of his lifestyle. Of course, they ‘get it on’, to the chagrin of Shell, but the sparks don’t quite fly. And the repercussions trigger shoulder-shrugs rather than shockwaves of emotion.

There are moments of humour, with choice one-liners shared among the cast. David Muscat’s slippery music mogul, Bob Saunders, devours the clichés with relish and it’s difficult to tell whether he is choking on the words or his tongue in his cheek. But the whole company are having a ball. Especially Ruffelle, whose gleeful, natural exuberance shines brighter, warmer and more dazzling than the cool neon and swinging LED beams of light.

The music is everything you would expect of the Pet Shop Boys, but with more theatricality and a refreshing dynamic that is absent from their chart toppers. The score carries the show, along with the impeccable vocal performances. It is a beautifully dressed show, and slickly choreographed by Christopher Tendai. The ensemble are as integral as the leads, and just as watchable. If the performers are the stars, the costumes are the superstars.

We feel uplifted by the time we reach curtain call, which is surprising given the schmaltzy, message-heavy finale that wants to pull us under like a bed of quicksand. Yet we feel high. Not quite as high as the ketamine-fuelled characters onstage, mind, but at least we’ve remained this side of the law. Vic’s club is a place we’d like to frequent when looking for unashamed fun, energised performances and a true, light-hearted celebration of decadence. Well worth getting close to.

 


CLOSER TO HEAVEN at the Turbine Theatre

Reviewed on 5th June 2024

by Jonathan Evans

Photography by Mark Senior

 

 


 

 

Previously reviewed at this venue:

RITA LYNN | ★★★★ | January 2024
WRECKAGE | ★★★ | January 2023
DIVA: LIVE FROM HELL | ★★★★★ | August 2022
MY NIGHT WITH REG | ★★★★ | July 2021
MY SON’S A QUEER BUT WHAT CAN YOU DO | ★★★½ | June 2021

CLOSER TO HEAVEN

CLOSER TO HEAVEN

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The Importance of Being Earnest

★★★½

Turbine Theatre

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The Importance

The Importance of Being Earnest

Turbine Theatre

Reviewed – 20th February 2020

★★★½

 

“packs in lots of entertaining elements but teeters dangerously on the brink of panto”

 

An entire cast stranded on a broken-down bus, the producer and stage-manager of ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ must make a hasty decision, if the show is to go on. In an evening of quick changes, larger-than-life characters and bustling choreography, they helter-skelter through Oscar Wilde’s iconic parody of constrained Victorian morality. Jack and his friend Algernon have both invented imaginary counterparts, Ernest and Bunbury, to enable them to escape any unwelcome or tedious obligation. As their intentions for marriage intensify, their stories unravel and being Ernest appears to be of the utmost importance.

Written at a significant time in his life, just as his homosexuality was revealed and condemned, it is a deceptively flippant comment on the dual identity many people felt the need to live. London’s vibrant social scene with its clubs, hotels and theatres – not to mention the West End’s red-light district – would have been an irresistible, and therefore common, distraction for the English male aristocracy. Although marriage figures centrally as plot, debate and comment, the homosexual asides, ‘Ernest’, a euphemism for homosexual and ‘Cecily’, a reference to rent boys, are far from subtle. And this is reflected in the flamboyancy of the production which packs in lots of entertaining elements but teeters dangerously on the brink of panto.

Director, Bryan Hodgson, produces a lively build-up of pandemonium as the plot thickens and the denouement accelerates. There are interjections to remind us that the cast are still on their way, but they are inconsistent and aren’t always attuned to the script. The multi-tasking actors, Aidan Harkins and Ryan Bennett succeed in impressively dexterous costume changes which become gradually more frenetic and resourceful with the entanglement of the play. There is a strong repartee established in the opening scene between Jack and Algernon but subsequently the characterisation is less balanced. Harkins’ portrayals of Lady Bracknell and Miss Prism are perhaps unconventional, but are well defined and fit convivially into the world of innuendos. As his own Lady Bracknell, Bennett is suitably overblown, yet his Cecily lacks any real persona. Of course, the point is that they are standing in at the last minute, but there is no real coherence here either.

Technically sharp, Sam Rowcliffe-Tanner’s lighting accompanies the exaggerated scenarios and the sound (Harry Smith) adds to some odd and rousing moments with Verdi’s ‘Dies Irae’ summing up Lady Bracknell’s appearance and the farcical scampering around to Brahms’ Hungarian Dance. Denise Cleal’s costumes cleverly combine period style with practical quick- change needs.

Camp, in the very French literary sense that influenced Wilde, this effervescent version of his classic comedy of manners (subtitled by the writer as ‘A Trivial Comedy for Serious People’), piles comic melodrama, slapstick and caricature onto his intellectual farce, producing a colourful rumpus of a show with a fun finale. Perhaps not appealing to everyone’s taste in classical theatre but, judging by the standing ovation, popular with many.

 

Reviewed by Joanna Hetherington

Photography by John-Webb Carter

 


The Importance of Being Earnest

Turbine Theatre until 29th February

 

Previously reviewed at this venue:
Torch Song | ★★★★★ | September 2019
High Fidelity | ★★★★★ | November 2019

 

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