“strong, lively and highly entertaining performances”
Everyone has grown up with the story of Robin Hood and his merry men. He takes from the rich and gives to the poor. He heroically fights, shoots arrows, and can parry with his sword like a pro. Or so we have always thought … In the current adaptation of Lionel Bart’s 1965 spoof musical Twang!! Robin Hood has been reduced to nothing more than a weak and feeble country bumpkin, due to having – as the title suggests – ‘lost his twang’. The show notoriously was a flop when it first came to the West End fifty years ago, however, it has recently been spruced up and reworked by Julian Woolford, giving it a more modern twist and playing on its pantomime-like shenanigans and musical theatre pizzazz with tongue firmly placed in cheek. A complete hoot, this is a riotously camp romp in the woods (or Sherwood forest to be precise), and they know it! Don’t be expecting the likes of a brooding Kevin Costner, think more Bob Fosse, with plenty of men in tights and slapping of thighs.
After rescuing runaway, Much (Joe Rose), from the clutches of the dastardly Sheriff (Christopher Hewitt), Robin Hood (Peter Noden) welcomes him to Nottinghamshire and into his band of merry men. But something is strange about this place. Life in this county is all a song and dance. Literally. Everything is better as a musical, so the merry men tell, or rather, perform with a series of pirouettes, high kicks and jazz hands, for Much. They are more chorus boys than brutish bandits. Things are looking a sorry state for their leader of the pack. Robin has lost his ‘twang’ and can’t be the hero he used to be. Can the beauty and charm of Maid Marion (Kweeva Garvey) help? Held captive by the villainous Prince John (Lewis McBean), can Robin find his courage again to rescue Marion? With the help of his boys, and Marion’s feisty waiting ladies, it’s certain that good will win out.
If someone who cannot stand musicals described why, this production of Twang!! probably includes each and every one of those reasons. It’s cheesy, silly, brash and bursts into song for no reason. But where this new adaptation is clever, is that it embraces it. They know they are a musical cliché, and with the clever one-liners and musical segments that reference well-known Broadway shows, there are plenty of in-jokes for the theatre luvvies in the audience. Not that this alienates the rest, mind you. It is still clear that they are making fun of the genre on a very wide, and obvious, level. Yes, the overall story is rather slight and none of the songs are memorable, however, the strong, lively and highly entertaining performances from most of the cast makes up for it. You have to get into the spirit of proceedings, but once you do, it’s a gay old time.
“the performances are unrushed and powerfully moving”
From the very opening we realise that this is a ‘Cherry Orchard’ with a difference. As part of a series of classic plays relevant to today, Phil Willmott’s adaptation is set in 1917 amidst the Bolshevik uprising, the murder of the Tsar and the uncertain future of the middle classes; it is almost fast-forwarding to the consequences Chekhov hinted at when he wrote it in 1903. Ranyevskaya returns to Russia after five years in France and faces the prospect of having to sell her beloved family home to the son of a serf who had worked for them. To heighten the immediacy and urgency felt in modern Russia, features like music and magic have been left out, avoiding any slackening of pace, the compact stage area concentrates the action, and the outcome of the play fits the confusion of both then and now. To add to the unpredictability, the role of the elderly footman Fiers has been cut, due to a fall suffered by the actor, Robert Donald. ‘Cherry Orchard’ is a play which revolves around memories in times of change so Fiers’ absence means missing the richness of the most distant past but with it more focus on the present.
Far from the lofty grandeur of larger stages, Justin Williams and Jonny Rust cleverly create faded opulence with the simple use of stairs and significant props. The lighting by Sam Waddington dresses the changes of mood and atmosphere, and the music and sound (Theo Holloway) are imaginatively designed to both set the scene and underline key moments of drama, though the sinister rumbling of the overhead trains is presumably unplanned. Penn O’Gara’s attention to detail of the costumes adds dimension to the personalities.
The individuality and ensemble of the actors is perfectly crafted. Each one’s complexity interlocking with the others to bring an array of emotions. Suanne Braun and Richard Gibson are excellent as the aristocrat Ranyevskaya and her brother Gaev, instilling huge sympathy despite their superficial, frivolous lives. Lopakhin, played by Christopher Laishley, portrays the strength of the rising middle classes but painful awareness of his roots. Dunyasha (Molly Crookes) and Yasha (Hugo Nicholson) represent the servants, breaking away from the past constraints of their position with a confidence and ease in several entertaining scenes. Even the smaller role of Madame Pishchik (a male landowner in the original) played by Caroline Wildi, is a subtly uncomfortable presence on stage, as a further reminder of the plight of the rich. Daughter Anya and former tutor Trofimov (Lucy Menzies and Feliks Mathur) radiate the youthful optimism as the country trembles with uncertainty.
As Director, Phil Willmott succeeds in producing a disquieting ‘Cherry Orchard’, stepping away from the traditional, more static Chekhov and connecting with today’s social climate in Russia. Apart from a couple of instances where the tension is broken precipitately, the performances are unrushed and powerfully moving, maintaining the farcical tragedy. In keeping with element of the unforeseen, the intentional changes to the script combine with the unexpected loss of Fiers to make this a brave and intelligent production, deserving credit for reawakening a classic to new interpretation.
