Tag Archives: Wales Millennium Centre

Grandmothers Closet

Grandmother’s Closet

★★★

Edinburgh Festival Fringe

GRANDMOTHER’S CLOSET at Edinburgh Festival Fringe

★★★

 

Grandmothers Closet

“A messy first half turns into a touching second”

 

Luke Hereford’s solo autobiographical show is a musical journey through his life growing up in Wales, discovering his queerness, and his relationship with his nan, who also happens to be his number one fan, and his best friend. Set at her ninetieth birthday party, Hereford is joined on stage by pianist Bobby Harding, who accompanies them with a soundtrack of Kylie, Kate Bush, and Meet Me in St Louis.

There’s a lot to admire in the show. It’s sort of fabulously chaotic, a little bit messy, which kind of suits the tone as Hereford plays dress up with items from his grandmother’s onstage wardrobe. It’s old fashioned, the insides patterned with pale pink florals. On the other side of the stage is a dressing table, draped with a few bits of Nan’s jewellery and perfume bottles; a hollow mirror, which Harding pokes their head behind, sat at the piano. Hereford narrates stories of his first time at pride (with Nan providing the lube and condoms), and their trip to Broadway together, to see eight shows in five days. But Nan, as later revealed, has dementia. And it’s heartbreaking for Hereford, and us, to see her memories fading. She’s his biggest icon. But, as he eventually realises, ‘even if your memory fades, I’ll always have them, even if you don’t’.

The musical numbers and staging are generally a bit all over the place. Hereford doesn’t have the strongest vocals, and sometimes loses control of the performance as he tries to get through the songs. He’s certainly very committed to the act, which is commendable, but some tighter direction or choreography could really help give each of the segments a bit more purpose. In one section he sort of waves a large white sheet around, and I’m not really sure what’s happening.

The action of trying to get the lipstick on properly, and then finally getting it right, gives the show a really nice overall character arc. We feel by the end that Hereford does now have what they need to be their true self, even if Nan isn’t around anymore in the way she used to be. A messy first half turns into a touching second, but the show as a whole needs quite a bit of tidying up to become something really special.

 

Reviewed 13th August 2022

by Joseph Winer

 

Photography by Kirsten McTernan

 

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Review of Man to Man – 4 Stars

Man to Man thespyinthestalls

Man to Man

Wilton’s Music Hall

Reviewed – 13th September 2017

 

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

 

 

“Maggie Bain gave a strong physical performance and was instantly captivating as the courageous widow”

 

Man To Man is showing at Wilton’s Music Hall, a beautiful atmospheric building which hosted a packed out first night, including a few famous theatre and film faces dotted amongst the audience. Clearly this was a show not to be missed.

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The story is that of Ella, a woman forced to impersonate her dead husband during the Third Reich, in order to survive the challenges of life in Nazi Germany. Maggie Bain gave a strong physical performance and was instantly captivating as the courageous widow.

Innovative lighting effects (Rick Fisher) combined with moving shadows and video complimented the translated script (Alexandra Wood) well. Creative transitional lighting and sound (Mike Walker) helped to convey clear scene changes in this strong one woman piece. Frequent accent switches highlighted the snappy pace the script moves at for the audience, who in the first ten minutes may have been a little confused by alternating accents, of which none are German. Additionally, odd snippets of script seemed to be strewn together in a hard to follow order – don’t worry though as it all makes much more sense by the end.

Precise direction (Bruce Guthrie & Scott Graham) allowed Bain to make full use of the sloped stage, climbing the walls and rearranging the furniture. A flexible set (Richard Kent) allowed such versatility and took the audience from city apartment, to battlefield and back with ease.

Approximately two thirds of the way through, the script appeared to allow Bain to come to a natural close on stage. But as the pace slowed, the actor then continued exploring her life as a man in to further decades. I felt the audience shuffle and sigh as they approached the last twenty minutes. A real shame considering how magnetising the rest of the production is. Overall though, an interesting story performed strongly by a woman to watch. Well worth a visit.

 

Reviewed by Lucy Marsh

Photography by Polly Thomas

 

 

MAN TO MAN

is at Wilton’s Music Hall until 23rd September

 

 

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