Folk of an awkward disposition who eschew the delights of traditional Christmas entertainment have every good reason to rejoice. As we have already noted in these pages the Old Vic has provided suitable ‘off piste’ fare of the highest quality. The inaugural production for the new Wardrobe Theatre adds to the reasons to be cheerful as it weighs in with a production, which in terms of its ‘alternative’ label is not merely off the beaten track, but hanging from the ceiling, whilst providing a grin-and-laugh factor that little I have seen this year can match.
Having set themselves the challenge of bashing together two cultures in a plot where nursery stories and Brit crime come together in an act of unlikely fusion and in which porridge, chairs and a sleepy Goldilock somehow find themselves connected to a world of East End villainy and posh-but-dim chancers, the cast go about the task with enthusiastic abandon.
The cast of four get their heads around eleven wildly different characters, each of whom elbow their way into the plot. A bunch of iffy ‘diamond geezers’ with a business plan that relies on a little persuasive mutilation of uncooperative clients, hang out at ‘Harry’s Place’, where a slightly psychopathic Harry (Harry Humberstone) is under the thumb of his ‘relatively normal wife, Sally. Harry’s minions are the very psychopathic Barry (Lotte Allan) and Vinnie (Andrew Kingston). Goldilock (Emma Keaveney-Roys) a local market stall-holder gets tricked into debt with the low-lifes and finds herself running errands which bring her in contact with the Kensington crowd who, relying on the single set of brain cells of Rupe (Lotte), are planning to make a killing on the property market.
As the plot unfolds it all makes a kind of sense with laughs of recognition as the nursery story bits are ticked off as they slot into the plot. Director Adam Fuller has done a grand job in giving the jumble some shape with even the bonkers porridge shop not seeming out of place in the soon-to-be-gentrified neck of the East End. The use of the stop-motion tableaux was a good touch which helped the link between the two stories. If one had to be critical there were moments when the cast followed the laugh rather than the character and a tad more discipline would add a bit more gloss.
Individually however the cast can all be pleased with their performances. I’ll mention Lotte Allan simply because as a woman she gave us a chillingly believable villainous sidekick who wasn’t going to let a little thing like a neck-brace get in the way of some lovely brutality. The whole cast looked as if they were having fun and the mood rubbed off onto the audience.
GSTSB sets the bar encouragingly high for Bristol’s new studio theatre as it serves up the tastiest helping of seasonal silliness. Added to which there is a buzz about the new Old Market Assembly, which makes the Wardrobe one of the most inviting venues in town. ★★★★☆ Graham Wyles 5th December 2015
