America and guns have a troubled and schizophrenic history. On the one hand we have the political rigor mortise which watches painfully over the casual slaughter of citizens which has become the kind of national pastime that even back in the sixties was being satirized by Jules Feiffer’s Little Murders and on the other there are those inspiring foundational stories, many based on real events and characters who tamed the back-woods and pushed westward into the land of promise where the only law was ‘the law of the gun’. In those early times the American relationship to the gun was quite different and for years the exploits of the pioneers and settlers kept the Hollywood film industry in the black. Little Sure Shot, based on the life of Annie Oakley is set in those times. It is the story of a young girl’s prodigious talent as a markswoman and her struggle for acceptance as a woman in what was considered to be a man’s domain.
The play was ‘conceived’ and directed by Amy Leach and written by Lucy Rivers so it is not clear who was responsible for what in terns of setting and what was included and what left out. Perhaps there were joint decisions. The setting is the ring of a big top in which Annie found fame as a member of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show – which Mark Twain noted was the only ‘all American’ entertainment to make it across the water to Europe. The scene shifts from the pioneer country in which she was brought up, to the orphanage in which she spent some time after her father’s death, the county shooting competition and then around the country as part of a circus act until she meets the famous William Cody.
Miss Leach manipulates her cast with great skill in the swift transitions and fluid movement from scene to scene. It is always a joy to see a director using the resources of the theatre and the imaginations of the audience to tell the story. In this spirit the male members of the cast are the giggling girls of the orphanage, all eager to become little women, and the train crash in which Annie is temporarily paralysed gets some filmic slow motion.
This is a ‘can do’ story which exalts the determination of the main character who battles against the ‘guns are not for girls’ kind of attitude still sadly prevalent in certain parts of society today. For the theme of the play the guns are incidental and could be substituted for any domain in which girls have to struggle in order to achieve their potential. In Verity Kirk the enthusiastic self-belief of Annie finds the perfect, guileless, open expression. She charms as she convinces. Much the same can be said of the other cast who all double-up with multiple characters, sing like larks and play like a road-hardened band. Lucy Rivers’ songs add colour and character and it’s only a pity the audience couldn’t jump up for some knee-slapping in the aisles. Hayley Grindle’s well-conceived set allows the story-within-a-story to unfold naturally and with the least fuss for the actors.
As a family oriented Christmas show this has all the feel-good fun you could ask for. ★★★★☆ Graham Wyles 11th December 2015
