12 – 20 April
From the moment the lights dim, Polly: The Heartbreak Opera at The Wardrobe Theatre immerses the audience in an unconventional environment. It’s an experience, pulsing with the metallic tang of bloodthirsty revenge, bingo hall glamour and caustic satire…
Under the direction of the award-winning Stephanie Kempson and the musical mastery of Ben Osborn, Madeline Shann and Ellie Showering, this collaborative production by Marie Hamilton and Sharp Teeth Theatre transforms a historic narrative into a radical, modern spectacle.
Retelling the story of an almost forgotten 18th-century novel, based on Polly, the banned sequel to John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera, (don’t worry, you don’t have to have read it either…) the opening scenes set the tone for a playfully self-aware yet captivatingly macabre narrative. Romping through this reimagined 300-year-old story aboard a storm-lashed island, the audience encounters jilted women, drag king politicians, pirate boy bands and a pregnant murderess as they follow the trials and tribulations facing Captain Macheath’s trinity of unhinged brides.
The ensemble cast skillfully blends genre and gender with chameleonic ease, entertaining and unsettling the audience as the narrative unfolds. Genevieve Sabherwal leads as the perfectly insufferable Polly Peachum, with co-writer Marie Hamilton and Sedona Rose invoking the remaining tragic brides of Mac the Knife, Lucy Lockitt and Jenny Diver. Each performance blends sardonic humour and poignant despair to add rich layers to the exploration of doomed love and betrayal.
The narrative complexity of the play could easily spiral into chaos, but is reined in by a droll and dapper narrator, artfully performed by Madeleine Shann as The Poet, who holds the wildly ambitious elements together. As the first act closes, the audience is left pondering the complexity before them, yet the interplay between surreal content and the sharp, witty dialogue of the narrator keeps disbelief at bay and engagement at its peak.
Sam Wilde’s design is a standout, melding the minimal with the spectacular. From the ‘bisexual lighting’ that transforms the stage into a visual metaphor for the play’s exploration of identity and disguise (designed by Ellie Bookham), to the best use of glitter-tasselled palm trees I’ve ever seen, the production’s minimalist props hint at a world where excess and austerity collide.
The score subverts both the expected tropes of musical theatre and the saccharine often yoked around the neck of the songstress. With a soundtrack that bridges Britney Spears to baroque pop, each number amuses, then plunges deep into darker currents of the human condition. Songs like You’re So Pretty When You Cry question the narratives we’ve been fed about female anguish… WHY exactly have we been taught that it’s artistically compelling to see a beautiful woman in distress?
The production’s ambition is matched by its execution. With no Arts Council funding, the risk taken by the cast and crew to bring such a vivid and challenging piece to life is commendable. In the end the play achieves a kind of tragic clarity, reminding the audience that the more things change, the more they stay the same, especially in the realms of power and gender. The finale is a poignant nod to historical cycles of repression and resistance, leaving the audience to reflect on the narrative’s lasting relevance.
★★★★☆ Tilly Marshal, 17 April 2024
Photo credit: Chelsey Cliff
