Catherine Johnson found a gold-plated formula for staging the songs of Abba with the monster hit Mamma Mia. Playwright Tim Firth (Neville’s Island, Calendar Girls) has applied a far darker plot to showcase the genius of 1970s/80s ska band Madness in Our House, which won him an Olivier Award ten years ago when the play first launched.
Looking at the audience’s reaction to the medley numbers played at the end of this performance – on their feet, hands aloft, nine-to-five truly forgotten, you were left with the slightly uncomfortable feeling that they might all have been happier with a simple gig of Madness tunes, and could have done without the shenanigans of a teenage boy’s run-in with the law, the ghost of a deceased jailbird dad prompting from the wings, or a devoted girlfriend sometimes pledging her love, sometimes walking away.
But that would be to denigrate a full-on effort from this young multi-talented troupe from Ipswich’s New Wolsey Theatre. Before a mention is made of the acting, the quality of the musicianship should be congratulated. Under the expert direction of Joey Hickman, this band rocked. Al Twist’s bass playing was flawless, and there was tight riffing in the horns. Never too loud, and always sensitive to the action, Madness tunes were respectfully handled here, and roused the two-tone aficionados in attendance.
Firth elected for a Sliding Doors approach to the narrative of Our House. 16-year old Joe Casey, played with complete gusto by Alexis Gerred, plays out two versions of his story – a good/bad Joe that we sometimes almost see concurrently. The show boasts a Guinness Book of Records entry for the highest number of role changes an actor has to make. At one point ‘good’ Joe disappears behind shuddering umbrellas to appear magically as ‘bad’ Joe seconds later – magic!
Staged with tube lighting, tall stairways, back-projected graphics and scaffold balconies for the musicians, it seemed at times that there was just a little too much on stage for the dance moves to really open up. However the youthful exuberance of the players always ensured a party mood lit up the proceedings.
But no matter how hard this cast threw themselves into this piece, and they truly did, Our House was always going to be about the quality of the songs themselves. What more can you ask – catchy melodies, irresistible beat with lyrics that effortlessly and poignantly conjure painful moments of innocent misunderstanding, or just invite you to go mad:
“You’d better start to move your feet
To the rockin’est, rock-steady beat”.
By the end we had finally done just that. – Simon Bishop
Production photographs by Mike Kwasniak
