Tag Archives: Paul Taylor-Mills

"Torch Song" at the Turbine Theatre

This is a five star start for Paul Taylor-Mills’ new venue next to Battersea Power Station. Opening with an iconic play is clever. Even better is giving us the chance to see this new version of Harvey Fierstein’s classic, which the author revised for its 2017 New York revival. The much loved wit and wisdom of drag queen Arnold is still here but the piece is now sharper and more serious. Recruiting hot talent Drew McOnie to direct, and top notch performers too, The Turbine Theatre has made a precocious debut on the London theatre scene.

A mammoth role, Arnold is surely as attractive to a performer as he is to an audience. But it’s still a coup to get an actor of Matthew Needham’s stature to take the role. Needham has the charisma needed but brings a rawness to the part that makes Arnold’s trials in love, and trauma in life, especially moving. Arnold is always self aware, it can become grating. But Needham gives the role maturity and provides a wild streak to the character that destabilises the self control and creates an energy that balances all the brilliant wisecracks. None of this diminishes Arnold but it makes him more human. The role is still inspirational; Needham gives us a man truly “filled with possibilities” as he searches for love and respect.

Bernice Stegers in Torch Song at the Turbine Theatre
Bernice Stegers

The clear danger in the play’s previous incarnation, Torch Song Trilogy, is that Arnold overpowers the play. Fierstein has corrected this by beefing up other roles and making them more than foils. Arnold’s mother seems more forceful than ever. Taking the part, Bernice Stegers can land a Jewish joke as well as anyone, but there’s also such pain, anger and confusion in her depiction that it is breathtaking. It’s Fierstein’s triumph as a writer that he can present an alternative view, even if offensive, so well. Arnold’s lover and his son provide two professional debuts in the production – Rish Shah and Jay Lycurgo. Both should be proud that they give these roles their due; both are written and performed as feisty and smart independent men.

Matthew Needham & Rish Shah in Torch Song at the Turbine Theatre
Matthew Needham & Rish Shah

Daisy Bolton makes her role, Arnold’s ex’s ex, intriguing – you want to know what happens to her next. As for the ex, the love of Arnold’s life Ed, the character is made more of a constant and Dino Fetscher rises to the challenge of a substantial role. Ed’s opening encounter with Arnold is a monologue, impeccably delivered, and Fetscher makes the character’s shame about his homosexuality moving. Ed’s arguments about staying in the closet are respected and given space, essential for the drama and challenging to the audience.

Matthew Needham & Dino Fetscher in Torch Song at the Turbine Theatre
Matthew Needham & Dino Fetscher

All the performances do justice to Fierstein’s skills, as does McOnie’s direction. Famous first as a choreographer, it isn’t too fanciful to suggest those skills show. McOnie understands the rhythm of the arguments as the characters dance around their positions. The staging is never fussy and for the second act, Fugue in a Nursery, putting most of the action in a giant bed proves wonderfully clever. Moments when the actors step off the small stage become charged but are never over-used. The direction adds a stylishness that enhances the script, making this production of a strong play, exceptionally powerful.

Until 13 October 2019

www.theturbinetheatre.com

Photos by Mark Senior

“The Wild Party” at The Other Palace

The renamed St James Theatre, now in Lord Lloyd Webber’s portfolio, has the new raison d’être of trying out and refining musicals. And there’s the aim of starting conversations from artistic director Paul Taylor-Mills that warms a blogger’s heart. The first show, by Michael John LaChiusa, is a strong start, but a puzzle, too. Seen on Broadway in 2000, it already seems so cogently formed that there is little new to talk about.

The piece is experimental in that it is based on a poem – by Joseph McClure March – can anyone think of another musical apart from Cats with such a source? George C Wolfe’s book is structurally audacious and, while the scenario couldn’t be slimmer – someone holds a party, that’s it – the tension ratchets up and up. Both music and lyrics have little time for novices or a discernable eye on commercial success. The milieu here isn’t that familiar to a British audience (jokes, in particular, are a touch obscure) but LaChiusa’s knowledge of American music is obviously profound.

A good portion of the show is a series of introductions. Taking the lead is Queenie, a dancer in Vaudeville, brilliantly portrayed by the legendary Frances Ruffelle, who gives this tart-with-a-heart appropriate depth. Her common law husband, played by John Owen-Jones – also tremendous – ensures the show is not one for coulrophobics. This complicated relationship is the vehicle for exploring obsession and dependence.

John Owen-Jones and Victoria Hamilton-Barritt
John Owen-Jones and Victoria Hamilton-Barritt

Presenting other partygoers gives the rest of the ensemble a chance to shine. Dex Lee is particularly strong as the arch hedonist Jackie, a sophisticate who turns bestial. And, as Queenie’s best friend Victoria Hamilton-Barritt really gets her teeth into a juicy role. It would be hard to sacrifice any of these characters… but maybe more focus might have made the show more enjoyable? Combining high and low life and a mix of ages, races and sexualities has a point but means there’s a lot to handle here. And don’t forget a moral. Like many works of art about libertines, The Wild Party is a warning. When the bootleg gin arrives, complete with bathtub on stage, it would make Hogarth proud.

The venue’s aim as an experimental home is fulfilled for Drew McOnie. While his acclaimed choreography adds enormously to what could be a static affair, his remarkably assured debut as a director is the real story. The piece calls for strong acting and McOnie secures it. There’s a cutting pathos to many of the affairs. And a crazed wish for love, sex, drugs and ambition, with a scary intensity that McOnie doesn’t spare us from.

Until 1 April 2017

www.theotherpalace.co.uk

Photos by Scott Rylander

“Steel Pier” at the Union Theatre

Well known for its excellent, ambitious productions of musicals, the Union Theatre’s latest offering is Kander and Ebb’s 1997 work Steel Pier. Directed by Paul Taylor-Mills, it’s a strange offering, superbly presented. Centring on a dance marathon in the 1930s, a group of semi-professional performers reveal their bitchy rivalry and needy posturing. The competition is a seedy affair, fixed, of course, that becomes increasingly humiliating and ends in medication for most participants. Our heroine Rita can only escape from it with the help of a very special, if unsuccessful, daredevil pilot.

Steel Pier is set on the fringes of celebrity but the cast at the Union Theatre is anything but mediocre. In the lead roles Sarah Galbraith and Jay Rincon, both visiting from the States, give fine performances. Singing unmiked, a real treat that makes the show worth seeing alone, they get the most out of songs that are a long way from Kander and Ebb’s finest. The excellent Aimie Atkinson has the show’s best number, ‘Everybody’s Girl’, and the best lines, managing to inject some much-needed humour. The large, hardworking cast is impressively marshalled by Taylor-Mills, and special note goes to Samuel Parker making a high-energy professional debut and Lisa-Anne Wood, who gives a spirited performance as the dancer most desperate to become a star.

Taylor-Mills combines the singing and dancing marvellously, making the most of Richard Jones’ excellent choreography. The show has such dazzle is almost manages to convince you this is a major work but, useful setting aside, the book by David Thompson, is lacking. The stakes played for – a moment in the spotlight or a chance of sponsorship – just aren’t high enough, and a supernatural twist, exploited well by Jones and musical director Angharad Sanders, adds little. Despite the best efforts of all involved, Steel Pier is something of a curio – essential for fans of musical theatre – but not stainless enough to appeal to everyone.

Until 24 November 2012

www.uniontheatre.biz

Photo by Claire Bilyard

Written 7 November 2012 for The London Magazine

“One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest” at the Lost Theatre

An ambitious production of One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest at the Lost Theatre in Wandsworth gives us cause to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Ken Kesey’s novel. The story of life in an insane asylum, with its charismatic anti-hero McMurphy, is a stirring battle between the individual and the institution, which director Paul Taylor-Mills production tackles commendably.

Sean Buchanan takes on the role of McMurphy made famous by Jack Nicholson in the 1975 film. Nicholson’s performance has only this week been named the best ever in cinema by Total Film magazine but Buchanan doesn’t seem one bit daunted – his energetic delivery as the “mad dog” is commanding and the inspiration he offers his fellow patients convincing.

There is some fine work from this large cast. Bradley Rhys Williams plays Dale Harding, the president of the patients’ council, cogent and waspish by turns, and Lee Colley is deeply moving as the stammering Billy Bibbit, both cowered into submission by Annabel Capper’s formidable Nurse Ratched. The intensity of Bobby Bulloch’s catatonic Ruckly deserves a mention as does the attention to detail shown in Paul Cleveland’s obsessive Cheswick and Richard Vorster’s paranoid Scanlon.

During large group scenes, Taylor-Mills’ direction excels and One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest really excites. This show is full of intelligent touches, including Tom Munday’s projection used to great effect when Dwayne Washington’s Chief Bromden tells his story. Washington makes the most of his role but his part is the play’s biggest problem –sadly, common to many adaptations, Dale Wasserman’s script is a pale adaptation of Kesey’s masterpiece. Ultimately, despite the production’s valiant efforts, the best way to celebrate this anniversary would be to read the book again.

Until 31 March 2012

www.losttheatre.co.uk

Photo by Daniel Joseph Serra

Written 22 March 2012 for The London Magazine