A one-woman show based on the character of Cabaret's Sally Bowles has gone viral when the actor playing the character, also called Sally (Sally Reid), starts ad-libbing and insulting her audience. So viral that a big name producer has signed her up for the Festival Theatre. And then? Who knows? London's West End and New York's Broadway beckon...
So the producer sends in Tyler (Sam Stopford) to be Sally's PA. Because every big star big star needs a PA, right? Juliette Binoche loved Tyler, didn't she? Sally isn't convinced. So it's Tyler's job to do the convincing, to turn a small town mentality into a big stage ego. And Sally is fertile territory, and prey to conspiracy theories. But what else is the ambivalent Tyler there to do?
This show wears it's anti-fascist credentials proudly on it's sleeve. Resulting in a script that feels like a wallop to the head too often. It foghorns political references to the increasingly sinister tory policies we're seeing, and squeezes in bucket loads of 'names' (mostly 'celebrities' or extreme right wingers like Dorries and Trump, but there's a neat joke about the First Minister too), all of which gives a clunky, heavy handed feel to the script. But with some good laughs along the way. And it does manage to deliver something of a twist in the end, and it's always good to have reminder of what a powerful anti-fascist message the 1972 film delivered.
The cast do a good job with what they've been given. Reid's Sally is living up to her new celebrity status, but still clinging to her socialist principles, and that conflict comes across well. Stopford's Tyler is camp, creepy and sinister, increasingly the latter, and is impossible to warm to.
Far from the best I've ever seen in the A Play, a Pie and a Pint series, but Sally has it's heart in the right place and enough comedy (and artificial flowers!) to be worth a watch. And the pies are better than last time...
No comments:
Post a Comment