I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, Festival Theatre

I hadn't been to a recording of 'Clue' for almost twenty years.  But here I was again.  New chair, new panellists, but same producer and pianist.  Same games, same audeince responses required.  And the same comedy that can leave an audience aching with laughter.

If you don't know what ISIHAC is about then where have you been?  It's been running on Radio 4 since 1972, and this was a recording of episodes five and six of series 81.  The Festival Theatre was sold out within a few days of the show being announced, as are all their appearances.  This is cult attending as well as listening.  

So the format is well worn, predictable, comfortable.  The producer (still John Naismith, who was there for all the shows I have been to before) comes out to do a bit of warming up.  The teams take their seats and tell a joke each.  Tonight we had Rory Bremner, Pippa Evans, Milton Jones and Fred MacAulay.  On comes the regular Chair, Jack Dee, and piano accompanist, the much abused Colin Sell.  Two shows are recorded, one in each half, with more than enough material to be edited down into a tight 30 minutes radio broadcast.

John and Colin were there for all the shows I saw, all those years ago.  The others were new for, sadly, the Chair and regular panellists of those times are dead now, other than Graeme Garden.  But noithing else is new.  The format is the same, the games are the same, and the silliness is identical.  because silliness is what this show is all about, and something the audeince is encourage to particpate in.  Jokes and puns and wordplay.  Songs sung badly.  (Although Evans has a very impressive vocal style.)  The chair's disdain for the teams, the pianist and the audience.  The 'laser dispay board' and the lovely Samantha.  All still there, all still essential elements of the fun.

It goes worng at times, but that just makes it funnier.  There's the odd politcal comment, but nothing too in depth.  The emphasis, the entire ethos, is about fun, laughter and determined silliness.  Long may it contin ue to be so.  A night at a Clue show is a night to treasure, whoever is up on stage.

Nye, NT Live

 

An NT Live show, live theatre beamed into the cinema.  A focus on the great Nye Bevan.

But what sort of beast was this play?  Biography? Social History? Political Polemic? Entertainment? A bit of everything, including a full blown song and dance routine.

Social History - Events around one of the most important events in UK history, from the perspective of a leading member it's most important government. Showing socialism can work. Showing the huge improvements it brought.

Political polemic - very much so, and necessarily so, at a time when the NHS, as a principle, is under attack more than ever. When the need, and underlying principle, remain as much as ever. It may have gone a bit wayward, but that's the nature of all big beasts over time.

Entertainment - definitely. Funny, warm, human, with great performances.

Structure has Nye dying, and dreaming of past life. Childhood, union leader, councillor, backbench MP and maverick, Churchill opponent, Minister and pioneer. Lover too. But always clear what period he's in, be it with his dying dad, or Clem as PM.

And Biography?  Partly so.  It does tend to hagiography at times, but still gives some of Nye's imperfections as a human being. Getting women to look after him. His inability to compromise (up to a point). But the passion for socialism is there, the things that made him a great man are very much there.

The performances are strong, with Sheen magnificent and at his passionate best.  If anything grated it was have Clem Attlee played by a woman.  Nothing wrong with that in itself - but the voice made hom sound too much like the Wicked Witch of Grantham at times, a later, lesser, PM who was not fit to lick Attlee's boots, and did so much to detroy his achievements.

The play is structured around Bevan slowly dying in his bed.  In an NHS hospital of course (which does not reflect the actual event).  In dreams and conversations and rants he takes us through tyhe events and struggles that brough about the dream of free health care for all, for a service that did as much for the poor as for the rich.  Of course the story is romatnticised, but it was, in many ways, a romantic ideal in itself.  Most of all it feels ocntemporary, necessary.

How we need his likes again.  But what chance, when a good man like Corbyn is charater assassinated into oblivion by the right wing media?

Alice Howe and Freebo, Traverse, TradFest

 

The equal billing reflected the content of the show.  While Howe did the most songs, it was as much the Freebo show, with a lot of his own material too.  Their own songs, with the exception of Alice's perfect rendition of Jonie Mitchell's A Case of You.  Good songs too, mostly with a country music inflection, but other influences present.  Personal songs, with a story behind them, which both related with great humour.  And in Freebo's case, a couple of funny songs which had the audience laughing.  Howeve plyed guitar, mostly as accompaniment, but plays well.  Freebo is the more virtuosotic of the pair, playing both guitar and electric bass.  It's first time I've seen someone play lead guitar parts on a 5 string bass, and it was a pleasure to be induced to the sensation.

So both were entertaining, more than competent musicians and singers (Howe has a wonderfully clear and pure voice, with excellent phrasing), and provided us with a memorable hour.  And she can say 'Edinburgh' pretty good for an American!

Police Dog Hogan, Glasshouse, Gateshead

 It had been well over a decade since we first saw PDH.  There had been tickets bought since, but going unsiued due to force majeure (heavy snow in one case, covid in another).  So this was eagerly anticipated, and I wonderted what changes there would have been.  

A different line up for a start, with only three of the original group still there, and acting as the front men of the band.  James Studholme (guitar and lead vocals), Tim Dowling (banjo, electric guitar, backing vocals and occasional lead vocalist) and Eddie Bishop (fiddle and mandolin, and backing vocals) have been there since the beginning, and have developed over the years into slick entertainers, as well as much improved in the musicianship.  They have been joined by Shahen Galichian on keyboards and accordion, Don Bowen on bass guitar and Alistair Hamer on drums, with all of this trio also adding to the vocals.

I recalled, from that long ago gig, that PDH were competent musicians, who played within their limits, wrote excellent songs with memorable lyrics, and were good entertainers.  Much of that description still applies.  But they are even more entertaining, with some slick comedy built into the act.  The musical abilites have improved with time, so that their limits are higher than before.  Galichian adds another level, as the standout talent of the line up.  And the songs lyrics remain of a high standard.  Fummy, sad, ruminative, with clever structures and rhymes.  The melodies are decent too.

The style is derive from country, bluegrass and folk, with a West Country twist here and there.  A very Englsih form of Ameicana.  Studholme sings well.  Not the greatest voice technically, but distinctive, characterful, with imaginative phrasing.  Dowling impressed with his songs too.  

There was a good mix of the familiar, including the nearest they've had to 'hits' (Shitty White Wine and West Country Boy), and newer material.  Regular changes in tempo and sentiment and themes kept it all feeling fresh.  From the whimsical, like returning to Devon on the A303, to the melancholy, with reflections of the death of fathers.

I hope it isn't another decade before I see them again.

Brian Bilston and Henry Normal, Assembly Rooms

 Henry Normal in the first half, Bilston in the second.  A strong start when Normal came on to the Thurderbirds theme - he's very much of my generation!

Poetry and stories and jokes from Normal, in his own understated style.  Mostly very funny, but with occasional moments of thoughtfulness or sadness, or even anger about the horrors of the world.  And love.  His style is generally whimsical, full of clever puns.but there's some steel lying under the covers.

Bilston is more acerbic in his language, with well direxcted poetic gems against the monsters of today, like Trump and Johnson and the ridiculous Musk.  He's stronger on wordplay and structure and double meanings than Normal, with, at times, an intentionally cerebral approach, challenging his audience.  Well structured set that moved on rapidly across the wonderful and the bizarre.

A very enjoyable, and at times thought proviking, two hours.

The Scaff (A Play, a Pie and a Pint), Traverse

 Personal politics on the playground and the pitch. The Scaff features four aspiring school footballers, and social misfits, in a story of insults, jealousy, revenge and catharsis. Liam (Benjamin Keachie) has overheard star striker Coco (Craig McLean) calling him a Scaff - the worst possible insult. Egged on by mates Jamie (Bailey Newsome) and Frankie (Stuart Edgar), he targets his tormentor with a brutal tackle, and an injury that will keep Coco on the sidelines for months to come. Inevitably he is ostracised, not only by the whole school, but by his two supposed friends as well. And, being from a poor one-parent family, Liam is easy to put down.

But schoolroom relationships are complex, and malleable, and things don't stay that way for long. Over fifty minutes we learn the real reason for Coco's use of the hated insult, why Frankie and Jamie bend with the wind, and if Liam can rehabilitate himself. And maybe even be the hero of the hour?

While there are elements of social commentary sitting in there, this script is all about the laughs, and the play is extremely funny. The odd moment of pathos, and the feel of a Boy's Own storyline, are thrown in, but what you leave with is a memory of high energy, slick interactions, audience involvement, and some very funny lines. All four performers give a good account of themselves, as much a team on stage as on the ball.

A very enjoyable, if lightweight, end to the PPP season.

Hotdog (A Play, a Pie and a Pint), Traverse

 Joni (Chloe-Anne Tylor) is off to a party. Not just any party, but The One. And in not just any outfit, but a hotdog in a bun costume, complete with mustard. She's no money, but no matter, something will turn up to join her budget bottle of Lidl lemonade. And she'll be the centre of attention, looking as she does.

It's all for fun, all to get herself back out there. But is there more to it? Are there darker reasons involved? This location has a special significance for Joni, and strong memories. Traumatic memories. She wanted to be confronting her demons. But what if they prove stronger than her?

Hotdog is a powerful tale of dealing with past horrors, and facing the future. And of accepting support and help and love wherever it comes from. Tylor gives a mesmerising performance, by turns manic, pragmatic and consumed with grief. While this is a one woman show for much of the time, there is, lurking in the background, a stage hand (Ross Allan), who provides props, moves chairs, delivers sound effects. And turns into a friendly chippie owner for the closing scene, for the only dialogue of the play. A voice of sense, laced with humour, as contrast to Joni's emotional highs and lows.

Another excellent PPP.