Hitchcock Blonde at the Maddermarket Theatre

On the evening of Thursday 27th February 2014 I attended The Norwich Players performance of Hitchcock Blonde by Terry Johnson at Norwich Maddermarket Theatre. This production directed by John Holden starred Edward Wallis, Libby Waite, John Mangan, Gemma Johnston, Dave Myers and Mandy Jean Jordan.

Media lecturer Alex tries to seduce a young blonde student with a trip to his Greek villa to investigate a collection of old film canisters. Will the heat of a Mediterranean summer and the temptation of discovering a lost Hitchcock film break down her resistance?

Cue to Hollywood in 1959 - Hitchcock is auditioning a blonde for the Psycho shower scene. But she has designs on being Hitch's next leading lady and is prepared to do whatever it takes... or is she? These two stories spooled out and intertwined as the two men pursued their image of the perfect blonde.

Hitchcock Blonde was about sex, obsession and yearning for the unobtainable. There were some fantastic performances from The Norwich Players as the audience were taken to the Mediterranean and to Hollywood in a play that drew parallels between the fantasy world of film and the real world of vulnerable young women and the men who exert power and influence over them.

Last of the Red Hot Lovers at the Maddermarket Theatre

On the evening of Saturday 25th January 2014 I was back at the Maddermarket Theatre, Norwich to attend the Norwich Players performance of Neil Simon's Last of the Red Hot Lovers. This play was written by the author of the wonderful comedy The Odd Couple, with the Norwich Players being directed by Rob Morris.

Forty nine year old Barney Cashman who has been partnered with his wife for what seems most of those years decides to have an affair. With each attempt he fails completely to understand the fact that there is another needy person involved, who is looking for something rather different. Needless to say he gets a lot more than he bargained for, just about everything but an affair.

This was a very enjoyable and funny night at the Maddermarket Theatre with wonderful performances from Trevor Burton as Barney Cashman, Lily Cramer as Elaine Navazio, Camilla Webster as Bobbi Michele and Clare Howard as Jeanette Fisher. The play takes place in the New York apartment belonging to Barney's mother. Having an affair isn't quite what Barney bargained for!

The Snow Queen at the Maddermarket Theatre

On Thursday 26th December 2013 I attended the Norwich Players performance of The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Andersen at the Maddermarket Theatre, Norwich. The Snow Queen was a superb family show and is one of Hans Christian Andersen's most widely acclaimed stories. This production of The Snow Queen was adapted by Stuart Paterson and directed by Peter Sowerbutts.

When Kay is snatched from his beautiful home by the beautiful, cruel Snow Queen, his friend Gerda sets out on an epic journey to rescue him. As she searches, she encounters a series of strangers to whom she tells her tale. Charmed by her story and innocence, each of them helps Gerda, so that, at last, she is able to find the Snow Queen's icy palace.

This was the perfect play to see on Boxing Day and a fantastic Christmas treat. There was a wonderful festive atmosphere at the Maddermarket Theatre as this magical Hans Christian Andersen fairytale was brought to life on the stage at this historic theatre.

The Seagull at the Maddermarket Theatre

On the afternoon of Saturday 30th November 2013 I attended The Norwich Players performance of The Seagull by Anton Chekhov at the Maddermarket Theatre, Norwich. Christopher Hampton's brilliant and highly actable translation of Chekhov's masterpiece along with the Maddermarket's daringly theatrical interpretation breathed new life into this enchanting, romantic and heartbreakingly beautiful classic about love, loss and art.

Chekhov described his play as a comedy with landscapes (a view over a lake), a great deal of conversation about literature, little action and a ton of love. A rather modest description for a ground-breaking stroke of genius which ultimately laid the foundations for modern drama, and whose profound influence is still felt in theatre and cinema today.

The Seagull is a slice-of-life drama set in the Russian countryside at the end of the 19th century. The cast of characters is dissatisfied with their lives. Some desire love. Some desire success. Some desire artistic genius. No one, however, ever seems to attain happiness. This production by Stephen Picton was brilliantly performed by The Norwich Players which proved to be one of the highlights of this year's productions at the Maddermarket Theatre.

Steampunk Dream at The Maddermarket Theatre

On Saturday 30th March 2013 I attended The Norwich Players performance of William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream at The Maddermarket Theatre, Norwich. In this production rhythm, movement, music and dance created a dream world.

This Steampunk version of this classic play began in Starveling the tailor's shop where the Mechanicals including that well-loved clown, Bottom, come to rehearse their play for the wedding festivities of the Duke. The fairies transform this shop into their Steampunk forest where four lovers take refuge and we learn all is not well in the relationships of the forest folk royalty. Magic leads to mayhem before order is finally restored.

The stage was transformed but as in a dream, elements of a reality remained. Steampunk is a literacy and cultural genre and aesthetic (an off-shoot of science fiction and fantasy) which combines aspects of the Industrial Revolution, i.e. steam power, with a rebellious or punk response. In the end Puck asks you to consider what you have just seen as no more yielding but a dream.

This production of A Midsummer Night's Dream was mad and brilliant. It was an afternoon where you could leave reality outside and enter an amazing dream world inside The Maddermarket Theatre. Director Chris Bealey created a fantastic version of the Dream which made for a very entertaining experience. Dreams, if they're any good, are always a little bit crazy.

God of Carnage at The Maddermarket Theatre

On Saturday 2nd March 2013 I made my way to The Maddermarket Theatre in Norwich with great anticipation to attend the matinee performance from The Norwich Players of God of Carnage by Yasmina Reza. God of Carnage had its London Premiere in 2008 where it scooped an Olivier for best new play.

The Norwich Players cast for this play was Veronica - Jenny Dewsbury, Michael - Neil Bain, Annette - Angela Rowe and Alan - Steve Dunn. This production was directed by Rob Morris and was set in the apartment of Veronica and Michael somewhere in USA. Roman Polanski has directed a film version called Carnage starring Kate Winslet, Christoph Waltz, John C Reilly and Jodie Foster.

Benjamin and Henry get involved in an argument because Henry refuses to let Benjamin join his gang resulting in Benjamin knocking out two of Henry’s teeth with a stick. The dispute in the park brings two sets of parents together to discuss the incident in a reasonable way. The evening starts in a civilised manner but soon degenerates into irrational and childish arguments.

 

The play ran for approximately eighty five minutes in one act and we were warned that several swear words would be used in the dialogue. This was not surprising as the conversations soon turned into heated arguments. This was a fast paced and funny play which made for a very enjoyable afternoon spent at The Maddermarket Theatre.

Playhouse Creatures at The Maddermarket Theatre

On Saturday 2nd February 2013 I attended the matinee performance from the Norwich Players of Playhouse Creatures by April De Angelis at The Maddermarket Theatre, Norwich. The play was written in 1993 but is set in the time of the Restoration of King Charles II to the throne of England. The cast consisted of Mrs Betterton - Becky Sweet, Doll Common - Dot Binns, Mrs Marshall - Libby Waite, Mrs Farley - Emily Deere and Nell Gwyn - Rebecca Wass.

It is 1660 and Charles II permits actresses to perform on stage for the first time. These became known as the ‘playhouse creatures’ and the play brings these characters to life, characters who are slightly ageing but well-connected or conformist young ladies. All is well until a brash youngster, Nell Gwyn comes along, determined to improve her life from orange-seller to actress even though ‘actress’ to most gentlemen of the time was close to being a ‘whore’. Were they coming to appreciate the dramatic talent or for other less salubrious intentions? The play was a juicy and hilarious historical drama with strong language and themes of an adult nature.

Four of the five women women are echoes of real people, the fifth is an echo of a character from the time before, when women were off the stage, when Shakespeare reigned and Ben Jonson created a female character unparallelled in realism. Doll Common knew what it was to live, to take and to love. She described how Betterton’s theatre was formerly a bear pit, and how as a child she watched her father rip the claws from an aggressive female dancing bear. This makes you understand the analogy with Restoration playhouses – that the actresses were ’creatures’ who would be tamed if they stepped out of line.

This was a brilliant performance from the Norwich Players as they brought April De Angelis' story to life as we were transported back to the time of Charles II. The play was gritty as well as having moments of humour. Well done to all the cast and the Director Lucinda Bray for this amazing production at The Maddermarket Theatre.

Drama in Chipping Cleghorn

On Saturday 25th August 2012 I attended the matinee performance from the Norwich Players of Agatha Christie's A Murder Is Announced at the Maddermarket Theatre, Norwich. Published in June 1950, Agatha Christie's book A Murder is Announced saw the return of Miss Marple after a seven year absence. The novel was adapted for the stage and debuted in London in 1977 by Leslie Darbon.

A murder is announced and will take place on Friday October the thirteenth, at Little Paddocks at six thirty pm. This is placed in the personal column of the Chipping Cleghorn Gazette that very morning. When the appointed hour arrives the house is full of guests who find themselves thrown into pitch darkness as the lights go out. The door slams shut and shots are fired. Someone falls to the ground amongst the panic. It is left to Miss Marple to unravel this tantalising mystery.

The Norwich Players aim was to make a powerful contemporary version of the play setting it in the present day. This was a classic closed room whodunit set in the front room of Letitia Blacklock's large house in Chipping Cleghorn. This was another wonderful afternoon to be at the Maddermarket Theatre as the Norwich Players put on an entertaining and interesting performance.

When We Are Married at the Maddermarket

On Saturday 28th July 2012 I attended the matinee performance of JB Priestley's When We Are Married from the Norwich Players at the Maddermarket Theatre, Norwich. The play was written in 1938 but is set 30 years previously in 1908. When We Are Married explores attitudes to marriage at the turn of the 20th Century. 

When We Are Married is a classic farce set in Yorkshire when three long-married couples are celebrating their 25th wedding anniversaries, they discover that due to a bureaucratic quirk they have never actually been married. Laughs and surprises are abound in Priestley’s sparkling, classic comedy.

This was another wonderful afternoon at the Maddermarket Theatre as we were taken to the sitting room of Alderman Helliwell's house in Clecklewyke, a town in the West Riding. Home truths exploded and mayhem erupted in this eventful performance from the Norwich Players.

The Alchemist going for gold!

On the evening of Saturday 30th June 2012 I attended the Norwich Players performance of Ben Jonson's The Alchemist at the Maddermarket Theatre, Norwich. Ben Jonson had a liking for craziness, whereas Shakespeare had a horror for it. For Shakespeare, madness is frightening; for Jonson it's funny. In Shakespeare, there's nothing to live for if anarchy reigns, whereas for Jonson that's where life really had its foundations.

With his master Lovewit resting in the country to avoid an outbreak of plague in London, a clever servant named Face develops a scheme to make money and amuse himself. He gives Subtle, a charlatan, and a prostitute named Dol Common access to the house. Subtle disguises himself as an alchemist, with Face as his servant; Doll disguises herself as a zealous Puritan. Together, the three of them gull and cheat an assortment of foolish clients. These include Sir Epicure Mammon, a wealthy sensualist looking for the philosopher's stone; two greedy Puritans, Tribulation Wholesome and Ananias, who hope to counterfeit Dutch money; Drugger, a "tobacco man" hoping to marry the wealthy widow Dame Pliant; Dapper, an incredibly suave, fashionable, good-looking 17th century gentleman, and other minor figures looking for a short-cut to success in gambling or in business.

The play takes place over the course of one day in the house of Face's master. The three rogues are forced to increasingly frenetic manoeuvres first to manage all of their simultaneous scams, and then to fend off the suspicious Kestrel, Dame Pliant's brother. At last, Lovewit returns; quickly perceiving what Face has done in his absence, he devises a scheme of his own to allow all to end well. Doll and Subtle escape unpunished but empty-handed; Mammon's goods are restored to him, but the Puritans' are not. The smaller victims either flee or are driven from the stage. Lovewit himself pledges troth to Dame Pliant, with Kestrel's approval. Face is restored without punishment to his original place as Jeremy Lovewit's butler.'

This was a wonderful evening at the Maddermarket Theatre as the Norwich Players brought us the genius of Ben Jonson. The Alchemist is unflinching in its satire, very much a play for our own straitened times. It was a night for going for gold but knowing that not everything that glitters is gold.

Time of My Life at the Maddermarket Theatre

On the afternoon of Saturday 2nd June 2012 I attended the matinee performance of Time of My Life by Alan Ayckbourn at the Maddermarket Theatre, Norwich. The Norwich Players took us to the evening of 18th January 1992. David Newham and Susan Seddon starred in this dark comedy.

It is one of Ayckbourn's time plays beginning at Laura Stratton's 54th birthday party in the present at the Essa da Calvi restaurant and continuing in three time streams - the present with Gerry and Laura Stratton, the past showing how Adam, the younger son and his girlfriend Maureen's relationship began and developed, and the future showing the breakdown of Glynn, the elder son and his wife Stephanie's marriage.

This was an interesting play which as it progresses you learn about the individual characters and their relationships. There were lots of funny moments especially from the Restaurant Owner and four waiters who were all played by the same actor. During the performance it was clear which characters you should like or dislike. Time of My Life is a play in which seriousness and comedy can coexist. At the end of the performance Trevor Burton who played the staff of the Essa da Calvi restaurant got the audience to their feet to sing God Save The Queen for the Diamond Jubilee.

Starless and bible-black

David Newham and Susan Seddon perform
Under Milk Wood at the Maddermarket Theatre

On Tuesday evening I attended the Norwich Players production of Dylan Thomas' Under Milk Wood at the Maddermarket Theatre, Norwich. To begin at the beginning: It is spring, moonless night in the small town, starless and bible-black, the cobblestreets silent and the hunched, courters’-and-rabbits’ wood limping invisible down to the sloeblack, slow, black, crowblack, fishingboatbobbing sea.

Under Milk Wood was published posthumously in 1954, a play for voices that was written for the radio. For the stage this performance directed by Stephen Picton takes place in a derelict mental asylum somewhere in Wales. If you want to experience the piece as intended just shut your eyes.

David Newham is wonderful in the role of narrator made famous by Richard Burton. Also performing were Susan Seddon, Dean Bramwell, Peter Bryan, Etta Geras, John Levantis, Oonagh Segrave-Daly and Samantha Wright. Complete with welsh accents they put on a brilliant mad performance. The power of Dylan Thomas' poetry together with the mental asylum may have seemed a little unsettling at time but overall it made for an interesting experience.

Stark lightbulbs and madmen, all of life was on show at the Maddermarket Theatre. And before you let the sun in, mind it wipes its shoes. After experiencing the play on stage I'm looking forward to hearing it as it was intended on the BBC audio version starring Richard Burton.

Shakespeare delights at the Maddermarket Theatre

Double Falsehood bringing Andalucia, Spain
1612 to the Maddermarket Theatre

On Friday night I was at the Maddermarket Theatre, Norwich for Double Falsehood or The Distressed Lovers by William Shakespeare and John Fletcher. This play was included in the Arden Shakespeare in 2010 and scholars now believe it is based on The History of Cardenio a lost collaboration between Shakespeare and John Fletcher.

The Maddermarket Theatre is a beautiful place to visit and I very much enjoyed my evening. The play is set in Andalicia, Spain in 1612 telling the story of two brothers Roderick and Henriquez who falls for two women. Violante and Leonora who is engaged to Julio.

It was a fine and fitting performance from the Norwich Players who has staged all of Shakespeare's plays. I particularly loved the scenery for the acts in the mountains. Great acting and brilliant Elizabethan costume.

Norwich should be proud of the Maddermarket Theatre and all the fine productions staged at this wonderful building full of history and character.