Equinox Theatre |
| Equniox Theatre- Dorothy Squires , , January 1, 2000 |
| Do we need a play about Dorothy Squires? My only memories are of a rather scary Norma Desmond figure who popped up on the news in the Seventies, usually following a court case. However, Mark Ryan's one-woman show is at least partly validated by the terrific performance it elicits from Gerri Smith, as she surveys the singer's rollercoaster career from the straitened circumstances of her retirement. And it was certainly quite a ride, from childhood in the valleys to early success in London, and marriage to an older band leader, whom she eventually dumped for the young Roger Moore. But then Moore left her for another woman, and professional and personal disaster followed. Ryan and Smith don't pull their punches and in Smith's portrayal, Squires is anything but a walk in the park: capricious and argumentative, she emerges as a not particularly likeable figure who blamed everyone else for her misfortunes, and never understood that her decline was largely the result of her own self-destructive impulses, in particular her obsession with litigation. But if Squire's talent redeemed her, Gerri Smith captures perfectly the throaty, lachrymose quality of her vocal style. And juxtaposed with her years of decline, the tortured theatricality of her material, mostly overwrought ballads ballads such as 'When you lose the one you love' , starts to seem oddly appropriate. The final image of Squires, resplendent in pink feather boa-trimmed gown, belting out a show-stopping 'My Way' conveys the visceral, almost frightening, intensity of this most frightening of egos. |
Reviewed by: Paul Maloney The Scotsman |
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