| A Retrospective of Louche Theatre in Edinburgh |
Wales at Edinburgh Fringe |
| Louche Theatre , Greenside, Edinburgh , August 30, 2021 |
Louche Theatre made a big step in 2010. It became apparent when a cluster of collectors were to be seen in the foyer area of Aberystwyth's Co-Op. They had the t-shirts but not the funds. Edinburgh is expensive at any level. For a company of a dozen, even more so, so the collection buckets were swinging. The company had itself an intriguing production. ‘The Remnants of Once Fine Girl” by Stephen Todd was part-set in Darfur. Kaite O'Reilly had worked as dramaturg on a Writer Development Project, organised by Aberystwyth's Arts Centre. It progressed from rehearsed reading to studio production and travelled to Barmouth's Dragon Theatre. From there it made the jump to Greenside Parish Church in Edinburgh. A feature of the play that stood out was that the parts for the cast of eight were all for women. * * * * The company did the same in 2011 with an all-women play. “Be My Baby” at Greenside had the long-established review site Broadway Baby enthusiastic: “Standing out from the group is Queenie, played by Julie McNicholls. Cynical and worldly, she takes the other girls by the scruff of the neck with tough love wrapped up in Northern vowels. As each pregnant girl develops we see each story is run through with a thread of sadness and the poignancy of having to give up their children for adoption. As youthful exuberance flickers out from their gloomy predicament there are moments of both tears and laughter.” Three Weeks, the other leading reviewer also liked what they saw: “Be My Baby” tells the familiar story of a 19 year old young woman, Mary, who finds herself pregnant, alone and without options. In 1964, Mary is forced into an institution to have her baby in secret, where she is united with other expecting mothers in this predicament. The play is sad, uplifting and true, despite temptation to end on a happily-ever-after note. Tunes of the 1960s add much to this production. “...The impressive turnout for this weekday afternoon show reflects a talented cast and the pressing issue of single mothers and missed opportunities for teenage parents.” * * * * Greenside Parish Church was venue in 2013 for a reprise of a company favourite, Wolf Mankowitz's “the Bespoke Overcoat.” Harry Durnall was not just producer-director, designer but also actor,. The company included Julie McNicholls as assistant director, Lisa Lewis production manager), Billie Taylor – Adam, stage manager, Caroline Clark costumes, Stephen Griffiths and John Edwards lighting, Andy Gatherer and Lisa Lewis, Jim Vale scenic artist, Jade Johnson technical manager. The actors were Harry Durnall, Sandy Spence, Julie McNicholls and Alex Gilbey. The Edinburgh Guide wrote this: “The secure thread of friendship runs through this gently comic play. It is post-war London. Fender (Harry Durnall) works for Ranting & Co where he has clerked for 43 years. His job involves making lists of clothing while he sits in a threadbare coat with holes that let the wind howl through to his old bones. His offer to buy one of their warm sheepskins with money docked from his wages is met with a snorting sneer from Missy Ranting (Julie McNicholls). In despair, he turns to his old friend Morry (Sandy Spence), a bespoke tailor with ‘a needle like Paganini’, and asks him the impossible task of repairing the coat. “Morry compromises by offering to make him a bespoke coat at a special price but Fender dies before he can benefit from the comforting, draught free garment. A disturbed ghost returns to Morry’s workshop. But the bargain bespoke coat, wrapped and ready in brown paper, is not enough for him. He will only be assuaged by the revenge of getting Ranting’s sheepskin on his back. “Singing a brandy fuelled version of Hava Nagila, the two old pals nick the coat and Fender returns to the other world a happy man having carried out a quiet revenge in pursuit of justice. A treadle sewing machine with cutting table, along with an office table furnish the bare brick walled set that serves as warehouse and tailor’s shop. The pleasing sounds of hurdy-gurdy music mark the play’s scenes, like silver pins marking a garment’s seam. “Morry, dressed in a kippah, a black pin-jabbed waistcoat, and with the steel expanding armbands of the time on his collarless shirt sleeves, sports a tape measure round his neck as he mourns the loss of his old friend Fender. Fender’s holey coat is a moth eaten tragedy on his back as he makes a meal from a soup free bagel – a fitting metaphor for the poverty of the time for some. A maudlin version of the 1930s German song Oh mein Papa from Morry is loaded with poignancy. “This is a refreshing expression of the warmth of male friendship sensitively portrayed by Spence and Durnall. Alex Gilbey who plays the Charles Atlas wannabe that is Fender’s replacement, is like a young Leonard Rossiter. Julie McNicholls plays the boss with hard boiled primness, secure in her own stylish garb but mindless to the stark human suffering of her staff. “Wolf Mankowitz’s 1952 version of Gogol’s original and now classic tale The Overcoat is an altogether gentler take on the bitter humiliations and frustrations felt by Akakii Akakievich. The Bespoke Overcoat was later made in to a short film starring Alfie Bass and David Kossof and its moral message in any form is as strong today as ever. “This shiny wee button of a play is worth fastening on to.” * * * * In 2016 Joe Orton's early short play “The Erpingham Camp” was performed on home territory and then at Greenside Nicolson Square. The company included regulars Caroline Clark costumes, Jim Vale scenic artist. The actors were Milly Jackdaw, Hillary Nunn, Brian Swaddling, Catherine Deering, Darren O’Connell, Sean Byrne, Heather Giles, Paula Gallagher, Sue Harries, Nest Howells and Harry Durnall as the padre. The Edinburgh Guide: “In the 1980s, the TV sitcom Hi-de-Hi, set in a 1960s holiday camp run by yellow coats with all its behind the scene shenanigans, was riding high in the popularity charts. But nearly 20 years before, writer Joe Orton wrote his black comedy on the same subject, The Erpingham Camp. It is this richly comic text that’s dripping with treacly darkness that Fringe regulars, Louche Theatre, brings to Greenside this year. “50s hits from Buddy Holly herald Orton’s farce that relishes exposing mayhem behind apparent order. Hard hearted empire loving megalomaniac Margaret Erpingham plays a game of Pin Tail on the Donkey on a map of Britain to achieve her ambition to build more and more holiday camps, even if the unspoilt is spoilt in the process. When the hapless Riley, energetically played by Hillary Nunn, steps in to the vacant shoes of Entertainment Manager, chaos, that quickly tips in to real anarchy, ensues among the not so happy campers. “In front of a painted board with peeling yellow wall paper sits Margaret’s magnificently mad cardboard desk from scenic artist Jim Vale, complete with portrait of her imaginary companion, Winston Churchill. “The enthusiastic cast is completely on board in their crazy wigs, yellow coats and a bit of cross dressing with Sean Byrne as a fetchingly pregnant Eileen and Catherine Deering wearing the role of the law abiding Lou like a pair of bespoke shoes. Nat Jackley lookalike Brian Swaddling as Ted the Tory and Darren O’Connell as Kenny dressed as Tarzan of the Jungle playing the Last Post on a kazoo encapsulate the play’s eventual mayhem and director Harry Durnall dons the mantle of the less than pious Padre to the monastery born at the eleventh hour. But among these stalwarts, Paula Gallagher absolutely shines as Jessie Mason, the Camp’s resident nymphomaniac. “Louche Theatre is an ambitious company that well and truly lives up to their name with this latest production that they perform with cheery, if at times a little stilted, bravado. The Erpingham Camp is an ideal Fringe show - crazy, colourful and fun. “ * * * * In 2018 “The Trial of Hermann Ethé” by Tom Francis dramatised an outbreak of mob anarchy that Aberystwyth saw on the declaration of war in 1914. Professor Ethé was a long-standing and eminent scholar at the still-young university in Aberystwyth. His house was attacked and he was forced to flee., but the outbreak of the First World War resulted in him being run out of the seaside town by a mob of 2,000 people.” The company comprised John Edwards, Sian Taylor. Alex Neil, Emma Sims and Paula Gallagher. It was performed locally at Morlan Aberystwyth, Neuadd Dyfi Aberdovey, the Dragon Theatre, Barmouth, and Y Tabernacl Machynlleth, before its summer production at the Fringe. |
Reviewed by: Adam Somerset |
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