ANNUAL CRITICS AWARDS 2005
This is my last year of reviewing the local theatrical scene for a little while. Some will probably ask why I stayed so long, but I know of one or two in the town who feel a little sad at my going. Three weeks in the Putteridge wing of a funny farm will soon cure them of that particular delusion. As for me, I shall lie down with the Racing Post and reflect that, like the gee gees, theatre is full of wonderful ups and downs. Selling Platers and Derby Winners vie with each other in exquisite conjunction.
The two productions which nonchalantly strutted to the top of the musical and dramatic trees were ‘A Chorus Line’ and ‘Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me.’ A few others, most notably Luton Light’s two offerings, gave me a great deal of pleasure but none came within a dozen moggie whiskers of these two exceptional productions. Colin Smith Youth Musical Theatre get my BEST PRODUCTION award for an amazing ‘A CHORUS LINE’ and Dunstable Rep deservedly win RUNNER-UP BEST PRODUCTION for a riveting ‘SOMEONE WHO’LL WATCH OVER ME’ I doubt if anyone who bought a ticket for everything I saw would seriously argue with my choices.
Picking the best director is always more problematical, but on the basis that nothing on stage happens by chance both Stuart Farrar (A Chorus Line) and Alan Goss (Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me) have to go into this particular pot. I would also throw in Alistair Brown (Dunstable Rep - Jekyll and Hyde), Fred Broom (Luton Light - Guys and Dolls) and Christopher Lavin (DAOS - Sweet Charity) but for turning a slight piece into an absorbing evening of theatre my BEST DIRECTOR award goes to PETER CARTER-BROWN for Dunstable Rep Youth Theatre’s ‘100’. Alan Goss and Stuart Farrar can fight it out for my runner-up best director award.
BEST STAGING was easy. I may have been bored with the play but Dunstable Rep’s JEKYLL AND HYDE was head and shoulders above anything else this year. As the nearest rivals on staging were also the Rep’s ‘Misery’, ‘Quartet’ and ‘Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me’ I shouldn’t get many groans from their staging department. Excluding the Rep a good many of my reviews were for musicals and, for once, I saw some pretty good dancing on the local stage. The boys and girls of Luton Light’s ‘Salad Days’ and ‘Guys and Dolls’ all performed with panache, and Fred Thomas and Murray Henderson gave a wonderful sixties oomph to Phoenix’s ‘Summer Holiday’ but, for sheer exuberance, my BEST CHOREOGRAPHY award is shared by CSYMT (A Chorus Line) and DAOS (Sweet Charity).
On the individual front, actors in plays regularly score more of my brownie points than their musical cousins. When the lights go up it is all down to them, whereas the musical performers have a song and a band to help them. But two performances, Sarah Albert and Kushil Dep, deserve special praise this year for acting depth of a level rarely seen in musicals.
SARAH ALBERT was such a perfect Adelaide in Luton Light’s ‘Guys and Dolls’ I have no hesitation in naming her my BEST ACTRESS with Mona Norris (Pygmalion – Dunstable Rep) and Angela Goss (Quartet/Jekyll and Hyde – Dunstable Rep) taking the runner up positions. Others worthy of mention in this category were Gay Hoyle (Misery – Dunstable Rep), Annalise Carter-Brown (Pygmalion – Dunstable Rep), Eileen Kirby (Girls Night Out – Griffins), Joanne Mills (Wizard of Oz – St Andrews), Liz Caswell (Sweet Charity – DAOS), Melanie Eagles (Fiddler on the Roof – LAODS), Amanda Seal (Summer Holiday – Phoenix) and Lisa Lapidge (The Drunkard – CSYMT).
Until last month I would have given Kushil Dep (Oklahoma – Putteridge) my best actor award. (Those who think that this is a sop to the Putteridge letters should read my original review.) But my BEST ACTOR award goes jointly to ANDY MARGERISON and PETER CARTER-BROWN for scorching portrayals in Dunstable Rep’s ‘Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me.’ Kushil Dep gets the Runner Up award and shares with Sarah Albert my award for Best Performance in a Musical. Other notables in the male category were Simon Nicholas (Misery – Dunstable Rep), Phil Baker (Pygmalion/Quartet – Dunstable Rep), Richard Alexander (Girls Night Out – Griffins), Elliott Lawrence (Jekyll and Hyde – Dunstable Rep), Bruce King (Taking Steps – Wheathampstead Players), Steve Wilks (Fiddler on the Roof – LAODS), Christopher Lavin (Confusions – Dunstable Rep), Luke Storey (Guys and Dolls – Luton Light), Dan Smith (Guys and Dolls – Luton Light) and David Bailey (Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me – Dunstable Rep.)
Neither of the above categories includes any of the numerous stunning performances which made up the heart of CSYMT’s ‘A Chorus Line’. They will just have to console themselves with the fact that in a production so rich in collective talent, singling out individuals would tarnish the glorious memory. Let’s just say that the superbly gifted Lee Gauntlett and Helen Farrar led a show so wonderful I went to see it twice.
So, for that fifth and final time, that is just about it. DAVID WITHERALL of the Rep wins a long overdue THEATRICAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD for sound effects which consistently enhance the true theatrical experience. The aftermath of the storm in ‘Misery’ and the lapping river in ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ still echo in my mind. And in a review of the amateur dramatic year, Another Theatre Company’s ‘After Liverpool’ cannot possibly be ignored. It doesn’t qualify for any of my humble gongs but as this stunningly imaginative production cleared up everything on the silverware stalls of numerous British Drama Festivals, I reckon it will live with it.
Dunstable Rep continue to magnificently wave the adult straight theatre flag for that corner of Bedfordshire but in Luton the situation gets ever bleaker. The Presbyn Players are likely to give up the unequal struggle soon and, notwithstanding Terry Hayden’s courageous attempts for Luton Theatre Company, only St Christophers and Griffins seem regularly guaranteed to take dates at the Library Theatre. In a town which not so long ago could boast of six or seven straight drama companies, apathy continues to take its toll. Thinking of Cathy Burlinson’s ‘After Liverpool’, that seems a very strange state of affairs indeed. Thank God for the musicals. All of them.
Roy Hall