Brian Butler takes a look at Chichester’s new season
Brian Butler takes a look at Chichester’s new season
A period delight, executed with humour and panache and certainly one for Cowards fans or anyone interested in a certain type of arch, camp dialogue driven relationship comedies with a delicious vicious core.
Brian Butler raises a glass to Mark Inscoe’ s great Coward/Porter show
Me and the Girls is a paradox – a ‘new’ Noel Coward play. It is in fact a clever musical adaptation of a short story which the Master wrote on holiday in Jamaica, and published in 1962.
UK stage premiere of Noel Coward’s Me and the Girls opens in Eastbourne on Tuesday, September 17.
A stylish and relevant production but the imbalance of the acting rather takes the shine off what could have been a stunning production. Nonetheless it’s a fine piece of theatre, done well, perfectly timed but perhaps tastier with a half kilo less of rant, and a cup full more of conviction.
You have to feel sorry for hunky ex baseball player turned mediocre actor Bill Traylor. His desire to be a Broadway star leads him to be trapped in a bad romance, as Lady Gaga would have put it.
Actor, charmer and diva, Garry Essendine is determined to disregard his advancing years and receding hairline by revelling in his endless tantrums and casual affairs, but as he is about to depart for Africa, he’s besieged by a bevy of would-be seductresses, not to mention his long suffering secretary, his estranged wife and an obsessed young playwright. As he attempts to disentangle himself from their clutches and demands, the humour escalates, accompanied by farce and sparkling repartee.
Trouser-Wearing Characters by Rose Collis is the first ever musical cabaret show written and performed by a British female author. This original entertainment, written and performed by local Sussex’s favourite Rose Collis, is a unique mixture of music, history and comedy.
The full audience found it a very comfortable treat indeed and perfect evening entertainment after the long weekend that is Pride, I certainly agree with the latter.
