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Latest items? Unedited? Fringe Report Uncut
Cry in the Dark
Verdict: Community tragedy
Sunderland - Sunderland Empire - 7 May 05 - 1915 (2hr-45min)
Sunderland Empire, High Street West, Sunderland, Tyne & Wear SR1 3EX
A church bell tolls, a woman tends a grave. A man enters and she gives him flowers, which he lays by the small cross. A gauze veils a large crowd of children and adults – it’s a dimly-lit picture of a sad Sunday School Picnic from Victorian times. Treble voices vocalise a dissonant canticle.
The gauze rises, and the picture springs to life - recalling happier times. It’s the dockside below the old Sunderland Bridge. Grey terraced-houses stretch to the horizon. North-East songs - Bobby Shafto, Blow the Wind Southerly, Dance to thi Daddy/When the Boat Comes In and The Keel Row overlap and blend together. The children dance as the cry goes up ‘Ship’s in!’ The crowd rush off to see.
Norma Dunn (Lindsay Dagg) is worried because her sweetheart’s ship is overdue. Joyce Brook (Fiona Clegg) and Norma sing about how their men are Married to the Sea. It’s an effective duet in which modern words and melody are overlaid on Blow the Wind Southerly.
In Sunderland’s Golden Alley, madame Big Bella (Melissa Cavanagh) introduces her prostitutes. They are Scotch Kate (Rebecca Richardson), French Mimi (Amy Bagnall) and Chinese Ley Down (Rachel Smith) – each with a separate door. Unfortunately it’s impossible to hear the words of Bella’s song as they come through the doors, and the girls are curiously coy in their movements. The jazzy score fits the mood perfectly, but it doesn’t suit the Victorian setting. Sal (Katie Turnbull) - a destitute girl from Ireland - becomes one of Bella’s whores. Her first client is Harry Townsend (Joe Wilson) a barker for the theatre. There are feedback problems with the microphones when they get close together.
Joyce and Bill (Steven Stobbs) can’t have any children. Bill’s response to Joyce’s concerns is a bit wooden. By contrast, their friends Ida (Joanne Parker) and Jackie Dunn (Michael Barrass) have a growing family. Bill can’t stand the situation and goes to the pub. He pauses outside. The tenderness between him and Joyce comes across with effective emotion. The pub scene seems unnecessary – an excuse for jolly locals to swap one-liners, and burst into song-and-dance to Wor Geordie's Lost His Benker.
Bill’s brother Marty’s ship is lost. The local entrepreneur regularly overloads his ships. Bill wants justice. On the foggy dockside, Marty's girlfriend Norma waits holding an unlit lamp and sings Beacon on the Mist. Norma leaves with her father Jackie. Irish Sal sits on the steps. Joyce sees her and finds that Sal is pregnant. The women strike a bargain - Joyce will pass Sal's child off as her own. Bill will be away at sea. They sing Strike a Deal – a well constructed duet.
Jackie Dunn tells Bill about Samuel Plimsoll’s work to make ships safer – and persuades Bill to lead a movement against overloading. And the World Will Hear is too weak and tuneless to inspire, but they go through the motions.
In Act Two, Harry Townsend (Joe Wilson) is promoting Mr Fay’s Magic Show and promises a free toy to every member of the audience. With the help of Fay's long-suffering assistant Jimmy McPhee (Simon Gunn), he sells tickets for the show at the Victoria Hall. The children perform a joyful dance with tambourines.
Joyce gets Belle, her 7-year-old 'daughter' ready for bed. Emma Gerry (Belle) has a commanding stage presence and Belle immediately leaps to life. She’s excited about the show, but Joyce is too busy to take her and says she can’t go – she sings the lullaby Lie Down Little One.
Mr Fay (Mark Clegg) and Jimmy McPhee prepare for the show. Jimmy worships Fay and wants to be like him - When I’m Older. Simon Gunn delivers Jimmy with talent, but his song is either the skilful use of a breaking voice or needs to be set lower.
Mr Fay’s Magic Show is amusing rather than amazing - and (unlike some of the scenes) could have been longer. He starts to distribute the free toys, but Harry Townsend interrupts. Harry’s words are drowned out by the band’s dramatic music – a shame, at this critical point. Children have rushed down a stairwell and been crushed against a closed door at the bottom. It’s difficult to play but the children work it well, and are good at playing dead. Belle is among the dead.
Ida’s subsequent counselling is a bit quick and too modern in approach. The poignancy of the scene is not convincing because of its 21st Century ‘don’t blame yourself’ psychology. The lullaby tune is reprised (very movingly), but uses sentiments that would not be found in the 19th Century working class. The cliché ‘better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all’ is quoted, and all drops into mawkishness.
In an unusual song, Harry Townsend explains how the law has changed so that all theatre doors now open outwards. Such a disaster in which 183 children were killed should never happen again. It emerges that Harry was Belle’s father. The prologue graveside scene re-runs, and the gauze reveals happier times as Harry returns to his old job as barker - this time for Jimmie McPhee. As finale, the whole cast sing Higher than the Sky. It’s a musically-powerful piece, but the words are unclear.
A Cry In The Dark has some potential. It is a musical developed from a college project by Fiona Clegg. As a piece of community theatre it is effective. But it is at least 30 minutes too long. It has too many bits of business that do not drive the plot forward. The music – apart from the traditional stuff – is mainly instantly forgettable.
Emma Gerry and Simon Gunn excel; Fiona Clegg and Joe Wilson put in good performances. The children are great. The rest of the cast are variable – some are wooden or caricatures. It is frustrating to find scenes that are moving and realistic alongside others that simply fill time. Tonight a local audience evidently enjoy a local story acted by local people. But to travel, it needs a radical re-write - and technical work on the sound.
CAST CREDITS: Amy Bagnall - Mimi. Chris Ball - Bobby. Michael Barrass - Jackie Dunn. Melissa Cavanagh - Big Bella. Fiona Clegg - Joyce Brook. Mark Clegg - Mr Fay. Pippa Christie - Violet Dunn. Hannah Dagg - Sally Brook. Lindsay Dagg - Norma Dunn. Rebekka Gardiner - Ruth Dunn. Emma Gerry - Belle Brook. Simon Gunn - Jimmy McPhee. Gordon Linden - Tommy Harper. Bill Meeks - Macka. Emily Parker - Jane Dunn. Joanne Parker - Ida Dunn. Rebecca Richardson - Scotch Kate. Elliot Rushworth - Tommy Dunn. Rachel Smith - Ley Down. Jonathon Thompson - Terry Dunn. Katie Turnbull - Irish Sal. Steven Stobbs - Bill Brook. Joe Wilson - Harry Townsend.
CAST CREDITS - CITIZENS OF SUNDERLAND: (alpha order): Helen Abraham, Keith Armitage, Beth Bengochea, Emily Brand, Jack Briggs, Michael Brown, Trish Cavanagh, Michael Crewe, Stacey Dagg, Julie Fawcett, Stephanie Fildes, Bev Fishburn, Nicholas Fraser, Joy Graham, Caroline Grist, Jenny Hardy, Harriet Hudson, Jordan Huggins, Kayleigh Johnson, Maxine Langley, Stacey Langley, Margaret Lee, Mark Lloyd, Ethan Luke, Frankie Main, Anne Malpass, Catherine McCabe, Beth McCluskey, Georgia McCluskey, Lily McCluskey, Aaron Morton, Meghan Nicholson, Alex Pearson, Katie Simpson, Michael Simpson, Luke Stenzler, Rebecca Taylor, Alice Turnbull, Bill Usher, Poppy Waiters, Louise Wilson.
COMPANY CREDITS: Director - Fiona Clegg. Production Team - Rowena Gilchrist, Liz Holden, Bill Usher, Tess Hagger. Conductor - Liz Holden. Technical Director - Mark Clegg. Stage Manager - Anthony Atkinson. Lighting - Tim Swinton. Wardrobe and Hair - Suzanne Armitage. Choral Coaching - Fiona Clegg. Rehearsal Pianist - Adam Burgess. Book, music and lyrics - Fiona Clegg. Musical Arrangements - Adam Burgess, Tom Quilliam, Martin Humphrey. Company - Centre Stage Community Theatre. Contact - fandm@centrestage.fsnet.co.uk
END
(c) Peter Andrews 2005
reviewed Saturday 7 May 05 / Empire Theatre, Sunderland
Fringe Report (c) Fringe Report 2002-2012
www.fringereport.com
