West Yorkshire Playhouse, to me, is a cultural icon of Leeds, situated on the entrance to Leeds. Its mission is to create world class compelling and thrilling productions, and you can tell when you go see one of their shows.
Recently the West Yorkshire Playhouse put on a production of The Rise and Fall of Little Voice, which ended last Saturday, the 4th of July 2015. I managed to see the last performance and I was blown away.
The set was amazing! It featured a turntable house, since the play is mainly based there, and a curtain which dropped down when it was time to move location. The back of the set was reminiscent of a junkyard, filled with rubbish and shiny plastic show bar curtains. And the house just looked like it was ready to collapse. Everything looked worn, filthy, and stressed the point of the characters situation. Big dreams while trapped in a gutter.
Nancy Sullivan was Little Voice, and her characterisation was brilliant. She had gotten the timid behaveour and silence of LV perfectly. Though she did not speak with her words, you could see exactly what she was saying with her body language. Her singing was extraordinary. It's a challenge to impersonate great singers like Shirley Bassey and Judy Garland, among others, but to do them one after another. Nancy Sullivan handled it brilliantly and truly kicked arse with her performance.
Ray Say and Mari were performed by Coronation Streets very own Chris Gascoyne and Vicky Entwistle. Both gave a good performance of their characters. Chris played Ray as a cool man about town with a ruthless edge. The character was played so well, dare I even say I love it more than Micheal Caine's portrayal. Vicky captured Mari's loudness and bold character. She was truly brilliant.
The rest of the cast were brilliant. Joanna Brookes was hilarious as the quiet Sadie, The slimy and crubby Mr Boo was played by Brendan Charleson. And the adorably sweet Billy, who made many a woman in the audience aww, was played by Tendayi Jembere.
It was a brilliant cast, and production team that made this production fantastic. The staff at the West Yorkshire Playhouse was a delight like they always are. It proves that you don't have to go down to London to see a brilliant West End worthy performance.
No comments:
Post a Comment