Acorn Antiques

Acorn Antiques by Victoria Wood started life as part of her weekly television programme ‘Victoria Wood As Seen On TV’ mostly based on ‘Crossroads’, but also parodying other low budget soap operas with wobbly sets, low standards and rather far fetched storylines. For Acorn Antiques the Musical! she kept the main characters of Mrs Overall, Miss Babs, Miss Berta and Mr Clifford and introduced a third sister Miss Bonnie, who is crucial to the new storyline. The set of the street with all the shops was opened under the careful direction of the ‘stage manager’ to his crew, to reveal the interior of ‘Acorn Antiques’ complete with disintegrating shop sign. It is the sort of show where the cast and backstage can get away with practically anything and it would not be noticed, as the audience would think it was part of action.    

It is hilarious with many outrageous and rude moments keeping the audience wondering have much further it will go; as the owners of Christine’s Corsets, the wool shop, the drapers and hardware store, swap their corsets, wool, ties and buckets, for the Hong Kong Thong and Panty Hut, a Botox booth, a piercing parlour and a Pole Dancing Club. The landlord, Lady Manchesterford, has sold the street to property developers and they have put up the rent by 500%; and as no one made a profit from their shops on the peppercorn rent Lady Manchesterford charged, they have been forced to become part of larger franchises, to keep in business.

This show offers opportunities to a wide age range of performers as the roles include ‘pitiful adolescents from the Government Pitiful Adolescent Training Scheme’ and ‘Minchin’s lad’, through to the shopkeepers of various ages. There were several well-choreographed dance numbers, with at one point, the Manchesterford Amateur Operatic Society using the shop for their rehearsal, which meant it did not have to be perfect.

The music for this show is not well known, which provides the first challenge, and it is also difficult. I felt that Musical Director needed to give better direction when bringing in both cast and musicians, as several times numbers appeared to start a few bars late. Also the sound levels were not well balanced, with instruments overpowering voices, so the audience could not hear some of the songs properly. Having said that the cast handled the difficult songs well and there were some lovely numbers, from both principals and chorus.

This show started life on television and the audience already knew several of the characters, and so there is the dilemma of ‘do we replicate the television or create our own’. The characters of Miss Babs, Miss Berta, Mr Clifford and Mrs Overall are the really well known ones, and I think the cast kept the essence of the original character, but put their own interpretation onto it. There were some excellent performances from the ‘pitiful adolescents’ and ‘Minchin’s lad’, the sisters, Mr Clifford and Tony. The shopkeepers and customers had all developed their own individual characters and worked well together to give a sense of community to the show. But for me the most memorable performance was Anne Martin as Mrs Overall, she sang and danced her way through the show, with her veiny legs and macaroons; delighting the audience with her audacious remarks and ruderies.

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