All the King's Women

This is my first time at Theatre at Baddow and what a great introduction. As we entered the foyer, a beautiful Village Hall, we were greeted by a life-size Elvis! The company were welcoming and it was lovely to see everyone and have an introduction via the information board in the hall.

The programme gave a good description of the Group, the Play and the Author. The play was directed by Jacquie Newman and her notes were informative and set the tone for what we were about to see.

Front of house, and the technical team did a fabulous job, especially as we learned that they did not gain access to the hall until an hour before curtain up!   The last minute set up was slick and there were no technical issues that I noticed.

The play is based on fact and depicts Elvis Presley through the experiences of those who had encountered him throughout his life.

At the beginning after a twitch of the curtain a woman stepped into the spotlight, played by Jean Speller, this character told the story of how she had served  Elvis and his mother in her store on his Eleventh birthday, She explained to the audience, whilst seemingly still communicating with unseen shoppers, how she had sold Elvis his first guitar rather than a rifle.  Jean’s accent was believable, she engaged the audience well as she stood on an apron at the front of the stage, the intimacy of the piece was enhanced by the positioning. It was a gentle story, expressed beautifully and we shared in this character’s joy at the fact that she had set a young Elvis on his journey to stardom.

The Next Scene involved Claire Lloyd, Fabienne Henly and Kieran Lowe. It also involved two hound dogs complete with yelps to add to the dialogue. It told the well known story of how Elvis movements on stage were viewed as too provocative to be seen on TV. Each character again delivered believable American accents and the relationship between the TV executives played by Kieran and Claire was good. Kieran strong visually with his slick haircut and moustache he had a strong stage presence throughout and Claire with her strong New York drawl gave great contract as Colonel Tom Parker’s representative. This scene was on stage. the set was simple and the location was indicated by the furniture rather than a busy backdrop. 

In scene three Jenny Hillyard, gave a very amusing description of how her character bumped into Elvis in a store in the middle of the night. She was a fan who was overcome with both fear of a stranger and then elation at meeting her hero. It was a long piece and despite some first night nerves her character was strong and again believable. A woman prone to exaggeration perhaps, tired from being a Mom but who now had an Elvis story to tell that may well have become more elaborate every time it was told.

In the final scene before the interval we saw the versatility of Claire and Jean who appeared with Lauren Underwood as telephonists/secretaries at the Whitehouse when Elvis visited. The dialogue shifted from one character to the next as we learned how and why Elvis came to be at the Whitehouse to see Richard Nixon. Although movement was limited during this scene there was change of pace and momentum as we saw the girls react to this ‘unusual’ event while they were at work. 

The interchange between monologues in the spotlight and small scenes on the stage worked incredibly well. Scene changes were seamless and the lighting was well positioned. Scenes were linked by the voice of Kevin Stemp, who gave news reports of what might be happening around the time of each ‘Elvis Encounter’.I really believed this voice could have been recorded in 1950’s America well done to Kevin and the sound team.

Costume throughout was simple but effective as the women wore coloured blouses and black pencil skirts and the men black trousers and white shirts. the only time this changed was in the final scone when the characters were representing workers in a Graceland gift shop. It showed the contrast between the past and present very well.

On the whole I thoroughly enjoyed my night at Theatre st Baddow. To cast and crew….Thankyaverymuch!

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.