Betty Blue Eyes

Betty Blue Eyes is a 2011 stage musical comedy based on the 1984 film ‘A Private Function’ with music by George Stiles and lyrics by Anthony Drewe. The book was written for the stage by Ron Cowen and Daniel Lipman, adapted from Alan Bennett’s original script. It is set in 1947, war has ended and Britain’s are suffering under the burden of food rationing and being told that there will be “Fair Shares For All”. However, in this scenario with the upcoming marriage of Princess Elizabeth to Prince Philip, local officials are arranging a ‘Private Function’ and to that end are secretly rearing a pig - Betty. Joyce, the wife of Chiropodist Gilbert Chivers, is fed-up with being a nobody and after finding out about the pig and to keep in her ‘good books’, Gilbert decides to steal the pig to have at their own event but……. who will kill the pig!

Gilbert Chilvers, a chiropodist, was outstandingly played by Tony Wain. He totally captured the warm caring nature of the character making it so believable as he went about administering to ‘feet’. (That’s how he found out about Betty when he was called upon to tend to her ‘poorly trotter’!) He was so animated and his terrific acting together with his wonderful singing, especially evident in ‘The Kind of Man I Am’, was just superb. Another fine performance came from Sarah Evans as Gilbert’s wife. She has great stage presence and together with a glorious singing voice she delivered an excellent portrayal of a woman who is disgruntled with her life and wants to be ‘somebody’. Her feisty delivery of ‘Nobody’ was splendid and then, with help, she removes her dress to reveal a sumptuous sequined one beneath, is joined by two men in ‘tails’ and two exquisitely attired ladies plus the ensemble and together, they deliver a most stunning number. Hilary Booth excelled as Mother Dear. She gave a brilliant representation of a somewhat batty, ever-hungry elderly lady and she certainly oozed every ounce of comedy from the role. The number ‘Pig No Pig’ was a real hoot. The three members of the Town Council were all first-rate. As Head of the Council, Andrew Bailey was just perfect as the snooty, superior Dr. James Swaby and his ‘put-down’ sarcastic one liners were sublime. John Ellis was equally ideal in the role of Henry Allardyce, an accountant, who has fallen hopelessly in love with Betty and as the Solicitor and the third member of the Council, Thomas Bailey was suitably forthright as befitted the role of Frances Lockwood. The three, when joined by Cliff Waddingham as the very upright Sergeant Noble, most splendidly sang ‘ Since The war’. A very strong and strident performance came from Stuart Ellis as Mr. Wormold, the Official Meat Inspector, who delighted in painting green any unregistered meat resulting in the closure of Butcher’s shops and the arresting of offenders. Good interpretive portrayals came from William Woodroffe as Farmer Sutcliffe, from Joanne Hughes as snooty Mrs. Allardyce, from Lily Reynolds as her badly behaved and annoying daughter and from the Girl Trio of Olivia Bailey, Poppy Dodsworth and Korina Steed. The numerous other minor principal roles were all carried out with great assurance as was their excellent involvement in the well choreographed and executed numbers and the singing by the soloists, small groups and the ensemble was of a very high standard. Of course, I must not forget to mention the ‘star’ of the whole musical who is, as the title suggests, Betty Blue Eyes, the pig. What an adorable ‘puppet’ she was and so movingly handled by Grace Hollingsworth. One look into those beautiful blue eyes and no wonder Gilbert hadn’t the heart to kill her and Henry so adored her - so, she lives to see another day!  

A totally ‘blacked out’ stage with the back flats painted with white outlined buildings was most effective and at times this was covered over by a black curtain. When required a screen was lowered and news items were projected on to it. One side of the stage was used for the Gilbert’s living room complete with an upright piano and the other became the Butcher’s shops. There was a stable door behind which Betty was hidden and very good use was made of a reversible free-standing door which became the entrance to various ‘rooms’. I did smile when it became the doorway to the ‘GENTS’ especially when several of the characters, after entering it, were then seen behind a very small tiled white wall effectively ‘relieving’ themselves, it was so funny! All the scenes were indicated by the use of excellent props and a good lighting plot and were very efficiently and discreetly manoeuvered by the Stage Crew and cast members. The costumes, the super hats and the hairstyles etc. were so in keeping with the era, they were just fabulous and it was such a joy to have a marvellously sounding seven-piece orchestra playing even though at times, they did overpower some of the spoken dialogue.

I must admit that I had not even heard of the show before I was invited, but I can now say, without a shadow of a doubt, that this production exceeded all my expectations - it was top-notch and I thoroughly enjoyed every moment. Many, many congratulations to Director Val Smith, to  Assistant Director Trudy Taylor, to Musical Director Alison Bailey, to Choreographers Alison Bailey and Olivia Bailey, to the wonderful cast and indeed to everyone else involved. Also many thanks for the warm welcome that I received.            

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