Me and My Girl

It is never anything less than an absolute pleasure to deputise for good friend Sue Dupont, and to be asked to cast an eye over another Dereham musical is always a joy. This time it was the crowd pleaser Me And My Girl, and since I hadn’t seen this title for about eight years I was more than a little excited as I entered the stunning Dereham Memorial Hall.

It was not absolutely obvious from the program notes but this looked to be a Directorial Debut with this company for Chrissie Robertson which only added to my anticipation. Since the show was re vamped and re written (Stephen Fry take a bow) it ran from 1985 to 1993 at the Adelphi Theatre in the West End and has toured professionally one many occasions before establishing itself as a staple of amateur perfomances up and down the country. The story is not overly complicated with Lambeth boy Bill Snibson suddenly finding that he has become the new Earl of Hareford. We see him wrestle with family obligation whilst trying to reconcile his new status and wealth with his working class friends including long-time girlfriend Sally, who struggles to fit in. There’s a little intrigue and some nice romantic sub plots but it’s mostly singing, dancing and comedy all the way to a delightfully happy ending.

As you would expect with this company at this venue the costumes were outstanding (Dereham Theatre Costumes) with scenery (Scenic Projects) and props (Fiona Faulds and Kirk Wills) to match. Lighting was completely appropriate and apart from a couple of unidentifiable loud thuds the sound was well balanced with all radio mics behaving, although at one point Maria Duchess Of Dene struggled against the orchestra and I couldn’t tell if there was an issue, or it was that she had no microphone.

The chorus were enthusiastic and extremely focused and wherever you looked they seemed totally in character. Of the supporting cast there were good perfomances throughout with Doug Bailey popping up in several roles most noticeably as a very articulate policeman. Lavinia Pirret was superb in a wonderful cameo as Mrs Brown who’s enthusiastic front step scrubbing was a highlight!  The part of Butler Charles involves only a small amount of dialogue but in this role Kirk Wills gave a compelling and enormously accomplished performance proving once again that there are no small parts, only small performances. Mark Wells also turned in a nice piece of work as family solicitor Parchester and as Sir Jasper Tring, Nick King made me laugh out loud more than once. Haydn Rogers and Heather Neave were omnipresent as Lord and Lady Battersby filling the set nicely when required.

Of the leads there was an excellent comedy characterisation from Gareth Evans as Usurped upper class twit The Hon Gerald Bollingbroke and some very provocative posturing from Caroline Caldecott as his love interest Lady Jacqueline Carstone as she pursued the hero around the set on more than one occasion.

Nick Bird is a mighty talent and, as Bill Snibson, he didn’t put a foot wrong; maximising the wonderful comedy set pieces and milking every laugh from each one. As working class love interest Sally Smith, Katie Woodhouse was sublime with an endearing characterisation and a crystal clear singing voice that silenced the whole audience to such an extent I could hear my watch ticking.

I have saved the penultimate paragraph for Pat Tabor as Maria Duchess of Dene and Tony Wilds as Sir John Tremayne who’s combined presence underpinned the whole production. As the dragon matriarch Pat Tabor gave a stunning performance and a characterisation that showed strength and resolve and some textbook technical acting. There was no call for comedy but when she came on wearing the recently thrown off bowler, I laughed rather more robustly than I had intended. She was sure footed with the words and moved around the stage as if it was indeed her ancestral home. It would have been the take home perfomance of the night were it not for a professional standard piece of work from Tony Wilds. It would need another side of A4 to list his accomplishments in this production but to précis, he delivered the best comedy drunk I have ever seen, amateur or professional and I laughed until I cried. I was glued to his every move and those moves were breath-taking.

Criticisms were few, The ages of the leads were higher than you might have expected but they cast older people in many of the other roles, so it wasn’t a massive problem. My main observation was that perhaps it leaned just a little bit towards pantomime on a couple of occasions and the hammy bits although not obtrusive, were not (In my opinion)  the best bits, but again, no permanent harm done as I still managed to cry like a schoolgirl at the ending. Congratulations to Director Chrissie Robertson for a very tidy piece of direction and to Musical Director Malcolm Crane who led a ten piece orchestra that were worth the ticket price alone and featured the hardest working drummer / percussionist I have ever seen !

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