Rewired

With the exception of pantomimes, it’s a real rarity in the Am-Dram World to come across a completely home written script especially for a play, let alone a full blown musical complete with an original score to sixteen brand new musical numbers. Yet, the two Kayes, Vincent and Tompkins are beginning to make a habit of it. Rewired is their third to date and is actually an updating of their 2005 production of Wired, which sadly predates my Noda days and therefore I never saw. Rewired follows on the back of their excellent 2017 production of Cloud. The book is by Kaye Vincent, the music by Kaye Tomkins with the Lyrics written by both of them.

Perfectly described as a play with musical numbers, the story centres around the house clearance of the recently deceased home of operatic music composer Albert, a lonely, chaotic, elderly widower and hoarder of strange items, especially old steam radios, who spent his final days mourning the demise of his beloved Aimee who died of Motor Neurone Disease. Albert had become domestically dependent on his next-door neighbour Mrs T, a forceful but caring single woman with a powerful personality to match her real-life namesake! Having been left Albert’s estate in his will she hires Mac and his motley crew of Shaz, Russ, and Brains to clear the house. During the course of the clearance all their various back stories come to light, revealing dark secrets, murky pasts, unfulfilled dreams, romantic crushes, and domestic abuse.

The set, managed by Deborah Boddington, assisted by Jake Stevens and Leisa Keightley opened in Albert's sitting room with what looked like the inside of a very cluttered, disorganised junk shop, with furniture ranging from desks, sofa, armchair, bookcase, a dressing room screen and about ten very old steam radios, with assembled cardboard packing boxes haphazardly dumped in the middle of the room waiting to be filled.  During the course of the action the crew gradually fill the boxes and clear the room of all the items leaving only Albert’s very poignant armchair left at the end, which is the only item kept and is destined for Mrs T’s bedroom.

Sound plaudits must go to that go-to-man Mark Luckin, assisted by Alexander Home, with various crafted recorded sections for radio and offstage.  Lighting was designed by Dave Jones, assisted by Flic Jones, John Stevens and Gerry Stafford and was as per usual extremely well done, capturing the mood of each moment and helped by a continual stream of smoke effect dry ice, which really stood out very effectively, particularly when Albert was singing ‘All That was Aimee.’ Beautifully done!

The excellent band hidden away behind blacks on the upper tier of the Sharnbrook stage consisted of Composer and MD Kaye Tomkins on Keys 1, Andrew Longland-Meech on Keys 2, Andy Steward (Reeds), Richard James (Guitars), Lee Wong (Bass) and Mike Kilsby (Drums and Percussion).

There was also some very clever choreography by Davina Beegoo-Price in some of the numbers and the one that stood out for me was ‘Male Pride,’ performed by Mac and Russ. Perfect!

The cast itself was on top form and had really got deeply into their characters.  Shaz, played by Bethany Griffiths, the lovesick member of the crew who really fancied her boss Mac, played by Simon Jackson, whilst he continually rejected her advances, still feeling guilty about the man he ‘bottled’ in a pub fight and went to prison for three years over. A secret he had been withholding from Shaz. His house clearance business was his second chance; a road to redemption, but he still struggled with coming to terms with his past and his real deep inner feelings for Shaz.

Gordon Ritchie as Russ, another character who is much deeper than his public persona, with the joker, happy go lucky exterior, deeply troubled by the loss of his previous executive career and the downfall of his marriage, now reduced to living alone in a bedsit and doing manual labour for a living. Brilliantly put across characterisation.

Keir Mulcahey as Brains is definitely one to watch. Fresh from his side-splitting role in Sharnbrook’s Hound of The Baskervilles, his character in Rewired was another superb performance as ‘a teenage Pavarotti,’ as Russ hilariously describes him.  Brains is a much-troubled teenager, with serious musical ability and a voice to die for, hampered in his desire to go to acting school by a disapproving, abusive father who literally physically abuses him over the matter.  His self-doubt leads him to think he is ‘Strange,’ a wonderfully comic number where the other three (Shaz, Mac & Russ) dress up as his very weird parents and brother to insult and make fun of him. Credit to David Russell for the body make-up of the bruises on his torso when he lifted his t-shirt, which had the audience wincing!

Sam McLaughlin as Mrs T was a powerful tour de force you messed with at your peril. She exuded dominating sex appeal in spades taking a teasing fancy to Russ, who wasn’t really sure how to take her. Again, another character not entirely happy with the cards life had dealt her but putting on a front of all being by her design. Clever bit of both writing and acting.

Finally David Russell as Albert completed this excellent cast with the portrayal of a rather pathetic, sad but loveably old man, immersed in both his grief for his beloved Aimee and his love of operatic music, which he brilliantly displayed when he turns on all the steam radios to listen to a proms concert having cooked his own favourite meal of sausage and mash for the first, and as it turns out last, time since Mrs T took to cooking for him.  

This production certainly ran the gambit of human emotions, was cleverly written and beautifully acted by all six of them. The real beauty of this show, is that there was not a superfluous character, song or story line which did not add to the enjoyment.

With no disrespect to the superb Sharnbrook Mill, it certainly deserves a wider audience that a five-performance run in a small theatre in the middle of Bedfordshire. Bittersweet rather than uplifting, you certainly leave the theatre with mixed emotions, but this really was straight out of the top drawer of Sharnbrook’s productions.

Finally, many thanks to Ian and Julie Poole for their kind hospitality and we wish Ian all the best as he steps back from his role as FOH Manager.

 

 

 

 

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