Spend Spend Spend

Not a musical which is frequently performed Spend, Spend, Spend tells the story of Vivian Nicholson (nee Asprey) who became one of Britain’s most famous personalities after winning a life-changing amount of money on the football pools in the 1960s and who told the world she was going to “Spend, Spend, Spend”.  Coming from a working class-family in a Yorkshire mining community she was thrust into a lavish lifestyle and a glamourous façade.  Along with her husband Keith, the actual winner of the Littlewoods jackpot, their lives became unrecognisable from what they had known and what they grown up expecting.    Keith’s death in 1965 in a car accident meant that Viv’s life spiralled further into chaos, financial ruin and her desperate attempts to find love and security with a number of failed marriages. 

Dinnington Operatic Society totally brought Castleford to this South Yorkshire stage – the stunningly designed set absolutely complemented the narrative of this story as it moves through the years and locations.  Jenny Arnold designed and built the set for the Society and it fitted with the vision of the Director, Ashley Booker.  It was also enhanced with fabulous lighting by CS Technical.  Costumes had been co-ordinated in house and sat well with the different time periods supporting the audience to see how time moved initially backwards and then progressed through the years of Viv’s life. 

The ‘Castleford Folk’ worked well together and all created individual and believable characters.  The wedding scene was hilarious, but real, as were the scenes in The Miners Arms.  Excellent use of props and set.  The lively ‘Spend, Spend, Spend’ number gave the ensemble the chance to show off their dancing skills which they did to great effect and this number was beautifully choreographed by Daisy Mikulik.  Mikulik took all the opportunities the show gave to create movement which fitted with the narrative and the music.  Jonathan Wilby and the eight-piece band really added to the atmosphere and whilst these numbers aren’t well known, they were performed excellently.  The ensemble singing perfectly suited the songs and brought the required emotion to many of the pieces.  The male members of the cast were entertaining as the footballers in ‘The Win’ and everyone really entered into the spirit of ‘John Collier’ and ‘Garforth’.  A number of ensemble members took on small character roles and all were done with strong acting.

Samantha Smedley was a confident and somewhat cocky Mrs Waterman – great in both the opening and closing - setting the scene to let the audience know that despite her fame and wealth Viv never moved up the social ladder.  Martin Farthing as Matt was great as Viv’s first husband and also in other smaller roles.  Farthing definitely captured the essence of ‘a bloke you could meet in Cas.’  The coupling of Kim Stead and Johnny Green as Viv’s mum and dad was brilliant.  Whilst these two could have been played as caricatures Stead and Green found the real people behind the characters and portrayed the many challenges of Viv’s life, particularly in the early years.  With a fabulous voice Will Marshall as Keith brought some tenderness to the life of Viv and gave the audience some beautiful numbers particularly ‘Canary in a Cage’.  Whilst only in Viv’s life for a short while Keith had a huge impact on it and Marshall communicated this without stealing any scenes from the larger than life character of Viv. 

So to Viv – a complex, challenging, earthy, gritty, raw, damaged and vulnerable young woman – how do you approach a character like that?   Amy Elisabeth as Viv and Natasha Ellison as Young Viv certainly have the secret and both gave stunning performances through the roller coaster of Viv’s life.  Ellison moved from the shy downtrodden young girl to the young woman in tune with her own sexuality to the famous pools winner and heartbroken bereaved wife as though it were her own life.  With her powerhouse voice she brought Viv alive on stage and her frustrations, loss and loneliness were palpable.  Elisabeth passionately narrated her own life as it was played out in front of her, but she was more than just a story teller.  Every action was well thought through, small gestures fitted perfectly with the story line, such as the knowing glance at the meagre tip left by Mrs Waterman, and so many others.  Her strong voice also enhanced the songs with emotion and empathy whilst her acting captivated the audience.  These two actors had the challenge to be on stage together playing the same role, but at different stages in her life and were totally in tune with each other – brilliant performances from two very talented actors – I was transfixed.

Ashley Booker, Director, along with the Production Team and the Committee should be congratulated on an excellent production.  It has long been Booker’s dream to bring this production to Dinnington and the well-placed faith of the Committee was repaid with the many, many positive comments heard from the audience.   The story serves as a testament to the perils of sudden wealth and the complex challenges that come with fame particularly at a time when the public relied on printed media and television news and there wasn’t social media to bombard readers with a variety of ‘news’ stories.   I want to leave the final words with Howard Nicholson, son of Viv, who attended the production along with members of his family and told the cast the production was “awesome”.  When I asked him how he found the performances he said, “The show was raw, gritty and down to earth – like my mum”.

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.