Curtain Up

Curtain Up! was written by Olivier and Tony award nominee Peter Quilter. The story follows five women who inherit, from Michael, equal shares in a dilapidated theatre. Although Michael is dead, he still appears to have an influence on their lives by playing with their emotions. For instance, his first wife, Pam, will now be in a working relationship with the woman he left her for, namely Jackie, his second wife, who Pam understandably does not like. The other three women, include Michael and Pam’s daughter, Theresa, who comes across as rather lonely and is anxious for them to make a success of restoring the theatre. She tells us about her childhood memories of being in the stalls and backstage with her father and the impact those memories had on her as an adult. Then we have the comedians, Michael’s mother Betty, and his secretary, the eccentric Sharon who had some good funny lines and got themselves into some very nice comedic situations. All five women have very different personalities and as they had different relationships with Michael, they bring different dimensions and directions to the plot and action. After discussing what to do with the theatre, the women decide that rather than sell it they will try and bring it back to its former glory. They come up with and undertake various fund-raising schemes which don’t seem to help much, so they decide they need to do something more ambitious and plan a concert featuring local talent and a world-famous star who would have to agree to appear for free. They decided to ask Liza Minnelli,  who’s poster is still up in the foyer and has performed at the theatre before, much to their surprise she agrees to appear. However, their plans go awry when Liza Minnelli has to cancel on the night of the concert due to a cold, so the women need to come up with a plan to keep their audience from guessing the truth and that it is not the real Liza Minnelli on stage.

Director Louise Steggals had put together a strong cast of five women actors which included, Sandy Kershaw as Theresa, Kirsty Harrison as Sharon, Tara Haywood as Pam, Maggie Hall as Betty and Erinna Delaney as Jackie. All five worked very well together as a team, producing five very different characters and they also made the most of the material. They all had excellent stage presence with very good use of the stage area and all their dialogue could be heard and followed easily. In the first act there was some nice comedic interludes which did get some response and laughter from the audience, there was a very enjoyable interlude when Sharon runs an aerobics class, but unfortunately there was not the raucous laughter I expected after reading the publicity about this play. However after hearing and reading about this play from other sources I found this was a comment made by commentators and reviewers of other productions. Happily the second act produced much heartier laughter from the audience and I personally found it much funnier than the first act and there was some very comedic moments excellently performed by the cast. One of the highlights was when Pam had to impersonate the absent Liza Minnelli, her facial expression and the cast comic timing was so funny the whole audience were laughing out loud. There was a cacophony of emotions throughout the play with some very poignant moments which were also played well by the cast. Even though their underlying stories were only touch upon in the script, you were able to relate to each character, their feelings and their background and how they fit into the story.

Another enjoyable moment was at the end of the first act when a short film was shown, highlighting some lovely moments in Wigan Little Theatre’s history. I personally thought the film was highlighting one of the themes of the play which is the importance of live theatre and how we should be saving and caring for our theatres.

The excellent well thought out set of a run down theatre foyer in the first act and the stage area in the second act was designed by Brian Heap - it made an excellent platform for the cast to work on, well done to the set painters Stage Manager Deryn Ashton and all the stage crew, props, the excellent lighting and sound and wardrobe for the spot-on costumes which suited the personality of characters bringing authenticity to the production.

In the end, the women formed a common bond and have enjoyed working together becoming friends even Pam and Jackie supported each other and worked together well. It is Theresa, Michaels daughter, who opened the play so it is only right that she should finish the dialogue. She tells us that even though the fundraising concert failed to live up to expectations she makes a promise to the theatre and her father that they will all be back to fulfil his wishes.  The action is then completed with a flashy sparkly red and black entertaining dance routine, performed by the five ladies.

Congratulations to everyone involved in bringing this very entertaining production to the stage. Thank you for inviting us, we had a very enjoyable evening hope to see you soon.

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.