Author Archives: Christopher Goulding

‘Yoga with Jillian – A New Comedy’ (Venue 33, until AUG 28th Aug)

Posted in 4*, EdFestivals 2023, Pleasance, Rated: Nae Bad, Theatre by

“…a screwball comedy that feels more like sitting in as a visitor at the yoga class from hell rather than watching a play.”

Editorial Rating: 4 Stars (Nae Bad)

Described by producers Project Y and Richard Jordan Productions as a screwball comedy, this drama feels more like sitting in as a visitor at the yoga class from hell rather than watching a play. As the title suggests, this is quite a physical drama, not only on the part of the eponymous protagonist, but also from the seven volunteer audience members who joined her on stage to do their stuff on mats.

But Jillian is no carrot juice-drinking guru; Michole Biancosino plays her as a feisty, neurotic ex-lawyer, who uses yoga to cope (not always successfully) with her chaotic urban life. Whilst celebrity yogis like Gwyneth Paltrow may exude glamorous woo-woo tranquillity, at one with the world around her, Jillian sometimes struggles to find enough inner peace to even get along with her rival yogis. As the show progresses, the ancient Hindu fitness philosophy is used as a framework and metaphor for the ups, downs, stretches, and fine balances of Jillian’s life story. Whilst a none too perfect practitioner herself, she is a less than fully sympathetic teacher, as her passive-aggressive relationship with her “class” often shows to hilarious effect.

The seven audience members (two men, five women) who joined the class onstage lend a weirdly voyeuristic vibe to watching the show that is quite different from a normal audience experience in a theatre. At several stages, we found ourselves facing a row of seven backsides presented to us as the class bent over to touch their toes. From my front row seat, at one point I had a man’s right foot only two feet from my face as, at Jillian’s bidding, they adopted the downward-facing three-legged dog position. At the other end of the stage, a middle-aged woman in a calf-length dress had perhaps wisely turned herself to face the audience into order to more modestly point her leg upstage. It must be said that these volunteers were able to do what was asked for them without too much stress or embarrassment. (Though, if you’re going along and plan to volunteer – maybe wear leggings and have a pedicure beforehand?)

Whilst yoga itself may not be a pursuit to everyone’s taste, this show is nonetheless a quirky, ironic take on its subject, rather as I’d hoped it would be. Lia Romeo’s writing comically explores the conflict between the outwardly calm philosophy of its subject and the angst-ridden lives of some of its devotees. So, get your coats on and go see it. Go whether or not you’ve been to a yoga class before. Stay for the mat-based philosophical humour. Leave thinking about how all of that stretching and balancing helps to soothe some screwed-up lives.

 

ALL our recent coverage? Click here!

‘…And This Is My Friend Mr Laurel’ (Venue 33, until AUG 28th)

Posted in 4*, EdFestivals 2023, Pleasance, Rated: Nae Bad, Theatre by

“There are laughs aplenty in this show, but the problems the two men faced in their personal and professional lives provide a strong undercurrent of tragedy and pathos. “

Editorial Rating: 4 Stars (Nae Bad)

To draw a full house for a late morning show on the first Sunday of the Fringe bodes well for any show up here. Is it the pulling power of a performer with a successful TV career behind him, or the familiarity of the eponymous subject? Either way, ex-sitcom star Jeffrey Holland (Hi-De-Hi, You Rang, M’Lord) drew a round of applause upon his entrance as well as at the end of this entertaining one-man show in the Pleasance Courtyard Upstairs.

Set in the bedroom of a very ill and silent Oliver Hardy in the 1950s, this tragi-comic drama shows us Stan Laurel’s last visit to see his dying former screen partner. Perhaps wisely, Holland avoids a constant tribute-act impersonation of Laurel, preferring to rely for most of the performance on a more relaxed off-screen version of the legendary comedian’s persona. However, there are regular short episodes where, donning a bowler hat, Holland enacts memorable exchanges from their most successful films; and here we get a fine impression of Laurel’s absurd comic gravitas, along with Ollie’s frustratedly blustering replies.

There are laughs aplenty in this show, but the problems the two men faced in their personal and professional lives provide a strong undercurrent of tragedy and pathos. With Ollie struck dumb by a crippling stroke, it’s left to Stan to look back on the triumphs and frustrations of their Hollywood career. As anyone familiar with their work knows, those short films from their heyday in the 1930s usually portray the couple as a pair of bums down on their luck and trying to make a dime in the Depression-era USA. It’s sad to note that the reality of Hollywood at the time meant that, despite their huge success, the two actors received only comfortable salaries, rather than the mind-boggling fees that stars expect today. Laurel in particular should have been a millionaire as the scriptwriter of their immortal routines. At several points Holland breaks down to portray what must have been very a real frustration felt by Laurel upon realising how he’d been ruthlessly exploited and fleeced by the studio system of the day. As this play suggests, the familiar trope of the melancholy behind the comic mask is very real – Tears of a Clown, indeed.

As is also quite well known, both men had chequered personal lives involving multiple and often disastrous marriages. This introduces more light and shade, with Holland movingly contrasting happy memories of love and romance, soon clouded over by the dark shadows of some messy divorces. Was there even a hint of mutual resentment between the two? Though a passive stooge on screen, Laurel was the leader behind the scenes, slaving at his typewriter and thrashing out deals with the studios whilst “Babe” (Ollie) spent his days on the golf course.

This already popular how runs until the end of the month, so get your coats on and go see it! Go to see a telly star play a film star. Stay to laugh at the jokes then cry along with Stan’s tears. Leave with the thought that screen laughter is often dearly bought by those whose lives are devoted to entertaining us.

‘Edgar Allan Poe: The Murders in the Rue Morgue’ (Venue 53, until AUG 26th)

Posted in 3*, EdFestivals 2023, Rated: Nae Bad, Theatre by

“…a slick performance in which his character exudes the gravitas required of a predecessor to Sherlock Holmes, often giving light relief with heavily-accented asides that veer towards the comic buffoonery of Inspector Clouseau.”

Editorial Rating: 3 Stars (Nae Bad)

Often described as the first modern detective story, Edgar Allan Poe’s 1841 classic overlaps with the horror genre as the mystery at its heart unfolds. This is a welcome stage adaptation of the tale that introduced the world to the French sleuth Auguste Dupin.

Actors Darren Haywood and James Nicholas present us with a straightforward two-hander in a black box setup with minimal scenery. Haywood as Dupin delivers a slick performance in which his character exudes the gravitas required of a predecessor to Sherlock Holmes, often giving light relief with heavily-accented asides that veer towards the comic buffoonery of Inspector Clouseau. For such a dark tale, there were often moments when the audience chuckled at episodes of quickfire banter onstage. One such particularly engaging passage portrayed a police officer interviewing a succession of witnesses to the eponymous murders. In a cross-channel double act of gallic repartee, Nicholas played the investigating gendarme, while the elastic-faced Haywood adopted a lively comic sequence of caricatures of low-life Parisians.

Nonetheless, I’m afraid I struggle to give this production and its cast the four-star review that parts of it deserve. Overall the play depended rather too heavily on narration and exposition, such as the reading aloud of an explanatory newspaper article. Stage adaptations of literary works can be very engrossing, but to avoid the feel of a radio play this show needs a little more physicality, business with props and costumes, and more imaginative use of the set, however basic it may be. Leaving the denouement to narration backed by sound effects rather emphasises the audio character of this production.

The performance I saw was the first of a month-long run, which I hope will give the cast the opportunity to work up a little more visual action into what is a potentially gripping drama.
That said, both cast members are appearing in other shows at the Fringe this year, including an adaptation of a Conan Doyle story featuring Dupin’s immortal literary successor: Sherlock Holmes, in The Speckled Band. Coming down at well under an hour, this show is suited to those who like their entertainment traditional and on the literary side. So get your coats on and go see this. Come for the classic detective tale that fired the starting gun for a whole genre. Stay for the gallic repartee. Leave to investigate clues in the Fringe brochure that will lead you to discover The Speckled Band!

ALL our recent coverage? Click here!

‘Casting the Runes’ (Venue 33, until AUG 27th)

Posted in 5*, EdFestivals 2023, Pleasance, Rated: Outstanding, Theatre by

“We quickly left the outside daylight behind for a haunting and foreboding vibe whose icy fingers crept into every corner of the auditorium from the outset..”

Editorial Rating: 5 Stars (Outstanding)

Fans of the classic ghost stories of M R James will be familiar with the TV adaptations that grace our screens each Christmas. Now, here in Edinburgh, on a deceptively sunny lunchtime, the chilling horror of one of his best tales is vividly brought to life in close-up.

The Box Tale Soup theatre company faithfully reflect the master storyteller’s art in lifting his chilling tale off the page and onto the stage. We quickly left the outside daylight behind for a haunting and foreboding vibe whose icy fingers crept into every corner of the auditorium from the outset. The story itself is classic James: the safe, scholarly world of academe gradually subverted by the creeping menace of some much older, darker force that belongs between the pages of dusty medieval tomes rather than modern textbooks.

A cast of two are aided by some skilful use of puppetry for minor characters, including the decidedly creepy Mr Karswell. Noel Byrne, who looks suitably like Peter Cushing’s worrisome young brother, plays Professor Dunning, an academic with an interest in the occult. With the help of a new acquaintance, he explores a number of mysterious messages and a weird picture that seems to have a life of its own. Antonia Christophers, who plays the acquaintance, does a nice line in quivering fear and wide-eyed terror, as well as operating and voicing the often unsettling mannequins. A simple set is put to effective use, evoking a suitably Edwardian gothic vibe, with door handles that seem to turn themselves, creaking hinges, and a swirling mist worthy of any Hammer horror. No spoilers here, but there was a sudden lighting reveal that made the two ladies behind me audibly squeak as they jumped in their seats. A coup de theatre, that – you seldom get those sitting in your armchair at home.

The sense of fear so skilfully manipulated by James and the cast of this play echoes similar feelings evoked by Samuel Taylor Coleridge in his poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, some telling lines from which are quoted at one point:

“Like one, that on a lonesome road
Doth walk in fear and dread,
And, having once turned round walks on
And never turns his head;
Because he knows, a frightful fiend
Doth close behind him tread…”

I know I was not the only one in today’s audience who felt the tingling anticipation of a disembodied tap on the shoulder at certain points during the show.

Situated in a venue that’s part of the popular and lively Pleasance Courtyard complex, the haunting quality of this show is emphasised all the more as you emerge at the end into the contrasting, unfamiliar daylight. Though, this being Edinburgh, the leaden skies were throwing down a moribund shower of rain in ironic tribute. So get your coats on and go see this! Come to see a tale by a master storyteller. Stay for the creepy puppets and creaky hinges. Leave safe in the knowledge that no ghosts will follow you home in the daylight as you head off for lunch.

ALL our recent coverage? Click here!

‘My Father’s Nose’ (Front Room at Assembly Rooms, Venue 20 until AUG 27th)

Posted in Theatre by

“…one of those shows which encapsulates what Fringe theatre is all about: a two-hander with a minimal set, which is the springboard for an engaging and eminently watchable hour of lively, tragicomic drama.”

Editorial Rating: 4 Stars (Nae Bad )

This, I feel, is one of those shows which encapsulates what Fringe theatre is all about: a two-hander with a minimal set, which is the springboard for an engaging and eminently watchable hour of lively, tragicomic drama. Douglas Walker plays a recently bereaved man on a park bench, visibly struggling to cope with the loss of his father. With the help of a sympathetic passer-by, the joy and pain of his relationship with the lost parent is re-enacted in a whirlwind of wacky humour, song, and dance. The passer-by is played with much panache by Caitlin Campbell. Both actors are alumni of Bristol Improv Theatre and are appearing in other shows on the Fringe this year.   

In flashbacks, we see a lifetime of the joy and agony of father-and-child relationships, from fun-filled early years to teenage angst. The habits and foibles of loved ones that are the essence of memory form the basis of many set pieces in the show. An early audience favourite was a song from a childish perspective of Dad being a “Cupboardy Man”. Perhaps the most unlikely is a lively song and dance routine about Dad’s seeming obsession with his tax returns. This is the only show in Edinburgh in which you’re likely to hear a joyous two-part harmony ironically singing the praises of HMRC – who are “surprisingly helpful on the phone”, it seems. Performed with gusto as Walker and Campbell trip the light fantastic like Fred and Ginger, it brings an entirely new dimension to Higher-Rate Tax Relief and Allowable Expenses.

Along the way, Walker and Campbell explore the sometimes odd ways that we try to cling to memories of the departed. As the show’s title suggests, Douglas is obsessed with the image of his father’s nose. The dangers of such infatuations are wittily illustrated by the story of an Elizabethan widow who carried the severed head of her executed husband around with her for 30 years. Caitlin, who has “a certificate in psychiatric First Aid” tries to help things along with small episodes of street therapy: is love all we need? A personal favourite was her hilariously pedantic critique of John Lennon’s lyrics to the Beatles hit “All You Need is Love”. I’ll never hear that song again without realising it’s a sequence of tautological platitudes loosely based around Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. (Was it ever anything else?) Another memorable digression concerns the sales statistics for rhubarb crumble in Schleswig-Holstein, which may raise a reminiscent smile among those of a certain age.

This is a little gem of a show that deserves an audience for its run in the middle of George Street right up to the end of the month. So whether you’re a civil servant or a Beatles fan, get your coats on and go see it! Come for the lively song and dance humour. Stay for the quirky insights into how we remember those we love. Leave with the thought that never again will completing a tax return seem quite so daunting.   

ALL our recent coverage? Click here!

‘The Elephant in the Room’ (Assembly Rooms, Powder Room, until AUG 27)

Posted in 5*, EdFestivals, EdFestivals 2022, Rated: Outstanding, Theatre by

“Shetty’s vigorous physical style, expressive face, and radioactive eyes draw the audience into the action as she regularly makes direct eye-contact with everyone in the auditorium.”

Editorial Rating: 5 Stars (Outstanding)

After a very successful tour of the USA including the prestigious Kennedy Centre in Washington DC, this is the Fringe debut for a lively and engaging one-woman play, written and performed by Priyanka Shetty. Here for just the one week in a smallish studio auditorium in a marquee on George Street, be prepared for the driving force of Ms Shetty’s electrifyingly physical performance.

The seemingly autobiographical story tells of what it’s like to grow up in India as a young girl and then defy your family to try and make it as an actress as “a brown girl in Trump’s America”. Shetty’s vigorous physical style, expressive face, and radioactive eyes draw the audience into the action as she regularly makes direct eye-contact with everyone in the auditorium. There is much humour at the expense of the stereotypical features of a female south Asian upbringing: aggressively aspirational parents, judgemental aunts, religion (sometimes in the shape of the elephant-god Ganesha), and Bollywood movies.

Shetty makes full use of the small stage and basic set to vividly re-enact her story in a number of physical styles, including everything from yoga to Bollywood dance and song. As the show progresses, the emotional tone gradually changes from one of youthful optimism underscored by the heartaches of family life and romance, to the stark realities of the American theatre audition circuit. Shetty’s wry depiction of the serial rejections that can be experienced will raise a rueful smile to any fellow Fringe actors seeing this show. As an Asian woman, she often refers to her “otherness”, sometimes self-deprecatingly, sometimes not. This aspect of her life doubles as a significant factor in her own life story and a revealing perspective on everyone else from the perspective of an outsider.

Single-actor shows are quite common at the Fringe, but this one stuck in the mind for me due to Shetty’s often almost conversational delivery. At no time did it seem like a stagey dramatic monologue; rather someone I’d just met showing me the story of their life. Use of props and time-consuming costume changes are sensibly kept to a minimum to maintain pace and story development.

The phrase from which the show takes its title is a common metaphor for embarrassing problems which everyone knows exist, but are scared to mention. After one or two red herrings along the way, we’re left in no doubt at the end by Shetty’s now angry tone what the identity is of this particularly problematic pachyderm – I won’t spoil things for you by giving it a name. This show is only on until the end of this week, so:

Come for the elephant. Stay for a whirlwind performance. Leave having seen a great Fringe debut. So get your coats on and go see this!

 

ALL our recent coverage? Click here!

‘Earwig’ (Assembly Rooms, Front Room, until AUG 27)

Posted in 5*, EdFestivals, EdFestivals 2022, Rated: Outstanding, Theatre by

“The three energetic performers beetle away to pack a lot of fun into an hour’s traffic on the stage.”

Editorial Rating:  Stars (Outstanding)

Whilst perhaps not the most attractive of titles, this is one of the most unusual and interesting pieces of theatre I’ve seen at this year’s Fringe. After successfully touring throughout the UK, Manchester-based theatre company Time and Again bring us the quirky story of entomologist Marigold Webb, whose deafness excludes her from conversations not directly before her face.

Laura Crow’s script makes much use of insect life as metaphor, with characters being likened to wasps, hornets, golden tiger beetles, and the like. The production by directors Catherine Cowdrey and Samantha Vaughan offers an hour that is both entertaining and informative without taking itself too seriously. Robyn Greeves anchors the show as the protagonist, calmly and wryly narrating the difficulties faced in the 1920s by a woman who is not only deaf, but trying to make her way in the male-dominated scientific world. Adam Martin-Brooks first comes across as a Bertie Woosterish toff, but as the play progresses he mutates into Marigold’s domineering and abusive husband. Beth Nolan gives eye-catching performances as both Marigold’s down-to-earth mother and as Bryony Varden, the very personification of a flighty jazz-age flapper. A projection screen at the back of the set is used very much as if it were another character, with its captions often interacting with both the cast and the audience.

This is also a very visual and physical piece of theatre. One of the high points was a vividly choreographed set piece between Marigold and Bryony supposedly reading quietly in a library. Their exchanged looks, messages, and attempts to ignore each other and do some studying are expressed with increasingly terpsichorean verve and at one stage even break into a Charleston. Along with the screen captions, the pacy action often has the feel of a silent movie of the era in which the play is set. Throughout the action, we are subtly reminded of Marigold’s deafness and the problems it causes in a number of inventive and dramatically effective ways.

Performed in a smallish black-box auditorium in George Street, this is a little gem of a play, with the three energetic performers beetling away to pack a lot of fun into an hour’s traffic on the stage. Come for the entomology. Stay for the Charleston. Leave with ants in your pants and a spring in your step. Get your coats on and beetle along to see this!

 

ALL our recent coverage? Click here!

‘Dave Johns: A Comic’s Tale’ (Guilded Balloon Teviot, Wine Bar, until AUG 28)

Posted in 5*, Comedy, EdFestivals, EdFestivals 2022, Gilded Balloon, Rated: Outstanding, Stand-Up by

“His journey from the streets of Byker to the red carpet of the Cannes film festival is beautifully encapsulated in his comment upon encountering a incredulous Meryl Streep at a star-studded buffet: “Hey, Meryl – it’s all free!””

Editorial Rating: 5 Stars (Outstanding)

To anyone who follows stand-up comedy closely, the name Dave Johns ought to be familiar: founder of Newcastle’s first comedy club, and as such co-facilitator of several of his contemporaries’ glittering careers; and veteran of both the Fringe and the year-round club circuit. Though not quite – yet – a household name, his face is much more familiar since starring in the title role of I, Daniel Blake, and a subsequent movie career including Fisherman’s Friends.

Johns is on top comic form in this hour-long one-man show, which combines general observational patter with reflections on his rags-to-riches life. As his close relationship with his audiences suggests, he prefers working in small, intimate venues where he can chat with the punters – indeed, there won’t have been a dry seat left in the front row, judging by the helpless laughter of two ladies he focused on. As Johns tells us, no two nights of his show are the same as he tries out slightly different material each night to see what goes down well. Highlights of this particular evening were a surreal shaggy dog story about an orphan midget; audience participation in a chorus of The Pirate King; and the reason why he’ll never be in a Stephen Spielberg film. His journey from the streets of Byker to the red carpet of the Cannes film festival is beautifully encapsulated in his comment upon encountering an incredulous Meryl Streep at a star-studded buffet: “Hey, Meryl – it’s all free!”

For a man who’s spent so many years wielding a microphone, there is inevitably some sage reflection on the nature of what he does. Rightly disparaging the vast, impersonal arenas played by some of his contemporaries, and the slick glitz of Live at the Apollo. Johns champions the unpredictable intimacy of small venues. “I’m at the two-tickets-for-the-price-of-one end of the market”, he notes disparagingly, adding ironically that the more five-star reviews he gets, the fewer the people who come to see him.

I came away from this show not having laughed out loud so much in years. Give me heart and soul stuff like this rather than an arena any day. So come for the authenticity. Stay for the non-stop laughs. Leave with a great big cheeky-chappie smile on your face. This is Geordie humour so, even if it’s baltic out, leave your coats at home and go see this!

 

ALL our recent coverage? Click here!

‘Murray Pittock: Old Scotia’s Gradeur Springs’ (Book Festival, AUG 17th)

Posted in Books & Film, EdFestivals, EdFestivals 2022, Spoken Word by

“This was no dry and dusty seminar, but a breezy and accessible chat about the influence of Scotland’s culture and history on how it sees itself and its place in the UK (or out of it) and the wider world.”

If, like me, you haven’t been to the Edinburgh Book Festival since those far off days of 2019, you’ll notice that Charlotte Square is looking uncharacteristically deserted this Summer. That’s because the world’s biggest public celebration of the written word has decamped and moved to a new base at the Edinburgh College of Art in Lauriston Place. Whilst many will miss the horticultural charm of Charlotte Square, this new venue retains much of that bucolic vibe, with plenty of outdoor green space – but, importantly, that’s coupled with plentiful indoor lecture theatre space which (I think) is an improvement on the marquees and tents of yesteryear.

The first event I attended was the launch of Scotland: the Global History, 1603 to the Present, the latest publication by Prof. Murray Pittock, probably Scottish academia’s leading cultural commentator, who has held a number of high-profile appointments as well as authoring several key texts on Scottish history, identity, and literature. This latest work carries readers from Scotland’s involvement in the Thirty Years’ War to the 2016 EU referendum. A sizeable audience gathered in the grand surroundings of the Bailie Gifford Sculpture Court for the event, which took the form of an interview chaired by the broadcaster and journalist Ruth Wishart.

These two figures, both well-known in Scots literary circles, made an excellent duo, seeing to it that this was no dry and dusty seminar, but a breezy and accessible chat about the influence of Scotland’s culture and history on how it sees itself and its place in the UK (or out of it) and the wider world. Always a nation that’s punched above its weight, the nation’s disproportionately high-profile role in a number of spheres was discussed: the Enlightenment, the British Empire, science, and literature. To keep the tone light-hearted, there was even some teasing about the rival fortunes of Dundee United and Aberdeen FC. After 45 minutes, there was a quarter hour of questions from both the live and the online audience, many of which touched upon Scotland’s lively political scene. In case there is any doubt about the current significance of the ideas being discussed this talk, the following day the leader column in the Scottish edition of The Times newspaper used the occasion as the basis for a discussion on conflicting ideas of what it is to be Scottish or British in the current nationalist debate.

The book festival runs until 29th August, with numerous authors appearing live for lectures, talks, and book-signings. All related works, along with a huge selection of great Scottish literature, are for sale in the excellent on-site bookshop. So come for the fascinating talks; stay for a coffee and a slice of cake in the superb café; leave with a book signed by your favourite author. Get your coats on and go see this!

ALL our recent coverage? Click here!

‘Cecil Beaton’s Diaries’ (Greenside at Nicolson Square – Lime Studio, until AUG 27)

Posted in EdFestivals 2022, Rated: Nae Bad, Theatre by

“As we romp through the highlights and lowlights of a lively and eventful career, there is much Wodehousian whimsy and theatrical high camp to raise many a smile.”

Editorial Rating: 4 Stars (Nae Bad )

Society and celebrity photographer Sir Cecil Beaton (1904-1980) was something of a legend in his own lifetime. Also an award-winning designer in the world of fashion, theatre, and film, he was a lifelong diarist, and his journals read like a Who’s Who of the great and the good of the 20th century. His picture portraits of queens and commoners flattered his subjects, but after his death, the pen-pictures revealed in his unexpurgated diaries most certainly did not. These documents are very entertainingly adapted for the stage and performed in this one-man show by Richard Stirling (Bridgerton, The Crown, Jeeves and Wooster).

1930s Rolleiflex camera in hand, the Panama-hatted, linen-suited Stirling looks every inch the suave Beaton, his note-perfect dialogue engagingly capturing the aristocratic hauteur with which his subject viewed the world. As we romp through the highlights and lowlights of a lively and eventful career, there is much Wodehousian whimsy and theatrical high camp to raise many a smile. But in stark counterpoint, the less genial side of Beaton’s character often pokes through. His private thoughts about even royal clients could be mercilessly cruel: one laugh-out-loud moment came when Princess Margaret was referred to as looking like “a wealthy seaside landlady”. No punches are pulled here when it is also revealed that at one point in the 1930s, Beaton was suspected of holding – in common with many of his class at that time – anti-semitic views. He strenuously denied this, but for some time as a result he was blacklisted by several Hollywood studios. It is perhaps revealing that when Beaton himself became the subject of a portrait in oils by the artist Francis Bacon, he loathed the nightmarish Dorian Gray-like vision that Bacon created.

Whilst Beaton may not remain a household name these days, this mid-day show nonetheless attracted a quite sizeable and receptive audience who shared the roomy black-box auditorium with me. Stirling’s fine performance is well supported by a generous selection of Beaton’s most famous images, which are back-projected onto a large screen at the back of the sparsely-furnished set. But perhaps a little more in the way of scenery and a few smart decorative touches might visually improve this show about a man to whom style and appearances were everything? Nonetheless, the sustained applause at the end confirmed my impression of a worthwhile and entertaining piece of theatre.

So come for the photos. Stay for the pithy dialogue. Leave with a smile on your face. Get your smartest coats on and go see this.

 

ALL our recent coverage? Click here!