#AssemblyRooms | Get Your Coats On

“Eleanor Roosevelt certainly makes an admirable subject for a dramatized life story. “

Written and performed by Alison Skillbeck, this one-woman show is based on her exclusive access to the diaries of the woman who, as the spouse of FDR, became known as “the First Lady of the World”. Set in October 1942, the story focuses on her visit to wartime Britain, but there are flashbacks (and forwards) to provide glimpses of her life as a whole.

The show is very much in the traditional mould of worthy single-handed biographical shows about great women of history, which have been a prominent feature of Fringe drama for many years. These days, such productions largely appeal to a Boomer demographic, which was reflected in the nearly full house of which I was part in the Drawing Room: a medium-sized auditorium at the Assembly Rooms on George Street.

Skillbeck is a seasoned theatre performer who also has an impressive back catalogue of TV work, including many well-known shows ranging from Doctor Who to The Crown. On radio, she was even in The Archers for a while. As one might thus expect, her performance was engaging, thoroughly professional, and (becoming increasingly rare at the Fringe) audible.

Eleanor Roosevelt certainly makes an admirable subject for a dramatized life story. She was an extraordinarily energetic campaigner for a variety of causes, ranging from civil rights to child poverty and international diplomacy. Credited with defining the role of the First Lady in US politics, she nonetheless had more than her fair share of personal problems as FDR’s wife. Heartbroken by her philandering husband’s affair with her own social secretary, she soldiered on to support his political career, and helped to conceal the polio that crippled him physically and which could have rendered him unelectable in the eyes of the American public of the 1930s.

This, though, creates something of a problem. So eventful was Roosevelt’s life at the epicentre of world affairs, that her story – told in dramatic monologue – can too easily become a festival of name-dropping along with much box-ticking documentary of historical events. Whilst some of these drew murmurs of recognition from some members of the audience, it doesn’t create much in the way of visual theatre. Mobile as Skillbeck’s performance was, the ambience was very much that of a radio play.

Winning various awards in the past, this play is now on its third visit to the Fringe at Assembly. I’m sure there will continue to be an audience for shows of this type for some years to come, but is this style of leisurely-paced, low-tech production perhaps just beginning to feel a little dated? In her publicity, Skillbeck seeks an edge of contemporaneity by noting that the values Roosevelt upheld during her lifetime are under attack in our dangerous present-day world. That may be true, but I fear that this play’s undertone of rose-tinted nostalgic reminiscence offers little in response to such concerns.

Nonetheless, for those who like their drama cosy and informative, this is an agreeable enough way to spend an hour and fifteen minutes (a little longer than the typical Fringe show) on an Edinburgh morning. I dare say it will continue to draw good houses for the rest of its run throughout most of August.

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“You may know him as Doc Holliday or Samson or Demetrius… I knew him as Dad.”

Editorial Rating: 5 Stars (Outstanding)

Spoiled for choice as we are at the Fringe for drama and stand-up comedy, it’s always good to side-step every now and again into that much-loved genre Cabaret & Variety. One of the standout shows in that category this year is this very engaging and entertaining show in the Drawing Room: one of the more cosy medium-sized theatres at the Assembly Rooms on George Street.

In this slick one-woman show, Victoria Mature – the daughter of Hollywood golden age legend Victor Mature (1913-1999) – tells the story of her life with a famous father. Though his star may have faded a little in recent years, even Generation Z must surely be familiar with that craggily handsome, lantern-jawed face from all of those sword-and-sandal biblical epics that show up on TV every Christmas and Easter? He was equally at home as a hard-boiled noir detective or in a Western. As his daughter notes early in this show: “You may know him as Doc Holliday or Samson or Demetrius…I knew him as Dad.”

As Victoria takes us through her own life and her father’s glittering career, her lively monologue is interspersed with projected movie clips inspired by his career. There are also musical interludes from several shows with which both she and her father were involved. As an opera singer with an international career, Ms. Mature certainly knows how to put a song over. We were treated to her warm, dramatic soprano voice, accompanied by a live pianist, giving powerfully emotional renditions of excerpts from Broadway shows and classical opera, as well as movie soundtrack favourites. The range of material is fascinating, ranging from Dvorak to Kurt Weil, via the Gershwins. No prima donna (in the pejorative sense, at least), Victoria cheerfully invited the audience to sing along with the best-known numbers.

Victoria has inherited a great deal of her late father’s showbiz sparkle. Her raven black hair reflects his Italian ancestry, accentuated by the off-the-shoulder black cocktail dress she wears throughout the show. Indeed, there were moments during the songs when, pouting in concentration between lines, there were striking glimpses of her father shining through in her facial expression.

In telling his and her life stories, there are anecdotes aplenty from the golden age of Hollywood. As a precocious child star herself, she met and worked with what sounds like a Who’s Who of studio-era Tinseltown. But this is no mere name-dropping exercise; her reminiscences of this bygone era are told with panache and all of the theatricality one would expect from a woman who had an insider’s view of the movie business.

The show runs at the Fringe until 25th August, so get along to see this, its UK premiere, while it’s still in a relatively small venue where the encounter is close-up and personal. I suspect we’ll be seeing and hearing more of it in the future.