LITTLE VOICE
by Jim Cartwright
directed by James Brining
Chris Eldon Lee reviews “The Rise and Fall of Little Voice” which is at Birmingham Repertory Theatre until Saturday 30th May.
For ‘Little Voice’, read ‘Big Voice’; very Big Voice.
Nancy Sullivan’s singing in the climactic cabaret scene is quite sensational. It’s a prerequisite of the part of course, but her vocal representations of Bassey, Munro, Garland and Piaf are hugely impressive. She is but a slip of a sparrow, but her voice soars.
She’s actually even better when she’s riled. When she looses it with her seedy so-called manager (played by Chris Gascoyne in black suit and white socks), she spits out snatches of show song like a disfunctional juke box in vinyl meltdown …whilst the remarkable, revolving, skeletal set around her roars into real flame. It’s a stunning set piece that had me wondering where the nearest fire exit might be.
Having not seen “The Rise and Fall of Little Voice” before I was surprised how ugly a show it is. Elvie is surrounded by vulgar people and suppressed by a monster of a mother; the sort of woman Frankie Howerd would call “Common as muck!” Her sanctuary is the memory her patient father and her bedroom where she plays all the old chanteuse records he bequeathed her. What goes unnoticed is her remarkable ability to perfectly mimic the famous singers…until mother gets a very dodgy new man friend who’s looking for cheap acts for less than salubrious clubs. All he’s got so far is “a crooner, a dog act and two strippers”. So he’s clearly out of his league
Vicky Entwhistle’s ‘Mother’ (Mari) is overbearing and unbearable and worse than any of the legendary dragons of Coronation Street. I’m from that part of the world too and her performance and repellent accent are so painfully true I felt personally offended. It’s a tour de force. She practically holds the show on her own for the first 30 minutes, till we hear Sullivan sing for the first time.
Mari’s henpecked best friend Sadie is lugubriously played by Joanna Brooks, who resembles a seriously overweight Victoria Wood. She’s abused too, of course. “Your arms pits smell like cat food,” says the boorish Queen of Charm. But their Jackson Five dance routine together is a hoot.
Elvie’s other salvation is the equally shy young Billy, the telephone engineer. Their purity in a sea of degradation is both a delight and a relief. He woos her at her first floor bedroom window on a telescopic platform. If only Romeo had had a Cherry Picker….
In the end it’s a play about class and comeuppance. Escaping is easier sung than done. But you can get your own back and the audience applauded the moment.
It’s actually quite a tough watch. Most of the characters are terminally un-endearing. And those that aren’t, deserve a boot up the bum. But writer Jim Cartwright knows how to get an audience’s goat – and the performances and production values are top of the bill; well worth singing about.
Visit www.birmingham-rep.co.uk for information about Birmingham Rep.