Reviews
Lindisfarne have been performing to delighted audiences since 1969. Read reviews of plays here!
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The Importance of Being Earnest (2010)
DATE: 19th October-23rd October 2010
“LINDISFARNE SPARKLE IN WILDE AFTER INTERVAL”
“Southend’s Lindisfarne are presenting one of the greatest classic comedies in English theatre, Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest, in the Palace Theatre, Westcliff’s Dixon Studio all this week and Jacquee Storozynski’s production took the first act before it really got into its stride on its opening night, but after the interval, in a delightful garden setting, it really sparkled.
“Wilde’s wonderful lines seemed to get lost by too fast delivery and a lack of style by Nathan Spencer as Algernon and Rory Joscelyne as his friend Jack and they were not helped by Simon Dunn’s manservant. Lane, who never seemed quite at home on stage. Elaine Roberts as the formidable Lady Bracknell also never quite managed to quite get into her role despite the great handbag speech, so it was left to the experienced Kim Tobin as Gwendolyn to show just how it should be done with an immaculate, beautifully timed performance. This was just a preview of the delights of Wilde played well in the garden setting where the two young men showed a lot more of their characters and took their pace from the much under-rated Carol Hayes as a superb Miss Prism, who is paired with Ian Morton’s beautifully played Canon Chasuble.”
“A great find for Lindisfarne is Lizzie Smith, whose Cecily is a delight, and who is looking like becoming a fine young actress with great facial expressions and apparent quickwittedness, while showing a good knowledge of just how to handle oneself on stage. Elaine gives a much stronger performance in the second half as Lady Bracknell in an eye-catching all yellow outfit, which like all the ladies’ costumes, is well in period. I was less sure about the young men’s outfits, which rather worried me, with Nathan’s white summer suit looking particularly ill-fitting and, worst of all, decidedly grubby. Surely not the suit of the gentleman of leisure which Algernon is!”
“At performances later in the week the two young principals could well up their delivery and reach the high standards of the rest of the cast in the final two acts. It is a real treat to see Wilde again in Southend for his theatrical gems are always a delight to hear and see. The show is at the Dixon Studio until Saturday 23rd October.”
JOHN GILES
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DATE: 30th June-3rd July 2010
“SUPERFICIAL JOE EGG TRIUMPH FOR LINDISFARNE
“Peter Nichols’ A Day in the Life of Joe Egg, the story of just one day in the life of severely handicapped Josephine, unable to talk and barely able to communicate and the effect after 10 years of caring and attempts to solve the problems of her illness on her parents, school teacher Brian and Sheila. The play, a blackish comedy, was first seen in 1967 and now Lindisfarne at the Dixon Studio this week are trying to revive it again in its original period 43 years later. Superficially Lindisfarne are scoring a triumph with Belinda Belt’s production. It is a challenge for any director and company of actors for Peter Nichols’ works, a particular favourite of mine, are not easy to handle for he often requires the actors at the very centre of the action to create completely natural performances but lesser characters can often be near caricatures.
“Toni Taylor is magnificent as the mother, Sheila, and I could not fault her portrayal but I had many more doubts about Robert Stow’s Brian, her weak but clever school master husband, who hates his teaching job and tries to turn his love for his daughter into a series of sick jokes which involve thoughts of death and escape. The true Brian only appears very occasionally in his performance, often when things go slightly wrong in the production and he is surprised. This makes me wonder how much time these two key actors and their director spent in research of the period in which the play takes place and improvisation of the words and their actions, a sure requirement for revealing the reasons behind their actions.
“That said the whole thing has a lot of theatrical magic and supporting performances by Trevor Corner as the liberal thinking do-gooder rich man and Kim Tobin as his rather obnoxious, wife are good, while the director gives a nice cameo performance as Brian’s mother, who quickly shows why he behaves still like a spoilt little boy. Young Tamsin Edwards is a convincingly attractive Josephine stranded helplessly in her wheelchair.
“Lindisfarne have got beyond the merely competent as a group and can advance to being one of the great amateur groups in South Essex.”
JOHN GILES
DATE: 30th June-3rd July 2010
“First staged in 1967, A Day in the Death of Joe Egg was one of first plays to deal with the reality of extreme disability. The story of a young couple struggling to cope with a daughter they themselves refer to as a “vegetable”, it sounds grim. It is anything but.
Joe Egg is a comedy, and in the masterly hands of Peter Nichols it generates the sort of laughter levels from the audience most sitcom writers would die for. No-one is going leave the Dixon studio feeling depressed. Nor has Joe Egg dated. After almost half a century, it remains as powerful and as pertinent as ever. The little girl’s appalling grandmother talks openly about “blackies”, but this merely nails her as the bigot she is. The play is a classic, and everyone who values great theatre should grab the chance to see it.
Lindisfarne Players provide their usual, professional level job under the direction of Belinda Belt, who also turns in a great performance as the grand mother. But most of the evening belongs to Rob Stow and Toni Taylor, as the parents, Brian and Sheila. In their own way they are more trapped in their lives than their poor paralysed, silent daughter played by 12 year old Tamsin Edwards.”
TOM KING, Echo
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DATE: 24th-27th March 2010
“LINDISFARNE’S GREAT PRODUCTION OF COONEY CLASSIC
“Lindisfarne Players are excelling themselves at the Palace Theatre’s Dixon Studio this week until Saturday, March 27 with a really almost flawless production of the great Ray Cooney classic farce Run for Your Wife. Ray Cooney, who has close associations with Southend, living for a long time in the area and running the Palace Theatre for more than a year as the base for his touring company. Run for Your wife from the 1980s is considered by many including this reviewer his finest farce in the long series he wrote for the Whitehall Theatre company.
“Steve McCartney, the director of Run for Your Wife, takes Lindisfarne to new heights with the quality of his production and is to be congratulated for getting performances of such a high standard from his whole cast and getting a superb pace to the whole production as the story of how taxi driver John Smith negotiates successfully his double life with two wives living in similar flats with his first, Mary in Wimbledon and his second, Barbara, in Streatham…
“The whole thing takes place in a single set with half of the stage devoted to one flat and the second half to the other with doors used exclusively for each flat but the rest of the stage in common use but exclusive phones for each flat which produce many of the misunderstandings. It is with the phones that I have my only doubts about the production for it originally was set in the 1980s before mobile phones and this production has been updated to the present day and it is hard to believe that the taxi driver and the police would not have their own mobiles in these days. But that quibble apart the characters are played in a beautifully contrasted way.
“All goes well with John’s complicated life until he is involved in an accident and seemingly disappears with both wives phoning their respective local police stations to report him missing. When he does reappear with bandaged head a detective sergeant from Wimbledon brings him home to Mary with accounts of his heroism in tackling muggers but with a mystery about the two addresses he appears to have. From then on the fun waxes fast and furious with lodger Stanley from the top flat at Wimbledon trying to help John out and being let into the secrets of John’s secret bigamous goings on.
“Nathan Spencer makes a superb very ordinary Smith, who has got himself into an extraordinary situation while Robert Stow gives another fine performance as the extrovert layabout lodger Stanley. Kim Tobin is wonderfully believable as Mary, who really does not know quite what has hit her.
“As the plot thickens and more and more lies are told the pace gets hotter with Toni Taylor making a nice contrast as sexy Barbara, who has Ian Morton as a very gay Bobby from her upper flat getting involved in the action and Trevor Corner as home loving Detective Sergeant Porterhouse from Streatham trying to help out with what he sees as a domestic issue. Rory Joscelyne is excellent as tough Detective Sergeant Troughton from Wimbledon who tries to lay down the firm hand of the law but in the end jumps to very much the wrong conclusions.
“Rarely have I seen such a fine set of performances in modern farce from an amateur group for all the characters literally live their roles and the rich vein of laughter is fully exploited in the play which runs for just under two hours but literally has a laugh and more a minute. Well done Lindisfarne Players and may you get the full houses in the Dixon you deserve for the rest of the week”
JOHN GILES
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DATE: June 2009
“The Talented Mr Ripley is an aptly titled play whose lead role demands great talent. Lindisfarne have that in Rob Stow, whose portrayal of Ripley in all his psychotic glory is flawless, earning him a well deserved award. Rob created a believable, fully-rounded character; a real feat with such a complex role.
“The play is set in Italy, where Ripley is tracing Rickie Greenleaf at his parents’ request. Ripley, a cold psychopathic fraudster, envies Rickie’s lifestyle and so decides to take it from him. The story is straightforward, however the structure is less so, monologues and fantasy sequences merge with fragmented scenes all held together by Ripley’s commentary on events, making the piece more a psychiatric assessment of Ripley than just a play.
“Rob heads a strong cast, all worthy of praise, notably Trevor Corner’s confident Rickie and Kim Tobin’s dual roles of Marge and Sofia, that displayed perfectly how to capture two different characters. George Nightingale deserves a mention for this also, alongside Rory Joscelyne, whose appearances provided many of the plays lighter moments, including a wonderfully camp pool boy!
“A couple of scenes were played very close to the audience, particularly the rape scene, which we struggled to see fully; however the intensity of the scene was in no way diminished, and I can see the reason for putting such a powerful scene literally in the audience’s lap. The costumes were suitable for the period and Andy Holly’s lighting clearly defined the scene changes, vital with such a minimal set. In fact it provided some of the best lighting I have seen in the Dixon for some time.
“In conclusion, this is not everybody’s cup of tea; it is different, it is inventive, divisive even, but to me it is everything that good theatre should be. It is a brave choice for any amateur company to attempt, yet Lindisfarne pull it off in style.”
David Breen, Echo
DATE: June 2009
“Lindisfarne Players’ production of The Talented Mr Ripley until Saturday (June 20) provides the chance to see what is surely the amateur acting performance of the year by Rob Stow in the titular role. He is just magnificent in every respect; both in his violent physical scenes, his deeply emotional warped emotional moments, and his sheer technical acting techniques. He plays a psychopathic homosexual conman, consummate liar and violent killer.
“Be warned: in the close-up of viewing in the Dixon Studio this is really black, X-certificate stuff, about as far away from light summer holiday fare as you can get. Though supremely well dramatized from Patricia Highsmith’s book by Phyllis Nagy, which is superbly brought to life in Steve McCartney’s skillful and clever production, this really is pretty unpleasant stuff.
“Ripley is a character who seems to be able to persuade his victims that black is white and that the many characters he adopts are true in every degree. He escapes with Hitchcovian skills the traps his lies set up as he moves from 1950s America to Italy and back, and has no mercy for any of his victims including his mother and his ‘best’ friends. The play beautifully moves from dreams to reality and back as his desires become reality to him.
“The production is much more than one man’s performance, for Stow is backed up by fine performances from the rest of the eight-strong cast often doubling up on roles. Ian Morton is especially to be praised for his near perfect performance as the effete homosexual Marc, and then taking over the very contrasted character of Freddie Miles at short notice after Steve McCartney was called away for the week for personal reasons.
“Trevor Corner gives another highly commendable performance as the weak Rickie while both Kim Tobin and Belinda Belt sustain well the four female parts in the play.
“This was a fine production by Lindisfarne in a play which I am not sure I want to see again.”
JOHN GILES
DATE: June 2009
“LINDISFARNE Players celebrate the society’s 40th anniversary with a reprise of one of their biggest successes, the Talented Mr Ripley, first performed by the company in 2007.
“The play is from Patricia Highsmith’s celebrated thriller about identity theft, which appeared as a novel in 1955. It was turned by Anthony Minghella into a praised film starring Matt Damon, Jude Law and Gwyneth Paltrow in 1999. The Talented Mr Ripley introduced perhaps the most amoral and ruthless hero in modern fiction, Tom Ripley.
“Lindisfarne’s nine-strong cast, led by Rob Stow in the title role, are on stage at the Palace Theatre, in Westcliff, this week. The cast play a wealth of characters set against the background of the Italian Riviera where much of the action is set. Kim Tobin is Rickie Greenleaf’s tragic girlfriend Marge Sherwood and director is Lindisfarne’s chairman, Steve McCartney.
“The production arrives in Southend bearing garlands from the Thurrock Drama festival, where Stow was awarded best actor and Steve McCartney as best supporting actor for his performance as one of Ripley’s victims, Freddie Miles.”
Tom King, Echo
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DATE: February 2009
“FINE PERFORMANCES IN LINDISFARNE’S DOLL’S HOUSE – John Giles
“Southend‘s Lindisfarne Players break new ground with Ashley Jarvis’ production of the Henrik Ibsen classic A Doll’s House at the Palace Theatre’s Dixon Studio. This represents two firsts for the Players; their first Ibsen, and their first appearance at the wonderfully intimate Dixon Studio. What good performances Ashley Jarvis gets from her leading players!
“In the star role of Nora, a part which has brought fame and praise to some of the top actresses in the world in the past hundred years, Kim Tobin seizes her opportunities in a role which is massive in terms of substance and in emotion. She sustains the role over nearly two and a half hours and also avoids many of its hidden traps. In the 50-minute opening act, this young, Norwegian, small-town housewife in the 1890s plays out the role of the spoilt little caged bird of a wife and lover to her upright husband, who is the picture of small town respectability, I had some doubts about Kim’s Nora.
“As the plot unravels to reveal the lengths she has gone to pay for the costs incurred by his recent illness, her happiness at his appointment as the local bank manager looks in danger. But in the second and outstanding third act Nora is revealed as a very special woman for her time, and Kim’s performance grows to match the challenges she faces in this difficult role. Her final confrontational scene with her husband is superb. In part, this is due to the strength of Ian Morton as husband Torvald whose performance overall more than matches Kim’s.
“The other really great performance comes from Toni Taylor as Nora’s friend Christine, who has returned to her home town looking for work during widowhood. From Toni’s first entrance I was impressed with the clarity of her performance and in her final surprise scene with villain of the piece, Krogstad. Her often pent-up emotions are beautifully portrayed with the eyes and whole body expressing every word she spoke. In this she was matched by Rob Stow’s Krogstad, which was more than just very competent. These key portrayals are backed up by Rory Joscelyne’s sick Dr Rank, though why he wore his hat throughout was a mystery to me, and Belinda Belt’s warm cameo performance as the nurse.
“The simple set and excellent furniture and dressings added to the period atmosphere and I hope that the synthetic Christmas tree has been by now replaced by a real one, for this is supposed to be Norway in the 1890s. One other detail that slightly worried me is that the play is set over Christmas and at that time there is virtually no daylight which means life has to be lived in artificial light, which can add to the closed in atmosphere that is at the very centre of this great Ibsen masterpiece. But let none of this take anything away from some great performances and the timing and pacing set by director Ashley Jarvis.
“Well done Lindisfarne Players, and please take more productions to the Dixon for it is the best theatrical space in the Southend area!
JOHN GILES
DATE: February 2009
“LINDISFARNE PLAYERS TACKLE TOUGH IBSEN PLAY – Tom King, Echo
“LINDISFARNE Players’ production of one of the world’s most famous plays reveals the power of A Doll’s House to shock an audience, even 130 years after it first hit the stage. Discussion of Ibsen’s play may no longer get us banned from polite society, as it once did. But it still has the power to rattle comfort zones, particularly when played almost eyeball to eyeball, in the intimate space of the Palace Theatre’s Dixon Studio. The climactic scene in which the central character, Nora, removes her wedding ring and walks out into the snow, abandoning her husband and children, remains almost unendurable.
“This production is also a reminder, once again, of something else – the deep reservoir of quality acting talent operating in and around Southend right now. Ibsen always offers meaty roles, particularly as the dark and neurotic side of his characters unravels. Under Ashley Jarvis’ direction, every one of the ten-strong cast rises to the challenge. The success of the play inevitably hinges on the actress playing Nora, who progresses from ditzy and winsome child-bride to a woman with a clear-sighted view of the humbug which defines her marriage. In this role, Kim-Tobin is star material.
“She is well matched by Ian Morton, as her patronising but vulnerable control-freak of a husband, and by a magnificently odious Rob Stow as the horrible Nils Krogstad, a sort of pantomime villain with psychological depth. Rory Joscelyne is also particularly impressive, having progressed from his previous outing, in the title role in The Graduate, to Ibsen’s late middle-aged Dr Rank. Dr Rank is clinically planning the final stages of his own death by syphilis, and using the hapless Nora as his confidante and sounding board and he plays this role well.
“A Doll’s House might not not the show for you if you’re looking for a fun night out on the town, but it is packed with raw theatre power. When it comes to excitement and stimulation, there is still nothing like a bit of uncompromising Scandinavian drama.”
Tom King, Echo
DATE: February 2009
“Dear Lindisfarne,
“Just a short note to say how much we both enjoyed the Dolls House, a truly ambitious one for the Lindy Players and well acted, directed and of course not to forgetting the sound quality.
“A first class and thought-provoking entertainment.
“Many thanks,
Southend Councillor Jim & Sheila Clinkscales
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DATE: October 2008
“Lindisfarne are developing into Southend AMDRAM’s most adventurous group. They proved it in Steve McCartney’s production of The Graduate, the famous 1960s film and book as Terry Johnson’s stage version.
“This distils an emotional but often very amusing story of a young American college graduate’s adventures with a worldly-wise married woman who is also an alcoholic and a hater of most things in her tight little world among the very rich in the California of 1967. This is one of the most difficult of plays for amateurs to present for it is full of problems for actors, director and the stage team. It requires a high class West Coast American accent from most of the cast of 13, outstanding performances from its two main characters, and is played in almost countless short scenes.
“In the title role of Benjamin, with its many difficult facets, Rory Joscelyne carries the weight of the play well on his broad shoulders, nicely showing the naivete and confusion of a young man growing up at a time when the draft to Vietnam was always hanging over his age group and the temptation to escape to Canada always on the cards. Ashley Jarvis, as the now famous Mrs Robinson, portrays her character as an absolute bitch, perhaps missing out slightly on the glamour and sophistication of this wonderfully unpleasant character, but still making her version of Mrs Robinson a wonderful character. Then there is Daniel Newman as her businessman husband, who she has regularly cuckolded, and who nicely shows the character’s weaknesses and desperation. Their daughter Elaine is played by Toni Taylor, who finally becomes Benjamin’s wife despite their love-hate relationship.
“Director Steve McCartney had to take over the role of Benjamin’s father at just three weeks’ notice and gives a clear portrayal despite his directorial responsibilities, while Teresa Butler gives a suitably distraught performance as Benjamin’s mother, who just cannot understand what has gone wrong with the family’s life. The whole cast do well to sustain the pace of the production through the short scenes though I did think with more use of lighting to ‘pool’ areas the breaks could have been reduced.
“The stage version of The Graduate has a lot more comedy in it than the book or film but loses some of the feelings of the politics and social aspects in the other versions. Lindisfarne’s production proved most entertaining, in many ways more so than the slicker. starry professional versions I have seen.
“Well done Lindisfarne. Keep up the good work!”
JOHN GILES
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DATE: May 2008
“Southend’s Lindisfarne Players showed just how good they can be in one of Ray Cooney’s newest farces, Out of Order, at Southend’s Focus Theatre last week. Modern farce is the most difficult art form in the theatre requiring perfect timing, great physical acting and superb teamwork. Lindisfarne presented a 10 strong cast without any obvious weaknesses. Directed by Steve McCartney the result was a production of what is a very funny play, which was as good a production as you are likely to see anywhere and would have put a few professional versions to shame.
“Headed by the excellent Robert Stow as Labour minister Richard Willey, MP, the action shows his attempt to have a dirty night in a five-star hotel with the leader of the opposition’s very attractive secretary Jane Worthington nicely performed by Lauren Franklin, who spent most of the evening in her bra and briefs popping in and out of windows and doors in the usual Cooney fashion. Of course, the night ends up in chaos, with Richard enlisting the help of his rather staid private parliamentary secretary George Pigden, MP (Daniel Newman) to help him through the problems of a body stuck in the window, calls from over the road to vote and numerous misunderstandings among the ever-growing number of people who become involved over identities. Director McCartney had a nice solid set with doors that did not wobble, a sash window that really worked and the essential cupboard to park away bodies and people at the appropriate time.
“But it was the superb performances of Robert Stow and Daniel Newman with their perfect timing and hysterical reactions to crisis piled on crisis which produced the laughs from virtually curtain up. They were aided by a great character performance from George Nightingale as the waiter who would do anything for money and Ian Morton as the manager, who becomes more and more exasperated at what is going on in his five star establishment but still manages to lose his trousers in traditional fashion! On the distaff side nearly all the women end up in their undies or revealing towels and they all added immensely to the fun which had the Saturday night audience roaring with delight. A special mention must go to Nathan Spencer, who spent so much time being moved about as the limp body, which is never the easiest thing to do.
“Well done Steve McCartney and Lindisfarne Players. you have set a high standard with Out of Order and now must maintain it.”
JOHN GILES
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DATE: May 2007
“TEECHERS is the classic type of play that is easy to do but difficult to do well. Written by John Godber in 1987 for the Hull Truck Theatre Company, the play centres on young, idealistic drama teacher Jeff Nixon as he arrives at “challenging” school Whitewall Comprehensive. On Tuesday Southend-based Lindisfarne Players took on the first challenge of three actors playing over twenty roles including pupils, staff and the caretaker. The key to this strategy’s success is the energy of the three actors and Francine Ross, Rob Stow and Toni Taylor had it in abundance.
“Francine Ross morphed from vampish girl, stressed humanities teacher to overly optimistic PE teacher with ease. She was at her best as the lovestruck Gail devoting her energies to Mr Nixon, however she has to be complimented on her Lancastrian accent when playing the caretaker. Rob Stow emanated the right amount of adolescent irreverence as he stomped around the stage. His Oggy, the school bully should have been more threatening. He just seemed a bit sullen rather than sadistic. Toni Taylor was very much the glue that kept the three together. She changed seamlessly through her characters. Her Hobby conveyed the right level of churlish sulk and anyone who has spent time in education will recognise her pompous hypocritical Mr Basford. Her Oggy also had a certain disturbing menace. A moot point was that in other productions the three pupils’ movements are far more choreographed but the energy in its anarchic form countered that.
“Daniel Newman was a splendid Mr Nixon. His angelic curly-haired looks made it appear that he was about to burst into a verse of “Any dream will do” at any moment but that look captured perfectly the tyro teacher. What he did very well was to physically convey the weariness as the system and difficult choices started to wear him down. Special mention must be made of Ashley Jarvis in her portrayal of Head Mrs Parry. A vision in yellow and salmon, she captured perfectly the middle aged middle class teacher who with a whiff of Constance Bouquet constantly speak as if about to burst into song. She once again reminded me not to review any Gilbert and Sullivan. She filled the stage and auditorium.
“The play is dated and could have done (as Godber asks) for a modern soundtrack but the key themes: underfunded and underachieving schools, keen teachers fighting cynical ones and diffident pupils fighting a bleak future was perfectly conveyed by an excellent ensemble.”
MICHAEL CASEY
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[...] House” coming next February! Following the roaring success of October 2008’s The Graduate, Lindisfarne is pleased to announce that the company will be performing Henrik Ibsen’s A [...]
[...] Click here for the full review [...]
[...] Read the full review here. [...]
[...] has performed the twisted drama before in April 2007, with Rob Stow in the leading role. You can read reviews of this performance here. [...]