Letting in Air

Old Red Lion
Director: Adam Quayle
Running until 28th November

Becky Prestwich’s Letting in Air is all about words; what words mean, how words sound, discovering new words and yet it is actually what is not said, the silences between these words that reveal the true story of this play.

Broken relationships and betrayal define this play about a father (Frank) and his son (Ryan) who’s already strained relationship is pushed to the limits following the death of their wife/mother. As they struggle through; neither really speaking their true feelings, a catalyst appears in the unlikely form of a sixteen year old called Amy who brings all these unspoken tensions to the surface with repercussions nobody is ready for.

Amy, played by the terrific Rebecca Elliot is incapable of not saying the first thing that pops into her head and can only speak the truth. She is a damaged young girl, who although sixteen, seems to be stuck in the mind space of a ten year old. After she meets Frank outside the theatre they become unlikely friends. Perhaps the first person she has ever known who hasn’t taken advantage of her, Frank is almost as naive as Amy to think that his family won’t read more into their relationship than there actually is. However, it is through the close bond that Frank forms with this stranger that he is able to address the reasons why he has never truly connected with his own son.

The superb cast portray Prestwich’s characters in all of their tortured glory under the subtle direction of Adam Quayle. Edmund Kente’s sensitive portrayal of Frank as a man who is just looking for someone to take care of is heartbreaking. Rebecca Elliot’s Amy is utterly open and completely honest. A great comic actress who avoids becoming a caricature, Elliot also accesses the tortured soul of this girl who on the one hand has never experienced childhood yet cannot escape from her childlike imagination. Ryan Hawley shows that still waters run deep as confused and hurt son Adam who struggles to deal with his changing family situation as it seems to implode.

Letting in Air is exactly what you need to do after this tense two hour drama which leaves you feeling as if you have been holding your breath for the entire duration. A fantastic piece of new writing which reminds you just how excellent fringe theatre can be – providing the space for new voices to be heard and Prestwich’s is a voice that really must be listened to.

Liberace Live From Heaven

Written and Directed by Julian Woolford
Performed by Bobby Crush
Leicester Square Theatre

Bobby Crush is Liberace, a decedent performer who has died from Aids and finds himself in a sort of musical limbo, while a group of heavenly angels (who are played by us, the audience) decide his fate as to whether he should go to heaven or hell.

Liberace Live From Heaven is camper than a camp site. Bobby Crush with his horrendous American accent aims to entertain with stories of performances at the Hollywood Bowl and mingling with the stars whilst showing off on his piano playing skills to prove why he was the greatest pianist of his team. While sharing these stories he is interrupted by the voice of God and St Paul, played respectfully (and quite astonishingly) by Stephen Fry and Victoria Wood. These voices provide a vehicle for them to clumsily debate issues such as closeted homosexuality and the contraction of HIV. As if that isn’t awkward enough, topical gags such as discussing Michael Jackson and Jade Goodey’s death are also weaved into the act alongside of carry on moments where a member of the audience assists Liberace with a costume change while the audience are left listening to shrieks of “oh aren’t you a big boy” and “oh it’s not going to fit”.

The one thing that saves this performance from sinking completely into a pit of inane nonsense is Crush’s piano playing. If you can ignore the ridiculous expression on his face for a moment he clearly is a skilled musician as he covers classical, bogey woogey and current pop songs all within the same set and quite impressively at the end asks the audience to shout out songs they’d like to hear and manages to play every one of them.

It is this final performance which quite honestly saved him for eternal damnation in the fiery pits of hell as the majority of the audience voted for him to go to heaven…. Who knows, on another night he might not be quite so lucky.

Marilyn Forever Blonde

Writer – Greg Thompson
Director – Stephanie Shine
Leicester Square Theatre

Greg Thompson – writer of Marilyn Forever Blonde has been involved in a love affair with Marilyn Monroe for over fifty years. After years of effectively studying her, he knows her intimately, not just the glamorous bombshell we are all familiar with. Forever Blonde is his attempt to humanise the image of Monroe using verbatim dialogue from interviews she had given over the years.

Greg Thompson must have thought all his Christmas’s had come at once when he convinced his wife, Sunny Thompson to become the woman of his dreams. Understandably she was initially hesitant to take on this larger than life character. Whilst it had been remarked many times to her that she looked like Monroe, she understood that taking on this icon required a great deal more than a passing resemblance.

However she ultimately decided to take on the challenge and boy did she take it on. Sunny succeeds where many “impersonators” fail – in that she doesn’t impersonate; she becomes her. It’s hard to pin point exactly how this happens; is it through her sexy cooing voice, with lips that never stop moving, her sensual walk (achieved through having one heel always slightly shorter than the other), her gorgeous, melodic singing voice or that with the glitz and glamour Sunny looks just like Monroe. Or is it something more than that? Thompson seems to connect with Monroe’s soul and captures the intangible.

We join Marilyn in a sort of an interview situation towards the end of her career. Sunny speaks directly with the audience as she takes you on a rags to riches tale. Since this play is created from her words, talk of her drink and drugs problems are almost glossed over as she prefers to discuss other topics. However blatant discussion is not needed as her behaviour and constant drinking of champagne throughout the piece tells another story to the one we hear. Her tales her intercepted with voice overs from people who knew Marilyn stating how they felt about her and various songs which she performs are weaved in alongside her dialogue, often reflecting the tone of the story she happens to be telling.

Whether you’re an obsessive fan or not that familiar with the life of this legend, Monroe’s is a story that will captivate all (and not just because you cannot help but be seduced by this starlet). Marilyn Monroe was the perfect creation but beneath the veneer laid a multitude of cracks which could only be covered for so long. Greg Thompson’s play explores beneath the story of Marilyn Monroe to reveal a troubled soul indeed. We’re all familiar with Monroe’s untimely demise but this piece allows you to gleam just a little more understanding of what drove her.

Aware of her sexuality from the age of about 13 she understood her power and was not afraid to use it to get what she wanted. Her success can almost be entirely attributed to this (and the fact she wasn’t afraid to sleep her way to the top) and yet it was also her downfall. Once she’s created this image it was impossible to undo and prove that she was more than something to look at and yet as much as she try when her insecurities surfaced she would return to her using her sexual prowess like an old security blanket.

Monroe was a complete dichotomy and this is why she has captivated people for decades – long after her death. She was a woman and a child, a dumb blond who loved Yates and Shakespeare, someone who used men but loved men deeply and a person who took advantage of others and was constantly taken advantage of herself.

All little Norma Jean ever really wanted was to be “wonderful” and who better to show that she already was than Sunny Thompson.