REVIEW: THE PLAY WITH SPEECHES by James Woolf at Brockley Jack Theatre until 22 Oct 2022
‘a joyous spoof on thespian tropes’ ★★★ ½
AnTHony is a playwright, Fringe Theatre’s answer to Terrence Rattigan, and he has a play. Actually, he has a series of audition pieces, stolen from other plays, strung together to form a sort of narrative. To bring it to the stage, he is auditioning a number of desperate-to-work actors at the Brockley Jack Theatre, who have accidentally sold tickets to the spectacle. So far, so meta.
What the audience gets is a joyous spoof on thespian tropes, an insight into Actors Preparing, a series of really well judged cameos, and Matthew Parker as Anthony chewing the scenery delightfully. He is ably supported by a large cast of actors doing great things with tiny parts, and especially by Gillian King playing Penny, Anthony’s embittered ex and current director.
The actual director of the piece is Katherine Reilly, and she does a fine job of keeping a baggy concept on the rails. The show rockets along, Matthew Parker turns his OutRageous setting to 11 but never gets wearing, and it’s really good fun. Writer James Woolf has given his cast some excellent lines, and his actors repay him with a series of snappy, sparkling performances. THE PLAY WITH SPEECHES is excellent entertainment, a fun show from the ever-reliable Brockley Jack Studio, and a valuable tonic as we realise that Winter is coming.
photographer credit: Lidia Crisafulli
The Play With Speeches by James Woolf
directed by Katherine Reilly
produced by Olive and Stavros
11 - 22 October at 7.30
Box Office https://brockleyjack.co.uk/jackstudio-entry/the-play-with-speeches/
Reviewer:
Chris Lilly read Drama at Hull University in the 70s, stage-managed a bit, spent 8 years as a community arts worker in Tower Hamlets, did the occasional tech job, then taught in East London and participated in shedloads of community theatre. Since retiring from teaching, he has acquired an MA in Theatre from the University of Surrey and indulged a passion for live performance anywhere in London courtesy of his Freedom Pass.
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