Everything Theatre Reviews, interviews and news for theatre lovers, London and beyond
Proof not all ideas travel well, this well-meaning revival certainly raises a smile, but doesn’t quite hit the sweet spot it aims for.Summary
Rating
Good
The legendary tins of Quality Street and much-loved Northern Broadsides Theatre Company, noted for rumbustious Shakespeare over the years, are both popular exports from Halifax. Halifax is a plucky market town nestling in West Yorkshire’s Calder Valley with a glorious industrial heritage. You should visit. I say this because your reviewer, having grown up there, is proud to be an export too.
No doubt because of a sincerely held love of Halifax and its people, Northern Broadsides have set their version of Quality Street the play there – in the very factory where the product is still made no less. What’s more, local workers in hair nets and white coats pop up to share words of wisdom throughout. Notes in the programme tell us these words are verbatim interjections recorded during the rehearsal process.
It’s a neat device on paper. As a local community project, I’m sure it worked well too. Real people in a real place bring their own magic. However, 207 miles from Halifax in a traditional proscenium arch theatre, the magic is lost somewhat. The workers feel less invited guests and more extraneous interlopers. Their input is initially quite interesting if sweet making is your bag. We learn about a literal ‘nut’ house, for example. We also hear about tame workplace flirtations and more salacious rumours about the factory’s fourth floor. Things notably run out of steam by the end though. Commentary becomes as banal as ‘things were different in the old days’ and ‘everyone loves a happy ending’.
What, though, of the play proper? Quality Street was written by JM Barrie before his more famous work, Peter Pan. It ran briefly on Broadway before arriving in London in 1902 (and Richmond Theatre itself in 1903) where it was a hit. It was such a hit, in fact, that, in the 1930s, the name popped into confectioner John Mackintosh’s head when he was looking to brand his new tinned chocolates. Even then, he was surely tapping into nostalgia. Even then, was Barrie’s romance considered quaint and old-fashioned? Certainly, the anachronistically modern design, choreography and original music thrown at this revival does little to shift the sense we are still watching a museum piece.
Performances vary in quality but even the strongest seem overly cavalier with 120-year-old text. I found myself urging them to slow down and annunciate a few times too often. Barrie is no Oscar Wilde, but we still should hear every word. That said, Gilly Tompkins, as a Mrs Overall style housekeeper, is a delight although we see her all too briefly. Paula Lane and Louisa-May Parker are left to do much of the heavy lifting as the story’s central sisters, Phoebe and Susan Throssel. Only in the final scene, as the consequences of the story unravel farcically, do we really get to appreciate their comic timing and skilled repartee. I’d actually pay good money to see them tackle the whole play as a double act.
As it is, we have a slightly flabby, overlong, mish-mash of a show. I do wish I’d seen it in my home town where it may feel more rooted and real. As a touring production, I fear it has lost its way a little.
Written by: JM Barrie (and the Ladies of the Chocolate Factory)
Directed by: Laurie Sansom
Choreography by: Ben Wright
Sound Design/ Composed by: Nick Sagar
Original Design by: Jessica Worrall
Lighting Design by: Joe Price
Produced by: Northern Broadsides
Quality Street is on tour until July. Tour dates and bookings can be found here.
