A long overdue tribute to two titans of rock and roll, told with wit, warmth and two absolutely glorious performances. Summary
Rating
Excellent
When Bob Dylan went electric at Newport in 1965, such was the response that they tried to stop him playing by taking an axe to the sound system. Okay, that is apocryphal, but people know the story, it is legend with a big budget movie about it just this year. Yet, more than 20 years earlier Sister Rosetta Tharpe plugged her electric guitar into gospel music leading her to be known as the ‘godmother of rock and roll’. While stars like Little Richard, Johnny Cash and Elvis have sung her praises, her story still isn’t widely known. There aren’t movies made about her (yet), and her name isn’t mentioned as often as it should be.
Writer George Brant has taken this starting point to deliver Marie and Rosetta. It is 1946, we are in a funeral parlour in Mississippi. Beverly Knight as Rosetta Tharpe is a nice piece of casting with a star playing a star. Having recently seen Marie Knight (Ntombizodwa Ndlovu) perform, Rosetta has taken her on the road on a trial basis intending to mentor her, add swing to her hips and bring her out of her shell.
There’s a palpable sisterhood that grows through song and laughter, it’s great to see how Rosetta is building up Marie – going as far as to say that it might be ‘Rosetta and Marie’. No ego, no credit hogging. It’s about doing the best they can for the music and their audience. The singing performances are amazing. While this is to be expected from Beverly Knight, Ndlovu, in one of her first major roles, stands toe to toe with her, and you can feel the electricity flowing between them as the story brings the two women and their voices together. Every song is powerful.
Lily Arnold’s set is a simple funeral parlour, complete with coffin, serving as a ghostly reminder of the fleeting nature of life and legacy. The setting becomes a metaphor: these women are learning to sing with each other for a gig that’s also a reckoning with their pasts and their dreams becoming all the more relevant at the end of the play.
In effective staging, instead of hiding the musicians at the back of the stage, Marie’s piano (played by Liam Godwin at this performance) and Rosetta’s guitar (played by Shirley Tetteh, also musical director) are prominent. They are an equal and essential part of the storytelling. Marie’s journey into Rosetta’s world – into the world of rock and roll – is mirrored by her piano playing, as she moves from a timid church player to a hip-swinging rock and roller. As the relationship between the women deepens, their duets become more confident and layered and their playing charts that evolution more powerfully than the script does alone.
The script is the weakest element. It feels long, with extended lulls where you sense the audience waiting for the next song. It also assumes some prior knowledge – there are repeated references to ‘Mahalia’ which only really make sense after doing some reading. The exposition is heavy. While both performers handle it well and there are amusing moments, it can feel sluggish at times, even more so considering the entire play is a single conversation in one room. The songs, and Monique Touko’s direction of them, help restore momentum, elevating a sometimes static script into something resonant and musically vibrant. Her strong direction of the performances allows the relationship at the heart of the play to truly shine.
Marie and Rosetta is a two-hander rich in gospel soul, searing harmonies, and the complexities of faith, fame and friendship, all at the heart of rock and roll’s origin.
Written by George Brant
Directed by Monique Touko
Set Design by Lily Arnold
Music Supervision, Arrangement & Orchestration by Liam Godwin
Musical Direction by Shirely Tetteh
Marie and Rosetta plays at Rose Theatre until Saturday 24 May.
