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Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts Three Year BA (Hons) Acting Course Showcase 2005

Published Wednesday 29 June 2005 at 13:50 by Frazer Ashford of The Narrow Road Co chose Bradley Sansome, Margarita Panousopoulou and Rebecca Crookshank

By the time the curtain went up on this production, the venue was so packed there was hardly enough room to swing next term’s prospectus, and clearly many friends and acquantancies of those graduating in 2005 had come to give enthusiastic and vocal support at every posssible opportunity. Nothing wrong with that of course, as those in the industry requiring more objective audience feedback had had their chance the prevopus day at the Soho Theatre.

Before being imaginatively broken down into genres, the whole company began very cheekily with Invocations And Instructions To The Audience from Sondheim’s musical Frogs which set out the behavioural standards expected of those watching - “Don’t fart, this is art.” Just the fun start then to break the ice but you did sense that, in front of mainly friends and family, this was set to contain more relaxed performances than those seen at the previous day’s show.

Not surprisingly, given that the first section was dubbed Hiss And Boo, this began with The Other Cinderella by Nicholas Stuart Gray - Jamie Grant (as in Ms Grant) with wand in hand as the fairy and Anthony Hamblin as the Demon boasting a hairstyle enough to scare small children at a 100 yards. This had all the energy required of a opening piece and both acquitted themselves well here. The same was true for Alicia Rae and Olivia Hutchinson as Nell and Mrs Betterton respectively in April de Angelis’ Playhouse Creatures, even though it is not the most instantly accessible dramatic piece for a quickfire showcase.

Unlike Terry Johnson’s Unsuitable For Adults with Aimi Cree as Kate and Claire-Louise Worby as Trish, having a good rant and reminisce about past sexual encounters, the saucy nature of their dialogue was enough alone to guarantee a good audience reaction. On to the Men Behaving Badly section, which opened with a passable rendition of Pretty Lady from Sondheim’s Pacific Overtures sung by David Elliot, Guy Beardsmore and Hamblin.

For the word badly, you could substitute ‘appallingly’ in the case of Jack Faires as Darren and Bradley Sansome as Aaron as a sozzled pair of miscreants from Simon Stephens’ Herons. Both instantly raised the laughter levels, matching one another in the stupidity stakes as they went and this was an effective running gag later on. Jim Cartwright’s Two then had Simon Naylor and Leah Hamilton as Roy and Lesley, talking to one another but on painfully different wavelengths, both managing to convey the tension and Naylor’s aggression as Roy made the most impact.

Having been sitting quietly at the bar stage left during the preceding domestic strife, Michael Molton then burst into song with Matt Dennis’ Angel Eyes. While his voice was not quite that of an angel, his solo spot at least made for a interesting musical interlude amid all the drama, Molton having self-confidence in adundance.

Two more quality duologues then saw Rebecca Crookshank and Samantha Black - as Marge and Diana - from Alan Ayckbourne’s Absent Friends, followed by Elliot and Hamblin (in his third appearance already) as Daniel and Adam from Colin Firth’s The Safari Party, and the latter of the two pieces was the more interesting.

By the arrival of the section dubbed Family Affairs, the musical pieces to date had been more competent than spirit-raising but that changed with the number Any Minute Now from Billy (John Barry and Don Black), with Cree, Crookshank and especially Zoe Springbett performing with gusto, calling on their obvious collective musical talent and each injecting their own style of endearing brashness.

As usual, a good musical number at a student showcase is tough to follow, and certainly Beardsmore’s performance as Billy from Waterhouse and Hall’s Billy Liar lacked the required mischievous, self-delusion you acquaint with the role, though Lianne Curtis as Barbara, his gullible, believing partner helped make this entertaining enough. Then, in her second appearance of the day, Rae was much better as Adele from the production’s second lift from Stephens’ Herons. That she was paired with Luke Emsley certainly helped bring the piece to life, Emsley as Mickey proving the perfect foil.

Having only just been highly watchable as a cheeky chanteuse, Crookshank then made light work of her comic lines in Nicky Silver’s Free Will And Wanton Lust, and Grant was a sure-fire winner from the off with a slickness of delivery that seasoned professionals would have been pleased with.

Ditto then Cree, as Hilary from Debbie Issitt’s The Woman Who Cooked Her Husband, or more accurately here the woman who binned her husband’s beloved vinyl collection on finding he had an affair, Elliot as Kenneth on the receiving end of her wrath.

On to the ominously titled GBH section and, on paper, a scenario of the tables being turned on a gun-toting woman by another would look odds-on to backfire at a student show. But, thanks to two excellent performances by Margarita Panousopoulou and Worby, this actually worked outrageously well, containing credible, high-energy performances and a very real sense of danger mingled with some well-executed humour. That combination made this take on Jane Martin’s Criminal Hearts - somewhat unexpectedly - easily among the showcase’s best pieces.

Nastiness without much jocularity then ensued in Jez Butterworth’s Mojo, with both Andrew Dickinson and Sam Dunham as Sweets and Potts, toughly talking the talk and walking the walk as a pair of realistically portrayed hoodlums, before we had Philip Michael as Emile, fleeing from the “rozzers”. He was well cast opposite Moulton, as Joe, who proved his acting talents following his earlier bar stool croon. Come the end of that gritty scene, each of Italia Conti’s BA class of 2005 had been credited with at least one appearance.

The mood then being lightened by a rendition of Sondheim’s Perfect Relationships (from Company), Cree, Springbett, Black, Grant, Elliott, Moulton, Naylor and Hamblin all chipping in their vocal two pennorth to enjoyable collective effect. But it was a later rendition of She’s A Nut from Cy Coleman’s On The Twentieth Century which impressed most musically with the brevity of the snippet we enjoyed crying out to be extended as those involved warmed to their task, this being a showcase moment when everything just seemed to click.

Of the remaining drama pieces, Springbett and Naylor worked well together in Graham Swannell’s Stuttgart, but perhaps best of all was Panousopoulou’s performance as Pelagia in Louis Bernieres’ Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - earthy, totally credible and close to faultless by student showcase standards.

Looking back over the hour and 15 minute show, too many of the male/female duologues had failed to catch dramatic fire. Whether that is an inevitable consequence of the cast knowing each other too well after three years is up for debate. Not that it could be suggested familiarity with one another bred contempt exactly, but maybe it relaxed the performers too much to make great gritty drama in a showcase setting. That aside, there was certainly no lack of the enthusiastic fizz you would expect of a graduate cast working together for the last time. All told, it was the women who took the honours on this occasion, many setting high standards for any undergraduate friends in the audience to follow next year.

Derek Smith

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