3 STARS
As someone who thoroughly enjoyed The Picture of Dorian Gray, it was with an optimistic attitude that I settled into my seat at Nottingham Lakeside Arts. Was this going to be a modern twist on Oscar Wilde’s famous novel? Well, to some extent – yes. But not in the way I was expecting.
The play begins and we are introduced to Doreen Gray, a popular radio and television presenter who seems to have it made. However on hitting her mid-fifties, Doreen is beginning to find that the world of the media is no longer as kind to her as it had been in her youth. Invited to a school reunion Doreen discovers an old self portrait from her school days and is given the opportunity to become youthful once again – but at what price?
Comedy is a massive focus for this play and the whole show is written as a comedic caper from start to finish. Gently taking the piss out of ageism, some of the banter that passes between the acting duo that make up LipService Theatre (Maggie Fox and Sue Ryding) is amusing and had most of the audience in stitches. Sue performed particularly well as several supporting roles to Doreen and switched between comedic personas smoothly. However I found that much of the humour wasn’t to my taste at all. Screamingly obvious gags, gesturing and winking to the audience, and some truly terrible Twitter jokes punctuate the whole performance and often gave the production a very amateur feel.
There were also a lot of mistakes throughout, which again added to the clumsy feel of the production. Although they were carried off with good cheer and often became the butt of many of the jokes of the play, after a while it emerged as a recurring feature of the production, planned or unplanned. And by the time one of the actors emerged on the stage as the wrong character in the second act – please. Enough is enough.
However the play looked a lot of fun to be part of. Both actors engaged well with the audience which made for a great atmosphere, while the rest of the supporting cast of Doreen’s school mates were made up of community actors of all ages, and the video at the end of the play showing them dancing was a sweet tribute to their contribution.
Maggie and Sue are very friendly and affectionate towards the audience and this play presents an odd mix of satire, humour and, quite frankly, the bizarre. But would I choose Doreen over Dorian? The answer would have to be no.
Images courtesy of Nottingham Lakeside Arts