In recent times Liverpool's Royal Court Theatre has hosted many scouse-themed productions, and I am glad to say that the theatre is a contemporary modern venue and a pleasure to visit. The premise of My Fairfield Lady is interesting in that the play is a non-musical adaption of My Fair Lady. My Fair Lady is a musical based on George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion, with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. The story concerns Eliza Doolittle, a Cockney flower girl who takes speech lessons from Professor Henry Higgins, a phoneticist, so that she may pass as a lady. The original Broadway and London shows starred Rex Harrison and Julie Andrews.
The musical's 1956 Broadway production was a notable critical and popular success. It set a record for the longest running of any show on Broadway up to that time. It was followed by a hit London production, a popular film version, and many revivals. My Fair Lady has been called "the perfect musical"
My Fairfield Lady is set in Liverpool but instead of a girl who takes speech lessons so that she may pass as a lady, in this Kevin Fearon production a well-spoken girl from a ‘posh’ district in Cheshire takes speech lessons from her employee, a Liverpudlian, so that she may pass as a scouse girl from the north end of Liverpool.
The production relies heavily on a certain style of scouse humour which was portrayed in previous productions such as 'Brick Up The Mersey Tunnels' (2006), 'Slappers And Slapheads' (2003) and 'The Scouse Nativity' (2017). The play basically involves seven different scenes which take place in either the florist shop (The Flowerpot Men), the Royal Hospital, the kitchen in the home of the protagonists’ future husbands’ family and a graveyard. Clever use of the set involving a rotating turntable enabled quick change scenarios with just enough amounts of props to set each scene. Six actors portrayed the characters of Lizzy (Jessica Dyas), Steph (Helen Carter), Mary (Julie Glover), Alf (Michael Starke), Higson (Danny O’Brien) and Robbie (Matthew Walker).
The plot involves Higson investing in a florist shop (The Flowerpot Men) owned by Lizzy (up-town girl from Cheshire running florist shop in Fairfield, Liverpool). Higson has been aptly named because Higson’s beer is the favourite tipple of his father, Alf. His middle name is Kenneth in honour of Alf’s favourite football player, Kenny Daiglesh. Higson’s parents own one of the biggest scaffolding companies in the North West and have risen in the ranks from having nothing to becoming very wealthy. The adage from My Fair Lady, “The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain” has been replaced in this production with “The ale in Belle Vale should never be too pale”. I think an understanding of the style of the humour displayed throughout the play can be identified by the aforementioned. Lizzy’s assistant in the florist shop, Steph decides to ‘educate’ Lizzy in the mores of the Liverpool accent, namely Scouse, so that Higson can pass her off as his girlfriend to his mother, Mary, as she wants her son to marry a “good Scouse girl from the North end of Liverpool”, i.e. a girl who speaks with a strong Scouse accent, who lives in one of the less opulent districts of Liverpool. Mary has written it into her will that Higson will only get his inheritance if he marries such a girl.
The script contains gags about Lizzy having “a silver spoon in her arse” (rather than in her mouth) and a quip about Claire Sweeney kicking off whilst having a Botox treatment which has gone wrong (I wonder if she got royalties for that line) plus puns about people who are miserable because they are Everton fans. Lizzy’s name turns out to be Elizabeth D. Ripping, i.e. Lizzy Dripping and once she gets the inheritance, Lizzy gives the florist shop to Steph who changes its name to 'Back To The Fuchsia', so you get the gist of the jokes!
The age advisory details on the publicity is “14+ Some strong language”. I think this matches the mind-set of some of the audience who were laughing the loudest or maybe this is a bit harsh as they had been drinking but I felt as if I had heard the jokes many times before and at times they were too contrived for me and I could guess the punchlines.
If you enjoy mediocre scouse humour delivered in an exaggerated Liverpudlian accent with a dash of emotion to pull on the heart-strings thrown in (Mary dies of a tumour on the brain spreading to other parts of her body and Alf ends up with dementia) then I would recommend this production. If not (like me) you will be disappointed and will feel as though it was a half-hearted attempt at being funny at the expense of Liverpool and the people who live there.
Reviewer - Anne Pritchard
on - 1/5/19
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