The over-cluttered set for the performance of Our Lady of Blundellsands should have given a foretaste of the mayhem that was to come; family secrets revealed, sibling insecurities brought to the foref and unearthed indiscretions interspersed with righteousness, heartbreak and carcasses of skeletons being brought out of the cupboard by the shed load.
With shades of the two sisters in 'Whatever Happened To Baby Jane', Josie Lawrence as Sylvie and Annette Badland as older sister Garnet played their parts convincingly, albeit Lawrence had the lion’s share of the script. Each one of her entrances were made more entrancing by the outfits she was wearing, whether it be an oversized kaftan with a toweling turban on her head or a velvet party dress with tulle skirt which lit up with the help of LED fairy lights.
Watching the opening scenes it was evident that the acerbic atmosphere within the family gathering for Garnet’s 65th birthday party was going to explode. Riddled with bitchiness and sibling rivalry, although Sylvie and Garnet seemed devoted to each other, their true feelings for each other and the rest of the family rose to the surface.
As dysfunctional families go, the Domingo family top the list with cupboards full of skeletons hidden in their once elegant Blundellsands home. The two sisters had isolated themselves in the house and in their past with the elder one looking after the scarred mental health of her sibling. In one scene, son-in-law Frankie (Matt Henry) tells Alyssa (Gemma Brodrick), the newest member of the extended family, to get out while she still can.
The action all takes place on designer Janet Bird's set, containing the disorderly, well lived-in, once elegant living room, small kitchen and staircase. Sylvia broadcasts her favourite music whilst in pyjamas, sitting on the velvet, chaise-lounge with an array of '70’s vinyl records and LPs from her past to choose from. Sister Garnet is the protective older sister, still caring for her mentally ill sibling with TLC whilst shielding her from the realities of life. Mental health is called to attention as it’s not exactly made clear when the younger sister was carted off to the infamous Rainhill Mental Institution in Lancashire. The Blundellsands house is in a time capsule where Sylvie inhabits an imaginary world which never was.
Liverpool playwright Jonathan Harvey, writer of TV hit 'Gimme Gimme Gimme', and stage production and film 'Beautiful Thing', has envisaged a sharp mix of eclectic personalities all bound by family ties whilst Director Nick Bagnall has pulled together a cast of well-known actors Tony Maudsley (Benidorm), Matt Henry (Kinky Boots), Gemma Brodrick (Cilla - The Musical) and Nathan McMullen (The Big I Am) into this heart-rendering, chaotic piece.
The delivery and timing of dialogue is independently and collectively on point whilst drag queen Mickey-Joe aka Crystal Fist, played with accustomed aptitude by Tony Maudsley delivers plenty of acidic insults with acerbic acrimony to his Essex-man partner Frankie (Matt Henry). Fortunately, amid the gloomier moments, there are spurts of laugh-out loud-humour with Liverpudlian observations and local references to New Brighton and Crosby.
It is a packed two-and-half-hour stage expedition delving into the minefields of a family at war which many of the audience may have been able to identify with. Unfortunately, the theatre was only half full. Whether this was due to the prevailing coronavirus emergency or the mediocre recent reviews of the production is hard to define but the play won’t be to everyone’s palate or idea of entertainment.
Our Lady of Blundellsands is at the Everyman Theatre until Saturday 28th March 2020.
Reviewer - Anne Pritchard
on - 11/3/20
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