THEATRE REVIEW: Marvellous - The New Vic Theatre, Newcastle-Under-Lyme.

How many of us can dream of spending our 76th birthday in the theatre watching not just one but seven actors acting out the crucial events of our life so far? It sounds improbable, but then so does most of the remarkable story of Neil Baldwin. Written off by many at an early age and bullied at school because of his learning and speech difficulties, Baldwin has befriended royalty, football stars and at least one Archbishop and received numerous awards ranging from a British Empire Medal to Stoke City’s Supporter Of The Year. He is universally adored in his home town and has been portrayed on television by Toby Jones in the BAFTA-winning “Marvellous” (2014).

Marshalled by “The Real Neil” (the brilliant Michael Hugo) who also functions as the narrator, the other six members of the cast perform scenes from Baldwin’s life starting with his future parents Mary (Suzanne Ahmet) and Harry (Graham Cassidy) meeting at a munitions factory during World War II. Football is a huge part of Harry’s life and he quickly introduces Mary to the much-missed Boothen End, brought to life by Daniella Beattie’s clever lighting on the open stage. We learn that baby Neil is named in honour of Stoke football star Neil Franklin.

We follow Neil through speech therapy, school and on to Keele University. He didn’t go to Keele as a student, but rather he just turned up “on spec” to act as a volunteer welcomer / chaplain to the new students (this was in the days when you could get into a university building without a retinal scan and an eye-watering mountain of debt!). Fifty years later the university awarded him an Honorary Degree for his services to student welfare.

Scenes of Baldwin’s circus life as “Nello The Clown” bring the clowning skills of Jerone Marsh-Reid to the fore, whilst at Stoke City we meet Lou Macari in one of “man of many voices” Graham Cassidy’s incarnations (he goes on to play Graham Norton and Ken Dodd amongst other notable people who feature in this amazing story).

The scene in which Mary teaches Neil to cook is introduced with a warning of impending silliness. This was the one scene which didn’t work for me – using the determination of a mother to teach her son to fend for himself as an excuse to make a mess and soak half the audience jarred a bit. But set against the rest of the piece that is a minor quibble.

There is genuine pathos in Mary’s final illness and death when Neil is confronted with the reality of being alone in the world for the first time. Of course he realises that he isn’t and his Christian faith and his intrinsic self-belief propel him onwards and upwards.

For all its theatricality and slapstick, Marvellous deals with some weighty issues. I loved the portrayal of the working class culture in which Baldwin grew up with its pillars of family, work, football and church but couldn’t help regretting that much of the work has gone and the football has sold its soul to the money men. The church keeps on going though and I did spot at least one bishop in the audience! More important are the questions it raises about how people with learning difficulties are treated – Baldwin’s exploitation at the hands of one of the circus troupes was painful to see, and Mary’s worry as to how he would cope once she was no longer around must weigh heavily on the heart of every parent whose child has similar disabilities.

It's clear that everyone involved in bringing Marvellous to the stage has hugely enjoyed the experience. The show sparkles with a kind humanity and a sense of fun which is a perfect antidote for some of the nastier things going on right now. If only everybody would follow Neil Baldwin’s own recipe for happiness, “Be happy…. make other people happy…. go and visit people”, the world would be a better place.

Happy birthday Neil, and many of them!

Reviewer - Ian Simpson
on - 15/3/22