THEATRE REVIEW: Now Is Good - The Storyhouse, Chester.

A new Musical Comedy from the pen of Tim Firth? I don't mind if do, thanks! And so I found myself sitting in the auditorium of Chester's Storyhouse Theatre this evening for Press Night of the World Premiere of, 'Now Is Good'.

The story tells of a septegenarian retired builder and his relationship with his 'Health And Safety'-obsessed son, highlighting, with bonhomie and bittersweet truths, the differences and temperaments that the different ages of man bring. How the old have a much closer affinity with the very young, leaving the middle-aged standing clueless and exasperated; whilst at the same time the middle-aged having a much more feet-firm-on-the-ground grasp of the present, and are happy and comfortable with all the modern technological advances which "help" our contemporary lives. [cue many a witty and close-to-home remark about the internet...!]

The script, also by Firth, and semi-autobiographical, is full of sparkling one-liners and caustic putdowns. Much of the dialogue is extremely funny. However, this evening's audience were not fully engaging with this, and the laughs were not belly ones, and so I started to try and analyse why. What I came up with was that this musical sits somewhere between a TV sitcom and a children's play with music. It doesn't come across as a 'Musical' in the accepted sense. All the songs are instantly forgettable, none have a refrain or catchy melody - {continuing the narrative in a rather operatic sense}, and yet all do not require trained or even good singers to sing them; they are much more 'sprechgesang' [spoken to music] than truly songs. Whilst the story, and the whole premsie and set-up (using a single set throughout), was much more "Ever Decreasing Circles" or "One Foot In The Grave" than it perhaps ought to have been. Whilst Firth has excelled with his collaborations with pop group Take That ['The Band' and 'Calendar Girls'], this show felt very much more like a work-in-progress than the finished article. 

Perhaps that is also due to the directing (Joyce Branagh). The show was somewhat stilted and lacked dynamics. Much of the humour was lost due to incorrect comedic timing; whilst the physical humour of the show (which should have been apparent... think "The Play That Goes Wrong", or even Eric Sykes in 'The Plank') was at best, extremely tame and unfunny. 

None of this can be laid at the feet of the cast however, who gave their collective alls to this show. A true ensemble production which created some lovely characters; easily identifiable and relatable, bordering on caricature, but quite sensibly and correctly never crossing over the line. Chris Hannon was a very Lee Mack-esque Neil, frustrated with his dad and the situations he found themselves in; whilst also being understanding, his obvious love of his dad never overplayed. This solid cast included Elizabeth Counsell (Alice), Maxwell Hutcheon (Ted), Jeff Rawle (Ray), and Alyce Liburd (Katy), but I think the audience's favourite this evening was the straight-talking, no-nonsense hard-nut with a kind heart, Ivy, needing only the taking of her hand by a small child for her to find her laugh again, played with skill by Michele Dotrice. The cast completed with a small group of young children, ostensibly a class from the local primary school. This evening they were Ahnya Wilson, Celine Khafaga, Clara Holladay, and Freya Bell. 

It's a slow-burning and quite predictable comedy with music, which has heart and shows much promise; but it isn't quite there yet. 

Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 19.5.22