amdram.co.uk

Amy Wonderful Amy
Reviewed by Nick Warburton

Performed by BAWDS from the 2nd to 6th November 2010, at the Larkum Studio, ADC Theatre, Cambridge

This was a departure for BAWDS – a first show in the Larkum Studio at the ADC – and it must be counted a success. The studio is very much like an Edinburgh space: small (seating about 30+) and intimate (getting warmer as the evening progressed).

Amy Wonderful Amy tells the story of aviatrix Amy Johnson, from early ambitions in her Hull home, through the years of fame to her disappearance and presumed death in 1941. Rex Walford’s fascinating script gives us a lot of Amy’s story and everything goes at a pace. Director Colin Lawrence kept things moving and made the most of the limited space. The positioning and movement of the narrators, for example, was imaginatively choreographed and the minimal scene changes were so deftly achieved that we hardly noticed them happen.

Because the audience is so close, the playing has to be much smaller than it would be on the main stage. These are close up performances. Neil Coates, as Jack Humphreys, got us off to an assured start. I thought he pitched it just right and, establishing a good rapport with the audience, he became a narrator we could trust. As Amy Meg Dixon was full of bounce and purpose and steered us skillfully through the big changes in Amy’s life. This was a thoughtful and detailed performance; we understood her drive and passion as well as her moments of insecurity. Guy Holmes as Amy’s wayward husband, Jim Mollison, was suave and easy: Amy’s falling for him, unreliable tippler that he was, made complete sense.

Alison Taylor was wholly convincing as Amy’s sensible, loyal friend Winifred and she also handled the narration very well. Sarah Middle, as Amy’s sister, Molly gave a touching performance, looking on helplessly as her admired Amy seemed to become lost to fashionable London.

All the cast did well: Andy Waller as a sleazy Daily Mail man, William Courtenay (nothing changes), Claire Waite as Pauline Gower the new aviatrix, on the block, and Sally Marsh as an earthy Florence Desmond, managing abrupt shifts of accent with dash. Ken and Rosemary Eason expertly did all that was asked of them.

Songs of the time were neatly threaded in and the sounds of those old engines were thoroughly convincing, courtesy of Graham Potter. Lighting, by Ed Hopkins had to be slick and it was, especially so when a clearly defined box of light put us in the cockpit with Amy and Jim.

So – a successful first landing in the Larkum Studio for BAWDS – let’s hope there’ll be others to follow.

Photographs from the production can be seen on the group’s website.