Visions of a visionary

SPORTING the traditional revolutionary’s cap and clutching a ciggie while hurling a very forceful verbal brick-bat into the ranks of the establishment, was clearly a trademark of the theatre visionary that was Joan Littlewood.

A woman before her time? Possibly, but who’s to judge? She was who she was - a woman hell-bent on changing the many levels of the theatre-world, and she was firmly of the opinion women deserved greater representation and went for it with both barrels.

This new musical look-back from Sam Kenyon is based - in a chronological format - on the numerous landmarks of her life of adventure and clearly fires the audience as much as Miss Littlewood fired the imagination of a generation in the second half of the last century.

In this tale of ‘the girl of who done good’ it charts the highs and lows as she rises from East End hopeful to a West End visionary - who wasn’t at all afraid to take on the high and mighty of such august bodies as the Arts Council.

She was incredibly anarchic and a workaholic as she pushed back boundaries that helped her unique Theatre Workshop be responsible for a raft of successes including - Oh, What A Lovely War!, and also breathed new life into the ailing Theatre Royal Stratford East after taking it over in 1953.

Quite a coincidence then that this should be the year of Elizabeth II’s Coronation, as this irascible old Communist would have no truck with such matters. She had no time for imperialism and was totally anti-establishment!

Candidly told, it appears - with her own uncompromising and refreshing honesty, this new musical hits the spot and also reveals a considerable love story at its core.

It’s also rude, if not a touch coarse, but it is glorious entertainment - although audiences are warned it is peppered with a considerable quantity of strong language!

We encounter Miss Littlewood - the storyteller - stylishly and subtly played by Clare Burt, towards the end of her career and her life, and so the journey travels across the decades as she introduces a succession of six earlier Joans.

All these actresses each don the trademark cap - before they find themselves usurped, occasionally brusquely, as we head down the time-line of important events.

Littlewood was clearly brilliant in going for and achieving success, but she also appears to have been difficult and impossible in equal measure. And although she may have been a Commie at heart many of the actors she employed were left on the breadline while she lived the good life with her second husband Gerry Raffles, who was delightfully portrayed by Solomon Israel.

The songs and the story grow in strength and stature as the story unfolds, particularly through the great voice of Tam Williams whose role as Joan’s first husband, the singer Ewan McColl - who was then running a theatre group, was one of several characters he portrayed.

Elsewhere the chorus work was superb and you would be hard pressed to find anything better on Broadway or in the West End, and here there was a stand-out performance by Sophia Nomvete (one of the Joans), whose bubbly routines as a Northern lass, one Avis Bunnage, earned her considerable and deserved generous applause.

Here’s hoping more comes her way. A gal having great fun, gutsy and offering sheer exuberance!

There’s also a show-stopping turn from Emily Johnstone as a young Barbara Windsor. Miss Littlewood wouldn’t have been happy with a Windsor in the house, but this one had the necessary oomph to enthuse the audience.

If there is to be any criticism it could be argued there was too much frothy fun and not enough digging into the mind of Joan Littlewood. What made her really tick? What made her who and what she was?

Maybe expansion of her political leanings and human relationships, or perhaps a little more psychological exploration of her early life in the London suburb of Stockwell, where she was raised by a single mother, might have offered more insight. But then again, there is only so much that can be told about such a voluminous career in two hours and 20 minutes.

As it is Kenyon’s debut play, directed with charm and astuteness by Erica Whyman, does appeal and it certainly entertains, although it may seem at times more geared for the theatre than general theatre-goers.

But Miss Littlewood would probably doff her cap to this generally heart-warming and amusing look at her life and achievements.