Review (Wilts Gazette): The Rivals, Sheridan, The Pound, Corsham

By Sue le Blond: "What then, is this place, Bath?" asks the coachman as we arrive. Stunning costumes and an inspired set prepare us willingly to suspend our disbelief before the first question is answered. But this gloriously stylish and energetic take on Sheridan's play of 1775 takes us back to a Bath of Absolutes and Languishes, with glorious Malapropisms basking like allegories on the banks of the Nile. The formal language of the play gets a welcome boost from Ad Hoc's very physical style of delivery, and there is never a dull moment with the wonderful facial expressions of the sentimental young lover Faulkland (Nic Proud), the ballistic Sir Antony Absolute (Graham Paton) and the manouevres of the lively Jack ( Simon Blakemore) in his attempts to gain the hand of his Lydia Languish (Lucy Moore). Director Rebecca Fradley has followed the Ad Hoc tradition in giving equal opportunities for a large and talented cast. Matt Bragg, Pat Cannings and Rod Moor-Bardel all are given scope in relatively minor roles. As for Judith Bucklow, she relishes Mrs Malaprop's aspirations to be the "pineapple of politeness." And what then is this place? Not Bath but The Pound arts centre, Corsham – with no parking hassles, modestly-priced seats and it's just on our doorsteps.

Review (Wilts Gazette): Pygmalion, By George Bernard Shaw, The Pound, Corsham

Thanks to Ad Hoc’s team of energetic, confident actors and a direction that brings out a vibrant feminist and social message, this revival gave food for thought nicely balanced with a lot of digestible fun.

The story of Eliza Doolittle’s (Sarah Cooke) journey from cockney flower girl to rounded vowels and elegant small talk and much further is well known, as is the peppery tuition of her puppet-master, Professor Higgins (Graham Paton).

Jenny Lane’s production reveals a surprisingly complex take on the gender war.

Ad Hoc make the most of a spread of supporting roles.

Paul Batson at the “undeserving poor dustman” Alfred Doolittle, David Wood as the crusty but kindly Colonel Pickering, the mincingly posh Eynsford Hill ladies (Pat Cannings and Caroline Murray), the voices of restraint in Higgins’s housekeeper (Sylvia Clegg) and mother (Dot Barker) are all spot on.

Review (Wiltshire Times): AdHoc Theatre Company: The Taming of the Shrew and Twelfth Night, The Pound, Corsham

Wednesday 18th March 2009

These two gender-bending productions from Ad Hoc, performed in the Pound Arts Centre, Corsham, make you sit up and think.

An energetic, thigh-slapping all-woman version of The Taming of the Shrew directed by Graham Paton has been alternating nights with a hearty and funny chaps-only version of Twelfth Night, directed by Pat Cannings.

Both plays bring forth some excellent performances, not least from talented actresses allowed to get their teeth into some swaggering male roles. But this is far from the pretty comfort zone. The cross-dressing element can be disconcerting stuff in the intense arena of the Pound's theatre.

Matt Nation makes an androgynous Olivia, and "she" falls for a soft spoken Viola/Cesario (Matt Bragg), who is "really pretending" to be a woman who is disguised as a fella. Paul Batson is both comic and convincing as witty, spiteful Maria, and in the Shrew several spirited women dressed as male chauvinists highlight the problems that face strong women in society, both then and now.

Harriet D'Arcy Smith as wild Kate and Jo Cockerham as meek Bianca play The Shrew's sisters just this side of farce, while Judith Bucklow (Petruchio), Sarah Brogdale (Hortensio) and Caroline Fields ( Lucentio) all slap their thighs and swagger splendidly with all the daft swashbuckle the play invites.

Yes, it's an experiment well worth the risk, if it gets us all thinking about Shakespeare, rather than using him as an annual backdrop for pretty costumes and picnic baskets.

He understood and liked women. Male chauve pig he certainly was not.

But these two plays do make you wonder if he was having a huge joke about gender roles, with his cursed Kates and his Aguecheeked limp-wristed laddies. After all, we are all just people. It's good to be reminded that Shakespeare's very much our contemporary on that one.

REVIEW: Rookery Nook: Ad Hoc Theatre Company

Wednesday 12th November 2008. Wharf Theatre Devizes.

IF you're going to go in for a bit of Rookery Nookery, the only method is to treat it as reverently as if it was Shakespeare, and give it your all.

This very silly, very funny farce was written by Ben Travis as a play version of his own novel of 1926, which puts it slap in the tickle of the roaring twenties.

Ad Hoc's sparkling production perfectly reflects the manic, carefully-crafted carelessness of the jazz age.

Jenny Lane directs a polished and professional cast led by Sarah Davies as trouble personified, in the shape of the lovely Rhoda Marley.

This manipulative sex-kitten has been thrown out (in glam silky p-js, naturally) by her crazy German stepfather, (Graham Paton).

She then wreaks havoc on a gossipy nook of rooks in the sleepy village of Chumpton-on-Sea, Somerset.

The Woosterish Popkiss chaps who try to conceal her charming presence are deliciously played by Simon Blakemore and Ryan Saunders, while Paul Batson gives a hilarious performance as the plus-fours chump of Chumpton, hapless Harold Twine.

Add to the stew a glowering Judith Bucklow as his moralising wife, Gertrude, and Pat Cannings as the Daily Woman, Mrs Leverett, who always comes unnervingly early to wage her tireless war against smut by throwing open all the wrong bedroom doors at the wrong time.

Also included for extra pizzazz are the gloriously free and easy flag-seller (Rebecca Fradley) who calls at the right time to obligingly swap clothes not to mention Gerald's outraged, pretty, pouting wife (Jo Cockerham), a red-veined loopy Admiral,(Colin Jackson), and wisely, off-stage, a Rottweiler at the front door and a kicked cat in the kitchen.

Sue Le Blond

New drama group makes impact with Wilde debut
- Gazette & Herald 3 August 2006

Lord Arthur Savile's Crime Ad hoc Devizes Wharf Theatre NEWLY-formed Ad Hoc theatre group chose a tricky drama for their debut at the Wharf. Oscar Wilde's preposterous comedy needs the lightest of touches and on the whole this production succeeded with enthusiastic performances and admirable pace and timing. The players also deserve Oscars for immaculately preserving their cool while the audience sweltered in the sauna that was the Wharf auditorium on a steaming hot Wednesday night. The story, in a nutshell, is that young Lord Arthur Savile, a blameless young man, about to be married, is pressured by his mother-in-law-to-be into having his palm read by society's latest fad Mr Podgers. The cheiromantist claims to see a murder in the future of his Lordship's hand. By a strangely twisted logic Lord Arthur decides he must commit his murder before his marriage to save his bride from the shame of it all, should he be caught. With his inspirational Jeeves-like butler Baines, and later the mad anarchist Herr Winkelkopf, he plots' and schemes and signally fails to harm so much as a fly. Matthew Nation and Graham Forrester-Paton create a well-honed double act as the young master and his loyal servant. They act with a con­ viction that forces the suspension of disbelief through the ludicrous plot. There is an equally confident and spirited performance from Amanda Merchant as Sybil Merton, Arthur's fiancée. Jeffrey Hughes brims over with enthusiasm as the gloriously incompetent anarchist, wild haired, wide eyed and irresistible. There are delightfully dotty performances from Lord Arthur's assorted relatives - Paul Batson as the Dean of Paddington and Jennifer Lane and Leah Brooks as his aunts. Merrily Powell tackles the formidable mother-in-law role of Lady Julia Merton, a Lady Bracknell-like force, with vigour and could afford to add even more emphasis to some of Wilde's well known aphorisms. David Wood is an oily villain as the palmist. Sarah Davis makes the most of her role as the maid who catches the butler's eye.   Jo Bayne.