Farce is a notoriously difficult theatrical device to pull off. Aside from exceptional/visionary writing it requires a gifted director to choreograph the business and equally talented actors who understand the concept and can meet its physical demands. As it turns out, this week I have been to see two farces, each very different in nature and with varying degrees of success.
For the second year in a row, the From Page To Stage season has popped up at the Landor Theatre in North Clapham, to showcase a selection of new musical theatre writing. Produced by both the Landor and Katy Lipson’s Aria Entertainment, From Page To Stage is an excellent platform for new writers, allowing their work to take a step forward in the development process.
From more than 120 submitted applications, Lipson and her team have chosen a broad mix of musicals, at varying stages in their development and a host of talented performers to perform them in either rehearsed readings or full production. So on Wednesday evening, I witnessed the premiere of Before The Night Is Through Olivia Thompson and Chris Whitehead.
Set in 1935, Honey Quenelle is England’s most glamourous movie star. Already an heiress of considerable wealth, she is hampered by idle relations, un-cooperative producers, jealous co-stars and unreliable catering. Thankfully she can always rely on her trusty butler Hugo to pour oil onto troubled waters but even he is stretched to the limit when news arrives of an escape from the local lunatic asylum.
Olivia Thompson is to be congratulated for developing a uniquely bizarre original story on which to hang her musical. There are some nice touches and thoughtful character development and the narrative itself divides neatly into a two-act musical format. The world Thompson creates for us is that of a heightened reality, with instantly recognisable comic characters, each with a viable - if slightly absurd - back story. The skill of the writer, especially when writing in this style, is to try to avoid huge swathes of exposition. Exposition may establish a backstory but without care and attention, it can sound desperate, clunky and should be avoided as much as possible.
Before The Night Is Through, delivers a huge amount of exposition before a note is even sung and doesn’t really let up until the denoument. There are some fun, catchy musical numbers along the way but ultimately the balance of book against music is too one-sided and could bear some serious editing. I would recommend as an exercise, to either blue pencil any irrelevances to the central plot to see how far down the script can be paired and still make sense OR to remove all exposition and see what happens then.
These are simply writing exercises designed to streamline an idea rather than alter the style or pace. Keep you farce as gloriously absurd as it is, just sharpen the writing to create a better balance with the score - this is musical theatre remember.
On a much lesser note, consider the title of this show. One of the worst things I have ever seen on stage was called What Happened Last Night, which only fed the plays many critics with fuel for amusing headlines the next morning. This musical is no-where near as flawed as that play but you really don’t need to give possible detractors a helping hand.
I shan’t comment on the performances, as this is essentially a showcase for the writers but needless to say, the talented company showed a great deal of dedication to the work and an evident affection for Thompson’s quirky comic style.
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