The sleepy village of Roslin, just south of Edinburgh, had coped without any Dollies yet suddenly finds itself with two: one Scotland’s only Dolly Parton tribute act and the other the world’s only living clone! This is the territory of playwright Andy Barrett’s latest offering which charms its way through two hours of Country classics and complex science. Country mad Bettina dreams of a real band, a get-away from karaoke down the Oak, and sees the arrival of PR whizz Leo as her ticket. Convinced that becoming a Dolly Parton tribute act is the way to go, Bettina begins to gain bookings and acclaim until another arrives on the scene but this Dolly is more woolly than western.
It’s a show with a lot of heart but the scripting in the first half felt light and laden with dialogue that didn’t ring true and was over expository. This said there are some great jokes including when John Elkington’s Neil remarks that much of his best work was ‘done with pig semen’ but some parts are little laboured, especially between Christopher Redmond’s Leo and Bettina, who was regardless played with real sass by Miriam Elwell-Sutton. The music, all Parton stables, is performed well and the cast are a hugely multi-talented bunch seemingly picking up and playing anything with strings.
However, the show’s star is undoubtedly Dolly herself, the puppet sheep steals the whole second half and is ultimately the character that generates the most interest, arresting the audience’s imagination and drawing the eye. Whilst Bettina’s romance with Leo, her home-life and the fraught relationship between research scientist Neil and his wife are important strands, it is the sheep and the music which keeps the audience’s attention. Indeed elements of these other stories can become lost especially true of Neil, the scientist who can seemingly get a sheep pregnant with an impossible baby but not come to terms with the loss of his own child.
With Dolly New Perspectives, the company that was behind two personal favourites from the last year: Those Magnificent Men and the inventive The Falling Sky, have engineered a wonderful evening’s entertainment where Country & Western and gene splicing collide – if they can clone this then there is far more to come!
Dolly: ***
Gareth also saw: a reading of The Ashes by Michael Pinchbeck, which, as a cricket fan, combined two of my great loves and reminded me that good writing stands out even at a first (or in this case second) airing. Michael Pinchbeck has a real gift with language as there is a reverence and revelry in his use of words, they are not merely perfunctory vehicles of plot but they have an interest of their own. Too often we hear worn out slogans of words on stage masquerading as real-life, increasingly I find there are fewer writers who enjoy and celebrate the role of wordsmith in their stage work: Michael Pinchbeck is, for me (along with small group of others: Billy Ivory, DC Moore, Lauras Wade & Lomas, James Graham), one of those writers.
He also saw The Thrill of it All by Forced Entertainment but found it really hard to review - much to Tiger's dislike. However, loved it especially Small Things, the manic distortion of the voices over their microphones and Tom’s notion that rhubarb was a ‘funny fruit’. Forced Entertainment have a real way of playfully undercutting games with a disturbing undercurrent in a way no other company can.
Images courtesy of Robert Day and Forced Entertainment
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