Pavilion Theatre, Exmouth
Centre Stage
Present
Whistle down the Wind
Because I had gone with too many preconceived ideas I was disappointed when I first saw this show. I was expecting the musical version to be set, and follow the story, as I had first read it in Mary Haley Bell’s novella, and later seen it in the highly successful Bryan Forbes directed 1961 film. It therefore came as quite a shock to find the story transferred from Lancashire to the Louisiana countryside, a move that necessitated a change in the style and attitudes of the principal characters.
Nineteen years on from the opening of this musical adaptation, over half a century from the film versions first release, and a further two years back to the publishing of the novella on which the film and this musical are based makes it highly improbable that many in the audiences you attracted to this production arrived with the inborn prejudices that accompanied me on my first visit to ‘Whistle down the Wind’ the musical.
Certainly there was no harking back to the stories origins to be found in this presentation.
From the moment they walked into the theatre to be greeted by that front screen containing the very American Adverts there was no doubting where this production was set. Each changing set underlined this feeling that we were watching the people of a small Louisiana Town comfortably at home in their natural environment. Not all the stage properties were completely realistic some of the contents of the barn smacked more of stage props than true farming equipment. The inset scene of the Swallow’s home was far more in keeping with the style of the time and place. The way in which things were set out and the poor quality of some of the items told you that this was a family who had no cash to spare, but nevertheless had not lost pride in their home.
I wondered why nearly every scene was changed in full view of the audience until a word during the interval told me that there is very little wing space in this building. In view of that drawback the stage crew have to be awarded further ‘brownie points’ for the slick way in which they kept the action flowing so swiftly, and with so little noise.
A word or three here also for the MD and Orchestra who helped to cover these scene changes with appropriate ‘bridges ‘of music. On more than one occasion the scene change was virtually over before my concentration left the musical backdrop.
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The well designer Lighting and Sound plots were skilfully delivered, and most importantly invariably perfectly on cue. Unlike one theatre I recently went to where the sound and equipment was so poor it defied the technicians to make a good fist of presenting either in a manner that improved the production, this one had, and with I note some extra equipment brought in, good quality lighting and sound equipment on hand. It was Winston Churchill who in a1941 Broadcast used the phrase ‘Give us the tools and we will finish the job’, which I could never workout was an actual, or a mis-quote from a Longfellow poem. With good tools on hand, this is where you tell me that actually they were not as good as I believed them to be, your Lighting and Sound teams showed that they had the skills required to finish the job of making the input of their teams a decided asset to the overall production.
One area where these teams did not reach the heights they had achieved for most of the production was in the firing of the barn. This moment has to be dramatic in every way giving the audience that at any moment they too may be engulfed in the configuration taking place on stage. I am not for one moment suggesting that this part of the action was poorly done, but that it did not have a big enough dramatic clout. When we actually looked inside the burnt out charred barn the scene was in keeping with the desolation we expected to see.
When individual performances are discussed some more specific examples of the work of these teams may emerge. As may the excellent costumes which did so much to place the actors in character at the right period in time. Along with the costumes came hairstyles, something often given too little thought that fitted extremely well into the characters and period. Those young girls, Brat being one of them, with their long twin plaits were exactly right for this period and place.
Visually we are talking of a quality production which gave the Director and Choreographer a excellant base to work from.
As with most youth productions there were occasions when the stage was very full of personnel, the trick is to place and manoeuvre these numbers without making the stage look overcrowded. When you add your special guests to the named players and Townsfolk, this is a large cast, and it says much for the skill of the choreographer that even when faced with using the maximum numbers available for a scene she never created pictures that looked untidy or unattractive. When given the luxury of working with more restricted numbers she moved them in a manner that created interesting pictures which fitted neatly into the music and storyline on offer at that moment. Again as we talk about individual performances and ensemble work there will be an opportunity to highlight more of the chorographers work.
Much of the Musical Directors work take place of course before the show comes before public scrutiny, and the quality of that work showed in the vocal input of soloists and ensemble. Just as the choreographer had not fussed her dancers by asking them to undertake tasks that pushed them too near the limits of the terpsichorean talents, so with the MD you have the feeling that whilst wanting the singers to get as near as possible to the full exploitation of the score as possible he was not pushing them to the extent that they began to worry about any upcoming passage.
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Always completely in command of his musicians he ensured that soloists and chorus had great support at all times, only on rare occasions did the balance slip too much in favour of the musicians. Such support must have given the soloists in particular great confidence, and this confidence radiated from virtually all their vocal delivery.
Just as it is all important to achieve an ideal balance between musicians and singers so with the pace of the production there has to be the right balance and in this case it has to vary constantly to encompass the way in which the storyline is developing. The timing which is all important in the delivery of lines in the end is naturally down to the actors concerned, but the pace at which a scene develops is very much the responsibility of the Director. If you linger too long over any emotion, sentiment, romance, anger, or humour the effect is lost, or at best blurred. Here we had a Director with a good feel for the story and characters, and rarely put a foot wrong in the way in which scenes and characters were developed. I use the word rarely there advisedly because it would be wrong to say that everything wheather it was a move or a change of direction within a scene was ideal.
As individual performances are discussed more details may emerge about the Directors input to the players and production. Suffice to say at this point that this Director obviously had a deep knowledge of this show, and I suspect quite some admiration of its merits, and treated it with due respect.
Individual Performances
Swallow
More than any other character Swallow is the lynch pin of this Show. That is a tremendous responsibility to place on a young performer, or one of any age for that matter. The way in which you tacked the challenge combined with the mature sound of your vocal tones prompted me to question your age both in the interval and at the end of the show. I did this because there were times during the performance when I felt that I was watching a player who was a little too mature for the role. That enquiry I hasten to add was not brought on because there were any doubts about the quality of this portrayal.
From the first moment we made your acquaintance there was no question that this young woman had assumed the mantle of her dead Mother. This fact was underlined by the way in which Brat and Poor Baby deferred to you, an act which seemed to be the most natural reaction in the world. This feeling was continued when you all entered that well dressed house with its nice not too good furnishings and clothes on hooks just inside the door. Your relationship with ‘Dad’ was equally nicely drawn in this early scene.
It was as you picked up the vocal to take the story into the next scene that I thought for a moment that you were too strong a personality. Almost immediately I dismissed such thoughts remembering the great family responsibilities that had fallen on your shoulders. There was also a hint here, which showed just the right amount of vulnerability, that you were well aware that your Mother was ‘A hard act to fallow’.
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The strong desire to have the burden of ‘Motherhood’ taken from you, very appropriate for a young immature woman, brought up in a deeply religious community, a cry for help that reflected some of her ‘Savours’ cries to his Father for help when faced with temptation and unbearable pain. The request to the ‘The Man’ to bring your Mother back to you and the family was made with heart rending sincerity convincing us, though I doubt by this time that any of us needed further proof, that in your mind ‘The Man’ was Jesus Christ.
There was a nice moment as ‘No Matter What’ was coming to its climax, a very well staged ending to Act 1, when you and ‘The Man’ in the most natural manner joined hands.
This might be a good point to return to more mundane, but very important in the context of the show, to mention your drab coloured dress, and loose hairstyle that combined to give us a very good physical picture that fitted the character you were creating and the circumstances in which you lived. A word of praise also for the person responsible for the ideal enamel bowl in which you brought the water to bathe ’The Man’s’ wounds would also not go amiss at this time.
It was a natural progression from that Act 1 finale picture to the exchange with ‘The Man’ at the start of Act 2. The maturity of your vocal tone in ‘Try not to be Afraid’ made me once again doubt your age, I trust that such an asset will be nurtured into full fruition in the years to come. Just as good as your exchange with ‘The Man’ was the ensuing scene with Amos. You conveyed the mixture of gauche innocence and the arousal of feeling that at this stage you did not fully understand extremely well. You were strongly helped in this cause by an understanding response from Amos.
Lighting and Sound combined to give the impression that a fire breathing monster of a train was in the vicinity.
It was appropriate that after this excursion into a more adult work that you showed, for perhaps the first time, some signs of rebellion flouncing of against the wishes id ‘Dad’ and his buddy.
A word of warning about your posture when making a strong point, on just a couple of occasions late in the production you lent slightly forward when trying to emphasise your feelings. When you are standing your ground challenging another person you want to show as much strength as possible, so stand up to your full height and look your opponent straight in the eye. That slightly tilted forward posture which took away so much strength from your physical appearance could be seen when you so passionately told ‘The Man’ ‘I know who you are’. At that moment I wanted to see you standing proud and defiant to match the beautifully delivered words.
Let me reiterate that I am talking about only a couple of times throughout the performance when this picture appeared at the wrong moment, not enough to seriously upset this fine high quality portrayal, but still something to be avoided.
Brat and Poor Baby
I place this pair together because so much of their work is intertwined. There is a delicate balance to be found when playing this pair; they have to be firmly drawn without ever looking to be in competition with Swallow for centre stage.
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Perhaps an even greater challenge lays in the different attitude that modern children of the age of Brat and Poor Baby have towards adults and the world in general compared to those brought up in the earlier in which this story is set. Remember that a television set was not the dominant feature of virtually every home, and in this quite backwater of rural America young people grew up at a much slower pace than their modern counterparts.
With the aid of a production that always remembered the time and place in which it was set this pair created young people who fitted ideally into the storyline. Those two numbers
‘I Never Get What I Pray For’ and ‘Home by Now’ gave you an excellent opportunity to take the characters into the vocal side of the presentation, and this was done in an admirable manner.
There was never any uneasiness about your relationship with Swallow, who in your eyes had by natural progression taken on the position of your dead Mother. The reprise of ‘If Only’ between Swallow and Poor Baby, and the subsequent scene with The Man leading to the ’Charlie Christmas’ number benefitted tremendously from this well balanced relationship between the three siblings.
The excellent way in which you sustained these two characters ensured that every time they appeared Brat, on the verge of exploding into a vibrant inquisitive young lady, and the still troubled Poor Baby, as yet not fully recovered from losing his Mother, were always securely in place.
Edward
Your character is confirmed in your first major scene, anyone who is willing to drown Kittens has to be a ‘baddy’. This impression is reinforced in your choice of song, ‘Cold’ o entertain the towns folk.