I have been fortunate enough to attend two performances of Sunny Afternoon, the first one on Monday 14th April which was the first Preview evening and then on the Friday, to see if there were any changes. (Really, it was just to keep an eye on them!).
The Hampstead Theatre is a small modern local theatre in North West London, directly opposite The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, where I spent three happy years in the 1970s. It is very much one of those theatres where the actors come into the foyer, have a drink and something to eat and rub shoulders with the clientele before hastening off to their dressing rooms.
For those who don’t understand the idea of Previews – these are basically grand dress rehearsals with a paying audience. They give actors and the tech crews a good run through, and if scenes don’t work they are changed. A bit of a “suck it and see” situation. By the time I saw it on the Friday, the opening scenes had changed from what I saw on the Monday. The re-working made more of an impact – although I thought the beginning was satisfactory anyway.
As most of you will have seen the publicity photos on the various websites, none of the actors particularly look like our heroes…or do they? There is definitely a “something” that has come through the ether of the qualities of Ray, Dave, Pete and Mick and sits gently on the shoulders of the actors. This was quite apparent to me when I saw it for the second time. The first night nerves had quelled a bit, and the boys were settling down into their parts and to me, there was definitely some undefinable touch of the original lads on the stage. I must say that George Maguire as Dave is outstanding…he has Dave’s intensity, fire and passion. I remember chasing Dave down Charing Cross Road once with a hoarde of other female fans, and he was bouncing away with his hair flying, and there we are, we have it on stage. John Dagleish reminds me at times of Harry H Corbett in Steptoe and Son…he has those soulful eyes…. but he also has Ray’s vulnerability and shyness. Ned Derrington as Pete and Adam Sopp as Mick, although involved in the action, have rather less to do, but they definitely come up to scratch in their big moments, and they are there is the background reacting to everything that’s going on. While Adam has been playing drums for years, Ned had to learn the bass for the play.
Apart from the four main actors, it is very much an ensemble piece with the other actors playing many parts, and indeed playing instruments and singing too. Of course there are hidden support musicians, but the joyful noise that comes out from the stage is spot-on vintage Kinks. The Davies family come to life as do Robert and Grenville, Brian Sommerville, Larry Page, Eddie Kassner and Allan Klein. What glorious portrayals they are too….how lovely to have flesh on these characters that Ray has portrayed from time to time in his solo shows. It’s like they are really there!
Timewise it starts in 1964 and ends at Madison Square Garden. For the sake of the play, there are chronological discrepancies, but the artistic licence is used for definite dramatic effect, and to bring things to a full circle. The songs which fit into the action as if they were written for the play Smile are not in Kinks-Time chronological order, but work to further the action or the emotional scenes we are witnessing. We have solos, duets, full company numbers and at the end a replica of a full blooded Kinks koncert. Everyone is up on their feet giving it some welly, as well as the actors, and with Dave stamping about and lying on the floor, my heaven, we go back in time!
The set is imaginative and simple: the stage walls are covered with speakers. There is a catwalk which extends into the front stalls, and gives more depth to the stage action. The only problem is that if you are in these seats you are inclined to lose some of the action which is taking place at the end of the catwalk, but this doesn’t happen very much. On the plus side you’re right in front for the Dave-raving, and he gave me his plectrum on the Friday! (For the men, there are the mini skirted girl dancers!). In the Cardiff Scene, Mick is chased round the theatre, and it brings home the panic he must have felt that night.
Lillie Flynn who plays Rasa, does so with beauty, grace and vulnerability. The scenes between her and Ray range from shyly romantic, to utter soul weary exhaustion. At times I felt as if I was intruding on something very private: which shows sympathetic direction and acting.
I know Ray was the source of the stories and the book of the musical, but he isn’t portrayed as whiter than white at all. I got the feeling I was seeing these things as they were unfolding for the first time. I was there as part of the action. Or rather a Ray-on-the wall! Smile The writer, Joe Penhall has woven something utterly magical and yet true to life at the same time.
I don’t want to give too much away for those who have yet to see the show, but there are some really funny moments in the musical as well as hilarious one-liners, poignant moments, scary moments, intensely heart-rending moments and ecstatically Kinksian moments when we get our “boys” in full throttle and we can release our joy of living and loving, and go back in time to when it happened. The heat of the energy is intense: the actors throw it out, the audience catches it and sends it back, and there it bounces, back and forth, a genuine “happening”. I have walked out of the auditorium in tears on both occasions, just brim-full of happiness and joy.
Do try and go if you can. It’s not to be missed.
