Five Blue Haired Ladies
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Five Blue Haired Ladies Sitting
on a Park Bench
– review by Trevor Sturgess
There are few plays with roles for
actresses of a certain age. But you can’t say that about the latest
production at The Orchard, Dartford. Five Blue Haired Ladies
Sitting on a Park Bench offers a quintet of great roles, and a few
cameos for men of a certain age too. Remember Frazer Hines (Joe
Sugden) in Emmerdale Farm?
This 10-year-old comedy by John
Penzotti has been partly re-cast for a new audience. Set in New
York, it is a bitter-sweet experience that plays to an ageing
generation but also reminds younger people what it can be like as
one enters those twilight years.
The title suggests a static experience
but it is far from that. A crackling script and great performances
by names one had perhaps forgotten but still cut the mustard make
for a funny yet poignant evening. Lorraine Chase - “No Luton
Airport” - Shirley Anne Field (The Entertainer and Saturday Night
and Sunday Morning) and Anita Harris (hit song Just Loving You),
Anne Charleston (Madge in Neighbours) and Nicola Blackman (TV
credits include The Bill and Casualty) light up the stage.
They play ladies who face life without
their loved ones, bearing their loss bravely, often glossing over
the sadness with fun. This may be a New York park, but there
are references to contemporary British events like the recent Royal
Wedding.
In the second act, the scene shifts to
“another time, another place” and reunion with those who went
before.
This is a delightful production
that will give pause for thought to anyone with a sense of the
passing of time.
But it is also a celebration of age, of
life - and excellent acting by performers who have been there and
done that.
- Five Blue Haired Ladies Sitting On a Green Park Bench is at The
Orchard, Dartford, until Saturday May 28. Performances at 7.45pm,
with a 2.30pm matinee on Saturday.
- Book online at http://www.orchardtheatre.co.uk/
or ring the ticket office on 01322 220000
Wednesday, May 25 2011
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