Miss Nightingale @ Norwich Playhouse
Get a bit of sausage when you can
Matthew Bugg's wartime story of fictional Sheffield cabaret singer Maggie Brown searching for success in London's West End takes on a new dimension in this its fifth and final tour, becoming much more than just a tale of maintaining morale during Britain's darkest hours.
In this revised production, via a series of inter-tessalating love triangles, we are able to explore more deeply the characters and lives of Maggie, and of theatre impressario Sir Frank Worthington-Blythe, Polish Jew émigré songwriter George Nowodny, and Maggie's spivvy manager and lover Tom Fuller. In so doing the true art of burlesque is used to full effect, championing themes of hope, honesty and freedom against fear, shame and blackmail in an era when homosexuality was against the law and an illegitimate pregnancy could scandalise a respectable family's reputation.
The resultant ensemble cast manage to hold our attention throughout, balancing Miss Nightingale's innuendo-laden stage numbers with the more sensitive and thought-provoking narrative songs that drive the plot forward. It is a difficult balance to strike, but Karen Simpson's direction hits it spot-on.
Full credit to the whole cast who in addition to performing their roles also provide the musical accompaniment, with all instruments being played live on stage. Special mention to Clara Darcy as Maggie who becomes sweetheart singer Miss Nightingale, teasing us with all those George Formby-like double entendres, playing trumpet, and even managing to perform the splits atop the upright piano. The audience delighted in her cheeky delivery of Let Me Play On Your Pipe, The Pussy Song and The Sausage Song, yet still managed to empathise totally with the dilemmas of her character's convoluted personal circumstance.
A resonant performance that reminded us just how important it was in 1940's Britain to “get a bit of sausage when you can”.
