Review: A Chorus of Disapproval, Theatre by the Lake, Keswick

Jun 22 2009 by Barbara Hodgson, The Journal

SOME of Alan Ayckbourn’s greatest fans are the many amateur dramatic and operatic groups that litter the countryside.

He is not always well served by his fans, to put it mildly.

In A Chorus of Disapproval, he takes his revenge, forensically dissecting the rivalries, jealousies and vanities of a light opera society as they prepare their major production.

The curtain comes up on the gloriously off-key and asymmetric final chorus on the opening night.

We then go back three months, with rehearsals starting for a production of John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera.

Guy Jones auditions, giving a toe-cringing All through the night, and ends up with the main part of Macheath.

Richard Galazka, as Jones, manages to be disingenuous without appearing completely gormless. He has a really wonderful range of baffled looks, as sexual and financial shenanigans surround him.

The play-within-the-play broadly mirrors what happens off stage – Macheath’s triangular relationship with Lucy Lockit and Polly Peachum matching Guy’s with Fay Hubbard and Hannah Llewellyn.

Bridget Baines is the stage manager and a relatively minor part, but as played by Ella Vale, her sullen, punkish bad temper and rivalry with the insipid Linda Washbrook – ably played by Katie Hayes – frequently brought the house down.

Acting this badly takes real skill for a professional actor, and the cast pull it off with relish.

James Nickerson is particularly effective as the washed-out Ted Washbrook, and John Webb’s Jarvis Huntley-Pike’s exaggerated gesturing will be familiar to anybody who’s ever endured an am-dram performance.

Alan Sykes