This was, indeed, a dress rehe

This was, indeed, a dress rehearsal

South African performer, Odile Rault, shares the stage with Stiofan O’Doherty, Maggie Robson and Eryl Lloyd Parry.

This was, indeed, a dress rehe

Dress Rehearsal, a new play by A.J. Evans, is currently being performed at The Regal Room in The Distillers Pub, 64 Fulham Palace Road, London W6 9PH.

Odile Rault and Maggie Robson
Odile Rault and Maggie Robson

We arrived at a fabulous little set-up in the space with the audience, at tables, in the centre and performance spaces on either side. The performers used this set-up wisely by interacting with the audience throughout the show.

The show opened with ‘Let’s drink from the joyful cup’ from La Traviata followed by Mozart’s ‘Voi che Sapete’ from Le Nozze di Figaro, sung by Maggie Robson. We realised very quickly that we were in for an entire show of actors who sing the operatic material rather badly. Intonation issues reared their heads right from the start and they remained, like the plague.

The show communicates existentialism in the lives of performers and is constructed around popular operatic classics. The play within a play premise is not uninteresting — performers who never made it are doomed to sing upstairs in pubs, precisely where we found ourselves, listening to actors who are doomed to sing opera.

Stiofan O’Doherty is the only one who does the show justice. He did an excellent rendition of ‘Figaro’s Aria’ from The Barber of Seville. If the show had an entire cast of singer-actors like him, it would actually be watchable. By all means, challenge your actors, but not to the point of embarrassment!

Odile Rault with Stiofan O’Doherty perfoming the Papagena/Papageno duet.
Odile Rault with Stiofan O’Doherty perfoming the Papagena/Papageno duet.

According to the audience, Bizet’s  ‘Habanera’ from Carmen, performed by Odile Rault, was a highlight of the show, but she has neither the technical skill nor the musical ear to do the aria justice, however much she tries to act her way through it. Odile is a musical theatre performer; this is not her territory. This might have seemed like a challenge to her, but it is not the best forum to showcase her talents.

This was not far from amateur theatre. One has to question why this seems the case when a cast of competent, experienced performers were standing in front of us. They are actors who can sing, but not this material. The show clearly calls for opera singers. If we needed to read irony into the fact that the performers are stuck in a tragic situation of not getting offered better work than singing in pubs due to their lack of talent, I’m afraid, that irony was lost. What we saw was singing actors unable to cope with a demanding operatic repertoire.

In the second act the actors got the opportunity to sing the kind of songs they feel comfortable with. We, thankfully, arrived at an impressive rendition of ‘She moved through the Fair’ by Maggie Robson, an a cappella rendition which really captivated the audience. She is a very competent singer-actor, but she should not sing opera.

Stiofan O’Doherty, Maggie Robson, Eryl Lloyd Parry and Odile Rault.
Stiofan O’Doherty, Maggie Robson, Eryl Lloyd Parry and Odile Rault.

Odile Rault performed an emotionally charged rendition of ‘La Vie en Rose’ in a poor French accent, yet, here she was finally playing to her strength and in her territory.

This might be a novel concept, but in reality the show can only succeed with a cast of performers, like Stiofan O’Doherty, who actually possess the technical singing ability to appeal to the audience as a great performer who has not yet had his big break. I recommend the director and producer either re-cast completely or re-write the show to play to the strengths of the performers they choose to work with.

Directed by David Edwards with musical direction by Claire Kitchin.

Performances continue until November 30th, Tuesdays to Saturdays at 7.30pm, with Saturday matinees at 3pm.  To reserve or buy advance tickets online go to http://dressrehearsalplay.ticketsource.co.uk/