Theatre Review: Matthew Bourne’s The Midnight Bell, at Theatre Royal Bath until Saturday 24 May
Words by Melissa Blease
“Though it had no wide reputation, all manner of people frequented The Midnight Bell. This was in its nature, of course, since it is notorious that all manner of people frequent all manner of public houses…”
When British writer Patrick Hamilton wrote the introduction to his 1929 novel The Midnight Bell – one-third of Hamilton’s trilogy of semi-autobiographical novels that form his 20,000 Streets Under the Sky collection – he had no idea that, almost a century later, the UK’s most imaginative choreographer/director Matthew Bourne OBE would read those words, assemble his groundbreaking, multi-award-winning British dance-theatre company New Adventures… and dance the trilogy back to life.
We know from Hamilton’s pages that The Midnight Bell’s regulars are leading complicated lives. Barman Bob is infatuated by Jenny, a beautiful good-time girl who’s never going to commit to a young, penniless pup, regardless of how pretty he may be. Meanwhile, reticent, reliable barmaid Ella is in big lurve with Bob but, knowing she can’t compete with Jenny for boyish Bob’s affections, considers settling for less. Lonely (and, judging by her countenance, rich) spinster Miss Roach falls foul to the charms of scoundrel Ernest; glamorous out-of-work actress Netta is in a dysfunctional relationship with tormented George; young Albert is in love with a mysterious man who, despite alluding to returning his affections, has good reason (given the era Hamilton’s novels were published) for keeping things cryptic. Phew! No wonder they’re all so keen to seek solace in their speedily-drained glasses – and New Adventures’ almost preternaturally gifted dancers take us even deeper under the skin of Hamilton’s characters with wholly immersive attention to detail that mesmerises from the get-go.
As we’re bounced along on wave upon wave of perpetual connect/disconnect, tangle/untangle, humour/tragedy, wit/melancholia, hope/despair and darkness/light, snapshots of each character’s life are made flesh in living, breathing Edward Hopper-esque tableaus depicting silhouetted twilight skylines of 1930s Soho, encounters under a streetlight-lit park bench, tea at a Lyons Corner House, various seedy rooms-for-rent and, of course, The Midnight Bell itself, all driven by Terry Davies’ richly atmospheric score with era-specific greatest hits by the likes of George and Ira Gershwin, Cole Porter and Irving Berlin meticulously lip-synched by the cast at pivotal moments. And, after glass after glass of hard, hard liquor is drained, hangovers and broken hearts are suffered, recovered from, and suffered all over again as the cycle of desolation, despondency and despair continues.
We learn all we’ll ever need to know about Holly Saw’s Ella merely from how firmly she pulls her dowdy hat on when time is called at the bar. We can’t take our eyes off Michela Meazza’s tightly-wound Miss Roach even when she’s just powdering her nose in a quiet, dimly lit corner. Ashley Shaw’s Jenny oozes earthy-but-cynical, seedy sexuality with an undercurrent of sincere sensuality. Danny Reubens’ Georgeexudes tortured anguish; a mere raise of an eyebrow from Glenn Graham’s Ernestlets us know that he’s one nasty, scheming piece of work; Liam Mower is by turn fabulously fey and deliciously determined as Albert.
Picture (left): Ashley Shaw in Matthew Bourne’s The Midnight Bell, Credit: Johan Persson
But we’re in Bourne world, and uplifting, spirited magic is never far from the cigarette smoke-filled air. While Midnight Bell may be nowhere near as glitzy and lavish as his bigger, more attention-grabbing productions, this one may be his most artfully intricate, exhaustively technical, deeply moving works to date.
Morning-after memories of this particular night down the boozer will never leave you – and no morning can ever top the morning after an evening in the company of Sir Matthew Bourne.
The Midnight Bell is showing at Theatre Royal Bath until Saturday 24 May
theatreroyal.org.uk
