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The Shakespeare Revue Estuary Players

By Pippa Warin

Silvery elegance and a super confident display of skill, versatility, evident hard work and tremendous fun were the hallmarks of Estuary Players' latest : The Shakespeare Revue . Estuary treated us to a feast of 36 sketches of wit , wisdom and song , inspired by the Bard.

Devised for, and first performed by, the Royal Shakespeare Company. The Revue consists of words and music devised and put together by Christopher Luscombe and Malcolm McKee compiling work from over 40 writers and musicians , from music hall to opera, poetry to knockabout. It's a celebration some of the finest comic material inspired by William Shakespeare. The show included songs and sketches by Alan Bennett, Noël Coward, Cole Porter , Stephen Sondheim, Fry and Laurie, Monty Python, Maureen Lipman , Victoria Wood and many more. It was first staged at the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford in 1994, marking the 400 Shakespeare anniversary. later transferring to the West End and then USA and international tours, delighting audiences and receiving rave reviews .
It was a sell out too in our more modest Matthews Hall. Hats off to The Company for building audiences and creating shows that people enjoy .
The cast of twelve kicked off with aplomb, all looking very handsome and dishy in smart evening dress, with a prologue consisting of a cornucopia of Shakespearean quotes in regular currency today, some well known to have come from Shakespeare , others less so - astonishing !
Some of my favourite sketches in the first half included: ' And How is Hamlet ?' a review of all the deaths at the end of Hamlet culminating with a wonderful line: ' to be is not to be but to have been'.The Monty Python sketch ' The Man Who Speaks in Anagrams ' , the Stephen Fry/ Hugh Lawrie ' Shakespeare masterclass and Which Witch were witty, clever and delivered with tremendous timing, style and poise. The clapometer went wild for the hilarious Victoria Wood piece ' Giving Notes ' . The director of an Am Dram group is giving notes and feedback to the cast. I loved the bit when it was revealed that they were rehearsing in April for a show in August and the need to bring down the running time of 6 hrs 20 mins ! Not so Estuary Players who must have worked incredibly hard in a short space of time to pull off 36 sketches with a running time of just under two hours. Congratulations to the Co- Directors Ian Potts and Howard Eilbeck for their direction achieving slick timing, pace and variety.
In the second half there were star turns from the Ladies of London , lamenting the death of Falstaff , every single word they sang was audible . The English Lesson was a sketch on the charming scene in Henry V when the French Princess Katherine is being taught English as preparation for the pending wooing by Henry . In the audience we were all given a big surprise, getting us to join in the song ' De hand, de nail, de wris ,de bilbow and de fingre... ' It worked a treat, there was some lusty singing, and we were wowed by the melodrama of ' The Night I appeared as Macbeth'.
There were quieter sketches too and some moving moments. J.B Priestley's Seeing Stratford was beautifully read , and I thought the ending:' Put Out The Light' was superb. This brought us back to the serious, philosophical Shakespeare with a lovely , moving compilation of farewell speeches. The troupe exited one by one, each speaking a memorable moving line:' as many farewells as be stars in heaven.'
I enjoyed collecting comments from audience members : ' fun , fun, fun' ; ' there was a smile on my face the whole time '; ' it was ambitious , they tried incredibly hard '; ' they must have incredible memories , learning all those lines! ; 'I enjoyed it, the show took the pomposity out of Shakespeare !'

I very much respected the Company's ensemble approach, they were all in it together. I therefore haven't mentioned individual contributions because the entire company was clearly enjoying and responding to each other, playing to each other's strengths . However, special mention must be given to Howard and Ian and also to Nicky Perry who played the piano throughout the entire show taking us through many moods and the great versatility of musical styles form opera to music hall , ancient to modern.

Bring on the next show !