The Grange Players
Presents
Written by James Greaves and first appearing at 2011 Edinburgh fringe festival, director, Claire Armstrong-Mills has slightly adapted and extended the play to include her own vision and appear as an amateur stage production. Bette and Joan addresses the notorious feud between Bette Davis and Joan Crawford.
The 81 year old Davis is approaching her final days and to help guide her into the afterlife is her old nemesis and co-star Crawford, under the order of Hollywood gossip columnists and rivals, Louella Parsons and Hedda Hopper. While flitting between the present and past scenes between the two, as Bette's life flashes before her eyes, you understand that the Davis and Crawford feud crossed both professional and personal boundaries with stolen lovers to stolen limelight.
The 81 year old Davis is approaching her final days and to help guide her into the afterlife is her old nemesis and co-star Crawford, under the order of Hollywood gossip columnists and rivals, Louella Parsons and Hedda Hopper. While flitting between the present and past scenes between the two, as Bette's life flashes before her eyes, you understand that the Davis and Crawford feud crossed both professional and personal boundaries with stolen lovers to stolen limelight.
Those that are unfamiliar with the works of the duo should not expect to leave The Grange any more educated, the piece plays on the knowledge already available and does not give any more insight, although this does not dilute the entertainment factor of the production. The dialogue offers some very comical moments that are delivered with impeccable timing from Denise Phillips as the strong, independent and feisty Bette Davis as she makes her stabs at Susie May Lynch who plays the glamorous Joan Crawford who sees herself as a 'star', not an actress. I cannot stipulate more that the performances of the cast can not be faulted, Phillips, Lynch, Serafinas and Plumpton have obviously put everything into transforming into their characters, unfortunately this was let down by so much of the technical.
I always enjoy the use of pre-recorded material against the live action, it can be very effective, if used correctly, an example of this is snippets of Davis' acting work, which is a heartwarming contrast to the bitter Davis we see on stage. Sadly a lot of the time we found ourselves leaning in to listen more closely to the muffled sound effects and sometimes the projection was off focus, bounced around the stage or came in too soon or too late. It seems that the basic vision was there but it had not been followed through, missed or delayed cues, which led to long, awkward silences and actors not being fully lit. I would hope that these problems have been easily and quickly fixed, by doing this, the audiences can concentrate on the quality of the performances and direction rather than the hiccoughs.
Review by Ellie Scandrett
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