| Reviews
For 'Amy Johnson' - Written and directed by Kate Bramley
'a sensitive play... directed with a sure
hand...an inspired success... a master stroke of theatre' Avis Carminez, Eastern Press
'the writing is authentic and
economical...successfully turning piles of contemporary diaries, letters and newspaper
reports into an engaging guide to this special woman's life.... as I left the theatre
I felt ashamed that I had not known more about this record breaking Hull
export, and Bramley's respect for her subject was infectious'. Tracy Fletcher, Hull
Daily Mail
'Badapple Theatre Company presents an enthralling portrait of a woman who chases her
dream....(and have) succeeded in shedding new light on a true pioneer'. Margaret Woods,
Halifax Courier
For 'Marlowe, meet Raymond
Chandler' - Written and directed by Kate Bramley
'a witty look at writers and their
work....Guiliano Neri as Phillip Marlowe has (a) world weary cynicism that provides much
of the plays humour' Kathryn Cecil, Hull Daily Mail
For 'Fighting The Tide' -
Written and directed by Kate Bramley with songs and music by Jez Lowe.
'It is nice to see something
original and “Fighting the Tide” was just that. This musical play by Kate
Bramley deals with the promise that things will get better, but of course they never do, a
promise that has been and will continue to be made till the end of time. The time in this
instance is just beyond now...Some nice songs emerge from the story, the most notable of
which is “The net me father left me” and the man responsible was Jez Lowe
writing his first music and lyrics for the stage — something he should do again...'
BA Entertainment Online.
For 'Still Marilyn' -
Written and directed by Kate Bramley
'After 1998's high-flying Amy Johnson, the detection
work of Marlowe, Meet Raymond Chandler and the trawling tale of Fighting The Tide, Bramley
has taken on another subject with history and mystery in equal measure: Marilyn Monroe.
This is her biggest challenge with the biggest budget so
far - £21,000 in project funding - as Bramley looks anew at "the most famous movie
star of all time, the most famous woman on earth".
She picks up the Marilyn story at its crescent in the
early 1950s, and follows her through a decade in which she would marry sporting hero Joe
DiMaggio (not seen in the play) and playwright Arthur Miller (one of four
characterisations taken on by Patrick Poletti, along with Clark Gable, both imagined and
real, and Jack Kennedy).
We also see Jane Russell (Cristina Gavin), confident,
composed and chic, as she and Marilyn work on a dance routine for Gentlemen Prefer
Blondes. It is late, Marilyn (Gilly Cohen) is desperately concerned to get it right, and
even then, her coach would be turning up later still.
That is a typical vignette from Bramley's portrait, an
affectionate, admiring work that seeks to balance the tragic vulnerability and rising
neuroses with the burning brightness of a starlet who read James Joyce's Ulysses and Edgar
Allan Poe, knew her politics (and not only through bedroom intimacy with the Kennedys) but
struggled with demons and pills.
That struggle is depicted as both external and internal:
Marilyn's intelligence had to break through the `dumb blonde' barrier and her fight for
recognition as a serious actress was as much undermined by her own doubts as blonde
prejudice.
At the core of Still Marilyn - and part of the reason for
that Still Marilyn title along with a search for stillness and a sense of her abiding
allure beyond death - is a developing relationship with a young female photographer, Mia
(Gavin again). The most precious insights into her private life come in these scenes, the
camera constantly on her as always, with a wall of mirrors - an echo of 1953's How To
Marry A Millionaire in Ruth Paton's set - as her other regular companion.
The angular Gilly Cohen may not look like Marilyn but she
moves, talks and emotes like her, still Marilyn indeed.' Charles Hutchinson, York Evening
Press. |
