Here’s another first, not just for me, but also the actors involved. Leeds Conservatoire, as its name suggests, is a higher education establishment specialising in music and performing arts. It offers undergraduate and post graduate degree courses, as well as catering for the younger learners through Leeds Junior Conservatoire. I wasn’t here to gain any formal education, but learn what a group of students have been up to during their time at the institute, by watching their first formal performance, and visiting The Venue, for the first time.
Twenty Bridges is a musical written by Gus Gowland, centred around the River Thames. The title is taken from a Rudyard Kipling poem, The River’s Tale, the first line of which is ‘Twenty Bridges from Tower to Kew – (Twenty Bridges or twenty-two)’, as is the first line of the opening song. I could never get too enthusiastic about this particular writer and poet, as his work was set firmly in the place and time in which it was written, i.e. India at the turn of the 19th/20th Centuries. He did, however, provide an oft repeated joke when I was at school. Should someone ask ‘Do you like Kippling?’ the response would always be, ‘I don’t know, I’ve never kippled!’ Oh how we would laugh. I should have preferred it had he stuck to songwriting, as I do like King of the Swingers and Bare Necessities from his cartoon film, The Jungle Book.
Having just read The River’s Tale, it falls into the above time slot, especially in the language used, but is still a good read. The musical, however, spans the period from Edwardian days up to the present – and beyond.
The story itself switches back and forth through the decades, indicated by radio newsflashes, and is narrated by a Bargee, who ostensibly ferries goods, represented by boxes, up, down and across the Thames. There is an enigmatic side to this figure, as they seem to want to lure the other characters into the water and to their deaths. Could she be the river personified?
The cast on, and under, one of the twenty bridges.
Those involved include a Suffragette trying to recruit two women, who have no interest in the voting franchise, only using the river bank as a meeting place for their illicit lesbian trysts, a young Chinese girl who feels that she has let down her family, a chap who only wants to be left alone to contemplate life and feed the swans, a woman preparing for the end of the world when the lizards will expose themselves as aliens and take over the planet, a mud lark searching for treasure in the silt, and a Yuppie who has just learned she has been overlooked for promotion at the investment bank where she works, in favour of a newly recruited man.
Each of the above succumbs to the Thames either purposely or by accident, although there is a twist in the tale at the end – where else will you find the tail – with a do they or don’t they moment.
If this sounds dark, it is, literally, with mainly subdued lighting, except when spots are used on soloists. The dialogue, however, contains a lot of humour, which works brilliantly well. There was also a lot of body acting, not quite dance, just accentuated motion, again, well done.
The songs were all very good indeed, not quite Kipling standard of course, and accompanied by a keyboard player and a drummer, who made it sound as though there were more members of the ensemble than just the two.
One of the victims floundering in the river.
As I said in my previous review, because the actors are students, I do not intend to single any of them out either way, as it wouldn’t be fair to compare them to the seasoned professionals I am used to slagging off at Leeds Playhouse and the Grand Theatre. Some of the singing was variable, and a bit of the acting consisted of reciting the lines, rather than injecting personality into the part. One or two participants, however, looked to be well on the way to being able to embark on a theatrical career.
The gender balance was a bit out of kilter with the cast made up of seven women and one man, but you can only work with those who have applied and passed the audition. It didn’t matter much as the roles were interchangeable, apart from the lesbians of course, so nothing suffered. Rachel Halliwell, the Director, along with the other creatives, gave each of the actors plenty of chances to show what they could, and couldn’t do. There was one Cockney accent which would have left even Dick Van Dyke embarrassed, but the actor concerned redeemed themself in their other roles. Most equipped themselves more than adequately.
In conclusion, I enjoyed this production very much and would highly recommend that you get along to The Venue to see one of the remaining performances, which are tonight, 18th July, at 7.00pm and tomorrow 19th July, at 3.00pm. I am sure that there will have been a lot learned by the cast from playing in front of a live audience for the first time, and that the subsequent shows will be even better than the one I saw.
For tickets to Twenty Bridges and other shows at Leeds Conservatoire, please go to https://mpv.tickets.com/schedule/?agency=LCMS_MPV&orgid=52150#/?view=list&includePackages=true
For full details of coming shows it is https://www.leedsconservatoire.ac.uk/visit-us/whats-on/ma-theatre-festival/
Tyke It To The Limit 