N.H.O. Clough (1943-2015)

That was his name as far as the cricket scorecards were concerned (and he makes it into the 1962 Wisden for the match between Clifton College and Tonbridge School at Lord's), for a man who was an utter gent (with an additional cheeky side), both on and off the field.

I knew Nick as a colleague on the local stage in Colchester (most recently in Pass the Butler below), but I confess to a boyish tingle of admiration whenever I'm involved with a colleague who is also a cricketer. A genuine hero.

Rest in peace Nick.

)

The Smallest Show on Earth

Sept 25th-Oct 10th 2015

Mercury Theatre/Brian Eastman/Christabel Albery.

"The smallest show with the biggest heart.", thus tweeted Robert Lindsay, who mingled among the admirers at this evening's Press night for an Irving Berlin-themed musical adaptation of Basil Dearden's "classic" nostalgic comedy about a run-down old cinema. 

Romanticised in many respects, with Old Tom the Commissioner turned into young Tom the son of Mrs. Fazackerly (Liza Goddard instead of Margaret Rutherford, on formidable form). Plot devices such as this and the young couple being driven apart by his screenwriting chores for a B-Movie Western seem hackneyed, as well as obvious black-and-white villains and heroes, but these are mostly incidentals in between the musical numbers, which are vibrantly staged and choreographed particularly by the younger performers. 

This is most certainly intended to be a shameless crowd-pleaser, turning an endearing piece of cinema into a glossy piece of theatre. It therefore only has any partial resemblance to the original Smallest Show on Earth.

w: Thom Southerland, Paul Alexander.

d: Thom Southerland.

s: Liza Goddard, Brian Capron, Laura Pitt-Pulford, Haydn Oakley, Matthew Crowe, Sam O'Rourke, Christina Bennington, Philip Rham, Ricky Butt, Leo Andrew.

Lighting: Howard Hudson.

Musical Supervision: Gareth Valentine.

Angel's Advocate: Original Theatrical Versions

With the latest release of yet another, optimistically titled, "Final Cut" of Blade Runner coming out, it's worth noting that none of the versions of Ridley Scott's landmark science fiction film from 1982 have ever really made any sense, except perhaps the much derided first version with Harrison Ford's clunky narration and a happy ending thrown in, both of which were approved at the time by Scott, ever with an eye to the film's box office chances.

Similarly, Don Siegel reluctantly shot a prologue and epilogue to Invasion of the Body Snatchers at the instruction of Allied Artists, in order to give Kevin McCarthy (and the audience) hope rather than letting the aliens win, which (*SPOILER ALERT*) they do however in the scary but largely inferior 1978 remake with Donald Sutherland.

The Day of the Triffids also has a horrendously clunky framing device of a husband and wife (Kieron Moore and Janette Scott) marooned on a lighthouse when the world is attacked by triffids, whilst throughout the rest of the film Howard Keel and company are battling through a very uncertain future in Steve Sekely's stark fantasy horror drama. The framing device that came up with a ludicrously simple solution to the alien menace was shot was a new director in the making, Freddie Francis, and the lighthouse scenes had their own element of refreshing entertainment about them.

Through all these slightly dubiously revised films, the one factor that executives considered at the back of their minds was the audience feeling of Hope - much derided, but also rather underestimated, and not just because the fact that studios are out to make a fast buck. Sometimes not just Hollywood, but also the audience, wants a happy ending.