PUB THEATRE IN CAMBRIDGE
Pub theatre. These are two of my favourite words. Those blessed pair of sirens – an amiable boozer and doorway into a small but vibrant performance space – brings a smile to the old heart and a raft of wonderful memories. Many exciting evenings in the King’s Head in Islington supping an ale and taking it into a cabaret version of Aida, G&S or a spot of Pinter with a pint is my idea of a great night out. Similar pub theatre experiences have been enjoyed at the Edinburgh Fringe and many other destinations, but Cambridge has missed out – until now. I am proud as Mr Punch to announce the arrival of the Town and Gown pub theatre in the centre of town.
Although it has been in operation for a few months, last night was my first visit to a show there. Like an excited schoolboy, I followed the bright light sign ‘theatre’ up through the crowded ground floor bar, up a staircase and behold: a separate and cosy bar devoted to theatre goers. The welcome from the staff was nothing but warm – they seemed genuinely excited to see us. We picked up a season brochure packed with shows still to come (and frankly regretted having missed so many gems such as a dramatic tribute to the great Frankie Howerd).
‘Have a drink and I will announce when the theatre is open,’ said the staff member. This is another favourite set of words; a promise that live performance awaits our indulgence like a suppressed genie in a very attractive bottle. The time came, the announcement was made and we shuffled into the dark theatre space. It is small, black boxed but with raked seating and a generous stage area. We sat on the front row, sighed and felt we had come home. Doors were closed and the sound of revellery from the downstairs cavernous bar was silenced. Lights down. Music. Lights up and there a few feet away from us, a slim, bright eyed performer in clownish white face, a battered old hat and an old suitcase marked ‘gags’. The excitement was palpable.
The show ‘When You Fall Down’ was a 50-minute musical tribute to the great silent movie star Buster Keaton. Written and played by James Dangerfield, the play takes us from Buster’s first forays into the movie world in 1917 and moves in scenes up to the late 20s when a world figure albeit in personal terms a deeply damaged one. Dangerfield began by addressing his audience as executives of the MGM who took control over the po-faced genius behind silent movie greats such as ‘The General’. Keaton’s personal story begins with an infatuation – with a film camera and what dreams he could fulfill with it. We learn of his troubled marriage, the travails of his mentor ‘Fatty’ Arbuckle (accused of a scandalous manslaughter), his frustrations about losing control of his art and descent into drink.
Dangerfield is an athletic actor but then as Keaton he needed to be – there was the loose limbed dance routine, the pratfalls, and the paraphernalia of an obsessive. The main misstep for me was though that he decided to present Keaton’s Jazz Age story almost entirely in songs written by the writer. The songs sadly did not reflect the musical cadences of the time and instead went for a tuneless sub-Sondheim style more recitative than tune. Given that the 1920s were incredibly rich years for melody, that was a strange decision. The other weakness of the show was that the songs focused on the maudlin and its repetitive lyrics simply brought any sense of driving narrative to a fast stop – like one of Keaton’s runaway steam trains crashing into a buffer.
I yearned to get behind the slap mask on Keaton’s face all the more intriguing as Dangerfield had back projected clips from the actual old films. We didn’t get a sense of his greatness, his undoubted genius in plotting slapstick dramas often involving huge-scale chases. His rapid descent into alcohol wasn’t well signalled and I came away not knowing much more about Keaton than I knew before. Dangerfield is though a very fine performer, mesmerising and stage savvy but I couldn’t help feeling that his decision to turn the story into a musical was ill conceived.
All these drama critic caveats aside, my short visit to this wonderful pub theatre was a real uplift. Since the abrupt closure of the Mumford Theatre, Cambridge has been yearning for a space for small-scale professional theatre. Now it’s here. And let me say those two words again: pub theatre.
TOWN AND GOWN PUB THEATRE
