Marie: A Life of Marie Lloyd – York Theatre Royal

Marie – A Life of Marie Lloyd was performed at York Theatre Royal.

Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩

I am not at all sure that my parents, whose birthdays stretched back almost into the Victorian era, would have approved of Marie Lloyd. They would have liked the songs but, respectable working class folk that they were, would probably have recoiled from the raucous innuendo of her performance.

The boundaries of what can be said and seen may have moved on, but questions of personal morality and public representation remain. Lloyd stunned a Licensing Committee in 1895 by performing songs such as ‘She Sits Among the Cabbages and Peas’ in the manner of a church chorister while contrasting that performance with the Victorian favourite ‘Come Into the Garden Maude’, full of knowing winks and nods. Her point was, it’s all in the mind of the beholder. They had no option but to grant the licence.

The show also illuminates Lloyd’s generosity in giving away a lot of her earnings and her stalwart support of the performers’ strike that closed the music halls in 1907.

However, with three marriages, it was her scandalous personal life that caused most of her problems, particularly in trying to enter the USA. Eventually, her drinking led to a collapse on stage at the Edmonton Empire in 1922 and her death a few days later. She was 52.

Elizabeth Mansfield’s one-woman show has now run for almost as long as the career of the Queen of Music Hall herself. Cooked up between Mansfield and writer Steven Trafford, the show is practised and runs smoothly, although on the night in question a reluctant champagne cork called for some protracted ad-libbing.

Audiences love singing along and were given opportunities with ‘The Boy I Love…’ and ’My Old Man Said Follow the Van’, showing remarkable recall of the lyrics and melodies. I suspect they would have relished more.

The support from Steven Rose at the piano is subtle and he fulfils the secondary role of accompanist and the butt of a number of asides. He displays admirable, resigned patience.

Sheila Godber’s costumes may have added some variety, but there is little to justify them dramatically. Apart from the young girl persona of Lloyd singing ‘The Boy I Love is Up in the Gallery’, each one adds little to its predecessor.

We need shows such as this to remind us just how much might be lost from eras that predate sound recording. We tend to view previous forms of entertainment as shabby and exhausted. Shows such as Marie – The Life of Marie Lloyd remind us that our grandparents too lived vivid and energetic lives.

Mike Tilling