GEMMA SUTTON joins Caroline O’Connor in the first London revival of Kander and Ebb’s The Rink in 20 years, opening at London’s Southwark Playhouse this week.
The Rink, running from 25 May until 23 June 2018, is the story of Italian housewife Anna (O’Connor), who runs a failing roller-skating business on the East Coast of the US, and her estranged daughter Angel (Sutton).
Sutton’s other theatre credits include: Fran in Strictly Ballroom (West Yorkshire Playhouse and Princess of Wales Theatre, Toronto) and Marian in The Go-Between (Apollo Theatre, London). She received critical acclaim for her portrayal of both June and Louise in the West End production of Gypsy opposite Imelda Staunton (also June in the Chichester Festival Theatre production). Her other theatre credits include Amber Von Tussle in Hairspray (UK tour), Roxie Hart in Chicago (Curve Theatre, Leicester), Drunk (Leicester Curve Theatre and the Bridewell Theatre, London) and Enid/first cover Elle in Legally Blonde (Savoy Theatre, West End).
Here Gemma is in conversation with Musical Theatre Review contributor Tal Fox:
What can you tell us about the history of the show?
It’s a John Kander and Fred Ebb show, it opened on Broadway in 1984 I believe, with Chita Rivera and Liza Minnelli. There was a production in London in 1988, directed by Paul Kerryson. It’s Kander and Ebb’s lost gem and it’s not been done for an awfully long time so it’s really exciting to be doing it in 2018.
In terms of themes rather than a synopsis, what is the show about?
It’s set specifically in a roller rink on Coney Island amusement park. The people who live at the roller rink are Angel, my character, and Anna, her mother. They have become estranged – Angel ran away when she was 17 years old – and she returns when she’s 30 to try and patch things up with her mum. They’ve had a lot of difficult situations through Angel’s childhood and the story becomes about them remembering the past and realising that they remember things differently. Our memories are very personal so they’re trying to work out all that history between them to try and find forgiveness and re-connection.
Gemma Sutton in rehearsals for The Rink. Pictures: Darren Bell
What makes now a good time to revive it?
It’s very much about the dissolution of the American Dream, Coney Island at the time was going into disrepair, a lot of the land had been sold off for housing. What Coney Island provided was the American Dream, the utopia of everyone being together, all walks of life coming together. Today there’s that edge of things not being quite as good, being cohesive and together has fractured, the fractures of the American Dream is why it’s relevant.
The show didn’t do well critically in the past, do you think this time it will be different with new audiences?
There are various versions of the show, there are at least three different scripts in existence, and that’s the Broadway production, the London production and a production in the 1990s that had just one act. What our director [Adam Lenson] has been able to do is communicate with the book writer Terrence McNally and composer John Kander about the best version of the show for today and we’re getting another go at it. It’s a great opportunity to have another go at it, looking at all those scripts and looking at what will hopefully work well today.
Have there been many changes to the script you’re working with?
Not big changes in any way. Maybe tiny things in terms of clarification in storytelling. It’s a difficult piece because it plays with past, present and future and also changes in time and space, it’s fascinating to do. Also, we’re doing it in the intimate space of Southwark Playhouse. That’s a different experience compared to doing it on a cross arch, West End stage with three levels. It’s all about being able to tell that story the best way in the fantastic and intimate Southwark Playhouse.
Could you elaborate on how time and space are used in the show?
Angel and Anna never leave the stage, the only way that we can shift from a memory in 1950 to the present day which is 1978 is by using techniques on stage, mainly physical: the way that we move as a company to show the audience that transition. So it’s very much the actors on stage that are creating that shift in either time or space.
It’s a fascinating way to work, very liberating and very unconventional in relation to what lots of musicals do. Obviously sound helps and the music as played by the orchestra can make a difference as well. One of the director’s inspirations is Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind or at least one of those Charlie Kaufman or Christopher Nolan films, one of those great films that play with time and space. So it’s been great to work with him, he’s got such an incredible brain. It just makes us all think in a different way and interesting work is created when you’re out of your comfort zone.
Gemma Sutton and Caroline O’Connor in rehearsals
Could you compare this show to any other shows audiences might be more familiar with?
It could be compared to another Kander and Ebb show, Chicago, which features two strong female protagonists singing some absolutely fantastic songs. In terms of other work, I don’t know if there are that many musicals playing with the ideas in this show. That’s why everyone should come and see it because it’s a little bit different in format and audiences will hopefully be surprised. But I think surprise is good, isn’t it?
How much did you know about this show before you were cast?
Not very much, I knew the song, ‘Coloured Lights’ but when I read the script, I was so taken by the story, even before I heard the music or knew what songs were in the show. It’s such a strong book, I’m so excited by the script and by the character. Angel is a great character and not the kind of role I’ve played before. She’s the free spirit, wild-child, slightly unconventional, she’s a total hippie. She runs away to California at 17 to join a peace activist movement and has had lots of mad experience. She comes back at 30 and sees her mum still stuck in the rink, in the same place she’s been stuck all these years and that’s why there’s a breakdown in communication, they’re such different people.
I just think it’s really interesting to see that mother and child relationship and that’s what attracted me to it as well, delving into the complexity of the parent, child relationship and human relationships in general.
Could you expand a bit more about what it was about the relationship that drew you to the show?
It’s a mother and daughter looking back at the past, at their memories, and how there are three versions of the truth: there’s your side, my side and the truth. The discussions that they have investigate that and that fascinates me, to get the opportunity with a loved one to talk about your past.
I also love the nuance of the piece, particularly because we’re doing it in an intimate venue. I always think that with the smaller venues it’s like film or television because you don’t have to push to the gods. This piece is just so fascinating, it’s the little things in your life that really stick with you and become part of you.
To work with Caroline O’Connor on these scenes is really exciting because she’s so fantastic and we’re quite similar in some ways so it’s a real joy to work with her.
The cast in rehearsals for The Rink
There’s a lot happening on stage for such a small venue, does that help or hinder the performance?
I always think these smaller venues help. I love working in them because I think I’m attracted to shows with complex books, where the flicker of an eye or the slightest bit of body language can be as significant as part of the text. That’s why with the audience being so close to you, it’s very truthful and you can just ‘be’ more, that’s how I describe it. There’s only a cast of eight, me and Caroline and then six guys who play the wreckers, who have been employed by Anna to tear the roller rink down, and they play various characters from the past as well. When you’ve got a small cast, it works perfectly on a smaller scale.
So the cast is quite male heavy for such a female lead show…
Most of the story is driven by Anna and Angel and the gentlemen are used in memories as characters from the past so it might be the father or the grandfather or ex-boyfriends. It’s really interesting because it’s constantly changing time periods from present to past. It means that we’re all on stage for pretty much all of the show.
How familiar were you with Kander and Ebb’s work?
I’ve been lucky enough to play Roxie Hart in Chicago at Leicester Curve and that was an absolute joy. They’re just so brilliant in the songs that they write for all of their shows. They’re part of my DNA. I really like jazz as much as I like anything else like Sondheim, and the more innovative stuff I’m seeing recently. They just knew how to write a song, so I think I’ve probably sung quite a lot of female songs by Kander and Ebb, but Chicago and this show are the two that I like especially.
Can you think of any others you’d like to do in the future?
I think Flora and the Red Menace is a really interesting show and obviously who wouldn’t want to play Sally Bowles in Cabaret.
Angel has been played by some big names before, did you take any inspiration from their performances?
Who wouldn’t be terrified being in Liza’s shoes! I don’t really think about it because I’m completely different to Liza Minnelli. And I wouldn’t want to try to be another Liza, you have to be true to yourself. I adore her and I have listened to the cast recording, that very famous one of her and Chita, but I thought if I listened to it and left it there, then I could work the script my way.
What is your favourite part of the show?
It changes every day. There’s a really interesting section in the second half called ‘The Quintet’ where we do about seven years of memories in a ten-minute section and that’s really fun to play because you’re constantly having to change your physicality and think about what the character would be feeling in different parts of their life. It’s all done within one really brilliant song, all the actors on stage are singing, and that’s always exciting.
So will you be playing Angel from childhood in this sequence?
You’ll have to come and see the show! I don’t want to give too much away really. It’s only me who plays Angel throughout and the rehearsals are all about finding the best way to portray that. We have been working all that through.
Why should audiences come see this show?
Really brilliant songs and songs that you might not expect to be in this show, so there’s ‘Coloured Lights’, ‘We Can Make It’, which is a beautiful song, ‘Chief Cook and Bottle Washer’. It’s a really interesting story that I think we can all connect to and relate to which is that parent and child dynamic. It’s connecting to that story of how our past affects our future and the importance of home, which is another thing we can all connect with. What is home, where is home, who is home?
• The Rink will play at the Southwark Playhouse, London from 25 May to 23 June 2018, with a national press night on Tuesday 29 May
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