Sweet Charity by Pimlico Opera and the inmates of HMP Bronzefield at Ashford, Surrey.
Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Put an Olivier-nominated actress alongside inmates of HMP Bronzefield, stir in a 12-piece orchestra, a stage in a prison and the expertise of Pimlico Opera and what you got was a terrific Sweet Charity.
What magic director/choreographer Nikki Woollaston teased out of the 17 women “residents” (as the programme euphemistically calls them) who worked for five weeks with lead Laura Pitt-Pulford and five male professionals in creating a remarkable and emotional theatrical experience.
The inmates clearly loved their sparkly costumes, all sang in tune, some like Kerry (Nickie) and Rebecca’s Ursula (Vittorio’s ladyfriend) could sing very well, all were commendably disciplined in the ensemble numbers.
The ‘Rhythm of Life’ gospel routine, ‘Big Spender’ and ‘I Love To Cry at Weddings’ were particularly well staged.
Pitt-Pulford was a delightfully ditzy Charity Hope Valentine. She shone with ‘Where Am I Going?’ and in the comedy scenes in the elevator with Joshua Lay’s bag-of-nerves Oscar and in movie idol Vittorio’s bedroom.
Cameron Sharp was a smooth Vittorio and the other male pros Jordan Lee Davies, Cameron Blakely and Cellen Chugg Jones all did their bit in bolstering the amateurs’ confidence.
Musical director Alex Parker got every last drop out of the orchestra, which was perched straight on to the audience above the Fandango nightclub set in a highly polished production.
In one or two cases it was hard to tell the difference between the pros and the “residents” which was not altogether surprising as Kerry is a singer-songwriter who has had dance and theatre training, Dhonna has been a busker, Carol was opera-trained and had done am-dram and university graduate Heather plays guitar and keyboards and knows her stuff about music theory.
Of the seven prison shows I have seen since 2006, this was the most consistently well performed. There were no duds, no dries, no awkward missed cues, no bumping into each other, no obvious nerves.
On the contrary, it was an evening full of joy, none more so than on the faces of the “residents” when accorded a prolonged and deserved standing ovation. Applause in their lives must have been hard to come by but Sweet Charity was definitely something in the plus column. Must bring more hankies next time.
The Cy Coleman-Dorothy Fields musical played for seven performances at Bronzefield and was the twenty-third prison show – and the third at this all-women’s establishment – since Sweeney Todd began the project under founder Wasfi Kani at Wormwood Scrubs in 1991.
May there be many, many more.
Jeremy Chapman
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