Directed by Denny
Lawrence
Created and
originally directed by Ted Swindley
Christine Harris
& HIT Productions
Q Theatre, Queanbeyan
Playing in the
Bicentennial Hall, Queanbeyan to 18 February
Review by Len Power
15 February 2017
Patsy Cline, the American country singer, had a tragically
short career, dying in a plane crash in 1963.
Her hit songs including ‘Crazy’, ‘I Fall to Pieces’, ‘Sweet Dreams’ and ‘Walking
After Midnight’ still resonate with music lovers around the world.
According to the publicity, ‘Always…Patsy Cline’ is based on
a true story about Cline’s friendship with a fan from Houston named Louise Seger,
who befriended the star in a Texas honky-tonk in 1961, and continued a
correspondence with Cline until her death.
In this show, there is very little insight into Patsy Cline, the person,
and there’s far too much about the fan.
Patsy Cline is played by Courtney Conway who has very few
lines of dialogue but sings the Cline songs to perfection. It’s worth seeing the show just for her performance
of the songs.
Mandi Lodge, playing the fan, Louise Seger, gives an over the
top and irritating performance with a hint of desperation about it. To be fair, the script by Ted Swindley doesn’t give her much
to work with in the first place and maybe Lodge is over-compensating as a
result. Her character is a clichéd loud-mouth
of a blowsy Texan woman who loves the sound of her own voice. The poor script also gives her the job of
jollying the audience along with the usual pub show stuff like dragging an
audience member up to dance, repeating an unfunny visual joke where she prances
around to supposedly demonstrate driving in the car she calls ‘Sexy Dude’ and,
of course, there’s the obligatory ‘Are you enjoying the show? What? I
can’t hear you?’
The set design by Jacob Battista looks fine for the Patsy
Cline bandstand but the other half showing the fan’s home is pretty dull. I know it’s supposed to be an ordinary home
but surely more imagination could have gone into the design. The lighting was designed by Clare Springett.
I don’t know if she set the lights for
this performance but there were too many shadows on faces. The sound was a bit unclear in the first half
but was fine in the second half of the show.
If costume co-ordinator, Sophie Woodward, was responsible for Courtney
Conway’s costumes, she did a fine job.
Director, Denny Lawrence, who has done fine work in the past
with ‘Love Letters’ and ‘Educating Rita’ at the Q, has done a disappointing job
here but the script is at the heart of the problem. Anyway, the music was good.
The Q Theatre is presenting the show in Queanbeyan’s Bicentennial
Hall with the audience seated at tables cabaret style which worked fine and is
worth exploring for future suitable shows.
Len Power’s reviews
are also broadcast on Artsound FM 92.7’s ‘Artcetera’ program from 9am on
Saturdays and on other selected Artsound programs.
