Looking For Me Friend: The Music of Victoria Wood – Waterside Arts

As Storm Larisa battered the north of England, the near three hundred hardy souls who braved blizzard conditions to eventually reach the Waterside Arts in Sale were amply rewarded with this hugely entertaining and affectionate tribute to the genius that was Victoria Wood. Paul Martin aka ‘Paulus’ is our window into the world that Victoria created, using elements of her stand up comedy, sketches, sitcoms and above all songs, to weave an eighty minute show of affable geniality and insight that warmed everyone on a bitter evening.

The simple staging without props betrays the Edinburgh Fringe origins of this show but it has developed from its humble beginnings with a confident breadth to the narrative of the production. Accompanied by pianist Michael Roulston, who’s tart interjections and hilarious quotes punctured the evening, Paulus works the audience expertly from the outset. An intimate show relies on a charismatic presence to relax the audience and the easy interaction between the onstage couple quickly achieves this aim.

Paulus freely admits that a ‘skinny, bald homosexual from Kent’ bears little resemblance to a middle aged woman from Bury and was slightly nervous about bringing his show so close to Victoria’s Mancunian homeland. However, he has nothing to fear as this northern audience was his perfect demographic, the combination of ‘blue rinse and camp’ allowing him to segway into recitations of arcane Wood trivia, safe in the knowledge that the audience was lapping up every reference. Both he and Roulston are clearly uber fans and it is this geeky knowledge of every facet of Wood’s work that allows the show to connect with the knowledgeable audience. Whether they have been devotees since ‘As Seen On TV’ in 1985 or found her through later work on the sublime ‘Dinner Ladies’, there are gobbets and quotes for everyone to recognise; references to Gypsy Creams, Sacharelle and Coconut Matting will mean nothing to the uninitiated but have the cognoscenti wiping away tears of laughter this evening.

However, the show has more depth than merely a series of recitations of beloved catchphrases and sketches, Martin charts his growth as a young gay man growing up in the 1980’s, his discovery of Wood allowing him to talk to his family and eventually find a wider community with whom he could feel connected. He memorably describes interacting with other fans as ‘a modern Polari’, a secret language used to seek simpatico souls and how he identified with Wood for her championing of underrepresented sections of society. Seen through this prism, the typical view of Wood as cosy and comfortable is subverted, she was indeed a pioneer with northern female voices pretty thin on the ground on TV in the 1980’s. In the same vein as Alan Bennett and Caroline Aherne, the spiky observations in some of her work are strongly at odds with her image as a ‘national treasure’.

If the deeper subtext of the show is not your cup of Typhoo, you can just sit back and listen to the songs. Martin and Raulston have curated around a dozen of Victoria’s finest, showcasing her ability to be razor sharp with a turn of phrase. Whether she is extolling the joy of hopeful youth (I Wish I was Fourteen Again) or the melancholy loss of a partner (Love Song), her bittersweet lyrics bring tears of joy and sadness. Add in the broader and funnier music hall tradition (The Ballad of Freda and Barry) that she also encompasses, and the evening is both affecting and raucous. My only complaint was that the show made me realise that we lost her nearly seven years ago and that her warm wit and generosity is gone from the world forever.

As Paulus says at the conclusion of the evening, ‘We miss her, don’t we?’. Yes, we really do.

Verdict: Pure joy from start to finish!! A funny and warm celebration of a northern genius.

Reviewer: Paul Wilcox

Reviewed: 9th March 2023

North West End UK Rating: ★★★★