My first trip out reviewing shows taking part in the Greater Manchester Fringe 2024 found me at The Edge in Chorlton to see Queerdog Theatre’s Natter. Set in 1980’s Salford, we follow the story of friends and confidantes, Helen and Linda, as they regularly meet up to watch TV, drink tea with biscuits, put the world to rights and share each other’s worries and woes.
Presented very much in the vein of Les Dawson and Roy Barraclough’s classic Lancashire matriarchs, they sit head scarfed and heavily busted in front of the telly enjoying Countdown, Neighbours, The Bill and Bullseye, to name but a few. They gossip, they judge, they bathe in denial, initially avoiding the elephant in the room, the subject of Linda’s gay son, then march through with the herd as they tackle the intricacies of having a gay child in the 1980s. The humour around the friendship between Linda’s son Geoff and his companion Alan is beautifully judged and has a wonderful humour to it . As the emerging AIDS epidemic begins to be hinted at, the power of this lovely piece is not what is said but what is gently implied and what is not said because we all know what happens next and that lack of exploration makes the narrative so much more powerful and effective.
Joe Henry Evans and John Thacker are immediately likeable as the highly comic Helen and Linda and the writing provides great material for them to work with. Witty one liners, hilarious scenario descriptions and very clever inference quickly gather the audience into their sphere and sustain that connection throughout the hour long piece.
Characterisations are essentially strong and utterly believable and I could easily have been in my Nana Ethel’s Oldham kitchen as she nattered with her pal Elsie about any topic they desired that day. ‘They are men you know!!’ my Nana would chuckle whenever Dawson and Barraclough hit the screen. Same with Hinge and Bracket. She would marvel at the believability of the duo and consider the underlying gender switch hilarious, not so much because they were men but because they were such convincing women by manner, by gesture, by the rhythm, pace and phrasing of their chat and Evans and Thacker convey this with charm and steel combined.
This is a witty, clever and nostalgic piece of work. Theme tunes to long lost TV programmes, adverts and continuity scrolls pepper the action. It is well researched and has a strong structure and the audience tonight showed great appreciation and enjoyment, myself included.
The set is simple, a kitchen dresser, two chairs around a formica leaf table (a must in any respectable working class northern kitchen of the day) and a portable television tucked into the corner of the room. It works effectively, but for me, a couple of tweaks with the production values would help elevate this work further. The women would not have drunk from mugs of tea but would always have had a teapot on the table from which the tea drinking ritual, complete with cups, saucers, sugar bowl and milk jug, would have played out.
Costumes could have also benefitted from small changes. My Nana and Elsie would always have had their corsets on, their heavy busts safely contained within them, and I would gently suggest the actors consider the presentation of their busts a little more convincing that was displayed tonight. Finally, Ethel and Elsie would never have been seen dead in frumpy, long and shapeless cardigans but would have proudly worn their full pinnies or housecoats, the uniform of any working class Lancashire Lass and their headscarves would be tight, colourful and well fitting a la Hilda Ogden circa 1981. Small details like this can assist the visual authenticity of a piece, especially when the content and characterisations of the piece are already so genuine, believable and right.
A thoroughly enjoyable night.
Reviewer: Lou Kershaw
Reviewed: 4th July 2024
North West End UK Rating: