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No country for old women: Old Ladies - at Finborough Theatre

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The day after seeing The Old Ladies at the Finborough Theatre , I was describing the play to someone in great detail: about three old ladies who lived in a rickety house in southern England in 1935. Based on Hugh Walpole’s novel and adapted by Rodney Ackland, it is the sort of story with enough believability, humour and mild thriller to stick in your mind. Perhaps it is the lure of this dark, forboding tale of a life without money, to be alone and to be old, that makes you feel attracted to this poverty porn. But then again, given the state of the world, the cost of living, an ageing population, or just the fact that it’s a dog-eat-dog world, it might as well be an every little old lady-for-herself, too. It’s a well-acted and staged piece that moves at a brisk pace, so there isn’t much time to think about it too much. And in the intimate (or should that be claustrophobic?) space of the Finborough, there’s nowhere to avert your eyes. Even if you wanted to.  The scene is a grim Cathe...

Music: Caroline O'Connor

Continuing a season of performers in their prime that have seen Wonder Woman and others grace the West End, it could also be known as "Old broads at the Garrick", I caught the second night of Caroline O'Connor with Johnnyfox and others. Caroline O'Connor, while being world famous in Australia, has also been in a number of West End productions, including the ENO's production of On the Town and Bombshells. This time around it is her on stage with a terrific band and some real nice young dancers. Its a bit cabaret and a bit performance and all brass class.

I realised it has now been ten years since I first saw Caroline O'Connor and she doesn't seem to have changed much at all... She still looks and moves pretty well and still sounds good (if you overlook those occasionally suspect high notes), and is full of such energy and life you can't help but enjoy watching her perform.

In the first half of her show she talked about life growing up in Australia and learning all she could from movie musicals. There was a great film montage of her playing leading ladies from a series of famous movies before breaking into a couple of songs from Mack and Mabel. She also did a great rendition of Zing Went the Strings of My Heart. There were some great jokes and she sent us off to the bar interval on a high.

The second half tended to get a bit bogged down with a set of songs from Cabaret, a rendition of Piaf that threatened to send the audience home with industrial deafness and songs that I couldn't care much about. By the end it felt like an over extended audition rather than a performance. While I love her interpretation of some of these songs, it seems a bit of a shame to exclude music from this century in the set. Maybe the secret to these shows is for them to be ninety minutes without an interval, keeping it short and sharp. It might be also a good idea to throw in a few songs nobody has heard (or can remember) to give it a bit of edge. And next time give O'Connor a venue where she doesn't need a microphone... Actually I'm sure she didn't need it this time either... It runs through this week... Worth going, but bring some earplugs..

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