Theatre Royal Brighton – until April 30th 2022
Reviewed by Sue Bradley
5*****
Originally a stage play and then a smash-hit film, The Rise and Fall of Little Voice is the story of a young girl, who lives with her mother and rarely speaks, but has an astonishing talent to imitate the singing voices on her treasured records, left to her by her late father. This is, however, something she does purely for herself. When her mother’s boyfriend overhears her, he sees a chance to make money, so pressurises her into singing at a local club.
This is very much a play of two halves – the first setting up the characters and situations before Act Two really gets down to business. After Little Voice (referred to throughout as LV) performs at the club for the first time, things do not go as hoped and from then on the tone gets darker as LV is coerced into performing again in public. This leads to an inevitable showdown between mother and daughter. We are given a better insight as to why LV is like she is and finally LV finds her own voice.
This show has to stand or fall by the central performance of the LV character. Can YouTube sensation Christina Bianco, as LV, pull it off? I’m very happy to report that she does. We have to wait until Act Two to witness a bravura performance, where the Shirley Bassey alone is worth the price of admission, but Act One gives us a teaser of what is to come, providing an auditory double-take as we realise that the voice we are hearing is not a recording but the actor herself. Impressive.
But the emotional centre to this play is the mother Mari, played by Shobna Gulati (Coronation Street, Dinner Ladies). Here is a woman desperate to get what she believes she deserves and has, in fact, got more or less exactly what she deserves. Gulati throws herself into the role with apparent glee, shouting, swearing, drinking and wearing an amazing range of increasingly trashy outfits. Ian Kelsey (Emmerdale, Casualty) as Ray Say, the would-be impresario and Mari’s latest pick-up, gives us a wonderfully greedy and seedy performance and together they give us many almost pantomime comic moments. Later, Gulati will shine in a very different light, raging against her life and blaming anyone but herself.
William Ilkley, as the Club owner Lou Boo, displays some fine comic timing and has us all laughing and groaning at the terrible puns as he introduces Little Voice to the stage. And Akshay Gulati as Billy, LV’s (perhaps) boyfriend provides a welcome moment of stillness, where I found myself forgetting I was listening to an actor and instead listened to a man talking about his passion.
It is difficult to categorise this show; it is much more than a simple musical or comedy but not as dark as a gritty northern kitchen-sink drama – it contains elements of all these but mostly it is a highly enjoyable emotional fairground ride. We loved it and were very happy to join the standing ovation.
Don’t think twice. Go and see it.