A Talent to Amuse The Noël Coward Story Edinburgh Fringe 2022 theSpace @ Surgeons' Hall 8 August Review
A Talent To Amuse: The Noel Coward Story is a new show at this year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe by Melanie Gall and is on at theSpace @ Surgeons’ Hall.
This show is an affectionate tribute to both the diverse creative output of Noel Coward, his life story, and of course some of his better known songs and, as usual, Melanie Gall does all of this with careful attention to research details and her own engaging and unique stage performance style.
I have to admit that, for me, whenever I hear the name Noel Coward, I immediately think of his “Mad Dogs and Englishmen” song and somehow associate him with the embodiment of much that was considered to be English in the inter-war years of the 20th century. This was of course a carefully created construct by Noel Coward himself, and as Melanie quite rightly reminds all of us, there was so much more to this man, so many songs (many very risqué double entendre ones), successful plays and films, and a personal life that always pushed the boundaries of what was deemed acceptable at the time.
We explore a little bit of this personal life through this show and the song “Mad About the Boy” takes on a completely different meaning, a perhaps far clearer one, when Melanie sings it after giving us a bit more information on Noel’s private life and private loves.
If Melanie had a mission here to make us all aware of the works of Noel Coward, more aware of his life, then this show has, for me, succeeded as I will need to reconsider my thoughts on many of his works and the man himself. In some ways, I wish that Noel Coward had lived for another few years (he died in 1973) to witness for himself the birth of the Punk Rock movement as here was someone who, at the turn of the 20th century, and throughout his whole life, knew what he wanted out of life and did everything his own way whilst often making his own thoughts about the establishment well known (even if sometimes coded in the lyrics of his songs, or his plays). Here was a “punk” simply born before his time.
Review by Tom King ©Tom 2022
www,artsreviewsedinburgh.com
This show is an affectionate tribute to both the diverse creative output of Noel Coward, his life story, and of course some of his better known songs and, as usual, Melanie Gall does all of this with careful attention to research details and her own engaging and unique stage performance style.
I have to admit that, for me, whenever I hear the name Noel Coward, I immediately think of his “Mad Dogs and Englishmen” song and somehow associate him with the embodiment of much that was considered to be English in the inter-war years of the 20th century. This was of course a carefully created construct by Noel Coward himself, and as Melanie quite rightly reminds all of us, there was so much more to this man, so many songs (many very risqué double entendre ones), successful plays and films, and a personal life that always pushed the boundaries of what was deemed acceptable at the time.
We explore a little bit of this personal life through this show and the song “Mad About the Boy” takes on a completely different meaning, a perhaps far clearer one, when Melanie sings it after giving us a bit more information on Noel’s private life and private loves.
If Melanie had a mission here to make us all aware of the works of Noel Coward, more aware of his life, then this show has, for me, succeeded as I will need to reconsider my thoughts on many of his works and the man himself. In some ways, I wish that Noel Coward had lived for another few years (he died in 1973) to witness for himself the birth of the Punk Rock movement as here was someone who, at the turn of the 20th century, and throughout his whole life, knew what he wanted out of life and did everything his own way whilst often making his own thoughts about the establishment well known (even if sometimes coded in the lyrics of his songs, or his plays). Here was a “punk” simply born before his time.
Review by Tom King ©Tom 2022
www,artsreviewsedinburgh.com