Come Back To The Five And Dime Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean

Reviews

The play written in 1976 focuses on a group of small-town friends who idolize James Dean, forming a fan club called 'The Disciples of James Dean', headed by young Mona, who worked as an extra on the film.

The story revolves around Mona's claim that she gave birth to the son of Dean, fuelling her hopes of gaining her own sense of celebrity and somehow escaping the confines of small-town life.

As Mona and her old friends gather for the 20th anniversary of the night of Dean's untimely demise in a car wreck on September 30, 1955, we find McCarthy, Texas, dusty and dry: it hasn't rained in three years and the water in the town's municipal system has reduced to little more than a few drips. The play is a bit of a slow burner and takes a while to get into its stride. And in some cases the accents and rapid speech made it difficult to hear what was happening. In addition, some of the sound effects - in particular, the train and the radio were far too loud making it difficult to distinguish what was actually being said on the stage.

Sandra Trott delivers a strong performance as the conflicted Mona, showing off both the character's strengths and failings to equal measure. As her best friend Sissy, Lisa Rawlings very nearly steals the show with her interpretation of the buxom beauty and brings us to a very poignant, pivotal moment in the show when she reveals her painful secret.

However, for me, the most authentic characterisation on the stage was from Lucie Burrow as Joanne, She gave a stella performance showing a full range of emotions and all credit to her as a performer becasue I felt she was completely believable as being transgender and I loved watching her even when she was not the centre of the action.

As a backdrop, the set adds to the action perfectly - the attention to detail is spot on and one of the best I have seen in a while.

Genys Young as Juanita, was very assured as the Christian bible worshipper but on occasions her accent did slip and she moved back to a very English accent against the plethera of Texan twangs! Gail Hughes, in the role of Stella May is full of brass and sass and I particularly loved the relationship she has with the quiet and unassuming Edna Louise played by Hilary Martin. It's much harder to play a quiet understated character because you have much less to get your teeth into as a performer.

Playing the younger versions of Mona, Sissy and Joe were Emma Thwaite, Macey Brown and Nicolas Rayment. Emma mirrored very well the character developed by Sandra and gave a pert and naive version of the older Mona. Macey, I felt had the perfect characterisation for young Sissy but her dialogue was often garbled and difficult to understand, slowing it down would make a massive difference, in fact both girls could do with working a little more on their diction to let us really understand their stories, which would give us a much better appreciation of their obvious talents.

Nicolas as Joe and the only male in the play, was ideally cast and had great pathos and just the right amount of anger and pain to make us feel for his difficult journey which took him to his life choices 20 years later.

Blackmore Players always make you feel so welcome as soon as you walk through the door, so It was a very enjoyable evening and we look forward to their next production. Thank you so much for inviting us once again.

Nikki Mundell-Poole, https://theatrelife.org

Firstly, my compliments to the scene designers and builders, the set looked terrific and, as the play progressed, it was clear that a great deal of thought had gone into its design. Not just for the look but for the practical requirements of the script. The set was dressed beautifully, completely in tune with the period of the play.

The script was interesting and thought-provoking and although I needed a lot of concentration to follow the plot, as the play progressed, it became clearer. I did find myself trying to second guess the author and got it right about 50% of the time!

Director Bill Edwards assembled a stellar cast and how lovely to see a play that gives strong female actors the chance to shine. Glenys Young gave Juanita an interesting character, and, she portrayed the uptight, god-fearing rural American with great style. Sandra Trott was excellent as Mona, a very well-judged performance. Lisa Rawlings played Sissy with great bravado, making her breakdown all the more poignant. Gail Hughes was great as Stella May, excellent comedy timing and I felt this character could have been the subject of a whole other play! Hilary Martin completed the group of older James Dean disciples with a nicely paced performance. Lucie Burrow, playing Joanne, had a difficult job to do, which she did well, making the character completely believable as a transgender woman.

The play mixed current day with flashbacks and it could have been quite difficult to get to grips with the concept, but Bill Edwards placed his actors, on stage, so that it became easier to understand as the play moved forward. Emma Thwaite played the younger Mona very well, her diction was clear and very well paced. She is a very competent performer with a lot of experience despite being relatively young. Macey Broom played the younger Sissy very well, although her dialogue was a little more difficult to hear as she didn’t always project as well as she could have done. Her characterisation, though, was excellent. The younger cast was completed by Nicolas Rayment playing both the young Joe and, right at the end, the Jimmy Dean of the title.

Most of the cast had the southern American accent right, although it did tend to ‘come and go’ on occasions with one or two cast members. The technical aspects of the play were important and the use of sound effects enhanced the performances on stage. The costumes were perfect for the period and, once again, my compliments on an outstanding set.

I do hope that other societies take the opportunity to look at doing this play as it gives a lot of scope for character actors. I thoroughly enjoyed the performance and give my thanks to the Front of House for looking after me so well. I am looking forward to Blackmore Players next production.

Tessa Davies, NODA