Redlands/Chichester Festival Theatre (review)
With almost six decades of connection with the area behind us – and our status as “friends” of Chichester Festival Theatre – when this season’s announcement of future productions arrived about six months ago my wife and I had immediately identified this production as one we wished to see and immediately booked four tickets for it.
In advance both the publicity and reviews of this new play by Charlotte Jones, which takes one of the infamous 1960s “incidents” surrounding the Rolling Stones (the police drugs raid upon a party that took place at Keith Richards’ home in West Wittering near Chichester on 12th February 1967, allegedly after a tip-off by elements of the tabloid press) as its springboard, had been encouragingly favourable.
I must begin with a declaration of interest. Being a child of the 1960s – I was fifteen at the time of the raid – the Stones and other leading British bands of that era not only supplied the bulk of the soundtrack to my gradual, sometimes affectedly surly and rebellious, progression into adulthood but have remained staples of my music listening habits ever since.
Nevertheless, I had deliberately kept my expectations for our attendance at yesterday’s 2.30pm matinee under tight control.
I was concerned as to how authentic the characterisations of the Stones were going to be – especially when three or four performances of their classic songs were going to feature – this in a context in which the play’s main subject was the fraught relationship between the 17 year old (future prominent actor) Nigel Havers and his father Michael Havers QC – then in his mid-40s and a successful barrister – who was to later become Baron Havers and sometime Tory Attorney General.
At the time Richards and Jagger were developing their burgeoning song-writing partnership but the former had not yet acquired his “National Treasure” tag as a “outlaw-rogue-come-panto-villain-drug-addiction-survivor”.
Would he be portrayed as a caricature of “Keef” (as he is now affectionally known) or would he simply be a cardboard cut-out minor figure?
I need not have worried.
Taking the show for what it was, the entertainment factor was pleasingly high. The large cast – several of them playing two or more characters – performed with elan and in particular Anthony Calf (as Michael Havers), Louis Landau (as Nigel Havers) and Emer McDaid (as Marianne Faithfull) were excellent.
As for the Stones, Brenock O’Connor (as Keith Richards) and Jasper Talbot (as Mick Jagger) also performed with impressive gusto.
One of my advance concerns had been the musical performances failing to rise beyond faux-inferior “tribute band” standard but thankfully the on-stage “live” musicians stuck to the music, which left Talbot free to excel with his charismatic impersonation of the lead singer.
In summary – whilst as a play Redlands will never pass into theatre folklore as a something to rival Shakespeare – on this showing it proved to be a thoroughly entertaining and “feel good” couple of hours.
POSTSCRIPT
After the show we had arranged to meet in the theatre foyer with a couple (two old friends) for a cup of tea before we both set off for home.
As I stood beside my pal to be served at the café counter, I noticed that our Mick Jagger (Jasper Talbot) was one ahead of us in the queue, buying a sandwich and a cup of coffee. We fell into conversation with him for a couple of minutes. I had no idea that his role in Redlands was his debut on the professional stage.