Theatre reviews: Members Only | The Bodyguard
Members Only takes aim at the selfishness and self-obsession of the social media age, writes Joyce McMillan
Members Only, Oran Mor, Glasgow ★★★
The Bodyguard, Playhouse, Edinburgh ★★★
The temptations of internet fame, and the financial fortunes it can bring, is becoming a major subject for writers at A Play, A Pie and A Pint; and the latest lunchtime drama Members Only, by Marc Pye and Gayle Telfer Stevens, brings a light comedic touch to the subject, engineering a collision between the worlds of 21st century influencer culture and old-school bingo, in cash-strapped contemporary Glasgow.
Amy and Stacey are pals in their early 20s, Amy the quiet one who has struggled to find work since she graduated, Stacey determined to build a career as an online star and influencer. Stacey is already making enough money online to pay for small-scale cosmetic surgery, and yearns for more, to make her the Kardashian lookalike of her dreams; but round at Amy’s place things are tough, as she and her divorced mum Angie face repossession of their house, unless Angie can score a lucky big win on her weekly bingo outing with Stacey’s mum Linda.
All of which sets the scene for a slightly implausible moral fable about what happens when Stacey and Amy - replacing their mothers at the bingo, for complicated reasons - suddenly win big. The plot of Members Only has a slightly clunky, awkward feel, as if the characters are being manipulated to make obvious points about selfishness and self-obsession in the social media age, and the enduring need for a bit of social justice and solidarity.
Maureen Carr’s pitch-perfect production, though, makes the best of every moment of wit and insight the script has to offer. There’s even the odd song along the way; and Carr’s stellar cast featuring Julie Duncanson, Sandra McNeeley, Eimi Quinn and Taya Sian, milk the play’s comedy and underlying tragedy for all it’s worth, on the way to a relatively happy ending.
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The story of The Bodyguard is an old one these days, dating back to the1992 film; yet given a few 21st century tweaks involving social media and mobile phone cameras, it still seems as if this powerful story of global fame, a dangerous stalker, and the ever more precarious search for “security” from those with access to information about us, might have been written for our internet-driven times.
In this latest touring version of 2012’s Bodyguard musical, Alexander Dinelaris’s stage script, based on Lawrence Kasdun’s screenplay, comes into its own, as Sidonie Smith and Adam Garcia, playing star singer Rachel Marron and her new bodyguard Frank Farmer, handle the story in usually thoughtful and dramatic style.
It’s an approach, in this latest version of Thea Sharrock’s production, that completely sidesteps the sheer erotic showmanship and campery that has sometimes been a hallmark of this show; replacing it with a tight focus on the real threat presented to Rachel and her young son Fletcher by an obsessive stalker who seeks to control her life by bringing it to a violent end.
The result is an unusually gripping version of the story, in which the spectacularly-staged musical numbers sometimes seem a little out of place, working best when they merge seamlessly with the plot, as in the story’s dramatic finale.
Where the show truly scores, though, is in its sense of the deep poignancy of Rachel’s situation, as she pays a huge price for her success in terms of anxiety, exposure and fear for her son. And as an actress and a singer, Sidonie Smith rises brilliantly to the task of portraying those pressures, making great Whitney Houston songs from One Moment In Time to the iconic I Will Always Love You work brilliantly, in the context of a drama that sometimes seems like a mere excuse for some showbiz fun and spectacle, but is taken seriously, this time round, with mixed but fascinating results.
Members Only is at Oran Mor, Glasgow, until 23 May and then at the Dumfries and Galloway Arts Festival in Stranraer, 26 May, Dumfries, 27-28 May and Moffat, 29-30 May. The Bodyguard is at the Playhouse, Edinburgh, until 23 May, and the King’s Theatre, Glasgow, 25-30 May.
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