Jennifer Page's reviews

 Reviews for Jennifer Page

The following reviews have been written about Jennifer and the productions she had performed in.

The Happiness Compartment

History's cyclic nature oftern produces parallels between events from different eras which can chage our perceptions and give radical new insights.

It is the 40th anniversary of the assassination of JFK this year and a time of emotional and political uncertainty following the war in Iraq.

New Cross Theatre writer/director Stephen Dyke's choice to premiere The Happiness Compartment in Britain makes clever use of the coincidence to explore our feelings about the affect of greed, politics, lust and conflict. 

The play is set agains the backdrop of the cuban missile crisis of the 1962 (the Cubans of course where also implicated in JFK's assasination) and spends an emotional night with eight characters, including Lee Harvey Oswald and the Ghost of Marilyn Monroe.

Although with so many messages it sometimes felt like there were too many people talking at once, Dyke's rich humourous and multi-layered  script is thrilling.

Graduates from the Rose Bruford College, London, form the cast, and despite the fact that I watched them on opening night, their performances were accomplished.

Paul Vincent shone as the insecure senator's aide and Jennifer Page gave a notable star-turn as the troubled dancer, her strength and charisma bursting through- and out of -her risque attire.

Fraught with many themes which stem from a nation in crisis and a tumuluous social consciousness, The Happiness Compartment's messages and warnings are as potent today as 40 years ago.  The production left me with a sense of despair that we have not learnt the lessons of history, and probably never will.

Melanie Gomm

Daisy Pulls it Off

What a jolly spiffing play, bubbling with the most splendid actresses positively overflowing with enthusiasm, from the plucky young heroes to the down right dastardly villains. Daisy Pulls It Off is so quintessentially English it hurts. It is packed with the kind of language the older ones amongst us remember from Enid Blyton's Famous Five and the story is reminiscent of almost every book my sister read growing up.

Daisy, a public educated elementary school girl wins a scholarship at the Uber School of her dreams. Here she battles her way through the snobbish bullies in search of hidden treasure that might just save the school from closing.

The tough thing about the play is that its strengths are also its weaknesses. First of all the cast is brilliant, each one the actresses totally own their role, but they are stereotypes who act in every situation the exact way you would expect them to. This allows the cast to wallow in the over the top characters, really playing the hero, tom-boy buddy or stuck up rich kid and little else.

The play moves along at swift pace, hardly pausing as each scene blends into the next, meaning you are rarely left with an empty stage for more than a few seconds. However, the odd thing is some of the most interesting scenes we never see played out. Instead we have a character telling was what we missed. The scripting is tight, but there were a couple revelations that would have played well if only we had the opportunity to see them.

The dilemma at the end of the day comes down to the play as whole, the story is entertaining and easy to follow, but it is so safe. There are no risks, no twists (that you don't expect), it takes the private school genre and does nothing with it.

This play is Harry Potter without the magic (which actually reminds you how unoriginal that book is, Daisy pre-dates it by about 15 years). I did laugh, I found the characters engaging, and the story is a proven success, but what the play lacked was hook. It desperately needed something to set it apart from so many other similar tales.

While I agree with Graham Trelfer that "Daisy Pulls It Off" is an extremely amusing play with very engaging characters, surely he would not want to inflict changes on such a perfect production as this?

The play depicts the uncomplicated innocence of a world gone by. It perfectly captures this world by telling the story without distracting twists, peopling it with characters who could have stepped straight out of school stories of the period. Give it greater depths and its touching, amusing innocence is gone.

It's surprising that no credit is given to the director, Nadine Hanwell, who superbly marshals her large cast on Barons Court's tiny stage and achieves the swift pace that Graham Trelfer praises.

Author Denise Deegan would purr with delight if she saw this delightful production and realised that her treasured piece of work is in very safe hands.

NewsRevue - 25th

Anniversary Edition

Verdict: Guinness World Record show

Review of NewsRevue's simultaneous Edinburgh run

A Guinness World Record has been awarded to NewsRevue as the world's longest running comedy. Details of the award and presentation on the show's 25th anniversary - 18 August 04 in Edinburgh and London are here.

NewsRevue parodies news and current events, often via the medium of knob gags. It's on weekly at London's Canal Café Theatre, and annually at the Edinburgh Fringe. So during August, two separate shows run simultaneously, 400 miles apart.

The London show features Simon Balcon (the slightly taller actor who plays PM Blair), Laura Checkley (the taller actress with fair hair), Jennifer Page (the shorter actress with blonde hair), Steven Tagg (the actor who plays President Bush). Musical Director (Pianist) is Tom Carradine; Director - Christopher Hale; Technical Directors - Ross McGivern, Rachel Moule (tonight); Producer - Emma Taylor; Assistant Producer - Louis Brownhill; Box Office (tonight) - Elliot Stewart.

Tonight's show includes ensemble an In The Navy medley about UK gunboats mistakenly landing in Iran. Includes Iran Iran; We're Going To Sail Our Boat The SAS Way. There's a President Bush military records voice-over. Simon Balcon gives a fine delivery of PM Blair monologuing a gullible British public, catching his nuances.

Don't Mention The War (Part 1) is the night's highlight, with a stunning performance of Basil Fawlty by Steven Tagg; Sybil is by Jennifer Page, PM Blair by Simon Balcon, Mrs Cherie Blair by Laura Checkley. It's an excellent piece of writing against the invasion of Iraq.

There are items on Sven-Goran Eriksson's sex-life, Big Brother, South-West Trains, David Blunkett MP on Blind Date, Abu Hamza, David Prescott MP; a very funny short sketch about the Greek Ambassador. There's Liverpool prostitutes being legalised; a fine song, 500 Malts (by Marc Blakewill & James Harris), ridiculing Charles Kennedy MP; an MRSA Bugs Are In The Air song; Wayne Rooney; Butler Report.

Laura Checkley acts elegantly as Jordan singing 'The Biggest Slapper In The Nation'. There's a crisp Iraq sketch on the changeover of power (Jennifer Page, Simon Balcon, Steven Tagg); Marlon Brando (We Need A Brando); UKIP v BNP; a very long-standing NewsRevue sketch - Chariots of Fire; a less effective Part 2 to Fawlty Towers; problems with the Diana Fountain; Diana, I Once Served A Girl Called Diana, sung by Paul Burrell (Steven Tagg).

There's an extended, generally witty sketch about recent Conservative leaders, with Laura Checkley as Lady Thatcher, and Steven Tagg strong as John Major MP, all to Elvis Presley's 'Always On My Mind' but with dirtier words.

Steven Tagg delivers President Bush messing up his lines, corrected by Aide Jennifer Page. Jennifer Page is a Weapon of Mass Destruction, there's more Big Brother; the Millenium Dome; an Iraq sketch to Da Do Ron Ron ('He's so dumb dumb dumb').

The evening's other highlight is a tight and expert sketch caricaturing show-trials in Iraq - seen as a Marx Brothers sketch. Laura Checkley is an American judge, Steven Tagg is President Bush, Simon Balcon as Groucho Marx aka Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Azi, Jennifer Page as President Saddam Hussein aka Harpo Marx.

The cast is very very strong, Direction from Christopher Hale is crisp. His direction puts a frame round the action to maximise comic potential - particularly noticeable in the briefly frozen moment at the end of each sketch. Writing is variable, with two strong items.

Writer Credits: NewsRevue writers credited to this London run include (alpha order): Carol Kentish, Christopher Bryant, Christopher Hale, Colin Stutt, David French, Derek Thompson, James Harris, Jennifer Page, John Cowen, Jon Kirk, Jon Dixon, Laura Checkley, Mark Blakewill, Noel Christopher, Ron Winkworth, Simon Balcon, Simon Ounsworth, Steve Edwards, Steven Tagg..

Cast Credits (alpha order): Simon Balcon. Laura Checkley. Jennifer Page. Steven Tagg. Musical Director (Pianist) - Tom Carradine.

Company Credits: Director - Christopher Hale; Technical Directors - Ross McGivern, Rachel Moule (tonight); Producer - Emma Taylor; Assistant Producer - Louis Brownhill; Box Office (tonight) - Elliot Stewart.