Canal St Lonely Hearts Club opened at Hope Mill Theatre on September 3rd and continues until the 14th. Originally called Rupert Street Lonely Hearts Club, and thus London-centric, it opened in Manchester 30 years ago before transferring south to the Donmar Warehouse where it received some very good reviews. It’s now been updated for a new generation, and the setting is translated to Manchester’s own Canal St, where the Belfast-born brothers who are the backbone of the place live.
Marti (Cameron McKendrick), gay, is 10 years older than his straight brother Shaun (James Sprague), with whom he’s staying. Their relationship hasn’t always been easy, but things have calmed down so much that they now hang around The Village together, and both can switch into Bette Davis mode instantly. They’ve both walked a rocky road emotionally, but Shaun now has mixed-race Juliet (who we never see, as she’s absented herself to Barbados) and Marti has a relationship of sorts with Dean (Nick Collier). Completing the happy homestead we have Clarine (Lucy Hilton-Jones) an activist who lives below them, and George (Riah Amelle) who takes various other names as time goes by, the somewhat strange and unhinged lady above.
The lines are delivered thick and fast and there are some good laughs to be had, but these mask deeper insecurities that are exposed as things progress. Sometimes the laughter just wasn’t appropriate, but each to their own. On the amusing side was George playing the only tune she knows (House of the Rising Sun) on her guitar and mangling the only song she knows (Amazing Grace – a name she later appropriates) to fit it, and some of the Bette Davis interludes starring Marti and Shaun. Clarine has her moments though, and Dean delivers some good lines as well.
When the original production (way back in 1995) was staged, mobile phones were very expensive (and huge) and few people could afford one, but these have been introduced to good effect in the update. Some period features remain though: Clarine has a Hostess trolley, quite odd given her otherwise quite radical lifestyle, and the brothers still have a record player.
The acting from everyone is good. It gets better when the tensions between Marti and Shaun come to the surface after a night out with Dean, and a ketamine “enhanced” drink back at the flat, and as their current emotional arrangements start to fall apart. I’ll stop there as any more would be a spoiler, except to say that the ending wasn’t quite what I expected.
Go along and see.
Ticket Link – https://hopemilltheatre.co.uk/event/canal-street-lonely-hearts-club/
Paul Schofield for Canal Street Online