Canal Street Lonely Hearts Club at Hope Mill Theatre Review
Written by Thomas for Theatre & Tonic
Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in exchange for an honest review
The award-winning Hope Mill Theatre is a small fringe venue with very cosy spacing situated in Ancoats, Manchester, known for its high-quality productions of musicals, original work, and other events, with other endeavours such as the Hope Mill Theatre School, its pioneering arts access to locals, keeping the arts alive, and broadening their reach through other charitable affairs.
The renovated, relocated and retitled Jonathan Harvey play, Canal Street Lonely Hearts Club, is an unapologetic love letter to Canal Street, not the pride paradise we often see pictured, but the raw reality of chosen family and complex relationships. The story follows gay and straight brothers Marti and Shaun, played by Cameron McKendrick and James Sprague, as they reconnect and rebuild their relationship after a tumultuous past. Their friends and flatmates, Dean, George and Clarine, played by Nick Collier (aka Ella Vaday), Riah Amelle and Lucy Hilton-Jones are also thrown in the mix as their chosen family with their own issues; Dean, a McDonalds employee by day and drag queen by night, George a high school teacher with a flair for romance and Clarine an institutionalised woman discovering the real world again.
As the title suggests, the characters are all solitary souls, each searching for love’s elusive embrace. The motif of love - and the character’s dysfunctional relationship with it - is the glue that holds them together; the love of brothers, the love of friends, and the love of romantic partners. The intimacy of the Hope Mill lends itself to being enveloped in the world of the play, set in Shaun’s studio apartment, seeing the characters’ lives up close really gives us the heart and the hilarity at moments.
What the book lacked in plot, the cast made up for in performance, highlighting the juxtaposition of super serious scenes to heated, heartfelt, and hilarious moments. That being said, unfortunately, there was a noticeable amount of some cast members stumbling over their lines. Cameron McKendrick as Marti delivers great comedy with their animated facial expressions and caustic wit. James Sprague as Shaun provides the audience a full body experience with his great physicality of emotion throughout. Nick Collier as Dean provides the camp humour and great physical comedy throughout. Riah Amelle as George portrays the prim and proper hopeless romantic very well giving a strong contrast to the rest of the cast.
However, the stand out performance of the evening has to go to the Funny Women’s Comedy Shorts Awards two time finalist, Lucy Hilton-Jones. Her portrayal of Clarine (Sharon, Jackie and Grace) was nothing short of hysterical, riotous and outrageous!
Canal Street Lonely Hearts Club plays at Hope Mill Theatre until 13 September
★★★
