"The Clink" by Riverside Drama

Duchess Theatre, Long Eaton

The year is 1603. Elizabeth I is teetering at death's door. Conspirators are everywhere. Lucius Bodkin, an Elizabethan stand-up comedian, becomes unwillingly involved in the political skulduggery and jiggery-pokery surrounding the ailing queen.

Before I continue, let me say that theatre is subjective and this play just didn't gel with me. I am all for local drama groups to go out on a limb to perform plays that are not performed that often, and a lot of the time they manage to pull it off. With "The Clink" there is a reason why this play is not performed very often.

There is no way that I am going to criticise any actor here as I truly think it's the choice of the play that I didn't get on with, and the actors worked with the script and the story they had.

Lucius Bodkin is played by Jenni Wright and brother Thomas Bodkin is played by James Billington, who you may not at first recognise due to the wig he wears for the character. They play the "comedians" in the play with one of the pair making a lucky escape, or in other words one did not end up in the stocks and with all body parts intact.

Beatrice, the Monarch's Lady in Waiting, is played by Donna Osmond and her maid is played by Liv Paige, both characters and performances I enjoyed as conspirators.

Jonathan Greaves has great projection and I heard every word of his lines and loved the animated character he played, the Captain "a connoisseur of The Duel".

Talking of great projection, Jack Workman also made sure we heard every word perfectly.

Samantha Badman also looked wonderful in her costume as Chief Privy Councillor, John Frobisher.

Elizabeth I is played regally by Lizzie Norris and my favourite character and performance of the night.

The costumes for everyone were brilliant, as was the make-up and wig department.

I do not know what was going on with the lighting tonight, but some characters were partly in shade, sometimes they were in the dark, spots disappeared, we saw characters who had been killed sneaking off stage in spotlight.....

Choosing to put on a play with long speeches, 19 scene changes and a convoluted plot is no mean feat for a local drama company, with a successful reputation, but for me the step may have been just too far, risk wise.

Possibly with a re-write, some tweaking and tightening up of the story, this could have been a better story, especially at two hours and forty minutes, with interval, but this was the way I imagine Stephen Jeffrey wrote it. I also think it would have highlighted the comic lines more as well. I found myself chuckling at parts that no one else found comical, especially in the second act. I think that some of the audience may have switched off by then and missed many of the more comical lines by that stage.

As I said, theatre, like music, is subjective and not even I can like everything I see, but there are probably more positives to this production than negatives, and that is what I like to focus on. Not even the Beatles, Presley or Sinatra had a hit with every release.

I tried very hard to really like this production but I think it's the play itself that is the weak link.

"The Clink" is at The Duchess Theatre until Saturday 20 November.