Poignant snapshot of life; YOUNG REVIEWERS 2008/09

Evening Chronicle (Newcastle, England), June 18, 2008

ME & Cilla started as a 10 minute play about a sexually confused boy and won the BBC and Live Theatre's 'Short Fuse' competition in 2005.

Since then, writer Lee Mattinson has extended the play into a moving examination of modern-day north-eastern England.

The Live Theatre provides the perfect feeling of intimacy for this play. I actually felt like I was in Cilla Stephenson's chintz filled sitting room as she prepares for her Christmas Eve house party. Cilla (played by Tracy Gillman), a former club singer, appears to have an unhealthy obsession with her namesake, Ms Cilla Black but - after an evening which changes everything - it is not difficult to see why 37-year-old Cilla concentrates on Ms Black's life instead of focussing on her own dysfunctional set-up.

This play is the first representation of chav Britain which really resonates with how certain members of society behave. The Royle Family are out, the Stephensons are in! Me & Cilla is an hilarious yet poignant show with many layers to each character.

Vicky Elliott as Cilla's frenemy - an enemy disguised as a friend - steals the show with her chavtastic hair mascara and inappropriate, ill-fitting outfits.

She is hilariously deluded but beneath that confident exterior lies an insecure, lonely single mother who is unable to accept her Goth daughter.

As the play progresses, the audience are privy to lots of secrets which the cast of four are keeping from one another.

David Tute gives a competent performance as Cilla's son Alfie who is

convinced he is no longer gay but a pre-op transsexual however it becomes clear that Alfie is trying to emulate his mother and find a stability which his family is lacking.

The scenes between him and Tracy Gilman as mother and son are particularly touching. Bill Fellows, as father Ringo Stephenson, portrays a man struggling to come to terms with his wife's secret and his son's desire to be called Deborah, as well as his neighbour's over-familiarity.

This show is at times vulgar and the language is crude but that is what makes it so realistic. The cast are utterly convincing and the proximity of the audience to the stage makes the emotions all the more potent.

Young reviewer

VICTORIA WATSON catches Me & Cilla, at the Live Theatre in Newcastle until July 5.

CAPTION(S):

SECRETS: - Cilla Stephenson has an unhealthy obsession with Cilla Black