Review by Simon Jenner, May 3rd 2025
“What were you thinking, Joan? Turning a shop into a theatre? This isn’t London. Not that Brighton’s a bad place. The people are kind, if a bit strange.” Joan, an older still glamorous woman steps into a fashion shop. Melanie Bell and Hannah Doyle’s Joan arrives at The Actors Pub directed by Summer Tewkesbury till May 4th.
Photo Credit: Peter Williams
Geraldine Afifi in the title role is onstage throughout. She’s soon joined by Justin Hillier in his first role as thonged-clad assistant, when she opens with her first number, “All the Time in the World” with Mark Russell scintillating on keyboards throughout. This is a sweet-toned musical about self-affirmation, new discovery and magical singing that works. Lyrics and songs are the kind you’d hear in a Southwark Playhouse musical.: easy melodies, wittily syncopated around witty lyrics – Bell and Doyle, both musically-trained write these between them. Afifi as a husky soprano proves she still has it too.
Magical singing, or thinking works: as Joan is soon swept into a world where she finds herself clad in the dress she thought impossible to sear, and Sky (Lauren Skillett) working out with a small class (imagined) before she can turn to Joan and pepe-talk her back into herself. Sky too has issues.
Photo Credit: Peter Williams
Perfumed with absurdism and fairytale, this is a place where the unconfident find themselves on a real burn back into the world. Some though frae leaving. What’s sky’s story? Singing “Can’t Count On Me” Skellett reveals a fine soaring soprano with her refrain “I’ve got everything I need’.
She’s soon interrupted by helper Ben (Dean Flynn) and another collapsed soul, Ryan (Justin Hillier) , and trios and after Flynn’s singing Ben’s torch song “Trust Me” – he’s a fine tenor out of the West End – he’s joined by another, Hillier’s Ryan, and the two become a twosome.
We’re soon left with Joan and Sky and after prolonged sharing their duet “Welcome to the Steakhouse” belts out. Finally, after Joan’s solo with Affi’s “Without You I’m Finding My Voice” and “Power” where she’s joined by the cast, this hour-length pocket musical finishes on a high.
Photo Credit: Peter Williams
Photo Credit: Peter Williams
Afifi enjoys huge experience on stage, mainly in music-led works and recitals, and yet again proves her mix of clamour, singing and insouciance: the part seems and is written for her. It would have been good to hear even more of Hilliers and Flynn, proving themselves consummate. And Skellett’s soprano often blending with Afifi’s, is a delight.
Tewksbury has ensured this goes remarkably smoothly and it ripples along. Canadian Bell’s known for her short stories, a YA novel Chasing Harmony exploring music, adulthood and sexuality, and a beguilingly honest poetry collection The Heart Decided to Move. Doyle, a translator of French literary texts and market journalism, is also based in Brighton. They’ve clearly proved themselves as a writing team, and it’ll be fascinating to see where they go next. Joan is a sweet thing, and a fine debut. When this duo with so much to draw on, tackle subjects closer to themselves, it’ll be even more involving, with subjects Brighton’s waiting for. But see this first.
Tech and Lighting The Actors.
Photo Credit: Peter Williams
