Reviews – English for Pony Lovers and 39 Steps Even More Abridged

At the Totton Festival of Drama, Studio Theatre performed English for Pony Lovers by John Finnemore (as well as Murder! In Little Grimley), which was festival runner-up and for which Rachel Fletcher took home Best Actress. During an evening in June this was performed at our theatre in Salisbury, along with The 39 Steps Even More Abridged by Patrick Barlow.

The Fine Times Recorder – Gay Pirrie-Weir:

The prodigiously talented trio of writer John Finnemore, actor Rachel Fletcher and director Lesley Bates are the ingredients for a theatrical recipe made in heaven, and audiences at Salisbury’s Studio Theatre are enjoying their latest iteration in English for Pony Lovers, in a double bill with an abridged-and-then-abridged-again adaptation of Buchan’s The 39 Steps, by Patrick Barlow, for two nights only.

In 2019 BC, Studio Theatre performed Finnemore’s A Flock of Tigers, directed by Lesley and performed by Rachel, and won lots of silverware in drama competitions. This year, they decided on another of Poole Grammar old boy Finnemore’s “Double Acts” plays, English for Pony Lovers – well, yes, he does go in for peculiar titles. And again they triumphed at the Totton Festival of Drama.

English for Pony Lovers has all the hallmarks of Finnemore’s best work (Cabin Pressure is one) It’s set in a bar in a German country town, where senior science teacher Elke has come to meet an English teacher so that she can improve her knowledge of current vernacular English. When a road-weary young woman hefting a massive rucksack turns up, Elke greets her as Lorna, the EFL teacher who has advertised her services on a leaflet. The 55-year old German is surprised at the apparent youth of her new tutor, but is assured by the passive-aggressive Lorna that she is in fact fully qualified and 28 years old. Trouble is, Lorna is none too good at remembering her age, which, in the course of about 40 minutes, reduces to 26, 24 and then to 18.

Elke, of course, is trained in the very strict structure of language, as all Germans are. She knows much more about tenses (there are 12 of them in English) and their uses than most of us, and certainly way more than Lorna has ever heard of. In a few short minutes, Lorna has instructed her (wrongly) about the use of various words, and Elke has begun to smell a rat.

But all is not quite as it seems, as Elke’s thirst for knowledge seems to be centred on the sex life of My Little Pony. Hmmm? There are more hidden agenda than you could shake a frankfurter at, and the play explores them hilariously and with blinding insights into the world we inhabit today. I won’t ever think of gap years in the same way!

Rachel Fletcher deservedly won best actress for her perfectly timed, brilliantly nuanced performance as Elke, and Studio newcomer Aine Tiernan is the ideal Lorna, a nervy, defensive and insecure young woman trying to find her way into an increasingly confusing adulthood.

The (even more abridged) 39 Steps is a hilarious dash through all the best known setpiece scenes of John Buchan’s famous spy thriller, with Kris Hamilton-Brain as Richard Hannay and Rachel Fletcher, her daughter Emilia, George Goulding and Stew Taylor as everyone else. There’s the dash across the train roof as it crosses the Forth Bridge, the peculiar innkeepers, the faux policemen, the mysterious blonde spy, the English Rose, the mad German professor and assorted sheep to keep the audience amused and wide awake for the whole riotous journey.

There are many more John Finnemore plays to be performed, and I am looking forward to seeing them in Salisbury.

https://www.theftr.co.uk/double-bill-at-salisbury-studio-theatre/

UK Theatre Network – Chris Hawley

This was my third visit to Studio Theatre in as many weeks and what a treat it was. A double bill of one-act plays starting with English for Pony Lovers by John Finnemore.

This little gem started out as a BBC radio play as part of the series Double Acts. Set in a small German town it tells of a young English Woman, Lorna (Aine Tiernan) who is meeting Elke (Rachel Fletcher) in a local bar to teach her how to speak better English. It soon turns out that straight laced Elke has been secretly reading her young daughter’s My Little Pony fanfic whilst 28 year old (or is she 24? … maybe 18?) Lorna has a secret or two of her own, not least that she is supposed to be on a gap year in Malawi and not in Germany at all. It’s difficult to explain the story without giving too much away but suffice it to say comedy and confusion ensue dotted with moments of real pathos and warmth.

Earlier in the year, Rachel won best actress for her portrayal of this Teutonic chemistry teacher at The Totton Festival of Drama and it’s easy to see why. Her command of the German accent and her comic timing are impeccable. Now, as then, she’s ably matched by Aine as the wonderfully confused, and confusing, TEFL teacher who appears more bewildered by English grammar than her equally perplexed pupil.  Both actors played off one another with great ease and skill making for a truly captivating and funny 40 minutes.

Next came an abridged version of John Buchan’s The 39 Steps. Richard Hannay is accused of murder but to clear his name, and save his country, he must first find out the meaning of the 39 Steps. This incarnation of the classic boys own story takes its inspiration more from the Hitchcock film of the same name than from Buchan’s original but is probably all the better for it.

Running at just under an hour, this was physical theatre on steroids, the action rattling along like the London to Edinburgh Express. The ensemble cast, including, Kris Hamilton-Brain as Hannay and Emilia Fletcher, Rachel Fletcher (again), George Goulding and Stew Taylor playing everyone and everything else, ripped through this ripping yarn with unbelievable pace and energy. The set changed at an alarming rate as did the characters, with hats on, kilts down, accents coming thick and fast and more set pieces than you can throw a haggis at. There were men playing women, women playing men and everyone, it seemed, at some point, playing sheep. Trunks became railway carriages, paint cans and ladders became a car or a hotel, there were planes and guns and policemen and spies, femme fatales and more sheep.

Orchestrated by Lesley Bates (who also directed the first play) this was an absolute rollercoaster, leaving the audience barely any time to catch their breath for laughing.

I’ve seen lots of Lesley’s work over the years but this was clever stuff. Very, very clever.

And, of course, tam o’shanters off to the backstage crew. Inventive and seamless as always.

Now it’s time for a lie-down. I’m exhausted and my ribs hurt.

Five Stars

https://uktheatre.mn.co/posts/english-for-pony-lovers-the-39-steps