THEATRE REVIEW
Joan Rivers
A Work in Progress by
A Life in Progress
Venue: Leicester
Square Theatre
Production Company: Leicester Square
Productions
CAST: Joan
Rivers
Nathan
Osgood
Emily
Kosloski
Carrie
Paff
_____________________________________________________________________________
This piece is a teaming up of play and stand-up, written by
Joan Rivers, Douglas Bernstein and Denis Markell. The latter two represent a
successful comedy writing career, gracing pages, stages and screens and
enhancing the work of public figures and movie stars alike. First testing the water onstage at this
year’s Edinburgh Festival, the play- come confessional’s reviews, despite any
misgivings about Miss Rivers’ gory style of gossip mongering comedy, have all
been good. The general feeling that all
critics seem to have shared is that its impact is irresistible.
Whether this is an indictment of audiences’ insatiable
appetite for no-holds-barred bitching and thirst for intimate knowledge of
celebrity lives, is a matter of opinion.
Not normally being a member of the bandwagon society, I nevertheless
have to join the consensus and give it the thumbs up.
Miss Rivers’ first entrance is preceded by Nathan Osgood as
her new personal assistant, heavily burdened with the awesome task of catering
to her every whim. Mr. Osgood deals
admirably with all that is thrown at him, including the unmasking of his
character, when Miss Rivers decides to introduce the cast to the audience.
t is not cruel to her fellow cast members to say that once
Joan Rivers bursts or indeed shuffles onto the stage, her magic presence is
enough to make all others disappear. No
amount of self deprecating jokes about age, (“when I fart, dust comes out”) or
looks, can deter an audience from cheering her on as if she were a big name
rock band.
The play is centred around Miss Rivers’ dressing room as she
waits to interview stars on the red carpet for a TV show, on Oscars night. As one of many showbiz tips and secrets, we
are warned that the complementary cheese plate provided for the occupant of
what turns out to be the dressing room of doom, is the perfect barometer for the
TV company’s level of regard for him or her.
Indeed this plate, containing Dairylea Triangles, turns out to be
anything but complementary.
On her journey to the edge of unemployment, Miss Rivers’ is
accompanied by a tall, almost gangly and definitely fluffy Russian would-be
singer, thinly disguised as a make-up artist, with little or no knowhow. Emily Kosloski attracts her share of
attention, fair or otherwise, with an excellent comedy performance and perfect
foil for Miss Rivers. As the play
attempts to progress to a climax, we experience the constant coitus interruptus
of Miss Rivers’ demolition of the fourth wall, as she regales us with her
unique brand of outrageous stand-up.
Par for the course, you may think, but this show delivers a
bonus prize, as amongst the vicious bitching that we all expect from Joan
Rivers, (due to a plethora of plastic surgery, apparently Sophia Loren “shits through her ears”), is an
intimate talk with Miss Rivers to rival the most private of psychotherapy
sessions.
Not content with the public knowledge of her husband Edgar’s
suicide, Miss Rivers recounts in minute detail, the events leading up to the
tragedy and reaches the point, to a pin dropping silence, where she considered
putting an end to her own presence on the planet. Actress she may be, but the sight of not
quite held back tears, are undoubtedly real.
Adding to that, we become privileged with the information that in her
chequered past, Miss Rivers rubbed shoulders with legends such as Mae West and
Clark Gable and even rubbed lips with a young Barbara Streisand during a
performance as lesbian lovers.
Showing unexpected generosity, Miss Rivers labels the late
Johnny Carson “the best straight man in the business” and expresses a touching
sadness and mystification as to his total banishment of her from both his talk
show and his friendship. Her surname
changes to Riveting, as she tells us, “there are so few of us left that
actually shared the same sunlight”. We are
treated to an admission about how shallow, fake and backstabbing, the world of Hollywood and indeed show
business is. Yet this world is the one
that Miss Rivers confesses, holds the key to her happiness. This is not mere hypocrisy, this is true
honesty.
Jokes are Miss Rivers’ weapon of choice against pain and
rejection, as we find out when the new Chief Executive of the TV station,
played impressively by Carrie Paff, enters.
With a smile that could freeze the Atlantic,
she temporarily demolishes every scrap of Miss Rivers’ self esteem by firing
her from the network for being too old.
With attitude, wit and determination that could turn the
name Age Concern from a charity, to an exclusive society for super heroes, Joan
Rivers shows us yet again that she is the Queen of survival. She has made a comeback in spite of setbacks
that would have caused most artists to take their final bow. I for one am deeply grateful.
Julienne Bannister 2008
