The stage of a theatre can and is used for many things. “Dirty Blonde” gave the writer Claudia Shear a vehicle to tell the world what she thought about the legendary American Mae West and then played the lead character herself. Did it work? The plot worked well considering it was based on sparse factual material, but a number of well used one liners enable the story to roll along to its conclusion. The direction was by James Lapine who also helped with the conception of the staging of the story.

Now the story is of a women who marries a man Frank Wallace for convenience and then proceeds to go her own way, getting to know as many men as she can on the way to her goal of being the centre of attention on or off the stage, and that is not bad when you have managed it until you are 85 years of age. The play is held together by the obsession of a 17 year old youth Ed Hern and the woman he meets called Jo. Sad in part, funny at times, interesting occasionally, but it never seems to loose the audiences attention. If your mind wanders there is always the piano that plays when not attended by a musician, and it's good. Bob Stillman has supplied one of the musical numbers and shows his musical skills at the keyboard are talented, as are his acting skills as he plays Frank Wallace and Ed Hearn amongst others. Kevin Chamberlin played Charlie and others. Claudia Shear plays Jo and Mae. It's one of those shows with a shortage of actors as the supporting parts are small.

You will either like or dislike this evening at the theatre, but with no interval it is soon over. If you remember it afterwards then the author has done her job. © BA

“Dirty Blonde” is in Leeds from the 5th July to the 3rd August, 2002.