Rose

Rose blooms on theatre stage...

WYTHALL Theatre Company never goes for the obvious.

Previous performances have included the powerful Steel Magnolias, 84 Charing Cross Road and Ayckbourn's little-played Confusions.

Rose, then, is no exception. It is funny, biting and risque in parts which is the reason for the adult language warning on the posters.

Rose (Denise Lambe) is a teacher and housewife heading towards an unsatisfied middle-age with a non-communicative husband (Tony Lacey), up-tight work colleagues and flighty best friend (Sarah Courbet). She has ideas and ambition and a fling with genial supervisor Jim Beam (Jonathan Prior) in the back of his Ford Sierra.

Denise Lambe puts in a thoughtful and convincing per-formance as the central character. But that is not to undervalue a set of strong performances from. the whole cast.

Estelle Shutkever is droll as Rose's mother and Jenny Bradford's head teacher Smale is enough to make any child cadge a day off school.

Writer Andrew Da vies is best known for television work like Anna Lee, To Serve Them All My Days and A Very Peculiar Practice.

If this is an example of his stage work I hope more amateur groups will consider giving him a whirl.

Catherine Jones, Unknown

Rose, the new Rita...

This belongs to the far - from - tedious group of plays about Woman in Search of Herself. Rose stands alongside Shirley Valentine and Rita as a focus for the frustrations and the fun of the gentle sex's aspirations.

Beautifully portrayed by Denise Lambe with voice, mannerisms and dress style irresistibly reminiscent of Victoria Wood, she is an infant teacher with unsympathetic colleagues, an over caring mother, a dying marriage and a new love interest.

Andrew Davis' play explores her relationships with compassion and humour. A company without a week link seizes the chances it offers in a succession of short scenes.

John Slim, Birmingham Evening Mail

Wythall pull off inspirational transfer deal...

IT happens all the time in foot-ball, why not in theatre? United bagged Cantona, Spurs snapped up Klinsmann. Now the Wythall Theatre Group have headhunted a star of their own.

This thoroughly professional, amateur company (if you know what I mean) were joined on the boards by Denise Lambe in their latest production, Rose, at the Palace Theatre, Redditch.

Playing the title role in this compelling drama by House of Cards author Andrew Davies, Miss Lambe named best actress in the All England One Act Play Festival, gave the finest performance I've seen yet in an amateur production.

Rose, the frustrated, downtrodden infant-school teacher first given life by Glenda Jackson in the West End, was stymied at every turn. Her mother never had a life, so why should Rose?

Estelle Shutkever's 'mother' was a skillful distillation of all the world's crabby, mean spirited parents. 'Don't forget you're married' became her catchphrase as she joined in the conspiracy to keep Rose shackled.

Across Rose's advancement prospects fell the shadow of Mrs Smale the headmistress (Jenny Bradford.) Miss Bradford's crisp grey business suit and icy demeanour might well have been gleaned from Prisoner Cell Block H. Her grip on Rough Street Infants certainly was.

Escape from self-pitying husband Geoffrey (the ever-excellent Tony Lacey,) into the arms of Primary Advisor Jim (Jonathan Prior), wasn't to be either; Jim was married.

The only light amid the gloom was provided by Rose's old college mate who lived up the by-pass. She was still the rebel that Rose had once been. Formerly a tireless backstage worker, Sarah Courbet's emergence into the limelight as the cheerfully bolshie Sally was a treat.

But the evening's honours went to Miss Lambe whose sheer believability in this bittersweet tale, particularly in the demanding monologues, brought to mind Victoria Wood at her sharpest.

With her own material, Denise could be a star.

David Whipp, Bromsgrove Advertiser