BEHIND THE SCENES: The Union Theatre's BELLS ARE RINGING

Deep in rehearsals for a little-known musical with a 15-strong cast in a tiny space, one might have expected the perfomers from Bells Are Ringing - now open at the Union Theatre - to be at least a little subdued.

But no. This lot were buzzing during rehearsals - and now they're garnering glorious reviews all over the place, they're even happier.

"Because we're rehearsing Monday to Friday, I went to see Shoes at Sadler's Wells with my sister this weekend," said Anna-Jane Casey during rehearsals. "And I enjoyed the show, but I turned to my sister and said, ‘I can't wait to get back to work on Monday.' Just watching them performing together - I wanted to be doing that too."

Casey, the West End diva who plays answerphone operator Ella Paterson in this production, described the dynamic of the company is like a family. Of course, actors always say that, but Casey means it more literally as well - "I'm at the upper end of the age scale, and then we've got Sasi Strallen, Scarlett and Summer's little sister, who's just 15."

Working on a production in a small space is a far cry from what Casey's been doing for the rest of the year, which ranges from the Rodgers and Hammerstein Prom to another stint in Chicago to a bit of Shakespeare in Regent's Park, in the Open Air Theatre's Comedy Of Errors.

"It's a very intimate space," explained Richard Grieve tactfully. He is well known to UK soap viewers for his roles in Emmerdale, Neighbours and Home and Away, but he's recently done several UK tours, including Footloose, and plays the bumbling Inspector Barnes in this production. "When you first go out there in a small venue, you're like, ‘I can see the audience's EYES!' But then you get used to it." Is it distracting, if they're fumbling with their programmes? "Yeah, or eating their sandwiches! But you get that in big theatres too. Still, in a small theatre if someone does that, I can swoop in and just take it off them." He laughed, but I have a hunch that if any audiences seriously misbehave then Grieve's wrath will be unconfined...

In a small theatre sometimes the choreography for a musical is simplified a little too much - not here. "This show's been all about renewing Old Acquaintances," said Gary Milner, who plays writer Jeff Moss, the object of Ella‘s affections, "and one of those has been with our choreographer Alistair David, who was in the originAl West End cast of Chicago, and pretty much every other originAl West End cast of everything else too. There's some real choreography in here - it looks great." (Although Casey warned me not to sit in the front row - "just in case I kick you in the face.")

The Union is garnering a reputation for excellent small-scale musical productions. "We're hoping to be another one of them," concluded Milner. "I'm sure in time this production will move into a bigger venue, but for now we're really excited to be working in this great theatre."

 

 

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