Review: Big Ange at Live Theatre, Newcastle
Jamie Eastlake’s bold, funny and big-hearted new play dances through dark territory and tackles important questions
Jamie Eastlake’s new play Big Ange is the story of a big-hearted dinner lady who answers the call when a junior football team in Blyth find themselves managerless, and then guides them to a dramatic and unlikely victory.
Remember the Spartans if you will.
Only it isn’t really. It’s a story about life in a small town, political homelessness, toxic fascism, young men and their misplaced anger, the lure of the far-right and the remarkable entrepreneurial spirit of an ex-con called Dirk.
And if you were thinking that sounds like too much subplot for one dinner lady to shoulder, you’d be right.
For me, the central character is actually Steven (Curtis Appleby), an opportunistic goal poacher and a disenchanted youngster whose latent filmmaking talent is destined to go unfulfilled until a TikTok video of his local town centre is amplified by a far right group and goes viral.
Steven is quickly seduced by the fame, companionship and purpose on offer from his angry new friends and their charismatic and persuasive leader, played with verve and menace by Lucy Eve Mann.
His reformed outlook puts him at odds with his liberal, left-leaning and London-dwelling sister Caroline (Erin Mullen), despite his protestations that he’s doing it all for her young daughter.
Caroline’s initial attempts to appeal to Steven’s better nature and show him the error of his ways fall on deaf ears, until a chance meeting with chirpy southerner Ange (Joann Condon) in a boys locker room, which allows the Jamie Oliver hating - and Gordon Brown loving - matriarch to give the younger woman some handy tips on dealing with men folk.
In a niche take on feminism this ultimately requires Caroline to replace judgement, logic and reason with flatulence and references from children’s films to finally make her brother question his life choices via a shot of warm nostalgia.
There is a lot to like about Big Ange. It has the same vibrancy and choreographed anarchy as Eastlake’s previous success Gerry & Sewell with ensemble movement that swings from locker room chaos to stylised dance breaks set to 1990s pop and classic Neil Diamond – bursts of energy that bring the story’s heavier themes to life.
Gavin Webster provides rich comic relief as Dirk, Ange’s neighbour and Blyth’s answer to Alan Sugar.
For all its energy and humour, at its big heart, the play boldly attempts to deal with some very meaty issues that the region and country are struggling to grapple with - the plight of our young men, the burden that falls on women, the rising popularity of the far right and the failure of the self-righteous left to adequately address it.
These are all topics Blyth-bred Eastlake admits were at the forefront of his mind while writing Big Ange, which would explain why the final show isn’t the mix of Mike Basset England Manager and Victoria Wood’s Dinner Ladies that we might have been expecting.
As he explains in the programme, the play doesn’t have the answers to the complexities we’re facing, but it does ask the questions.
Along the way the titular dinner lady becomes something of a squad player. Ange’s story lacks the gravity of Steven’s in the midfield engine room, Caroline is the emotional heart of the team and Dirk is the flair player and crowd favourite.
The story could be more cohesive, but the overarching message of hope over hate shines through in our divided times. I suspect this won’t be the last time we see Big Ange on a North East stage – sadly, its themes aren’t going anywhere soon.
Big Ange is at Live Theatre, Newcastle until November 22. Tickets from the website.