Watermill Theatre

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The Watermill Theatre, Bagnor, Newbury, RG20 8AE.
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Fanny, 23rd May to 15th June
You’ll probably know her younger brother, Felix Mendelssohn, from 19th century smash hits like The Wedding March. He was the Cliff Richard of his day and was even asked to play at a personal concert for Queen Victoria. But only if he played her favourite piece of music ever, a song called Italien. However, we now know that Felix was forced to admit to the Queen that, in actuality, the piece had been composed by his sister, Fanny, and simply published under his name. Fanny imagines that Fanny intercepts a letter addressed to ‘F. Mendelssohn’ inviting Felix to play for Queen Victoria. As the true composer of Italien, she decides to hide the letter, don her brother’s clothes, and take his place at the palace…cueing a race across Europe and a furious Felix. This fun and irreverent new comedy celebrates classical music and - at last - the work of a composer overlooked because of her sex.

Reviews of Fanny

23rd May to 15th June 2024

Review from Newbury Theatre.

Fanny was Felix’s elder sister in the Mendelssohn family and a composer and pianist in her own right although in Victorian times that was not a career for women – their job was to marry and look after a family. Accordingly, her songs were published as being by Felix.

Fanny and Felix got on well together; Fanny gave him help with his compositions, showing him how to score the wedding march in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In 1842, Felix played for Queen Victoria at Buckingham Palace who told him – and sang for him – her favourite of his lieder. He admitted that it was composed by Fanny, but neither he nor his mother told Fanny about this.

The first act covers the period in Berlin around 1828 with Felix, their mother Lea, younger brother Paul and Wilhelm Hensel, a former flame who had returned after some years in Italy. The dialogue was peppered with witty one-liners – reminiscent of Oscar Wilde’s style – and a string of outrageous but very funny puns from Wilhelm, and the many comings and goings added an element of farce.

After the interval, the audience were persuaded to join in with singing and music, which got very silly but was good fun. After that Clara Schumann (Jade May Lin) got added to the team as they made their way to London to perform – they hoped – for Victoria at the palace. This section, and particularly the carriage ride to the palace, was far too long and the production lost some momentum here.

There were some outstanding comedy performances: Harry Kershaw who played the bungling and put-upon Paul and Kim Ismay as a rather severe Mum. Both played various characters on the journey to London, causing chaos for Fanny and friends.

Charlie Russell brought out the complex character of Fanny very well, with great facial expressions when she was pretending to conduct (and correct) an orchestra. She and Corey Montague-Sholay as Felix had conflicting interests. He wanted her to get married and give up composing; with her growing affection for Wilhelm (George Howard) she was torn between that and her wish to continue with her musical career.

Calum Finlay was the ‘writer’, meaning it was a collaboration which evolved over five years. The set, by Sophia Pardon, who also designed the costumes, was a simple room in the Mendelssohns’ house, with a grand piano and pictures on the walls including one of Victoria and Albert which cleverly changed to show them speaking, played amusingly by Ismay and Montague-Sholay.

All in all, an excellent first half but with a second half that needed shortening.

PAUL SHAVE

There are reviews from Wokingham Today ("energetic, funny and compelling... brilliantly acted, and fantastically staged – Fanny is as near to a perfect play as I have seen"); The Stage ("a pithily written riot of a good time... full of witty wordplay" - ★★★); Marlborough News ("energy, enthusiasm and passion"); West End Best Friend ("a well constructed piece of theatre, with a lot of laughs and some fabulously accomplished performances" - ★★★★); WhatsOnStage ("a warm, funny, life-enhancing and eye-opening musical comedy" - ★★★★); Broadway World ("brisk and light-hearted with plenty of laughs... a riotous, irreverent yet enthralling play" - ★★★★); Theatre Vibe ("wonderful audience participation").

Reviews in the Archive

Much Ado About Nothing (April 2024)
Sherlock Holmes and the Poison Wood (February 2024)
The Wizard of Oz (November 2023)
Macbeth (October 2023)
The Lord of the Rings (July 2023)
Mansfield Park (June 2023)
The Suspicions of Mr Whicher (May 2023)
Visitors (March 2023)
Notes from a Small Island (February 2023)
Rapunzel (November 2022)
The Sleeping Sword (October 2022)
Othello (September 2022)
Whistle Down the Wind (July 2022)
Camp Albion (July 2022)
Bleak Expectations (May 2022)
Our Man in Havana (April 2022)
Spike (January 2022)
The Wicker Husband (March 2022)
The Jungle Book (November 2021)
Brief Encounter (October 2021)
Just So (July 2021)
As You Like It (June 2021)
The Hound of the Baskervilles (May and August 2021)
A Christmas Carol (December 2020)
Lone Flyer (October 2020)
Bloodshot (September 2020)
Camelot (August 2020)
The Hound of the Baskervilles (July 2020)
The Wicker Husband (March 2020)
The Prince and the Pauper (November 2019)
A Midsummer Night’s Dream (February 2020)
One Million Tiny Plays About Britain (February 2020)
Assassins (September 2019)
Kiss Me, Kate (July 2019)
Our Church (June 2019)
The Importance of Being Earnest (May 2019)
Amélie (April 2019)
Macbeth (February 2019)
Robin Hood (November 2018)
Murder For Two (January 2019)
Jane Eyre (October 2018)
Trial by Laughter (September 2018)
Sweet Charity (July 2018)
Jerusalem (June 2018)
A Midsummer Night’s Dream (May 2018)
Burke and Hare (April 2018 and on tour)
Digging For Victory Senior Youth Theatre (March 2018)
The Rivals (March 2018)
Teddy (January 2018)
The Borrowers (November 2017)
Under Milk Wood (October 2017)
Loot (September 2017)
The Picture of Dorian Gray (September 2017 and on tour)
A Little Night Music (July 2017)
All at Sea! (July 2017)
The Miller's Child (July 2017)
Nesting (July 2017 and on tour)
House and Garden (May 2017)
See Newbury Dramatic Society for a review of Maskerade (May 2016)
Twelfth Night (April 2017)
Faust x2 (March 2017)
Murder For Two (January 2017)
Sleeping Beauty (November 2016)
Frankenstein (October 2016)
The Wipers Times (September 2016)
Crazy For You (July 2016)
Watership Down (June 2016)
Untold Stories (May 2016)
See the Box Theatre Company review of The Sea (April 2016)
One Million Tiny Plays About Britain (April 2016 and on tour)
Romeo and Juliet (February 2016)
Tell Me on a Sunday (January 2016)
Alice in Wonderland (November 2015)
Gormenghast (November 2015) - see the Youth page
The Ladykillers (September 2015)
Oliver! (July 2015)
A Little History of the World (July 2015 and on tour)
Between the Lines (July 2015)
The Deep Blue Sea (June 2015)
Far From the Madding Crowd (April 2015)
Tuxedo Junction (March 2015)
The Secret Adversary (February 2015)
Peter Pan (November 2014)
But First This (October 2014)
Twelfth Night (November 2014) - see the Youth page
Journey's End (September 2014)
Calamity Jane (July 2014)
The Boxford Masques - Joe Soap's Masquerade (July 2014)
Hardboiled - the Fall of Sam Shadow (July 2014)
A Bunch of Amateurs (May 2014)
See the Box Theatre Company review of The Canterbury Tales (May 2014)
Sense and Sensibility (April 2014)
Life Lessons (March 2014)
All My Sons (February 2014)
The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea (January 2014)
Pinocchio (November 2013)
Sherlock's Last Case (September 2013)
Romeo+Juliet (September 2013 and on tour)
The Witches of Eastwick (July 2013)
Laurel & Hardy (June 2013)
The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (May 2013)
The Miser (April 2013)
David Copperfield (March 2013)
Sleuth (February 2013)
Arabian Nights (November 2012)
The Tempest (September 2012)
Thoroughly Modern Millie (August 2012)
Boxford Masques (July 2012)
Ben Hur (June 2012)
Of Mice and Men (May 2012)
Love on the Tracks (April 2012 and on tour)
Henry V and The Winter's Tale (April 2012)
Lettice and Lovage (February 2012)
The Wind in the Willows (November 2011)
Some Like It Hotter (November 2011 and on tour)
Great Expectations (September 2011)
Radio Times (August 2011)
The Marriage of Figaro (July 2011)
Moonlight and Magnolias (May 2011)
Richard III and The Comedy of Errors (April 2011)
The Clodly Light Opera and Drama Society (March 2011)
Relatively Speaking (February 2011)
Treasure Island (November 2010)
Single Spies (September 2010)
Copacabana (July 2010)
Daisy Pulls It Off (June 2010)
Brontë (April 2010)
Raising Voices (March 2010)
Confused Love (March 2010)
Heroes (February 2010)
James and the Giant Peach (November 2009)
Educating Rita (October 2009)
Spend Spend Spend! (July 2009 and September 2010)
Blithe Spirit (May 2009)
Bubbles (April to May and September to October 2009)
A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Merchant of Venice (March 2009)
Life X 3 (January 2009)
Matilda and Duffy's Stupendous Space Adventure (November 2008)
The Sirens' Call (November 2008)
Our Country's Good (September 2008)
See Newbury Dramatic Society for a review of The Recruiting Officer (October 2008)
Sunset Boulevard (July 2008)
Boxford Masques - Knight and Day (July 2008)
Black Comedy and The Bowmans (May 2008)
London Assurance (April 2008)
Micky Salberg's Crystal Ballroom Dance Band (April 2008 and on tour)
Great West Road (March 2008)
Merrily We Roll Along (March 2008)
Honk! (November 2007)
Rope (September 2007)
Martin Guerre (July 2007)
Twelfth Night (June 2007)
The Story of a Great Lady (April and September 2007, and on tour)
The Rise and Fall of Little Voice (April 2007)
For Services Rendered (March 2007)
Plunder (January 2007)
The Snow Queen (November 2006)
Peter Pan in Scarlet (October 2006)
The Taming of the Shrew (September 2006 and on tour in 2007)
Hot Mikado (July 2006 and September 2009)
Boxford Masques: The Crowning of the Year (July 2006)
Hobson's Choice (May 2006)
Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea (April 2006)
Tartuffe (February 2006)
The Jungle Book (November 2005)
The Gilded Lilies (October 2005)
Copenhagen (September 2005)
The Garden of Llangoed (September 2005 and September 2006)
Thieves' Carnival (July 2005)
The Shed (July 2005)
Mack and Mabel (May 2005)
The Odyssey (May 2005)
Broken Glass (April 2005)
The Winter's Tale (January 2005)
Arabian Nights (December 2004)
See Newbury Dramatic Society for a review of Whose Life is it Anyway? (November 2004)
Multiplex (November 2004)
Neville's Island (September 2004)
The Comedian (September 2004 and March 2005)
Raising Voices Again (September 2004)
Pinafore Swing (July 2004)
The Venetian Twins (May 2004)
The Gentleman from Olmedo (April 2004)
Mr & Mrs Schultz (March 2004 and on tour)
Sweeney Todd (February 2004)
The Emperor and the Nightingale (November 2003)
See Newbury Dramatic Society for a review of An Ideal Husband (November 2003)
A Star Danced (September 2003)
The Fourth Fold (September 2003)
The Last Days of the Empire (July 2003)
Accelerate (July 2003)
Dreams from a Summer House (May 2003)
The Triumph of Love (April 2003)
Gigolo (March 2003)
Raising Voices (March 2003)
A Midsummer Night's Dream (February 2003)
The Firebird (November 2002)
Ten Cents a Dance (September 2002)
Dancing at Lughnasa (July 2002)
Love in a Maze (June 2002)
Fiddler on the Roof (April 2002)
I Dreamt I Dwelt in Marble Halls (March 2002 and March 2006)
Only a Matter of Time (February 2002)
Cinderella and the Enchanted Slipper (November 2001)
Piaf (October 2001)
The Merchant of Venice (October 2001)
Witch (September 2001)
The Clandestine Marriage (August 2001)
The Importance of Being Earnest (May 2001)
Gondoliers (March 2001)
Rose Rage (February 2001)
Carmen (July 2000)