Lena

The Beacon Arts Centre, Greenock

Review by Brian Beacom

WHAT an incredible challenge, to play out the life of tiny Scots supertalent Lena Zavaroni on stage, a young woman ravaged by a mental illness which would result in her death at the age of just 35.

And how can you possibly illustrate the sheer talent contained within that ten-year-old from Rothesay, who went on to perform at the White House and appear with Sinatra?

Writer Tim Whitnall was well aware of the enormity of revealing such a human tragedy . . . .while not allowing the production to be consumed by the weight of the anorexia disease.

The device employed was to feature Hughie Green (played by Jon Culshaw), 1970s Britain’s most powerful television figure, who cast Zavaroni in his Opportunity Knocks story.

Green’s reflections offered both dark humour and a powerful sense of the dilemma at the heart of the young Scot’s pre-success story; should fame be encouraged at any cost, or sent back to Rothesay and wrapped up in the easy protection of fish chip paper?

What became immediate from the beginning of the production was that Erin Armstrong (24) was able to slide effortlessly across the years, TV’s Shetland actor revealing not only a warm but rasping, powerful-on-demand voice.

And Whitnall clearly managed to play out the family conflict without over-labouring the stakes; the battle between dad Victor (Alan McHugh) and mum Hilda Zavaroni (Julie Coombe) over their daughter’s future was delicately handled.

Meantime, the audience was able to enjoy the sheer sense of excitement, and ambition, that the little singer had featured in the early years.

Whitnall also clearly understood the vagaries of showbiz fame, how the young person is commoditised and used up while all the time being feted. And Helen Logan, who played Lena’s manager Dorothy Solomon, offered a delicious duplicity without ever resorting to stereotype.

That’s not to say this was the perfect bioplay. The first half reveals more than its share of exposition, the thick Biro’d history notes not only emerging from the Hughie Green character but from Victor, who seemed omnipresent on stage.

There could have been tightening of the time Lena’s mum, and to an extent her dad, spent on stage performing. And perhaps if the early years material were reduced, we would have come to learn more of Lena’s travails in the showbiz world, and understand why Lena Zavaroni’s later years were so ignominious, (living alone, penniless in a council flat in Wales.)

If all goes to plan, and it goes on to tour, this production is singing out for a new set design.

But if this play is a Firth of Clyde water tester as to the touring potential of a Lena Zavaroni show it was an undoubted success.

The first half’s warm, funny moments proved it could relight not only warm nostalgic memories but those of incredible talent. And the second half was dark and powerful enough to firm up the dramatic narrative, with a searing indictment of the showbiz world that cares about balance sheets far more than the balance of the human mind.

The standing ovation more than suggests that Lena will live on for many years to come. Audiences can sense this a powerful story with which Tim Whitnall is well on track to have a major hit.

The plan is that the show will tour next year – don’t miss it.