REVIEWS - SPEND SPEND SPEND 2010

Your Local Guardian - Friday 29th October 2010
Spending power at Richmond Theatre By Will Gore

Strictly Come Dancing is in full swing on our TV screens but judging panel commitments haven't stopped Craig Revel Horwood getting on with his day job, writes Will Gore.

Strictly's Mr Nasty is bringing his latest musical, Spend, Spend, Spend!, to Richmond Theatre for a five-day run next week. It's a show that proved a hit when it was first performed at The Watermill Theatre, in Newbury, last year.

The musical tells the true rags-to-riches story of pools winner Viv Nicholson and actor Kirsty Hoiles, who plays Young Viv, says working with Revel Horwood, who directed and choregraphed the production, has been a great experience.

“I love working with Craig – he is great fun,“ she says.

“Even though he has that Mr Nasty persona on Strictly, really he is lovely. His choreography is fantastic and he fosters a good atmosphere in the rehearsal room. He also makes decisions quickly and when you are rehearsing a big production like Spend Spend Spend! that is exactly what you need.”

The show, which features music by Steve Brown and a book and lyrics by Brown and Justin Greene, mixes humour and pathos to explore the story of Nicholson, a coal miner's wife from Castleford, who won £152,319 on the pools in 1961 – at the time the biggest sum ever won on the pools.

When the show, which Hoiles describes as “a morality tale”, was performed at the West Yorkshire Playhouse earlier in the year, members of Nicholson's family came to watch it.

The actor, who spent the first four years of her life living in Twickenham, is relieved to say they enjoyed what they saw.

She says: “Her youngest son came to watch with his wife, although unfortunately Viv was poorly so couldn't join them. I'm pleased to say they loved it. They particularly liked the way the production captured her story with a grittiness that really brought it to life.”