"The Thrill of Love" by Amanda Whittington

Nottingham Lace Market Theatre

Ruth Ellis (Kareena Sims) was the last woman to be hanged in Britain in 1955 after being convicted of shooting her lover, David Blakely. The Thrill of Love dramatises this infamous true story and takes a closer look at the women behind the headlines.

Ruth was a divorcee with a young child to care for, She worked in the kind of nightclubs where there’s more than just a drink on offer, but the girls work hard, play hard and dream of a movie-star life.

Then she meets the wealthy, womanising David, a racing driver with whom she becomes obsessed. She also begins seeing Desmond Cussen, a man driven mad with jealousy by her tempestuous and often violent relationship with David.

The play focuses on Ruth’s life, as well as her friendship with three women all working the club scene: club owner, Sylvia (Jemma Froggitt), aspiring actor and model, Vickie (Charlie Bailey) and charwoman, Doris (Rosina Reading). These friends provide comfort and nursing as she battles abusive lovers and the press.

Meanwhile, Detective John (Jack) Gale (Fraser Wanless) follows her story from the beginning, hoping to piece together the motive behind why she murdered David, and who provided the gun she used to shoot him with.

Casting judgement on Ellis was Colin Treliving as the judge, a role that in some versions of the play isn't utilised.

Amanda Whittington's writing is beautifully researched and, as with all of her plays, is written from a woman's point of view especially for female actors, for everyone to enjoy.

The acting and the accents are perfect and differentiates the classses of the characters wonderfully. And while this story may at first be envisaged as quite dark, given the subject matter, there are many comedic moments, and the lines are delivered with a natural throw away style, in the way that you'd make an off the cuff remark within any normal conversation. What I'm trying to say is that none of this play comes across as staged and the naturalness shines through from all.

There's a feeling of film noir, especially in the flashback sections with Gale, and this is helped by the lighting from Philip Hogarth which created that special 1950'd movie atmosphere.

We were advised at the start that the play would begin in nine seconds which i thought was a bit weird, but put dismissed it, but later in the play nine seconds would be mentioned again. This reference at the start and later in the play gives you some sort of perspective for the second reference, which I won't give away, but a very clever touch.

What I also loved were all the little things throughout the play which shows the attention to detail for the period in the props (Holly Coleman),The pill box that Ruth had, the old HMV record label, the record player, Ruth's painful looking bruises, the brilliant costumes (Jane Herring), and the music.

The projection of the old Pathe news reel reporting about the trial added that certain bit of historical magic to the piece (Matthew Allcock). If only they taught history in schools in the same way as this play was presented.

The soundtrack of this play is Billie Holiday all the way through, and being a fan of Lady Day, this drew me in even more. Just listen to the choices of the tracks and they tell the story as well as the actors and the writing, "Guilty", "My Man", "Taint Nobody's Business", "God Bless The Child", every song paints a picture. It's as if the songs were written to tell Ruth's story.

Director John Anthony has done a wonderful job. You are drawn in to the story behind the woman, her hurt, her abuse, both physical and mental, but still keeps that little unanswered mystery of who provided the trigger that Ruth pulled, which led to her being the last woman to be hanged in Britain. No wonder there was so much empathy for this fiercely independent woman whose weakness was just wanting to be loved.

Being in the intimate upstairs performance space, you could see every facial expression from every actor.You could feel everything that they were conveying about their character, something that may be missed on a larger set, which was designed by Keith Parkinson.

Being a smaller space also means that the sound quality is very good. You could hear every word from the lyrics of the songs and the sound effects gave the effect of coming from outside the main arena, putting you right in the centre of the action at all times. Jack Harris is the man behind this aural clarity.

The actors us several entrance doors into the performance area, which is well stage managed by Julian Phillips, making an interesting and "on your toes" viewing experience for the audience.

You'll be completely enveloped by this fascinating play and the beautifully written characters and story. The passion in this play, and for this play is evident.

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The Thrill of Love at Nottingham's Lace Market Theatre - review

'The downside is that too much of the play’s first half is taken up by scene-setting chit-chat that goes on long after we’ve got the point'

Ruth Ellis was the last woman to be hanged in the UK. She went to the gallows in 1955 for shooting dead her lover David Blakely outside the Magdala Tavern in Hampstead, London.

Amanda Whittington’s The Thrill of Love, is a compelling, albeit impressionistic account of the period leading up to the crime, the actual murder, the investigation and trial, and, finally, the execution.

Paradoxically, the chief strength of the play is bound up with its main weakness. Whittington goes to great lengths to establish period, place and atmosphere – this is upper-crust post-war West End clubland, peopled by escort/hostesses, racing drivers and their hangers-on, and broken-down would-be playboys – and she succeeds.

But the downside is that too much of the play’s first half is taken up by scene-setting chit-chat that goes on long after we’ve got the point.

That said, Director John Anthony delivers a very strong production.

Kareena Sims in the central role gives us a riveting performance. She captures Ruth’s brassy sexiness, the forced genteelism of her speech, and her pretention, as well as her underlying tenderness. And she’s horribly convincing when she’s suffering the pains of a miscarriage.

Fraser Wanless, as Inspector Gale, the hard-bitten and world-weary copper trying to save Ellis’s life by getting her to tell the full truth, is first rate. He’s enthralled by and half in love with Ruth.

Seen-it-all club manageress Sylvia (Jemma Froggitt) and hostess Vickie (Charlie Bailey) are excellent. And so, particularly, is Rosina Reading as Doris, a sweet and kindly maid-of-all work with a Cockney accent.

Authentic period costumes are remarkably well done. And so is the soundtrack, often an important element in this particular playwright’s work. The voice of Billie Holiday is a continual reminder of the parallels between her short life and the life of Ruth Ellis.

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Theatre Review: The Thrill of Love

Murder entwines with love in this dark drama.

Love: a difficult thing to understand. Despite being a supposedly natural feeling, it is still almost impossible to explain to others. An individual feels it whenever and however they do. So we all know it exists, but love is still unique to the individual. That’s not to say that, as a race, we’re completely incapable of understanding what another may be going through in terms of love. That’s what makes it the perfect subject matter for music and fiction. However, Amanda Whittington has dramatized the true story of Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be hanged in Britain for murdering her lover David Blakely. The Thrill of Love is a dark, twisted, and, at parts, unsettlingly comedic play that explores Ruth’s life, motives, and conviction.

Ruth finds work in a gentleman’s club, owned by tough-as-nails manager Sylvia. Ruth befriends some of the staff, Vickie and Doris, and with relative ease. Ruth is an incredibly charming, witty, and caring individual. Wonderfully well-spoken and clearly well-educated as she frequently calls people up on their grammatical errors; a particularly poignant way of highlighting that post-war mid 50s in Britain was an immensely difficult time for everyone.

The opening scene is Ruth murdering Blakely and confessing as articulately as she can to Detective Inspector Gale. The story jumps between past and present as Gale questions Ruth on her motive. This mystery is not so much a whodunit, but more of a why-do-it.

Kareena Sims, the actress who played Ruth, was wonderful. She performed the role of a murderer and yet made her so likable, courageous, and made her audience sympathise with her throughout. Closely followed by the other members of the cast, Jemma Froggitt, as Sylvia, doing particularly well at keeping her emotions bottled up along with the rest of her liquor which Ruth relentlessly drinks through to numb the pains caused by her love affairs, both figuratively and literally.

It is a very slick, dark, and intimate production enhanced by having a very small stage with the audience sat very close to the action in a semi-circle. Further enhanced with the minimal set and the clever way that a different setting could be symbolised by simply having a different coloured tablecloth in an otherwise very similar looking space. It gave the feeling of seamlessness throughout the performance which mirrored the emotionally complex changes that the characters went through.

A strong effort from the Lace Market Theatre producing a harrowing but true story from history that is all too easily lost by a younger generation.

Read the original article here.