Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean at Lace Market Theatre: Review

Plays falling into the "all girls together" sub-genre are invariably third-rate or worse – think Calendar Girls, Steel Magnolias or Ladies' Day. And they always seem to play the cancer card. But this one is different. We get that cancer card all right, but in every other respect it's in an entirely different class.

In 1955 a group of small-town Texas teenage girls and one effeminate boy, who idealised James Dean, met regularly at the local drugstore. At one such meeting they learned of his death in a car crash. Exactly twenty years later they meet at the same venue, as arranged, for the anniversary. The play moves back and forth across the decades.

Stephanie Cullingford's set is terrific. It's a symmetrical and highly realistic five and dime drugstore with two counters. The present (1975) action happens by the stage-right counter, the stage-left one being used for the often paralleled 1955 scenes. Some, but confusingly not all, of the exits and entrances are made through the fourth wall into and out of the auditorium, which is unnecessary.

It's a fascinating and moving play of considerable complexity. There are the themes of memory and passing time, self-delusion, insularity and bigoted cruelty. And all the while we're watching the slow death of that small-town USA made familiar in films up till the 1950s. It's elegiac at a number of levels.

But it's also funny.

On press night there was some initial uncertainty over lines. But the relative slowness of plot development and revelation of character in the first half are otherwise down to the playwright. Both greatly accelerate after the break.

Casting, acting – and sometimes difficult Texan accents – are first-rate. Carole Parkinson is super as the God-fearing fundamentalist drugstore proprietor. So are Kareena Sims as Mona with all her wildly changing moods, and Sheanne Hogarth, in a fine Lace Market Theatre debut as the amusing, apparently sexually voracious Sissy. In the end she's a figure of pathos.

Absolutely right for the younger Mona and Sissy, Charlie Bailey and Lauren Stephenson, also Lace Market Theatre newcomers, give fine performances. Joanne, the only sophisticated and worldly character at the reunion, has the most muted accent of the evening. She's played by real-life Texan, Julie Fleming.

This production was dogged by big initial difficulties, resulting in a shorter than usual rehearsal period. It doesn't show. Directed by Bex Mason, it must be the Lace Market Theatre very near its best.

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Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean

Ian Douglas went to see Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean

The Lace Market Theatre is one of Nottingham's wonders. Entirely run by volunteers, from the actors and stage crew to the front desk and bar staff. And yet this is no 'am dram' and at its best can compete with the big boys in town. What a marvellous way of keeping that white chalked building in working order.

Nor does the theatre shy away from challenging or controversial plays. Take Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean as an example. Originally written in 1976 by Ed Gracyzk, the play was turned into an excellent movie in 1982 starring Cher, Kathy Bates and Karen Black. If you haven't seen it yet, rent a copy.

A small, flyblown town is slowly dying in the heat of an endless drought. Deep in the bible belt, this scratch in the sand is home to rednecks and fundamental Christians. Yes, it's a town full of bigots.

It's the twentieth anniversary of James Dean's death. The perfect excuse for Mona, lifelong James Dean devotee and mother to his only known son, to throw a reunion party for the Disciples of Dean, this being the fan club she ran all those years ago, after working as an extra on Giant, Dean's last movie.

A handful of former members turn up, as does a mystery woman who seems strangely familiar. Mona plans an evening of reminisces, of the days when Dean's son brought an all too brief prosperity to the town. But those glories are long faded. Now,  everyone is living a lie.

And so the narrative cuts between 1975 and the fateful events of 1955. What happened when Mona's boyfriend went to senior prom dressed as a girl? Yes, that's where the jello-filled boobies come in. What terrible revenge was exacted on him by the homophobic locals? And how did Mona come to spend a night with James Dean, and why does his son have a learning disability? These and other dark secrets are about to wriggle their way into the light.

It's a play about delusion and denial. A piece charting our psychoses and neuroses and the simmering tensions these cause. Tensions that are about to explode and change everyone's life forever.

The cast are solid and sport convincing American accents. Julie Fleming handles the role of the enigmatic mystery woman with panache. Sly smiles, knowing glances, the quiet confidence of someone who knows something you do not. But even she is in for a shock or two before the night is out.

The flashbacks play out alongside the present day and this cutting to and fro could be a tad confusing, so pay attention. Nonetheless, frequent remarks from the audience were 'Well, that's different' and 'That was really good.' So won't you all come back to the 5 & Dime? You'll be in for some good theatre.

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"Come Back To The 5 & Dime Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean"

Nottingham Lace Market Theatre

Written by Ed Graczyk there was a film made in 1982, based on the play by Graczyk made in 1976. The play is set partly in 1975 and 1955, the year Dean was killed in a car crash.

The Disciples Of James Dean meet up, 20 years after his death at the "Five and Dime". Some of the women have changed, some have not and one is, at the beginning, completely unrecognisable. as they start to relive the past 20 years, memories resurface and truths come to the surface and erupt.

The set is a mirror image, just two decades apart, although you may notice that the seventies set is slightly more worn, and even the floor tiles appear a little more brown than white. All creating an aged affect. There is a great attention to detail with the set and you can tell the hard work that has been put in by the set designer Stephanie Cullingford.

Attention to detail is shown even before the play starts with some mood setting music from country artists like Ronnie Milsap, B.J. Thomas, Freddy Fender, himself a born Texan, and Glen Campbell among others.

Carol Parkinson plays Juanita, the owner of the Texan watering hole. Juanita is the mother hen of the play and is the main link between the two sets in the 50s and the 70s. A lovely character driven role, as are all of the characters in the play.

Kareena Sims plays Mona who claims to have had a part in Dean's film "Giant" and that Dean fathered her child Jimmy Dean, twenty years earlier. Slightly neurotic and forever berating her unseen son.

The 1950's Mona is played by Charlie Bailey, and this is her debut stage performance for the Lace Market Theatre. This play features several debuts...

Another brilliant debut is for Sheanne Hogarth as Sissy. Previously of the Nottingham Trent University Drama society Sheanne is a definite bonus to the Lace Market Theatre. She is bubbly and has real stage presence. You would not have guessed that this was her Lace Market Theatre debut as she oozed confidence and humour, even in the light of the losses she has suffered as a woman in the previous years.

Younger Sissy is played by another Lace Market Theatre debut actor, Lauren Stephenson. You may recognise her though from the Nottingham Arts Theatre panto from 2015 where she played Cinderella. Like Sheanne, oozing with confidence.

Dani Wain plays Edna Louise. I love this character as she is the most vulnerable of the lot. She has some lovely naive lines and takes the insults from some of the others on the chin and still seems to seek acceptance from the other Disciples. A lovely subtle performance from Dani, and she deals with the baby bump really well. Sorry let me clarify this. The character, Edna Louise is pregnant for the seventh time.

Stella Mae is played by Rosina Reading, and turns in another wonderful character-driven role in killer wedges.

There is an actual Texan in the cast and Julie Fleming is the one. Julie plays Joanne, the "stranger" who rolls up in a yellow Porsche. The other Disciples soon work out that Joanne used to be Joe.

Joe, the only male in the cast, is played by Jak Truswell. In the film Joe is a "sensitive" soul who is treated as a freak by the rest of the town. His love for Mona isn't reciprocated and this is the catalyst for his decision for a complete change, returning for the 20th anniversary as Joanne. Jak plays down a lot of the sensitive side of Joe from the film, but still manages to retain the vulnerability of the character.

I've always found that accents at the Lace Market Theatre have always been done rather well and that legacy continues. The Texan accent has often been over done but, with an actual Texan in the cast, you'd expect an accurate twang, and that's what we had, all the way through. The consistency throughout is another tribute to the whole cast.

Changing from the 70s to the 50s is done by subtle lighting changes, courtesy of Allan Green, assisted by Rose Dudley. Also setting the feel of the two periods are the costumes (Barry Holland and Doreen Hunt) and some wonderful wigs and make up.

There is of course one person I've not yet mentioned. Directed by Bex Mason, this is another massive directorial success for Bex following on from Beautiful Thing. The pace of the play is snappy and it trundles along at a steady confident rate.

It's a lovely nostalgic tale or remembrance and hope as well as recognition of what's gone in the lives of a small town community group.

Come Back To The 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean is another wonderful production from the theatre who rarely fail to produce little performed but excellent plays. Go and support this incredibly talented bunch and discover one of Nottingham's hidden gems of entertainers.

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