Eurovision

1966, Copenhagen, The Eurovision Song Contest. You’re behind the scenes with the British entrant Didi, her manager and song-writing team. The sugary pop princess is an immature neurotic who doesn’t understand the love she sings about so glibly, the rest of the team are discovering all they hate about each other, and they’re running the risk of sabotaging their chances in the competition. The manager, Ken has to hold it all together and get Didi to the competition in the right frame of mind. This is a clever piece, a microcosm set up to show the different personality types, their weaknesses and how they fail to deal with them, individually and collectively. In particular, the manager was very well done, with nice touches like buttoning his jacket every time he stood up – even to answer the ‘phone, and then dropping this mannerism at the end when all was going to pot. A good script, too. Lines like “She’ll be a while, she’s got two faces to make up.” And her previous hit being called “Penny In The Slot”.It’s also a well-constructed production, and confidently played. I only had minor reservations: for example, the stormings-in and out of Harry, the lyricist were a bit overdone for my liking. Overall though, the relationships within the team were well done, especially the manager struggling to keep it all together until the start of the competition. It was my second show in this venue that day, and it was noticeable that both casts made a point of thanking the technical team for a great job.