Irrelevant

Keith Merrill has written and directs the story of Millie Grable, one of LA’s top film agents, as she remembers being rejected by Hollywood as a promising young actress before re-inventing herself to represent her peers. This is a high-quality production of a disappointing script.

She may be bitter and twisted, but she is not as witty or vicious as she needs to be to make me love her. The writing seems to be in one tone with little variety of pace. There are so many drag queens around who have better lines.

Debbie Chazen as Millie works hard to impress the audience, covering the stage and props with skill. She shows good timing, especially with the Rock Hudson set-up and punchline. Guillermo Názara supplies beautiful atmospheric piano accompaniment, but I wondered why it only came in from halfway through. Other effects had been realistic – use of the phone and radio- so where did this music suddenly appear from? Alistair Lindsay has designed impressive lighting, but the changes seemed too many and again without logic. It suggested to me that the Director was using all ways to add punch to a script which was lacking.

Irrelevant aims to impress with Mille’s putdowns of famous names, but failed to make me invest in how her story ended.

Derek Benfield