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100 years of The Porthill Players

Mack and Mabel, the Holywood Musical

held on the 17th - 22nd May 2010
at the Stoke-on-Trent Repertory Theatre

Porthill Players nominated for Regional Best Musical Award 2010 for Mack & Mabel

A Romantic Musical Comedy based on the relationship between two of the pivotal figures of the silent film era:

Mack Sennett "The King of Comedy" creator of the Keystone Kops and his greatest discovery and lover, comedienne Mabel Normand.

The story begins in 1911, when Mabel Normand, a humble delicatessen delivery girl, shows up on Mack Sennett’s New York set. Mabel immediately catches director Sennett’s eye and she is soon starring in his two-reelers and together they bring magic to the silver screen.

Their romance is stormy and complicated by Sennett’s dictatorial directing style. When Mabel expresses an interest in expanding into feature dramas, Sennett discourages her, leading her to leave him professionally - and personally - for slick director William Desmond Taylor.

Can Mack and Mabel escape their undeniable love for each other and will they reach the happy ending Sennett provided in his movies?...

a review of Mack & Mabel

Jonathan Fernyhough as Mack, and Catherine O'Reilly as Mabel

"Tinsletown seems to have been built on enduring tales of rags-to-riches success and overnight transformations from obscurity to big-screen superstardom.

The Porthill Players' production of Mack & Mabel relates the true story of a chance encounter between silent movie director Mack Sennett, and shop worker Mabel Normand, that led to the accidental birth of a silver screen legend almost a century ago.

The plot unfolds against a backdrop of enormous cultural changes as the movie industry evolves from silent films to "talkies" and production companies abandon America's big cities to establish sprawling studio lots in the desert outside Los Angeles.
Sennett, who created the Keystone Kops and directed such comic legends as Charlie Chaplin and Fatty Arbuckle, follows the railroad west with his crew and cast, including his new-found leading lady, former deli delivery girl Mabel, who lands her first role after messing up a shoot while dropping off sandwiches.

But they find the Hollywood that awaits them as corrupting as it is alluring, and based more on fables than fairytales.

The story of Mack and Mabel's stormy relationship is retold in Sennett's nostalgic, amusing and often poignant snapshot recollections, using very effective freeze-frame tableaux.

The hugely talented cast demonstrates an exceptional degree of acting, singing and even tap-dancing ability, along with some great moments of comic timing during the play's many lighter moments.

It was a huge relief to find that virtually all of the speaking roles had mastered plausible American accents for the show.

And none had perfected these more studiously than the excellent Jonathan Fernyhough, who plays Mack, and the equally outstanding Catherine O'Reilly, starring alongside him as Mabel.

Catherine's powerful rendition of the song Time Heals Everything was so intensely moving that there was a momentary gasp from the audience before riotous applause broke out.

The production's big show score and inventive set design are also superb, while the eye-catching projected movie sequences and strobe-lit Keystone Kops scene really help to transport the audience back to the silent movie era."

Ian Robinson - Sentinel Newspaper
18 May 2010