The Great Almighty Gill
Written and performed by Daniel Hoffman-Gill
New Perspectives
Cleethorpes Library
Thursday 29 September 2022
Nottingham-based theatre company New Perspectives has always enjoyed an excellent reputation for its touring work, but since the pandemic it has had to investigate new and alternative ways in which to create theatre. Its serial storytelling through postcards which aptly was entitled Love From Cleethorpes, saw a series of postcards arrive weekly but out of sequence telling a story of love to be pieced together when all had been received, that served as a substitute for live performance while we were being intermittently locked down. But now they are back, in person, doing what they do best, making live theatre that speaks to audiences on a deeply personal and identifiable level.
Their first touring show since since the pandemic is wonderful - The Great Almighty Gill, directed by Angharad Jones the new Artistic Director of the company. It is a deeply personal work written and performed by Daniel Hoffman-Gill, that speaks to its audience on so many levels. I defy anyone not to find something with which they can identify in this sharply-written, yet darkly comic tribute to the playwright's late father, David Gill.
Daniel Hoffman-Gill has chosen to recreate his father's funeral, in order to allow his eulogy to be shared by a wider audience. David Gill died on 5 November 2015, having suffered in later life with the cruel condition - dementia - as it strips away the person known and loved and leavinga husk of their former self. This play is about love and loss, but also about giving ourselves permission to heal after such devastating experiences cruelly rob us of loved ones as we remember them and their lives. In Daniel's case, he tells us fndly that his father was "a twat". Clearly beloved, but nonetheless a twat in Gill's own words.
And so he presents us a portrait of his father in what may be perceived as an anodyne eulogy, to demonstrate the love of his father rfrom those who knew him best, yet also anodyne in the sense that the "Great Almighty Gill" lay in his coffin, free from pain, as others mourned his passing and shared his love of music, whilst saying kind things about him. The funeral opens with Elton John's I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues and closes with moving lipsynch to Elvis Presley singing American Trilogy. Good old Dave loved his Elvis, and his devoted wife Linda loved Elton. The eulogy was funny and touching. It was moving and it was truthful.
As he re-enacts the eulogy and the end of the funeral, Hoffman-Gill morphs into his own father. Its is a masterful performance, crafted beautifully and sharply observed. Gone is the soft Nottingham accent, replaced by a brash Estuary accent that could be London-ish but softened after years away, but is definitely not from the Midlands. Gone is the loving, funny, humble son trying to present a version of his father that befits the funeral. Instead we meet the large, loud, luminous personality, whose life seemed to consist of brushes with authority and wheeler-dealing. David Gill was a man happy to dabble with the dubious, happy to make a living on the wrong side of the law but whose personality was so large it clearly filled every room he entered, He was larger than life in so many ways. That he was represented by an oversized teddy bear in the funeral seems apt as we learn more about this oversized personality.
We hear of his life before and after the birth of the man performing before our eyes and the braggadocio of the elder Gill seemed to know no bounds. Yet his charisma and joie de vivre draw us to him and we see why Gill Junior fees the need to tell his story. HIs performance is mesmerising, part stand-up comedian, part storyteller. And just as the audience is drawn into the story of his life, it takes a cruel twist as dementia strikes unexpectedly. We had been told. We had been warned. We had not been prepared for the desperately sad way in which the illness ate away at this gigantic, charismatic man. To see him suddenly panic, or to see him begging for help with how buttons work, or how to stand was heartbreaking and the audience was moved to tears by the subtlety of Gill the younger's portrayal as his father raged against the dying of the light during moments of clarity and self-awareness.
The sound design by Adam P. McCready is subtle, yet hypnotising and its constant presence underpins much of the action without ever overpowering the storytelling. The same is true of the lighting design by Alexandra Stafford-Marshall. Never intrusive and always approriate, it allows the action to move and yet gives the production a dream-like, almost filmic quality. A special mention should be made of Gemma Casley-Kirk's overal design for the production, the Albert Room was skillfully transformed into the chapel of a small crematorium when addorned with pillars, vases of flowers, and an illuminated lectern bedecked with crucifix that holds more surprises than at first appears.
Thanks to Lincs Inspire, Cleethorpes has managed to see a production that proved highly successful at this year's Edinburgh Fringe, as part of a national tour. It is difficult to know but I wonder if it could play better in Cleethorpes than it did in Edinburgh. In Edinburgh it could simply be one of hundreds of shows on offer there, overlooked for teh more spectacular or the more bizarre. Nevertheless, this drama presented in the Albert Room in Cleethorpes Library, was of such high quality it deserved a greater audience. The intimacy of the space meant that everyone felt like they could connect with the work on their own level and in their own way. This is the first drama production of a three-year programme that will bring a wide variety of shows from numerous theatre companies to Cleethorpes, and we look forward with eager anticipation of what is to come.
Back to The Great Almighty Gill though. There could never be another ending to a play of this nature. Its ending was inevitable but nonetheless heartbreaking, when Daniel Hoffman-Gill as his father, David Gill, recounts his own demise to the assembled audience. Via his son's lovingly-crafted words and the injection of the music of Elvis Presley, we were privileged to have come into contact with a man we had never met and to share in remembering his life and keeping his memory alive. This was beautiful.
The Great Almighty Gill continues its tour throughout October, dates can be found on New Perspectives' website. It is well worth catching and it reurns to Lincolnshire at the Broadbent Theatre, Wickenby on Saturday 22 October 2022. If you can go, I implore you to do so. You will not regret it.
Andy Evans 29 September 2022