“Martin, what a bold move as a member of 'Joe Public' who attended and was dazzled by your production I will decline the offer as I have nothing but praise for your cast and piece of theatre. Darlingboy however may wish to take the offer, however after looking at his other comments they all appear to be based around slating Lace Market Theatre productions. Rival company or sour grapes perhaps??”

“What a fascinating and diverse range of views. As the director of the show I am always glad to hear and reflect upon the responses of the audience and it is reassuring that we still have people in this country who care so passionately about theatre.
For accuracy: not a single line was cut from the script. Every line and speech is as written. It may be that you have read the Methuen edition which is not the same as that used for performance. I am not a writer and would not presume to know better than Cartwright. And the band was a seven piece.
I love proper debate and if any of you fancy a coffee and chat about your responses to the production any time you are more than welcome.
Martin”

“It's an accurate review. This might be the most accomplished show I've ever seen in Nottingham, but it's so overwritten! I really doubt cutting anything to shreds was a bad decision - the script seemed to have so many long speeches as it is, with barely any theme or character facet begun before it was blasted in the audience's faces for an eternity.

I think Sims' scenes were the main culprit of this - way more done to establish her character than necessary. But whatever the excesses of the play were, it was extremely entertaining and was a great vehicle for showcasing just how stupendously talented every one of the actors is. There was a lot of playing for laughs but I don't feel there was any lack of depth - I genuinely felt for the characters throughout and was left very satisfied by the conclusion of the narrative.

Definitely 'unmissible', but I wouldn't go and see it again without a good long break!”

“Knowing this play well I was interested to see what LMT had done with it. I was hugely disapointed. A lot of liberty had been taken with the script,many lines totally rewritten and some good speeches cut to shreds. The Olivier award winning script obviously was not good enough for LMT.
The director had decided to stage it in what looked like a circus ring and everything was played for laughs. What is ultimatly a sad and tragic story was lost on the audience. We did not care about any of the characters.
The actors were far too young to play these complicated people, it felt like a bunch of kids playing dress up.
Kareena Sims played the mother Mari like a paraplegic crack *****.With her knees locked together, until she wrapped them round her boyfriend, no human has ever walked like that.The makeup the actress wore made her eyes small and her wig too far forward to see her face properly. More importanly her diologue was almost uninteligable, better diction please Miss Sims.
The titled charecter, LV, was played by Lauren Mckee. Although talented I was not convinced by her impressions of the singing legends. Her Judy was too like her Billie ect I think some extra work should have been done by the director for this is the point of the play .
The chap playing Ray,again too young,was not seedy enough and I didn't think for one moment he was capable of pinning Mari to the bed and showing her no mercy. Patrick's Sadie was played as a clown losing all the sadness and depth to the character which was a shame.
The actor in the role of Billy played it like Frank Spencer but became more believeable as the show went on.
I could'nt quite get what the period was in which the director had set this play the costumes were 1960s and the fridge/freezer and tv and sofa were more recent.So was the phone an inportant prop in one of the early scenes.
One of the highlights of the play is when LV gets to do her act in the club going through all the legends she loved. Unfortunatly the director decided to bring on a 4 piece brass section so the poor actress was drowned out and the scene became pointless.
Some sound and lighting ques were late and there was one point from where I was sitting I could see the actress changing costume!
I did expect better from this long established group.”

“Chris 19836, I'm sorry but I think you've misunderstood what the critic is saying. The reviewer clearly stipulates that any perceived overacting is a result of Cartwright's pen creating larger than life characters. Can't help but feel that you know one of the performers and have taken this a tad personally? I also feel the review is spot on in terms of a positive review for a very strong production hence the writer clearly knew what they were talking about. I enjoyed the play immensly well done to all.”

“Alan must of watched something eles. Patrick and Sims had me laughing and crying for all the right reasons. Larger then life indeed but over acted they were not. I think its time the Evening post got a theatre critic that didn't cut and paste half his column from the progame and KNEW what they were talking about. Brilliant show a job well done to all.”