Dorothy Paul at the Kings Theatre Edinburgh Review
Dorothy Paul
King’s Theatre, Edinburgh
15 March 2014
Reviewed by Caroline Murray & Catherine Fletcher
Last night we went along to see Dorothy Paul “The Dennistoun Diva” at the King’s Theatre, Edinburgh for her one night show as part of her tour. This performance was one of her many, as she has entertained for over 50 years on stage and television including “The One ‘O’ Clock Gang” and “The Steamie”.
On arriving at the theatre we were given our tickets and shown to our seats which were in the stalls a few rows from the front giving us a good view of the stage. Looking around at the audience it was clear that the average age was probably 65 and over which made us feel a bit out of place despite us not being so young ourselves.
The stage was set out with a black back drop which had a painted window frame , on stage sat a grand piano to the left, a table and two chairs centre stage and finally a another table with a vase of flowers. This was the setting for the entire show.
As the lights went down John Crawford entered the stage, sat down at the piano and began to play and sing but was rudely interrupted by Dorothy Paul who was dressed as an old cleaner wearing slippers, a hair net and old fashioned overall. She asked John and the audience if they had seen her (Dorothy) and she wanted to tell her off as her dressing room was disgusting. She did this in her usual strong humorous Glasgow accent which had the audience in fits of laughter and after giving John banter and telling off, he left the stage. She then turned to tell us some tales of life with her husband who had carpal tunnel syndrome and about his visits to the doctors (but she was saying it wrong as calpol funnel for comedy effect).
This was followed by the “Lah De Dah’s” who were a group of three ladies wearing beautiful silver sparkly dresses and big feathers in their hair. They sang a few songs from the 50s era accompanied by John on the piano which brought us to the interval.
The second half started with a few more songs from the “La De Dah’s” who were wearing Charleston type costumes. Their voices very all very different in style and we enjoyed listening to them. We then had more comedy sketches from the lady herself but she seemed to forgetting her lines and needed prompting at times. It was then time for the audience’s questions to be put to her which was done in the style of a chat show with the help of her friend who asked the questions. There were some uncomfortable moments when the questions were asked but also plenty of funny points as well.
The show ended with Dorothy playing the saw as a violin along with John playing and singing Danny Boy at the piano. It must have been very difficult to keep the saw held at such an angle especially for a lady of her age but she did very well.
Overall it was enjoyable in parts but definitely not for us. If you are over a certain age and can remember her from her earlier years this show may be the one for you.
Rating: 3/5
For other shows at the King’s Theatre, Edinburgh visit www.edtheatre.com/kings.
