The Rise and Fall of Little Voice:
Hurst Festival Performance

Hurst’s support for the village festival began on the day of the first meeting of the founding committee some seven or so years ago and the College has played a significant part in every one of the six festivals that have followed.

Every year, Hurst’s music and drama have played a particularly strong role in the Festival and this year was no exception. Hurst Drama contributed Jim Cartwright’s The Rise and Fall of Little Voice and performances were staged in both the College’s Drama Studio and the Players Theatre in Hurstpierpoint Village.

Little Voice, set in a working-class northern household, tells the story of Little Voice, a shy and reclusive girl who spends her time listening to the record collection of her late father whom she misses desperately. Her mother, Mari, is a vivacious and flirtatious serial seducer of men who, having met small-time club agent Ray Say, now thinks her prospects are seriously improving. His appearance at the house turns Little Voice’s (LV’s) life upside down for, having heard her disembodied voice drift down from her bedroom, he immediately recognises her remarkable singing voice and persuades his manager, Mr. Boo, to showcase her extraordinary talent in a sleazy bar. LV is immediately hailed as a star of the future but after each demanding performance she retreats into her private world. Only Mari fails to acknowledge LV’s genius and the resulting tensions build and then ignite into an explosive row after LV fails to perform. LV’s salvation, it slowly emerges,  is Billy. With his support, she slowly grows in confidence and feels able to challenge her mother’s hedonistic lifestyle that, not least, led directly to her father’s death.

The cast certainly did justice to this revival of a little-performed West End and cinematic success. 14 year-old Nicole Tuffin combined an ability to portray the timid and withdrawn Little Voice with the extraordinary talent required to recreate the performances of some of the great divas of all time. Audiences were almost shocked by her ability to reproduce faithfully stunning performances by musical legends such as Shirley Bassey, Edith Piaf, Judy Garland and a flirtatious Monroe; “It was amazing” reflected one very impressed member of the Drama Studio audience “I was transported back to my youth”.

Equally impressive was Anna Turzynski’s performance as Little Voice’s mother, Mari. Her execution of a role that could so easily tip over the edge into farce was pitch perfect. Mari’s growing confidence that life was on the ‘up’, her scorn of anything achieved by LV, her anguish when her dreams fell apart  – were all effortlessly wrapped in a stunning portrayal of this free-spirited, chaotic and remarkably ‘scarlet’ woman and the audience responded by turns with laughter and then horror and, eventually, with long and loud applause.

Not for a moment, however, was Director Nicholas Beeby content to allow the ensemble to drift in the wake of these two leviathans. He pushed every member of the cast beyond their comfort zones and achieved from each one what is certainly their finest performance to date. Bailey Pilbeam’s Ray Say displayed humanity and imagination and convinced us that his romantic entanglement- often the butt of filthy jokes - had failed to curb his naked ambition. Zack Pinsent’s performance of Mr Boo, the flamboyant manager of a sleazy club, clearly showed how Boo added to LV’s disengagement with ‘show business’. His disinterest in the advances of Mari’s best friend Sadie (Tara Nuttall) added yet another layer of humour and one could only admire the subtle way that – with little in the way of supporting script – she portrayed the simple Sadie; a ‘lady’ whose dull life lit up the tense and sometimes dark world inhabited by Mari and LV. Never have Hula Hoops and Cornflakes been so effectively employed for comic effect! Lewis Barnes gave a great performance as the Phone Man and Guy Sandys-Renton’s Billy drew an affectionate “aww” from the audience every night. His naïve but sincere interest in LV gave the audience a glimpse of the life they wanted her to enjoy; a life that, when the final curtain began to fall, they realised would soon be hers to claim.