Currently showing at the Kings Head Theatre, Maureen Sherlock’s Coral Browne, this f***ing lady is a very entertaining one-woman show. Writer/ director Sherlock brings this wonderful character back to life in this hilarious script.
Coral Browne left Melbourne, Australia in 1934 with just 50 pounds in her pocket headed on a boat to London at just 20 years of age. Her sparkling career led her from the Westend to Broadway and on to Hollywood.
The play is set at Browne’s Hollywood home in the early 90s. The simple staging consists of several boxes of her memorabilia, a chair and a sofa. A screen that initially looks like a painting when the play begins displays the key moments and notable men that were in Browne’s life.
Amanda Muggleton (known for roles in Prisoner Cell block H, Home and Away and Hollyoaks) gives a memorable and convincing performance as the sophisticated and uncouth Coral. There are many hilarious moments throughout. It is clear that the rest of the audience enjoyed the piece as much as I did.
There is a lot of dialogue for Muggleton to remember in this one-woman show. She works the prompter’s hints back into the script in a natural unfazed improvised way that works.
The play ends with a quote from Barry Humphries: “She left behind an emptiness/ A gap, a void, a trough/ The world is quite a good deal less/ Since Coral Browne f***ed off.”
Coral Browne, this f***ing lady runs at the King’s Head Theatre, Islington, London until 3rd of June.
