Village Raw - ISSUE 15

VILLAGE RAW
ART & CULTURE
UPSTAIRS AT THE GATEHOUSE
Harking back to the history and founding family of
Highgate’s award-winning fringe theatre venue.
Words by Sharon Goldreich.
On a chilly winter evening in Highgate village, 60 or 70 people of
diverse ages are toe-tapping and subtly swaying to the rhythms of
blues and jazz, nodding their heads to the more up-tempo swing,
boogie and rock ’n’ roll beats and energetically waving their arms in
synchrony to a calypso number, while gleefully singing “Push Ka Pi
Shi Pie”. It’s as captivating to watch the masked, socially distanced
audience facing us across the traverse stage as it is to take in the
six suave actors, with their smooth choreographed moves and
soulful voices, and brilliant five-piece band performing in this polished
revival of the hit musical Five Guys Named Moe. The joyful
and salubrious atmosphere of a shared theatre event, following the
pandemic lockdowns, is almost tangible.
The intimate setting of Upstairs at the Gatehouse for this latest
production of Five Guys Named Moe, the 1990s jukebox musical
by Clarke Peters, featuring the mid-20th-century music of Louis
Jordan, marks an apt return to its London roots. Scant in dialogue
and ample in song and choreography, the Gatehouse’s staging not
only offers a generous catwalk setting for the dance sequences,
but makes the most of the interactive nature of the show, enhancing
the intimacy between actors and audience.
This production is the latest in a long string of successful musicals
staged by Ovation Productions, the owners of Upstairs at the
Gatehouse. Ovation is the husband-and-wife team John and Katie
Plews - longstanding and familiar residents of Highgate. John - always
colourfully waistcoated - has hosted many diverse acts, as
MC, on the Fair In The Square main stage. Having trained at LAMDA
in technical theatre in the late 60s, John worked as stage manager
at the Theatre Royal Windsor, run by actor, director and theatre
manager John Counsell, from whom he learnt a lot. The seed of his
one day owning a theatre was planted then. Production work for
an international company was followed by John spending nearly
a decade at sea, as entertainment director for major cruise lines.
John and Katie actually met while working on the QE2. Back on dry
land, John subsequently ran three venues for a borough council in
PHOTO COURTESY OF UPSTAIRS AT THE GATEHOUSE (THIS PAGE) AND BY DARREN BELL (OPPOSITE PAGE).
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