P&P Productions 
Barrington Theatre, Ferndown
KD Johnson 
25 March 2026
P&P Productions is one of Dorset’s strongest and longest established amateur theatrical companies and has three main divisions. This production is by the P&P Players, the focus of which group is on the straight dramas, rather than the musical theatre for which the company is best known. There is always a cross-over of talent between the various divisions and this is both evident and fortunate for the performance of this 1992 play by English dramatist Jim Cartwright.
Tonight’s set at the Barrington Theatre (credit to Amy Smith for set design) consists principally of Mari Hoff’s flat in some unspecified northern English town. We see an untidy kitchen on the left; centre-stage there is a sofa; while to the right, at a slight elevation, is the bedroom of Mari’s daughter Laura Hoff, known throughout as Little Voice or LV. LV’s bedroom is decorated with posters of Judy Garland and Marilyn Monroe and several 12” vinyl records and their sleeves. Downstage of the bedroom hangs a frame which represents a sash window from the bedroom onto the alley below.
Early on in Act I we are made aware of the power outages which occur in the flat due to the dodgy wiring (my notes refer to an “Electrician’s Nightmare”) and we can see an overloaded socket in the kitchen with a flex pinned to the wall feeding power to other parts of the flat.
Andrea Pellegrini plays an excellent part as Mari Hoff, with by far the most dialogue and action of the play – characterising the dissolute mother whose self-centred, promiscuous and drunken behaviour appears to have occasioned the premature demise of LV’s father and caused their daughter to be a lonely and mostly uncommunicative individual who lives most of the time in her room, listening to her late father’s record collection.
Mari’s friend and neighbour, Sadie (Kelly-Anne Singleton) could scarcely be more different. She dresses dowdily and her dialogue is limited largely to “OK” expressed in various tones. She strings along with some of Mari’s debauchery; however she seems sensitive to LV’s feelings and situation. There is a poignant scene at the end of Act I where she lingers in the alley below the bedroom window listening to LV’s melancholic singing of “Over the Rainbow”. She says much without actually saying anything.
Simon Langford is well cast and plays a great part as the ambitious talent scout, Ray Say. We first meet him as one of Mari’s sordid lovers but, once he accidentally discovers LV’s talent for impersonating the singing voices on her late father’s record collection, his attention switches to the daughter – specifically what he can earn from her talent, irrespective of the human and emotional cost to her.
LV’s social and emotional frailty meets an opposite number in the form of Tim Berry, who plays a good part as the similarly gauche and naïve telephone engineer, Billy. There is both understated humour but also pathos in their conversations through the bedroom window – we wonder whether they will find happiness together.
Paul Sarony plays a deliberately corny part – complete with dodgy wig – as Mr Boo, the owner and MC of the seedy club venue onto the stage of which LV is pushed by the controlling influences of Mari and Ray. The fourth wall between cast and audience ceases to exist in the club night scenes; Mari and Sadie heckle the host from among us and Mr Boo interacts with the audience just as if we were in his club in the north of England and not here in Ferndown.
The title rôle of Little Voice (LV) herself is sensitively portrayed by experienced musical theatre performer, Leonie Beck. While Andrea, as Mari, has by far the most to do in this production, Leonie’s quiet and hesitant delivery in LV’s own voice contrasts with her confident performances when singing and speaking in the rôles of the singing divas of her father’s record collection – Judy Garland, Marilyn Monroe, Julie Andrews, Lulu and others – great stuff.
The whole is a sometimes a sad and moving tale but there is also much humour. It is much appreciated by tonight’s opening-night audience. Congratulations are due to the director Deanna Langford, to the cast and production team and to P&P Players for giving us another brilliant production.
At the time of writing there are still a few unallocated seats for the evening performances on Thursday 26th and Friday 27th at 7.30 and for the matinée at 2.30 on Saturday 28th.
