Synopsis Set in the 50's, Three Women in an Ice Cream Cone reveals all about the love lives of Grace, Alice and Linda, who orbit Gino Jaconelli, Cone Shop proprietor. Originally from Napoli, Italy, Gino and his brother Luigi, came to Britain with some savings and daring dreams. A 'cupcake and gelato special' is definitely on the menu, but is that what is served? With a fifties soundtrack, 'Three Women in an Ice Cream Cone' may have you coming back for seconds!
Three Women in an Ice Cream Cone, the first play by Scottish singer/song writer Elizabeth Fotheringham and directed by award winning director Nadia Tass is set mainly in an Italian café/shop in London. It revolves around the proprietor Gino and the three women in his life who daily visit the ‘Cone shop’. The three women are as different as the gelati Gino sells: Alice (Nathalie Pownall), the flirt who works at the hair salon opposite, Grace (Charlotte Newton John]) the blond seamstress who is in love with Gino and Linda (Barbara Drennan) the older woman, a hardworking teacher who lives alone.
We are introduced to Gino (Jason Nicoli) posturing and preening alone in the café. Nicoli is a great performer and oozes charm. As Gino he hams up the stereotypical Italian to great comic effect. He works particularly well with his brother Luigi (Jai Armstrong) and their rendition of ‘That’s Amore’ is one of the highlights of the night. There is also postman (Felix Pring, as well as dropping off Alice’s parcels at the café, brings in news and gossip. He is a minor character but gets some of the biggest laughs especially with his confusion when Gino bids him ‘arivaderchi’ and he can only just about muster ‘ta ra’.
Designer Kimberly Meikle resisted flashing the period pieces instead opting for a more authentic feel. The net curtain, jukebox and essential espresso maker transport us to 50's London. But the short scenes of the play do not flow together very well and numerous unnecessary set changes are clunky and distracting.
Writer Fotheringham’s characters are all very 2D and the three women especially are played out like a pastiche of retro films. Grace, clearly a nod to the Hitchcock blond is independent and dignified; Alice, Rizzo from Grease is overtly sexual and out of control; and Linda who has all the clipped restraint of Celia in Brief Encounter. The cast is excellent and fine comic performances pull them over, but the play’s weaknesses are revealed when it attempts to delve a bit deeper into the darkness and violence of 50s London.
Despite the weaknesses of the play Three Women in an Ice Cream Cone is a joy to watch, a blend of Dean Martin, 50’s London and Italian stereotypes stuck into a cone.
Embarrassingly bad. When I wasn't giggling or cringing I was yawning with the frustrating tedium of it all. - kiv
03 Sep 10
Devastatingly bad review for this in Time Out. Unfortunately I'd already been to see the play before I read the reviews. I have to say I agree with every word: badly written, badly directed and in some cases badly acted misogynist, racist nonsense. - Sam
30 Aug 10
Awful rubbish. The cast try hard and are good with what they have to work with but the director seems to have ignored weaknesses in the text to concentrate on style. Avoid. - Anna
21 Aug 10
I don't understand what half of the comments are talking about. I do agree the writing is weak but the cast hold their own besides how many west end shows have terrible writing but it's ignored because a celebrity puts bums on seats. As for the whiff of a new decade, It was clear to me that there is a whiff of the liberation - the 3 women each face their own challenges with the men they encounter and choose to go it alone. Even Alice who is the most vulnerable decides, at a time when it would have been frowned upon, to keep the baby non the less.
There was humour and sadness in it and I thoroughly enjoyed it. - kate
21 Aug 10
I have to add to the negative comments, I'm afraid.
They're lucky they don't have an interval as I would undoubtedly have left at it.
Cardboard characters going through sub-soap opera melodramatic situations.
The final moment elicited a massive "So what?" from this audience member.
What were the King's Head thinking?! - Sally R
20 Aug 10
Embarrassingly poor.
Some decent performances - particularly the 2 brothers and the lady teacher, but this a dreadful excuse for drama.
Brief, inconsequential scene follows brief inconsequential scene. And the tart with a heart/Irish thug double act is particularly awful.
The direction is heavy handed too, employing Acorn Antiques style stage hands to execute never ending scene changes, rather than have one corner of the wide King's Head stage permanently set up as "the living room". And the same unappetising grey milkshake gets produced no matter what the customer orders - even doubling as a "delicious ice cream" at one point. Also, if you're going to do a period piece, at least get the men to have their hair cut! Dreadlocks in the 50s?!!
Couldn't wait to get out of there. My advice is to avoid like the plague! (I can only assume the positive reviews come from friends of the cast and crew.) - Quentin
17 Aug 10
A weak, badly written play. Set in the late 1950s, there is no whiff of the liberation of the 1960s to come. - Jennie Melville
16 Aug 10
An excellent night's entertainment with plenty of comedy whilst never intending to be (nor descending into) a farce. I agree with wholeheartedly with Joanna's review and feel that presented on a larger stage the film style short scenes would become less of an intrusion. - Stephen
15 Aug 10
Very funny...worth the 15 pounds I paid - Allister
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