‘ I lost my mum when I was eleven,’ confesses Denise, ‘ so did Marilyn Monroe. We share the same stardust.’
This surreal, dark comedic drama, relates the story of 60-something Denise, an aspiring actress who left Southend, Essex in the 1980s to find fame and fortune in Hollywood. A passion for Marilyn began when her grandmother took her to the Odeon to see Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.
Dreams shattered like splintered glass, she now lives in a motorhome on the outskirts of Las Vegas, occasionally working as a Marilyn impersonator in a Club.
The narrative is inspired by a lingering vision from a few years ago, when the acclaimed TV actress, Michelle Collins was working in L.A. and spotted a glamorous woman dressed as Marilyn Monroe parking her trailer - a local lookalike celebrity.
The stage set depicts the interior of a motorhome cluttered with Marilyn ephemera, film posters, iconic portraits, handbags, clothes, as well as fridge and dressing table. A large covered box in the centre is where she keeps her pet python, Bobby, with whom she converses and shares her memories and secrets.
She explains how she first came here to audition for a dinner show, Legends Reborn, performing an extract from Marilyn’s star role in Bus Stop. Recordings of Marilyn from movies and interviews are played on a soundtrack, to bring her voice alive. Behind a screen, Collins has a few quick costume changes, appearing in a red velvet gown to sing the classic number, A River of No Return - slowly, soulfully in a husky voice.
Love is a traveller on the river of no return
Swept on forever to be lost in the stormy sea.
I can hear my lover call,"come to me"
And forever my heart will yearn
Down the river of no return.
While Denise is clearly yearning a lost life in a fading limelight, but the confusing, rambling tale does not reveal what happened with any clarity. Only in the final ten minutes of her monologue does she mention the mysterious disappearance of a man she once knew. A Police investigation is now on her trail. Unfortunately, this teaser of a potential murder mystery is not followed through.
In the 1950 film noir (and smash hit musical), Sunset Boulevard, Norma Desmond is a former silent movie actress who cannot accept her career is over and suffers a delusional descent into madness with tragic consequences. "All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up".
In similar mode, sitting at her dressing table, Collins removes her blonde wig, no longer a youthful, charismatic Marilyn but Denise in her sixties, a poignant portrait of a bitterly sad, lonely woman, trapped in the nostalgic fantasy world of her motorhome, going nowhere fast. Around her is the iconic, timeless image of Marilyn who will never age, forever the dazzlingly beautiful Hollywood star.
Showtimes:
30 July to 25 August 2025 (except 13August) @ 17.30
Tickets: £17 (£16)
Age guidance: 12+
https://tickets.gildedballoon.co.uk/event/14:5585/