Sit soft with Sue
THE beginning of December this year was just as nasty as we all thought it was going to be.
We had rain, cold, and the shops were bulging with folk trying to get the Christmas supplies in before the big rush that is Christmas week.
It was therefore a welcome and lovely thing to be able to go along to Rochdale’s rather magnificent Touchstones and see Sue Devaney’s show in aid of the local homeless ‘Sit Soft.’
Also, on the bill were accompanist and MD Phil Reynolds, Lisa O’Neal Rogan, who led a gentle question and answer session, and newcomer 15-year-old Lily Kenny, a remarkable singing talent recently discovered by Sue.
Lily is another Rochdale girl with a talent all Rochdalians will be celebrating in the coming years.
Sue herself has a remarkable ability to connect with her audience.
She holds nothing back, either in personal revelations of problems with food addiction, her family history or the feelings of insecurity and anxiety that have blighted her career, confessing even now, that she still has moments of insecurity.
She spoke of these as things to be overcome, making little of problems that would sink a lesser person.
Sue laughs as she tells of the men in her life, their unsuitability and the mistakes she had made regarding them. There were photographs of her family and friends as she went through her life from baby pictures, to the first time she went on stage.
She invites you in, welcomes you into her personal space with all its baggage and all its joy for the evening.
In the first of the three shows, Sue appears in a Father Christmas costume that is as far from the glamour of Hollywood as you can get.
She moves through the audience like a small piece of quicksilver, her pronounced Northern accent and cheerful, personality holding her audience in a little bubble of happiness that was the perfect antidote for the winter blues, as well as providing much needed funds for the homeless in our borough over the Christmas period.
Sue has the same big voice that we hear in musical stars of the stage.
Her rendition of Edith Piaf’s ‘No Regret,’ was a masterpiece of voice control and passion, while the song with the unlikely title of ‘Thingumybob’ was endearing and funny.
A great show, a privilege to see.