Annie-Mary (Rachel Griffiths) lives with her widowed father Jack (Jonathan Pryce) in a small Wales town where he runs a bakery. She is an awkward 30 year old lacking good social skills. And it’s no wonder since her domineering father treats her shabbily. For instance, his gift for her birthday is a cabbage. Sometimes when his feet are cold, he orders her out of her bed to throw her warm body around his feet. Although she has a crush on Colin (Rhys Miles Thomas), he doesn’t want anything to do with her. Jack says no one will ever wed her.
The community thinks the baker is something quite special. Jack calls himself “the voice of the valleys” referring to his tenor singing. One of his favorite pastimes is driving through the countryside in his van, wearing a Pavorotti mask, and singing along to a Puccini opera. Annie-Mary had her moment in the sun 15 years ago when she won a prestigious singing competition and had a chance to study in Milan. But then her beloved mother, who loved to hear her daughter break forth in song, died. Annie-Mary hasn’t felt like singing since then.
When Jack is felled by a stroke, Annie-Mary fantasizes about putting down a deposit on a house and living a life of her own. But soon she is saddled with the double duties of caring for him and running the bakery — both of which she handles poorly. All of her savings go to pay the bills.
Then another chance for liberation appears on the horizon. Her best friend, 16-year-old Bethan Bevan (Joanna Page), is very ill and bedridden. The mayor comes up with a plan to raise money to send the teenager to Disneyland. Annie-Mary joins a local female pop group and heads off to a talent contest in Cardiff. Thanks to this clever young woman’s inspired whimsy, they win the contest and the money for Bethan’s fund. But Annie-Mary’s intoxication with freedom and an evening out to celebrate has disastrous consequences.
This exuberant comedy with music was written and directed by Sara Sugarman. The quirky drama touches the heart and the funnybone thanks to the energetic and always surprising performance by Rachel Griffiths. It takes some of us quite a while to muster the courage to sing our own song, to be truly and deeply ourselves. Very Annie-Mary is a valentine to all those lost and lonely souls who yearn to be free. This spunky story is also blessed by several other noteworthy performances: Jonathan Pryce as Annie-Mary’s idiosyncratic and domineering father; Kenneth Griffith as a cockeyed parson who orders scratch ‘n’ sniff Bibles for his congregation, and Ruth Madoc as a bulldozer who takes over Jack’s life after his heart attack.
