What. A. Show. Never mind the West End and its productions: the quality of the performance at the South Holland Centre on Thursday night was amazing! The one thing I felt I needed during the interval was a dictionary so as to look up the meaning of "amateur theatre"!
The show was well attended by people of all ages and seemed to be well enjoyed by all those present, with a lot of laughter during scenes and applause afterwards, not just at the jokes themselves, as the show has been written and rewritten enough times to achieve good humour from the libretto itself, but also from the facial expressions and hand gestures that come with quality acting.
The story is simple enough - a young cockney man (Bill Snibson) suddenly finds himself elevated to the aristocracy as the long-lost Earl of Hareford and inherits all of the estate passed down from his father. The only condition is the need for him to be deemed a "fit and proper gentleman" by the Executors (or as he put it, executioners) - if he is not suitable, the inheritance passes him by. All well and good, except for Sally Smith, Bill's girlfriend from Lambeth, and the fact that the two of them share the manners of uncouth commoners in the eyes of the various lords, ladies and other nobles present.
So follows the battle of wits to turn Bill into a gentleman, and Maria, the Duchess of Dene (his aunt), sets about to achieve exactly this. Poor Sally however is to remain a commoner and the two are ordered to stay away from each other. Being very much in love with one another, this is not likely to happen and so just as Bill is about to walk away from his new life with all of its riches and seek out Sally (who was eventually convinced to leave by Bill's aunt), in she walks again having become a lady herself!
As I might have already suggested, the performance itself was fantastic. The direction and choreography needed to keep thirty-plus actors/actresses in time & in line was superb, and the hard work put in by everyone involved was really obvious throughout. The six musicians providing the accompaniment to proceedings were particularly well employed during scene changes, where the impetus of the show would otherwise have been lost. Another good trick that emerged was to close the curtains leaving one or two actors at the front of the stage carrying on the story while the set behind was completely changed.
To highlight the acting of the two key roles seems a bit predictable, but it is well justified, with Bill's frantic attempts to escape the charms of Lady Jacqueline (Jackie) Carstone in act one making particularly good watching. The voice behind Sally also far surpassed what I would have expected from such a performance and carried a real weight of emotions behind it, most notably in "Once you Lose your Heart", again from the first act.
One of the more surprising parts was the tap dancing routine at the start of the second act - further research reveals this was introduced as part of the 1985 remake - with at least half a dozen performing this difficult skill, and all completely in time with one another. Once again, this demonstrated just how much work had been put in by everyone on stage.
The only thing I thought was slightly off was the sound management of the musical section - the two keyboards overpowered the saxophone/clarinet player in particular and this was a bit of a shame, with some key harmonies during "The Lambeth Walk" very hard to pick up. However, given my position on the opposite side of the auditorium, I'm prepared to accept that I was at a disadvantage and perhaps a more central seat would have rewarded me with the full auditory effect! Being limited to finding such an insignificant criticism is testament to the exceptional performance I was treated to. In truth, I can't rate the show highly enough.
Scores
Acting 10/10
Music - accompaniment 8/10
Music - stage 10/10
Screenplay 10/10
Set 9/10 Overall 10/10