Garyswordz

I was fortunate enough to see Cher on her epic 326 date Farewell tour in 2004. It was one of the greatest rock and pop shows that I have ever seen. She introduced the show with these words:

“Ladies and gentlemen, and flamboyant gentlemen. Boys and girls and children of all ages. Welcome to the Cher-est show on earth. This is the official beginning to the Cher show. And all I have to say is, Rhianna, Beyonce, Britney, ‘follow this, you bitches”. And what a show it was!

So this revue had some giant ( high heeled) shoes to fill. Cher has been an ubiquitous cultural media presence since the 1960’s as a singer and actress. How were they going to start to portray that? The answer – three Chers!

The Cher Show made its world premiere at the Oriental Theatre in Chicago, Illinois on June 12, 2018,  it began previews on Broadway on November 1, 2018, and officially opened on December 3, 2018, at the Neil Simon Theatre. It won Tony Awards for Stephanie J. Block (Lead Actress in a Musical) and for Bob Mackie (Costume Design for a Musical).

The musical’s book is by Rick Elice,  with original direction by Jason Moore, choreography by Christopher Gattelli, and orchestrations, arrangements and musical supervision by Daryl Waters and additional orchestrations by Steve Orich. The producers of the show were  Jeffrey Seller, Flody Suarez and Cher.

In May 2021, a new touring production was announced in the UK and Ireland from April 2022 to April 2023 directed by Arlene Phillips and featuring choreography from Oti Mabuse. Of Strictly Come Dancing and big hair fame. The show  differs from the Broadway production with modifications to the show’s music, Rick Elice’s book, and the costumes; which have been redesigned by Gabriella Slade .  It also has set design by Tom Rogers, lighting design by Ben Cracknell, sound design by Dan Samson, wigs, hair and make-up design by Sam Cox, music production by Gary Hickeson, musical supervision by Rich Morris.

It starts  with an older Cher (Debbie Kurup)  who has lost her  her way when she feels the presence of her former selves in the shape of  The younger less confidant Babe Cher (Millie O’Connell) and tougher edgier Lady Cher (Danielle Steers) who found mega fame amid a break up, motherhood and ups and downs of her career.

Lucas  Rush is a talented and amusing Sonny, Tori  Scott an effervescent Lucille Ball.

What sets this show apart is that it isn’t a concert musical, nor is it a narrated musical, or a bio-musical. All 3 Cher’s looking back on each others lives, throughout the ups and downs of life, meeting Sonny (Lucas Rush) fame, fortune and heartbreak.

It is a Cher multiverse with each Cher the master of her own destiny but only the present day Cher having  the answers. She watches her former selves making  decisions  and mistakes that  accrue into her ultimate self. You watch Cher grow up  before  your eyes. A young naïve  Babe Cher unaware of what lies in front of her, the streetwise Lady Cher, bruised, resilient, but successful, and a Star Cher who knows the story but has to rediscover it.

Cher embraces camp and glam, the production is awash with it, awash with glamorous eye-catching  costumes and glorious, period faithful, choreography, oh, and fabulous songs. Even if like me you do not own a single Cher record, you will still not only  know all the songs, but all the words to all the songs.

The supporting cast of singers, dancers and musicians are terrific with concert quality lighting and a crisp, loud sound.

A showstopping  standing ovation, foot stomping , encore finale features: “Believe”, “Strong Enough”, “Woman’s World”, “Dov’è L’amore”, “The Shoop Shoop Song (It’s in His Kiss)”, “I Found Someone”, and “Believe”.

Oh what a show, what a night!  The Cher musical Runs until 22/10/22 and continues on nationwide tour.

****

I saw the original Alan Parker film, but this represented my first time seeing the stage show.

Its artistic credentials are impeccable. The Commitments film was released in 1991  as  a musical comedy-drama film based on  the eponymous  1987 novel of the book   by Roddy Doyle.  Not only was it   directed by Alan Parker, but the screenplay was  written by Doyle, Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, a veritable creative tour de force. Located  in the Northside of Dublin, we hear the story of Jimmy Rabbitte , a young music fanatic who assembles a group of working-class youths to form a soul band named, “The Commitments”. There is a venerable tradition of showbands playing weddings and sundry gatherings in village halls, that tradition spawned both the Boomtown Rats and Thin Lizzy. The ongoing appeal of soul music is underscored by Bruce Springsteen’s latest release “Only the strong Survive” a covers album of soul standards.

 The stage play is faithful to the film musically and artistically, but the musical set list has been revamped ( for the better) including: Try A Little Tenderness,  Knock On Wood,  , Save Me, I Heard It Through The Grapevine, In The Midnight Hour, Reach Out I’ll be there, Signed Sealed Delivered  amongst them. The only frustration is that some songs are performed as fragments and interludes rather than in full.

Anyone who has been in a band, or been close to those in one, will recognise the internecine rivalries, jealousies and warfare, humorously, and accurately, played out here. Skilfully directed by Andrew Linnie on a versatile set,  which doubles as a performance backdrop,  oozing  live music, by Tim Blazdell. It is  1980s’ Dublin,  transforms into  Jimmy’s family home, then  the Miami Vice club, a pub, bingo hall, a nightclub,  and a  block of flats, all in the blink of an eye.

James Killeen is superb as the loveable lead Jimmy Rabitte, authentic and perspiring   charisma,  He channels his inner Bob Geldoff  with much chutzpah. A trio of  beautiful backing singers, Imelda (Ciara Mackey), Bernie (Sarah Gardiner) and Natalie (Eve Kitchingham)  all get the chance to show off their vocal prowess, the first half combination of “You Keep Me Hanging On/ Reach Out I’ll be there and “Chain of Fools” is stunning as are all their harmonies. Alan Williams’ musical arrangements  are sympathetic and inspired.

Dramatic interludes are kept to a minimum, musical numbers are turned up to the maximum, as is the nostalgia, with Nigel Pivaro ( Terry Duckworth of Coronation St) playing the part of Da with considerable humour. The metamorphosis  and evolution from the shambolic group of friends to convincing showband is trickier to depict on stage than it is on film with that pretence only really evident on the opening, rousing ,“Proud Mary”.

On this opening night, understudy James Deegan, performed the pivotal role of Deco, his confidence growing as the evening unfolded, only “(I can’t get no) Satisfaction” misfired, mainly due to lacklustre instrumentation.

Mickah (Ronnie Yorke) has a lot of fun as the bands’ security looking like a  1970’s North Bank Boot Boy from nearby Molineux with his shaven head and menacing Doc Marten cherry red  boots. An  oddly downbeat ending is papered over with a rip-roaring front of house medley of encores which the leggy girly backing singers steal performing a barnstorming “River Deep Mountain High” wearing  stunning red sleeveless drop- waisted minidresses  and ruched bodices.

Yes “Mustang Sally” is still fantastic, and I can now report that the live  stage show is  a match  for  the film, runs until Saturday the 15^th, then continues on nationwide  tour.

Gary Longden

Jekyll and Hyde – Derby Theatre

*****

This is not the first time that this story, originally a novella by  Robert Louis Stevenson,  first published in 1886 , has been presented as a play. It was  adapted for theatre in 1887 as a four-act play  by Thomas Russell Sullivan in collaboration with the actor Richard Mansfield.  Sullivan made several changes to the story; which in turn has evolved  in the many subsequent film  and television versions .  This is an immense advantage for  Neil Bartlett  OBE ,who has written this adaptation, offering him maximum leeway in fashioning the narrative  for a 21^st century audience almost 140 years on.  Although a familiar tale, few have read the 1886 original anyway!

The most significant shift is the presence of three women  who collaborate to unpick the strange events which unfold led by Dr Stevenson (Polly Lister). Director Sarah Brigham starts  the show at curtain up  with a supernatural ,spiritual tinge as  Dr Lanyon (Charlie Buckland), The Inspector (James Morrell), Mr Enfield (Craig Painting), Mr Guest (Levi Payne) and Mr Utterson (Robert Vernon) provide an eerie choral, ensemble spoken word introduction on the terracing of what appears to be a dissection theatre , the figures freezing and unfreezing from ghostly mannequins to action figures.

 Dr Jekyll (Nicholas Shaw) is a brooding  presence at the back of, and above, the stage, omnipresent and menacing .  He is a demented , dark, mysterious ,malevolent   figure transforming  into Mr Hyde using an inspired combination of  costume and physical rhythm.

In juxtaposition Dr Stevenson (Polly Lister)  drives the narrative along, resourceful, inquisitive and relentless, amidst the shadowy male figures.  Tife Kusoro  is her  energetic  sidekick with a 21^st century injection of Girl Power.  Dr Stevenson is an Everyman creation, almost a part of the observing audience.  She  follows the clues until she finally works out the solution to the mystery, as we the audience do, that Jekyll and Hyde are one and the same. Stevenson solves the case in both a criminal and psychological sense, the dissection theatre  doubling as a court room  and  the  audience frequently being addressed directly. Bartlett avoids the trap of making this a murder mystery. Stevenson   is not merely investigating the case, she is exploring a male dominated world, and underworld,  of privilege and wrong doing. In Bartlett’s hands this is as much about Stevenson as it is about Dr Jekyll, a challenge which Lister embraces with considerable aplomb.

The theme of male power, cliques  and privilege has a contemporary resonance in the guise of recent American Presidents and British Prime Ministers and their self- delusion.  In Dr Jekyll we are given a glimpse inside of the head of such an individual in  a masterclass of acting by Nicholas Shaw.

Bartlett is an artistic  polymath, director, performer, translator and writer. His previous adaptations of Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist, and A Christmas Carol have  certainly prepared him for this faithful  and authentic slice of Victoriana which veers from  the fantastic to visceral realism at the flick of a switch with a sprinkling of the magical included too, courtesy of Philip Bond

Improbably,  and memorably, we are also treated to song , “Maybe it’s because I’m a Londoner”,  and pin sharp choreography and movement , by Deb Pugh, most notably in the memorable “Top Hat”     ( and cane) dance  murder scene which has more than a nod to Kubrick’s ,“A Clockwork orange”

The single set  (Jessica Curtis) is basic  and multilevel providing multiple exits  and entrances whose centrepiece  is a mysterious door. The intermittently flickering lighting (Simeon Miller)  is atmospheric, white light illuminating  the shadowy browns and blacks  of the costumes and set complimented by Ivan Stotts stark, dissonant staccato sound and music.

The  running time of under 2 hours, including interval, is short, as is the original novella. This is a big advantage , as the story, and production, packs a fast moving punch offering maximum  impact. There is no  flab in the script. The  actors show, they don’t tell, engaging the audience throughout.

 It has a dream like quality, weird and surreal, a phantasmagoria of the real and illusory. This sometimes affects the production’s narrative coherence, but if you tune in, and zone out,  all will be well.

This production sits comfortably alongside the very best of what Derby Theatre and Sarah Brigham have produced in recent years, her trademark integration of movement, sound light and drama  are compelling, and a triumph. The show   runs until 22^nd October.

Gary Longden

The King of Reggae- The man- The music- Birmingham Rep

*****

‘The King of Reggae- the man- the music”  Is a  production by the Rush Theatre Company celebrating the life and music of Bob Marley. It features  live onstage musicians , the JA Reggae Band,  who  have played alongside the likes  of  Edwin Star, Jimmy Cliff, Aswad,  and Steel Pulse. Written and narrated by Jannette Barrett, aka Lyricist B, this new production follows a  narrated concert  format .

Marley has the definitive canon of reggae music, a canon which has transcended its origins like no other Reggae artist. No-one has bettered songs in the form since. “Get Up Stand Up” has evolved into one of the great protest songs, “I shot the sheriff” is a defining outlaw lament made famous  by Eric Clapton, “No Woman No Cry”  has become a classic love song with its lilting,  intro movingly  and faithfully recreated played by Mathew Graham.  I was fortunate enough to see Bob play at the Rainbow  Theatre in London in 1977, I had no idea that his songs and impact would be around 45 years later. Tonight did not simply capture the sound of Bob, it captured the spirit too.

We travel on a journey from a  Trenchtown to  worldwide Rastafari Icon, taking in his personal, spiritual and political life . Its style is self effacing, acknowledging the  role of backing band the Wailers, Bunny Wailer, Peter Tosh , Island Records’ Chris Blackwell, Jimmy Cliff and Desmond Decker on his road to fame.

His prodigious love life, and prolific resulting offspring, are warmly and gently remembered by Lyricist B on a back screen which   is skilfully used for atmospheric effect throughout an evening which features over 20 of his songs  with a running time in excess of two and a half hours. We are reminded  of how much great material he recorded during a recording career of under a decade  cut short by his premature death, of cancer   in May 1981 in Florida USA.  

The fourteen piece band of musicians were superb with  lead singer IKA taking on the role of Bob . A  brass section (Adrian Gibson, Trumpet, Anne Tinsley, Saxophone) and  fabulous backing singers contributed to the signature sound with which we are all so familiar courtesy of musical Director Reedbass.I t was a sound which drew the audience onto their feet from early on until the tumultuous finale  of “Three Little Birds” and “One Love “.

It was a wonderful show played to  a multicultural audience ,some of whom , by dint of their age, had clearly been devotees from the beginning. I had forgotten many of the songs, but was delighted to be reminded of them,  and was surprised by how immediate, and relevant they all were. Songs from the past, to be enjoyed in the present which will endure into the future – runs until Sat 24^th Sept

Gary Longden

It Runs in the Family – Highbury Theatre

“It Runs in the Family” is a classic  British farce written by Ray Cooney in 1987 in the mid Elizabethen era. Highbury Theatre  itself is well appointed and intimate making it an ideal setting for comedy.

The action is set in  the Doctor’s common room at St Andrew’s hospital London . We arrive   as chief protagonist physician Dr. David Mortimore  prepares to deliver the  prestigious Ponsonby lecture to a room full of visiting neurologists. A promotion and knighthood  is an impending  reward for a successful presentation.  However, things are not going smoothly. A past lover appears with shocking news of a love child. It is news he wants hidden from both his wife, and everyone else, including the hospital.

All the Cooney ingredients are here, mistaken identity, double entendres, surprise revelations, sexual innuendo, physical and visual gags,   windows, and lots of doors. Chaos ensues which probably makes this an accurate reflection of the 21^st century NHS where poverty is claimed  to the visiting junior health minister, but not so much poverty as to affect the excellent job the doctors  are doing… Aficionados of the genre will not be disappointed by this excellent choice of production which is the  first play of the 2022/23 season, and is often regarded as Cooney’s best.

Phil Astle directs, and takes the principal part of Dr Hubert Bonney, Dr Mortimore’s friend and confidante, two responsibilities , an onerous and demanding undertaking, which he  acquits well. He is ideal as Bonney in an unusually well chosen cast. Suave, accommodating and urbane, he also has the satisfaction of the final plot twist. Richard Constable plays opposite him as a smug, angular, neurotic, Mortimore, who unwinds in front of us as events spiral out of control in a memorable comic performance reminiscent of John Cleese’s Basil Fawlty. But it is Jake Collyer,  playing Mortimore’s now grown up son Leslie, who steals the show. Physically imposing, emotionally needy, Collyer is outstanding as he desperately tries to comprehend the incomprehensible around him.

The supporting cast is equally strong. Sharon Clayton is demure and sassy  as Nurse Tate whose liaison with Dr Mortimore eighteen years ago in the sluice room precipitated this sequence of events. Mandy Yeomans convinces,  and is assured, as Mortimore’s long suffering wife Rosemary, a wife who it turns out knew a lot more than her husband was aware of.

Bhupinder Brown ekes the maximum out of her part as Dr Connelly, linking the action neatly, but enjoying both the comic opportunities as organiser of the hospital pantomime director and her familial association with the investigating Police Sergeant ( David Weller) whose  Final Act closing summary of the nonsense that has gone before is a comic gem. Pip Oliver has great fun as the blonde battle axe matron who inadvertently receives a dose of sedative. She is always keen to keep standards high, even when her bloomers are low, and stars in the memorable defenestration scene which is the comic highlight of the evening.

The disintegration of the delivery of the Ponsonby lecture is faithfully recounted by the ever increasing exasperation of Martin Walker’s  pompous, bombastic, blustering Sir Willoughby Drake. Proceedings are mainly watched by the  dementia suffering, wheelchair bound, Bill, laconically and humorously observed by Rob Phillips, albeit in a part that probably would not be written in this way today.  Becky Higgs has the distinction as a  Nurse Sister of being the only sane protagonist,  Yvonne Lee relishes her walk on cameo at the end as Mother, as does the audience.

The single set design ( Malcolm Robertshaw)  of the Doctor’s common room is simple, well lit ( Steve Bowyer) functional and, crucially, has doors and a window which open and close at the right time. Andrew Birkbeck’s sound ensures that the telephones ring at the right time. The costuming is generically credited to Highbury Wardrobe who have done a fine job. It is easy in amateur productions to be lazy with contemporary wardrobe, but not here. The Doctors look the part, Sir Willoughby looks every bit a knight of the realm, Nurse Tate’s dress is prim but beautiful, Rosemary Mortimore’s shoes stylish and eye catching. The detail does matter.

Producer  Sandra  Haynes  has worked hard to ensure this show is  fast-paced, high-energy , and most importantly, very  funny. The audience lapped it up.  If you like farce, you will love this, and if you don’t,  come along anyway as you will be won over by this production which runs until the 24^th September.

Gary Longden

Blood brothers- Wolverhampton Grand Theatre

****

Somehow, over a period of time, a musical seeps into the national consciousness. It cannot happen overnight. A combination of word of mouth, and return visits create a critical mass, and for some very fortunate shows legendary status is bestowed. I have seen this  show several times over the past forty years. Of course I wondered beforehand whether the magic remained. I was not to be disappointed.

It is a musical. It is also  a powerful narrative whose ingredients are timeless.  Each new cast has the opportunity to stamp their own personalities on the characters  and offer generational shifts. The pivotal figure is Mrs Johnstone, played by  X factor protégé Niki  Colwell Evans. She is fabulous in this show following in a distinguished lineage of actresses who have played the role.

The tale of two brothers, separated at birth, then reunited with tragic consequences, it retains a comic warmth which sustains the show through the bleak moments of heartbreak, with a musical score which lifts the spirits. Directors   Bob Tomson and Bill Kenwright, never allow the pace to drop, or the mood to sink too low.

As our country says farewell to one monarch, and welcomes a new one, at a time of national economic crisis, the divide between the haves and have nots  captures the zeitgeist of the moment. It is a snapshot of a bygone age , a time when skirts were ubiquitous, and grinding poverty and crisp laundry  existed side by side with  the Tally Man always on the doorstep.

Richard Munday imposes a mysterious gravitas to the role of narrator, “ So did you hear the story of the Johnstone twins? As like each other as two new pins.” His chiming rhyming couplets doom laden from the start.

The vastly experienced , Paula Tappenden excels as (Mrs Lyons), a part she has played many times before, while the bug eyed Timothy  Lucas offers Sammy a zany scouse persona. Carly Burns is sassy and scintillating as the multi-dimensional   Linda. The shift from micro skirted schoolgirl femme fatale to adult is challenging but Burns moves from cocky kid to world weary adult with ease.

 The striking cityscape of Liverpool set is imaginatively presented by Andy Walmsley, the Liver building looming over everything. Cheekily, longstanding Everton fan ( and past Club Chairman)  Bill Kenwright ensures that it is Everton graffiti on the street wall. The lighting is atmospheric and portentous skilfully executed by Nick  Richings  particularly in the iconic closing scene. Yes, there was a standing ovation at the end, and yes, “Tell me it’s not true” brings tears to the eyes. But that was what you expected wasn’t it?

“Blood brothers” continues in Wolverhampton until 17^th sept and continues on nationwide tour

The Shawshank Redemption at Derby theatre

****

For most of us this story will be remembered as a 1990’s film, which, after a slow box office start, was reappraised, enjoying considerable belated success on video rental re-establishing it as one of the essential pieces of that decade’s movie history.  Prison dramas can be a tough sell, but, its genesis as a Stephen King novella, with Bill Kenwright behind this stage adaptation, gives it an unusually strong pedigree, and in Joe Absolom a talented and recognisable lead. The opening night was sold out , a delayed start increasing the anticipation, further delayed by a minute’s silence for the late Queen Elizabeth 2^nd, and an ovation for the national anthem.

The opening at curtain up is stark, three spot lit men stand naked, amongst them, Andy Dufresne, incarcerated for the  double murder  of  his wife and her lover, a crime he claims he did not commit. The play does not shirk the grim reality of prison life including actual and threatened homosexual assault, but it is the non sexual relationship between  Andy and veteran inmate Red which is at the centre of the story. Ben Onwukwe  ( of London’s burning fame) is  superb channelling the performance of Morgan Freeman who played the role in the film.

The ensemble, all male, cast is strong with gang members “the Sisters” providing the visceral  menace from the inmates, and the warden (Mark Heenehan)  providing the cerebral menace from the Prison authorities  as he pressures ex banker Andy into  manipulating  the accounting books.

 David Esbjornson’s   production is gritty, Gary McCan’s  set suitably austere ,and   Chris Davey’s  lighting monochrome with period music providing episodic breaks.

Whilst superficially the story is bleak, it is underpinned by a message of hope, friendship  and love. Andy is imbued with almost Christ like qualities. Turning the other cheek, eschewing violence and securing beer for his fellow inmates in return for offering a warder financial expertise in echoes of Christ and his disciples. Adapted by Owen O’Neill and Dave Johns, the dialogue is spattered with witty asides which ensure that the mood never becomes overbearingly heavy.

The second act whips along with plenty of plot twists, moments of tragedy but a satisfying ending to a pleasing production which continues on tour for the remainder of the year and plays in Derby until sat 17^th. It is a credit to Derby that it continues to offer high quality plays in an era dominated by contemporary musicals, the sold out first night and strong sales for the remainder of the run vindicates that artistic confidence.

n 2015  Derby theatre  staged “ Solace of the Road” the world premiere of Siobhan Dowd’s novel of loss and homecoming. “Home Girl” reprises an exploration of the Care system in visceral, essential style.

It is a new stage adaptation of Alex Wheatle’s  eponymous novel  and a collaboration between  Alex Wheatle MBE, Nathan Powell , Sarah Kolawole,  Anisa  Archer and a Derby Theatre creative team. The main cast, Lisa Allen, Andrea Davy, Martha Godber, Duane Hannibal, April Nerisssa Hudson, Helena Rimmer are unusually strong, augmented by an enthusiastic supporting ensemble.  Co directors Sarah Brigham and Bryn Holding have done a superb job to harness all of this energy to impressive effect. A “future creatives” young team have undertaken the  backstage  roles under experienced tutelage. Emma White’s set design, a versatile two storey interior is well lit by Sam Evans. Nicole Chang’s costume designs are fortuitously contemporary casual for a young cast used to wearing contemporary casual.

“You need to learn boundaries, rules are rules” is a maxim in any foster home.  Whether you are in Care, as young protagonist Naomi is ,or are a Prime Minister, adhering to it is just as difficult. The play explores, identity, belonging , love and what home is and means. Naomi’s circumstances  trace a familiar path within the system. She experiences personal loss then finds herself bounced from one person to another at a time when she desperately needs grounding and to be able to fit in, to belong, somewhere

Wheatle lived in a childrens’ home in Croydon. The production team have worked with children in the Derby  Care community to deliver a play with a powerful stamp of authenticity right across it.

Martha Godber is wonderful as Naomi, the counterpoint with foster parents Duane Hannibal  (Tony)and Andrea Davy ( Colleen) skilfully portrayed, embodying the precept that it is who you are, not what you are, that matters. Davy and Hannibal are terrific, Godber visibly grows in confidence opposite this formidably supportive duo.

The subject matter is weighty. Naomis’ mother committed suicide and her father was an alcoholic her placement as a white girl with a black family initially looks doomed, viewed  with  a mixture of  suspicion and scepticism . Yet despite her chaotic damaged history, with her  associated suspicion of those supposed to look after her, the narrative zips along  briskly underpinned by quickfire  dialogue and laced with humour to lighten a frequently heart-breaking story in which the human spirit can prosper in the most testing of circumstances. It is a story of struggle which is universal in its emotions. Underneath it all Naomi is an ordinary girl who likes horror films, drinking Coke, coffee with four sugras ,dancing and hanging out with her friends in the pupil referral unit and wants to belong in a world that seems to have abandoned her.

The play is delivered in two acts, the first of sixty minutes, the second of half that. The first culminates in an ebullient song and dance routine hosted by Tony at Naomi’s birthday party. It is superbly realised out of nowhere with a full primary cast and ensemble dance routine featuring the Disco classic “Car Wash”  thanks to movement directors Lucy James and Rukus. Its joyous effervescence brings the house down, credit to sound designer Thomas Massey.

 The second half seems to try to fit an awful lot into a brief space suffering marginally as a result It draws a parallel  between the estrangement from society of Tony’s parent’s Windrush generation and the alienation of Naomi’s Care home generation, both desperate to fit in, to belong , and to be accepted. It concludes with an “all you need is love” coda which Paul McCartney would be proud of.

This production was originally to be performed last year before being shelved due to Covid and its appearance  is a delight, well worth waiting for, and a credit to both the directing team and the young people who give their all. it finishes on Saturday 9^th July