Every
year this musical visits the Fringe and every year I look for some
different way of portraying the plant Audrey II. Some years it
happens, sometimes it doesn't, this production did, but I'll come
back to that later.
Stage
by Stage is a music theatre school based in Exeter and for
sometime have been performing creditable versions of popular
musicals at the Fringe.
With
one exception the 14 strong cast are all aged between 15 and 18
and each does well but some in my opinion were stronger than
others. Greg Fox playing nerdy hero Seymour was exceptionally
strong, Ronnette, Crystal and Chiffon, Kirsty Fuller, Kate
Clarkson and Lauren Nimmo were used more extensively than in most
productions and certainly added presence when ever they were on
stage.
Let's
get back to the plant, both versions. The baby plant was well
played by Will Trafford, aged seven, and then the adult version,
portrayed with verve by Hannah Powell. The growth of the plant
subsequently was achieved by the characters who had been fed to it
adding on as extensions following a swift costume change. I have
seen it done like this before but it worked well then and still
does.
Three slight criticisms, firstly was it
really necessary for Audrey to still have a 'shiner' even at her
death with a fair amount of time elapsing occasionally the
direction seemed heavily 'stage right' and although most of the
principles were wearing radio mikes, were they switched on? I was
sitting on the front row so fortunately could hear. I was glad I
wasn't at the back though.
Still,
overall a good performance and a company I'll look out for next
year.
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