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Clevedon Community School
Clevedon
Thursday 7th December 2017
The new David Beach Competition started last night with Clevedon Community School’s production of Calamity Jane. School productions do not feature heavily, even in the Youth section of our competition (perhaps other schools are not so supportive of such a wide range of artistic endeavour as Clevedon?), or perhaps schools feel that their limited ‘catchment area’ of performing talent puts them at a disadvantage when compared to Musical Theatre societies: How could they possibly compete?
A first-time reader of my modest little reviews (!) might imagine that I would not be relishing the prospect of a school’s ‘end of term show’. However this would be my third visit to the school, having enjoyed Little Shop of Horrors and Guys and Dolls in previous years and I was full of anticipation as I walked into the school hall to take my VIP seat behind the full-house audience.
The pre-show state of the stage was frankly, staggering. On a school hall stage, pinching myself to remember that this was not a professional theatre, was a full-sized western stagecoach sitting quietly down stage right, the central area was a western saloon complete with its’ own stage (footlights and all), bar, tables and chairs and stage left, a fantastic saloon bar entrance with beautifully presented signage and swing doors. The ‘walls’ of the structures were built with very realistic looking wooden paneling, adorned with all manner of farming implements, tools and paraphernalia. Attention to detail was astonishing and the overall effect was to transport us, the audience instantly into the world of Calamity Jane. The work that must have been put into this creation was clear and the design team: Jamie Williams, James Ruffle, Anthony Ruffle, Ruby May-Hawkins and Lucy Neal should take a bow of their own, dragging the construction team with them.
As show time approached show the resident Master of Ceremonies Mr. Smith entertained us. Occasionally funny, Mr. Smith’s line of banter as he promoted the raffle was good fun and set the tone, if not quite in-line with the most professionally theatrical of experiences, it certainly engendered a warm and inclusive atmosphere. It was all great fun. I even won a prize on the raffle – and boosted my winnings to the tune of one tomato in an expected twist of Mr. Smith’s making as I accepted the ‘bonus box’.
Then the show started. It very quickly became clear that the school’s production team have done what schools are famous for: it has learned. From the lovely cast cameos assembling as the excellent orchestra’s overture rang out, through huge full-cast dance routines, energetic and engaging principal performances, sharp and focused Ensemble numbers, the astonishing stagecoach to the powerful finale: Calamity Jane sparkled. The show was a clear step forward even from last year’s strong production.
Director Debbie Morgan, assisted by Victoria Wright and David Clarke could have been forgiven, this being a school production, for paring-down the complexities of the show: not a bit of it! This was the full West End experience with all the bells and whistles: The pace was very lively, helped hugely by the cast’s universal solidity with their lines plus snappy entrances and exits; movement was motivated and believable; the chorus’ focus and engagement with the action was very impressive (there is little worse than the eye being caught by a performer ‘switching off’ for a moment- it breaks the theatrical ‘spell’) and everyone remained resolutely in-character. Costume, under the auspices of Debbie Morgan was colourful and attractive, cleverly ignoring a drab, realistic ‘western’ theme but using brighter, more modern colours for the cowboys’ tartan shirts, the dancing girls’ ‘can-can’ skirts were spectacular and the principals looked great too.
The orchestra under MDs John Pitts and Marianne Murray was powerful but well managed. The addition of superb professionals like Richard Lennox, who’s work elsewhere as an MD himself, regularly impresses and drummer Bill Pinnell lent considerably to the depth and high quality. Support for the singing on stage was good, though occasionally slightly overpowered those without head mics.
Choreographer Kellie Mockford, assisted by Maisie Welch and Victoria Ford had put the cast through their paces. The hours of rehearsal that must have been endured to deliver the energetic and exciting routines are quite frightening to consider. Dance was a strong, well conceived and performed enhancement to the show.
And then to the performances…. There was such an energy to all of the performances it seems almost churlish to single anyone out. However to ignore the Tour de Force that was Hannah Filer as Calamity would be impossible. For the show to work we have to love Calamity from the start: Her gawkiness, energy, enthusiasm, boyishness and underlying innocent goodness must shine through. Hannah absolutely nailed it. I’m sure that her voice problems of recent weeks slightly inhibited her singing but it remained very good and her characterisation was remarkable: physicality, voice, engagement and sheer presence carried the day – excellent.
There were strong performances from many others too: I particularly enjoyed David Clarke’s laconic Wild Bill, Ella-Sophie Brown’s Katie Brown (complete with southern drawl), Scott Slimmon-Rogers’ Francis Fryer (I hear good things about his alternate Daniel Fowler too), especially his female impersonation, Alfie Hocking’s slightly insane take on Henry Miller, Francesca Hart’s nicely brattish Adelaide Adams though there were many, many more. In fact Josh, Ruby, Emily, Scott, Finn, Joseph, Matt, Leah, Evie, Rebecca, Ruby, Ella, Charlotte, Tori, Emily, Jess, Kitty, Samantha, Hayley, Sami, Raven, Kelsey, Sophie, Fisher, Connie, Roseanna, Drew, Olivia, Erin, Amy, Rosie, Victoria, Emma, Kira, Amber, Eilish, Taylor, Jade, Kate, Amy and Rachel should all be very proud of themselves indeed.
The technical folks did a great job: sound and lighting worked very well and the backstage people excelled: scene transitions were crisp and aided by the excellent design, impressive. The bar converting magically into Adelaide’s dressing table was a masterstroke. Then that stagecoach! Fully loaded with performers, rotating and moving brilliantly across the stage as its wheels spun – amazing!
From the words above you will probably realise that I was impressed by this production. I really was – Clevedon School have stepped into real contention with some very substantial and long-established Musical Theatre groups. No, it wasn’t absolutely perfect; one or two ‘pitchy’ moments and a couple of performers who might relax a little more but these are very minor niggles. This was a group of young performers shining with the joy of performance and it don’t get much better than that!
Thanks for inviting me