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Tickenham Drama Group
Tickenham Village Hall
Tickenham
Saturday 28thApril 2018
For me Lionel Bart’s masterwork, Oliver! stands as an almost-perfect piece of Musical Theatre: Great, Dickensian characters, tragedy, comedy and a bag-full of tremendous songs. I have seen many, many versions but this would be the first time I had seen it staged in a small venue. Typically a large-scale production, full of spectacular ensemble song and dance numbers it would be very interesting to see how Director and Set Designer Owen James would adjust the show to fit the more bijoux location that Tickenham Village Hall offers. A fresh approach might be appropriate, perhaps developing the mechanics and emotional content of the piece, concentrating on the musical play aspect and eschewing the blockbuster. Also this would be TDG’s first production after winning the prestigious David Beach Award for Best Production for their remarkable Into The Woods so it would also be fascinating to see if that level could be maintained.
TDG work hard to provide a theatrical experience for their punters. The venue is, after all a multi-use community hall complete with gymnasium-floor line markings and notice boards. A combination multi-level seating, bar, smartly evening-dressed ushers and a substantial stage extension immediately set the mood for a theatrical event. The pre-show state of the stage was intriguing too: A pile of large wooden boxes, decorated as brickwork, simple brick-patterned wing-flats, a refectory table and a ‘dark and stormy night’ projection on the cyclorama, complete with ‘gobo’ moon. Clever design would prove to be an important feature of this production.
Owen’s clever, pared-down stage design worked very well. Scenes weresuggested rather than fully staged: a few items of furniture, judiciously placed in combination with the wooden boxes mentioned above (these would rotate to reveal each facet covered in a different ‘finish’ so that when placed together a simple set could be formed) – add a washing line and Fagin’s Den would appear, a coffin and the Sowerberry’sFuneral Parlour emerged, a couple of chairs and a Victorian cameopicture gave us the Brownlow residence. Transitions were made in plain sight by the cast. As the action moved downstage so the quiet and elegantly choreographed movement of blocks, furniture and dressings would happen upstage, realising the next scene even as the current one was coming to an end. The effect was to give the show a smooth, uninterrupted flow. Most impressive. I was a little less sure of the lighting plot, which felt a little over-worked. Two sequences of strobe lighting felt rather out of place in the Dickensian world and there were often too many changes within scenes. Sometime less is more and simply being allowed to see the action on stage rather than being aware that lighting is being performedcan be more effective. (Having said this, I see that TDG have been running a lighting course and that members of this course were involved, which excuses a great deal – what a great way to safeguard the future.)
Musically, under MD Sue Parker, TDG’s Oliver! was often arresting. There were some excellent individual singing performances and the Ensemble were consistently strong. The very small (three piece) band provided superb support for the singing: gentle and subtle for numbers like Oliver’sWhere is Love but quite capable of ringing crescendo, supporting belters like Nancy’s As Long as He Needs Me or the rousing Oom-Pah-Pah.
Performances were generally strong from the principal players: Desmond Coghlan-Forbes looked just right as Oliver; Ollie Painter dodged artfully and very impressively as Dodger; Chelsie Hemmings showed us some superb singing as Nancy;the vocal pairing of Alex Turasiewicz with Ruth Lewis as Mr Bumble andWidow Corney was great fun; Mark Mitchell’s singing as Fagin was very easy on the ear; Jen Marsh’s Bet was animated and believable and Nick Jones’ Bill Sykes was nicely nasty (though his very strange painted-on, black beard was rather off-putting). The young team of Evelyn Coghlan-Forbes, Helena Twigger, Jay Hallett, Lucy Trump and Sebastian Whitmore as Workhouse inmates and Fagin’s gang all resolutely in-character throughout and belting the songs with gusto, were a great sign of the strong future for TDG.
Despite feeling that the production had concentrated rather more on the musical aspects of the show than the dramatic with some excellent singing performances rather outweighing the acting, I enjoyed my evening in Tickenham very much. There is a fine balance to be struck between the book and the music and I have also witnessed productions that allowed the grim drama to overshadow the fabulous songs. This having been said, TDG are certainly ticking over very nicely: the sell-out audience clearly loved the show and I am still trilling Who Will Buy in my shaky baritone even as I type.
Thanks for inviting me.