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Seven Brides For Seven Brothers Reviewed!
Enthusiastic performance of an evergreen musical |
The ambitious award-winning Watlington Players have done it again with this wonderful interpretation of the evergreen musical which has it all – memorable songs, energetic dance routines, romance, colourful costumes and comedy.
Amateur groups up and down the country struggle to find enough men to fill roles in musicals, but innovative director Penny Cooke has achieved the near-impossible by finding not only guys to play the seven brothers but a further six for the role of the jealous suitors, and by the way, they also can sing and dance. |
Over the years Watlington Players have achieved some notable successes with their previous shows – including outstanding productions of Jekyll and Hyde, Guys and Dolls, Singin’ in the Rain – and now Seven Brides can be added to that impressive list.
From the opening scenes on Wednesday’s opening night, the show moved at pace with memorable songs, including Bless Your Beautiful Hide, Wonderful, Wonderful Day, and Goin’ Courtin’ flowing thick and fast.
The enthusiasm and exuberance of the cast is clear for all to see and the dance background of Penny Cooke is very evident in the way they move through the show and in the cleverly worked fight scene. |
Matthew Austin is well cast in the lead role of brother Adam who nets his bride in the quickest-ever courtship. Well-known local actress Sarah Creasy plays the demanding lead female role Mily who becomes a bride and ends up getting six brothers-in-law.
She not only looks the part but her voice, if a little quiet at times, is right for some of the musical numbers, particularly Love Never Goes Away and Wonderful, Wonderful Day.
Mention must also be made of the orchestra, under the baton of Mike Cooke, impressive set design, lighting and costumes, which all contributed to the overall effectiveness of a marvellous evening of good old-fashioned entertainment.
Richard Parr.
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Where
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Watlington Village Hall,
Church Road,
Watlington,
Kings Lynn,
Norfolk,
PE33 0HE. |
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We want you!
Do you have an interest in the theatre and don't particularly want to go on stage and perform? Take a look at our behind the scenes web page, we are always interested in people who have skills in other areas and would like to contribute their time. |
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Hamlet - "B" Company :
As you may have gathered, the B-Company is back with it's most ambitious project yet, William Shakespeare's most celebrated of tragedies: Hamlet.
This production will mark the fulfillment of a long held personal ambition of mine, both to produce the play and to play the titular role, and I'm going to need all my most talented of collaborators, old and new, in order to make it everything I hope it to be!
This play offers great acting opportunities, characters you can really get your teeth into such as Claudius: Hamlet's murderous uncle and usurper of his father's throne, Gertrude: once his father's Queen, now his uncles, Ophelia: the tormented would be princess, driven mad by the actions of her beloved, Polonius: her bumbling, meddling, sycophantic father, Leartes: her vengeful brother, Horatio: loyal friend to the last, to name but a few.
Even those characters who feature only for one or two scenes are joyously written, such as Osric: the buffoonish judge of the climactic sword fight, and the Gravedigger: whose gallows humour lights up proceedings.
There are many parts, each with their own rewards, and the production itself I hope will be an exciting one, pacey, physical, striking and relevant, set in Thatcher's Britain, where greed rules and something is rotten in the Denmark Banking Corporation.
Matt A.
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Directed by Allan Lord.
27th - 30th October 2010
'Less than dedicated to his job as undertaker's clerk bored with his North Country family background, Billy Fisher takes refuge in his own invented world. For Billy, an energetic imagination makes life tolerable but well-nigh intolerable for all around him. He lies his way into and out of every situation producing any explanation and making any promise that will extricate him from his present predicament, and thereby creating ever more tortuous entanglements for the immediate future.'
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 Cinderella directed by Kate Ayres - Panto 2011.
Disney's Beauty and the Beast - Musical 2011. 
Directed by Kristen Coucill
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Please let us know of any ideas you have for
future productions. We would love to hear any suggestions! If
you are interested in Directing or being a Musical Director please contact a member of the Committee. We are also happy to hear from budding new directors to assist on shows and gain further experience, just give us a call or come to one of our rehearsals and say hi. |
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