“A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM”

As a first mainstream production to be performed in the Thespians own venue, Woodside Hall, this was a good vehicle –‘Forum’ is more suited to an intimate theatre, as it involves the audience and achieves the interaction needed to involve everyone in the action.

The scenic design was good, and was built to withstand the frantic goings on of the cast, however I felt a little more care taken with the dressing of the set would have lifted it to be a more stunning backdrop for the action.

Lighting achieved the atmosphere required, but sound was a little suspect, there were times when mics were intermittent or not on at all, which spoiled the overall sound quality, making it questionable to be using mics at all – it might have been more effective to tone the sound of the band down slightly and rely on the natural projection of the actors.

On the whole the costumes worked well, giving both colour and humour where needed.  The band had a good variety of instruments that lent itself well to the feel of the music, and the ensemble musical numbers particularly had good rich tones, and nice harmonies that enriched the music.

There were some very good portrayals, which lifted the action, I particularly liked Cathal Prendergast as Hero – the son of the house, he had a lovely easy-going stage presence, a mobile face that reflected his feelings well, and a lovely singing voice.

Kier Home as Pseudolus, the slave who directed the machinations of the cast, was a super role well-played, loads of expression in face and body, taken through into his musical numbers.  Kier held the whole production together well.

I also loved the very fiery Domina, played and sung to perfection by Gina Abbatt.

I thought the overture was overly long – and felt sorry for the cast who were on their knees during the whole of it – as they had been mingling on stage to create an atmosphere before the start of the show, it would have been nice to carry this through the overture to keep that feeling going and further engage the audience, as it seemed to cut us off, then we had to get into the action again.

John Keogh as Hysterium created a really fun character, and I enjoyed the duet I’m Lovely, between him and Pseudolus.

The scene where the cast were running through the audience and round the set – looking for each other etc – was pure farce, and managed very well.

Iain Rutherford’s confused Erronius was a fine portrayal, and his walking round the seven hills of Rome was nicely done by using the auditorium.

There were a couple of tuning issues from Isaac Evans as Miles Gloriosus, but he got the arrogance of the man well, with his motley band of soldiers, who looked as if they wouldn’t know one end of a war from another.  A good fun crew.

Melanie Plowman-Cobb was an innocent but knowing Phillia – showing a very naive young woman who also knows what she wants – a good take on what could have been a character that rather faded into the background.

I would have liked Lycus played by Iain Fishpool, to have been a bit more oily, to make a contrast between him and the other more upstanding Romans, but I liked his courtesans, particularly Vibrata in her animal print costume – who showed wonderful dance skills and flexibility.

Mike Barker as Senex, showed both sides of the man – the under-the-thumb husband of Domina, and the rather sleazy person who liked to take advantage of the courtesans.

So, all in all, not a first rate production, but one which had some notable performances and made good use of the humour within the script. 

I enjoyed the experience, and would like to thank Lynne and Ann for looking after myself and John so well, and helping to make the evening a pleasurable experience.

Nova Horley (for Vicki Avery)

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