Acorn Antiques

“Acorn Antiques” is a musical extravaganza about a struggling antiques shop in a mythical town called Manchesterford. Written by Victoria Wood it is based on five minute soap opera type sketches of the same name which formed part of her television show for the BBC called “Victoria Wood- As Seen on TV”.   We follow the story of sisters Miss Babs and Miss Berta, who are finding it hard to keep their antiques business open after the shop rents are raised. They are aided in their campaign to hold on to the shop by their cleaner Mrs. Overall and Mr. Clifford who was once engaged to Miss Berta. They discover a third sister, Bonnie who is initially scheming and devious. The plot unfolds; the sisters are faced with financial ruin, and family secrets emerge.

I really enjoyed this very good energetic production from the “Pilkington Musical Theatre Company” which produced lots of laughs from the audience. The show had a number of excellent strong performances from the cast which included, Diane Glover as Miss Babs and Katie Speakman as Miss Berta, both performers produced excellent characterizations which I am glad to say were not direct copies of Celia Imrie and Victoria Wood although there were some influences drawn from these two iconic actresses. I really enjoyed Katie's solo number as it showed her good singing voice off well.The wonderful Mrs. Overall was played with spot on comic timing by the very talented Susan Hilton her facial expressions and walk had the audience laughing even before she said a word. There were good strong performances from James Kirby as Mr. Clifford, Ann Connolly as Miss Bonnie and a very comedic Si Foster as Tony. Other strong supportive performances came from Kieran Maleedy and Daisy Shuttleworth as the two young people on work experience Hugh and Mimi, and from Neil Atherton as Derek and Gary Lamb as Mr. Watkins, along with the other shopkeepers who were Jean Aspinall as Christine, Anthony Makin as Mr. Furlong and Joanne Leonard as Miss Willoughby, they were very funny, delivered their lines well and appeared to be up for anything costume wise, Jean also sang well especially in the opening number. There were a number of important smaller roles who also gave nice supportive performances delivering comedy lines well, producing more enjoyable characterizations. The chorus were enthusiastic and worked hard and we should not forget Jon Culshaw in the guise of Ozzi Osbourn as father although we did only see him on a television screen. Everyone appeared to play their part with enthusiasm and confidence, and generally comic timing was spot on. There were no weak links and all the cast worked as a team which is very important in this type of show. Just a couple of constructive comments. on a few occasions it was hard to hear some of the dialogue as the diction wasn't clear and just a reminder that radio microphones can still pick up conversations and laughter when not on stage or before the lights go up and can be heard by the audience, however neither of these affected my enjoyment of the show at all. I must also say well done to two members of the cast who carried on and performed well even though they appeared to be struggling with throat infections.
Choreography by Anna Wilkinson was effective and appropriate for the show and was executed with enthusiasm by the cast.The orchestra conducted by Musical Director Wayne Oaks was once again up to Wayne’s usual high standard, they supported the cast well and were not too loud. Well done to the stage crew, props and sound and lighting who did a very good job. Costumes were just right for the show and I am sure helped the cast with their characterizations.

Congratulations to the Director Si Foster and Producer Diane Glover for a very good enjoyable show and well done to all involved in this production I really enjoyed my visit and thank you for inviting me.
 

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