Around the World in 80 Days

Congleton Amateur Youth Theatre (CAYT) are back on stage this week with their production of the Jules Verne Classic ‘Around the World in 80 Days’. This truly was a fully inclusive youth production as NODA award winning youth actor, William Vickers, took the helm as director assisted by fellow youth actor Alex Wilson (assistant director). It takes a lot of courage to allow two teenagers to take control of an entire production, however, both William and Alex have created lots of original ideas and concepts which really worked on stage. I absolutely loved the stylised choreography in the street ensemble scenes at the beginning of the play as well as some of the staging concepts throughout. I also love the use of repetition at the beginning of the play. What was apparent was that each actor was well drilled and rehearsed in both staging and acting ability.

I felt there were more opportunities to work on individual characterisation to make each character different. I also felt that a lot of work needed to be done in scene transitions as characters merely walked off at the end of scenes in silence. The scenes didn’t flow into one another as well as they could have which impacted on the overall pace of the production. I also felt there was more opportunities to use the whole cast throughout. For example, when Passpartout and Phileas lined up to have their passport stamped, some of the other cast could’ve been waiting in line too. At no point throughout the entire play was anyone’s passport actually stamped which is a fundamental flaw for the storyline in this production.

The thing that needed to be work on most was the storytelling and voice work. Far too many actors did not project or annunciate the words, which meant that a lot of the dialogue was lost. This is something that the director(s) could look at in the future perhaps? As a first-time director however,  I was overall pleased with the concepts and ideas. There are still a lot of work to be done in terms of storytelling and characterisation which would need to be taken into consideration for their next production.

The set design was basic and one which I’ve seen before from this society. The use of projections helped establish locations (of which there are many). Whilst I’ve seen projections from other productions from the society, I have to say that it was a clever idea to use projections again as there are so many scenes throughout this play. Some of the projections looked a little basic and some didn’t quite work. For example, when Phileas Fogg sat on the elephant in Bombay, the projection wasn’t quite lined up correctly which meant that he was sitting on thin air.

The lighting and sound was generally okay. There were a lot of opening night gremlins with mics not turned on on time, or mics left open which meant we heard whispering backstage.

The costumes looked fantastic and really helped with characterisation. I could tell a lot of hard work has gone into this area and your hard work did not go unnoticed. Well done to the costume team.

There are far too many characters within this play for me to mention in this review and it would be unfair of me to single certain people out. Therefore I’m going to mention the main four cast members only.

James Castle as Phileas Fogg was very well cast. I really enjoyed the way in which he used his physicality and voice to try and convey character. I liked the air of authority that James brought to this role.
Tabatha Alcock Bailey was outstanding as Passpartout. Her French accent was flawless. I also really enjoyed the way in which she told story and conveyed character. She brought a lovely amount of light and shade to this role.
Maddie wrench looked lovely in her costumes as Mrs Aouda. She also had a nice rapport with Phileas Fogg and Passpartout. A lot more work was needed on projection as it was very hard to hear at times.
James Mills was entertaining as Inspector Fix. Whilst I wasn’t a massive fan of his overacting (this is more of a directorial note), I have to say that James committed fully to this role and gave his all which was very much appreciated.
The biggest note that I can give to any actor from this young society is to tell the story clearly, project your voice and annunciate words. If the audience cannot hear the words, then the plot is lost. This is fundamental.
What I did love about this production was every cast member look like they’re having a brilliant time on stage. Sometimes, inspiring children to love this fantastic hobby is fundamental also.

There is a lot of potential with this society, and I truly hope that their next production of Matilda in November 2022 is a huge success.

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