Bless 'Em all

Produced as part of the Brentwood Arts Festival, this thought provoking piece was about the events in the period during the First World War.  The author, Amy Newland, and her co-director and MD Rebecca Toft had clearly done a considerable amount of research.  The dialogue was of the period and reflected the thoughts of civilians and soldiers at the time.

The cast were all very good and it is unfair to single out any one person.  This company has a wealth of talent and this was used to great effect.  Each member of the cast had their character and portrayed them accurately and with great feeling and emotion.  This is an ensemble piece and the members of Brentwood Operatic excel at this.

It was interesting to hear the, not so familiar, verses of many of the familiar songs.  Personally I like to hear the whole song and this doesn’t happen often enough in shows that use ‘old’ songs.  Well done to the authors for this and to Rebecca Toft for the orchestrations.

Scenery was simple but very effective and the costumes were well researched and appropriate.  This theatre has good acoustics and we heard the dialogue easily.  Being so close to the action is great for this type of production.

It was lovely to see a packed house for this show and a great shame that there was only the one performance.  I hope that the society gets the opportunity to reprise the show on another occasion.

My thanks for your hospitality.

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