CHESS

Chess, the Musical presents a challenge to any company that decides to stage it. It takes guts and an incredible amount of determination to make a success of this show. In the hands of the formidable duo of Anita Adams and Adam Boniface and the incredible creative team, designers, technical crew, musicians, cast and hard-working Leeds Gilbert and Sullivan Society members you knew that this was going to be a sure-fire winner.

This vibrant Rock Opera was brilliantly performed by a talented cast and ensemble and staged superbly resulting in a truly excellent production. Based upon the musical talents of ABBA’s Benny Anderson and Bjorn Ulvaeus and with the lyrics of Sir Tim Rice it tells the tale of the political machinations and intrigue surrounding the murky world of chess in the 1970s and 1980s. This can be quite a staid subject to deal with, but the mood and style of the times was beautifully captured here through colour, costume and projected images and the political unrest, threat and passionate struggles were presented in a dramatic yet accessible way. This was a show so full of vitality, energy and passion that the audience were swept up by it and felt that they were part of the action, not just witnessing it from afar.

This difficult show has a beautiful score with many melodic moments, challenging lyric lines and multiple harmonies.  Whilst these are wonderful for the audience to listen to, they can be incredibly difficult to deliver but Adam Boniface made sure voices and musicians blended beautifully together. The passion and emotion of the music and the tension built throughout the show. The highly talented cast was superb, all having the vocal and acting ability to thrill an audience with everybody’s clear diction helping everyone to understand the story. The vibrant rock sound was maintained with the drums particularly being punchy but thanks to the skills of Chris Beardwell on sound control, a clear balance was maintained.

The staging was extremely effective and the whole production design ensured continuity of the highest standard. The mood was established from the start by the cleverly designed chessboard. This was a clever, set design with easily movable blocks. The lighting effects were excellent throughout, adding to the mood and atmosphere of the scenes. In fact, the visuals were just simply stunning. Merano's Tyrolean view changing into the Bangkok city nighttime skyscape was particularly effective. The preshow projection helped set the scene and throughout the show kept everyone advised of the story and what was happening throughout, maintaining the awareness of the background of unrest and fierce political battles of the time. This was in no small measure down to the incredible team led creatively by Anita Adams and Matt Stirk combined with the talents of Stage Manager Paul Myers, graphics/video stars Chris Newsome & Tina Nutt and sound and lighting wizards Chris Beardwell and Dan Dainter and their Crew. The purple colour theme added a passionate touch and was a perfect base for which the inspired black and White Russian and American costumes, also with touches of purple to help differentiate characters, featured on perfectly. The clever use of coats revealed characteristic looks in an instant. Footwear can so often be the forgotten element but not here with the 1980s style carried through including back lace boots and coloured laces and boots to help establish east and west differences Great attention to detail along with creative makeup and hairstyles nicely completed the period feel. My personal favourite touch was the iconic bubble dresses for Florence and Svetlana which fitted perfectly and contrasted so well in black and white but with the purple lacey arm gloves indicating the passionate link between the two women.

The Chess Federation

Matt Stirk as the Arbiter was an excellent choice being every inch the Arbiter with his stern stance and unflickering facial expression and channelling the right amount of stature and authority whilst driving the story along. His clear diction gave the audience a strong chance of grasping and understanding what was going on.

The West

Freddie’s youthful exuberance, erratic arrogance and hidden vulnerability, was captured by the talented young actor Fen Greatley-Hersch. The evidence was fully visible in his realisation that he had lost Florence and his self-analysis in ‘Pity the Child’ was very poignant and dramatically delivered. The fast moving and diverse opening to Act Two, ‘One Night In Bangkok’, was confidently narrated and sung, portraying the total contrast in Freddie’s character.

Lucy Boniface was outstanding as Florence Vassey, delivering a passionate heart-rending powerful performance. Lucy captured the troubled character well expressing the characteristics required with tremendous stage presence and a magnificent voice.

She embraced every ounce of passion, drama and emotion within the role and amazed us with her stunning portrayal. One of the highlights was the duet between Florence and Svetlana “I Know Him So Well” which was sung beautifully, with excellent harmony, balance and dynamics

Matthew Oglesby as Walter de Courcey, the wheeler dealer of the American Delegation gave a strong performance and had great rapport interacting brilliantly with his opposites.

The East

Fraser Wilkinson as the Soviet champion Anatoly Sergievsky, the Russian chess opponent gave a strong emotive performance together with a powerful vocal range - a demanding role for which showed the confidence and vulnerability of the character. Fraser portrayed the struggle within the character between loyalty to his country and the desire to be the best in the world with great sincerity and his powerful voice was shown to its best in the magnificent Act 1 closing rendition of “Anthem”.

Katie Mitchell was stunning as Anatoly’s wife Svetlana and gave a truly dramatic performance. Her rendition of ‘Someone Else's Story’ gave her a perfect opportunity to show her vocal prowess resulting in a superb emotional performance.

The character of Ivan Molokov was in perfect hands, played with strength and conviction by Tom Daley who did not shy away from a Russian Accent and his ability to be able to keep this going during the songs should be congratulated. This was a very forceful performance as Alexander, the head of the Soviet Delegation

The contrast between the two sides was very well realised thanks to a talented ensemble who created American or Russian characters, citizens of Merano, Reporters, Delegates and Civil Servants and they too, made a telling contribution to the Show with some fine singing and choreographed actions delivered by smooth handling of props, stage blocks and costume changes fully exploiting their supporting roles. 

Well done to everyone on and off stage and to your Officers, Committee and Front of House staff for a memorable evening’s entertainment. Chess could be considered high risk and ambitious, but the result was outstanding. This was amateur theatre at its best and would put many a professional production to shame.

 

 

 

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.