Curtains

‘Curtains’ is a musical murder mystery and was completely new to me before my visit to Rhiwbina for the latest offering from Rhiwbina Amateur Theatrical Society.  I thank the society for their usual warm welcome and it was lovely to chat to new chair, Lucy Chiplin, before the performance.

The scenery was very cleverly done and well-constructed.  I really liked the ‘back to front’ theatre feel.  It was very effective and well thought-out.  Lighting was well used and sound was generally good throughout.

Everyone in district 4 knows by now that I love a live band and it was great to have one here.  They were led by MD, Jo Herco-Thomas, who even made it on stage at one point!  They complemented the performers well throughout.  Well done.

Director Richard Thomas had put together a stellar cast for this production with many familiar faces amongst their ranks.  Everyone on stage seemed to be enjoying themselves which is a great thing to see.  Ensemble singing and movement were excellent throughout.  Well done everyone.

Aled Jones-Pritchard did a good job as Frank Cioffi, the detective sent to investigate the murder.  He sang well in the musical numbers and gave a good performance. 

Lesley Beckett played Carmen Bernstein and gave a strong performance.  Lesley has excellent comic timing and delivery.  It is always a pleasure to watch her perform.  Well done.

As Niki Harris, Bethan Horwood gave a strong performance.  She was great in the musical numbers and had a lovely character throughout.  She worked really well with Aled and this meant that the storyline between them was believable. 

Jessica Player and James Perons were a lovely double act as Georgia Hendricks and Aaron Fox.  The pair worked well together and both gave good performances both musically and performatively.  Well done.

Poppy Charles and Joshua Neal were full of energy as Bambi and Bobby.  I liked both performances.  Good vocals and movement.

Davron Hicks brought a lot of experience to the production as Oscar Shapiro and he was vocally very strong in the musical numbers.  Well done.

It was great to see outgoing chair, Dan Collier-Roberts, on stage.  He did a great job as Johnny Harmon.  I was really impressed with his character and delivery.  Well done, Dan.

Other named characters and the ensemble all added something to this production.  Well done!

I enjoyed the show.  It was nice to see something new!  One minor point would be to just make sure the pace flows throughout the production.  Act one flew by and the finale of act one was superb but the pace did drop a lot in act two and it did feel rather long!

Congratulations to you all on a great production.

 

The views in this report are solely of the author.

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