Fiddler on the Roof

With some companies now looking back to time-honoured musicals of years past, there must be something new about such productions to entice an audience to see it. Gone are the days of merely the name of the musical gathering a throng, the audience want to experience something exiting and relevant. Well, that is indeed what we were presented with in this production of Fiddler on the Roof given by the company of Swansea AOS.

The stage had been completely stripped back right into the wings, all blacks taken out, and every single corner of the wide open space was used by the cast. The orchestra were on stage and very much part of the action, in costume and ably led by Ashley Eynon-Davies and the ensemble spent most of the time on the stage engaged in village activities and contributing to action all the time. This takes focus and much rehearsal and the direction given by Leah Collett in order to achieve this and moments of such beauty and emotion on stage was outstanding.

There was some lovely casting with Jevan Cannon playing the Rabbi, Peter Hawkshaw as Mordcha, Ewan Forrest as Fyedka, Sally Aston as Grandma Tzeitel in the dream sequence and Miranda Millar as a great Fruma-Sarah in the same scene.

There was a lovely rapport between Ben Smith as Perchik and Catrin Jones as Hodel and great performances from Tor Whitty and Simon Lloyd-Jones as Tzeitel and Motel respectively. Susanna Power gave a good performance as Chava and the two youngest daughters, Sasha and Bielke, were played well by Emma Passey and Lowri Myles. Dafydd Mills played the larger-than-life butcher, Lazar Wolf, with the flare that we have come to expect of this young man and a very commanding performance of the Constable was given by Tim Pottinger. Delighting us all in the role of Yente, the Matchmaker, was Clare O’Leary and she was indeed the wonderfully meddling old woman, bringing much humour and great comic timing.

Our patriarch and matriarch, Tevye and Golde were beautifully cast and they led the company on their journey through the production. Simon John played the exasperated, much put upon but quietly contented Tevye with great aplomb and Joanna Pope was the perfect Russian-Jewish mother with all the sass and formidableness one would expect.

I was very moved by the production, being taken through the gamut of emotions and the entire audience were transported to the very time and place of Anatevka in the early 1900s. Many thanks indeed to the whole company for a very fine performance.

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