Fiddler on the Roof

Fiddler on the Roof is set in the small Jewish village of Anatevka, Russia, in 1905 and is concerned primarily with the efforts of Tevye, a dairyman, his wife, Golde, and their five daughters to cope with their harsh existence under Tsarist rule.

Leslie Wheeler’s Tevye was splendid, although I felt early in the week his delivery of dialogue showed hesitancy, he has a fine voice and had a good grasp of the role bringing out much of the humour of the character, and created a believable relationship with his wife and daughters: particularly the three eldest daughters, nicely played by Charlotte Hockin (Tzeitel), Victoria Richards (Hodel) and Daisy Beresford (Chava).   Maria Marshall as wife Golde has a excellent voice and she showed great empathy with Tevye, her daughters and her neighbours.  

There was a fine performance from Steve Creighton as Lazar Wolf the village butcher, and similarly Helen Scully as Yente, the matchmaker. Young Will Kilvington-Shaw made a strong impression as Perchik the student, bravely standing out against the village traditions, endeavouring to convince people things were changing. 

Good support was given by Alan Kenney (Mordcha the inn keeper), Phil Norton (Motel the tailor), Olly Hockin as Fyedka and Bruce Godfrey as The Fiddler, also Martha Peterson (Shprintze) and Rose Beresford (Bielke) Tevye’s two youngest daughters.  Mention must be made too of Wendy Lowe (Grandma Tzeitel) and Jane Beresford (Fruma Sarah) both impressive in ‘The Dream’ sequence.

On the debit side, the pace often flagged mainly through lack of cue bite and I felt the Constable was not particularly recognisable as a figure of authority and therefore the conflict between the Jews and Russians was not clearly defined.  Also it is annoying when radio mikes are not switched off and conversations back stage infiltrate on stage. 

However, there was plenty on the credit side in this show.  We enjoyed the excellent contribution of a good strong chorus and an extremely talented and tuneful orchestra under the leadership of musical director Mike Bernard.  

Technically the show was good.  The lighting design by Peter Grainger was splendid.  Over Players never shirk the challenge their small stage throws up by skimping on staging and although the required myriad scene changes slowed the action the staging was first-rate with much attention paid to authenticity of furniture and props.  That said I did have problems with the rather incongruous bench, something more basic would have been much more in keeping.  

There were some nice directorial touches by Christine Turner who did her best to play up what comedy there is in this tragic show. The mixture of relationships, tradition, and village life all came together well with some nice ensemble movement.

Once alleged to be the most performed musical ever, Fiddler on the Roof doesn’t exactly send you on your way full of the joys of life but does show that with humour people have the strength of will to overcome adversity.  

Although yielding a long evening, Over Players once again offered up a show well worth seeing. 

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