Get Me Home

It was a brave move by Menston Thespian adults to hand over the entirety of the summer production to their under 18s. A massive amount of trust and confidence was placed in these young performers and they rose brilliantly to the challenge. They gave their very appreciative audience a devised piece of comedy drama supported by pantomime style musical numbers with varied and well-rehearsed dance routines.

The overture, played by David Boddy and his excellent band, took us immediately to Spain and the curtains opened to the entrance of an extremely confident group of young performers. We were then taken through a number of scenes and different locations as the family- Mum, Dad, Gran and three kids went off on their Brianair holiday to Spain. It seemed as though the writers had had wide experience of package trips on budget airlines, even using the Jet 2 theme song in one of their routines. There were lots of clever, and quite sophisticated comedy references.

The young writers were bold and brave and didn’t shy away from needing a large range of props and scenery. Well done to the stage crew for supporting them in this. You must have had elastic wings on that stage. The security scene at the airport was impressive in its detail, and I loved the lights on the scanner, but some of the scenes with no prop support worked just as well. This is all part of the learning journey for these young playwrights. For instance, a trick of using voices off to cover some of the scene changes worked really well and the star curtain in the bar scene really transformed the stage in a simple way. As playwright producers they will develop their menu of techniques to keep the show swinging along.

The choreography throughout lifted the show and the song choices were excellent. Well done to Darcie Clegg and Molly Cox, the choreographers for this show. The steps fitted the music well and there were lots of creative examples of mood creation - the romantic dancing, the cheesy holiday moves and the slo mo and freeze sections in the Bjork song.

Some of the characters in the script were well formed too, with clever running jokes: the seat arguments, the honeymoon couple, but especially Grandma and Fernando. Lois Webster absolutely nailed the lifeguard Lothario character. She was hilarious (as him). But all the cast gave us strong and committed performances and each actor had their moment to shine. If you name is not here, then please know that you did a great job.

Congratulations to the adult committee for their faith, to all the young people for giving this their heart and soul, and to Toby Broadbent for braving it in a very female dominated atmosphere. This must have been a fantastic learning opportunity and a great confidence building exercise for everyone. Bravo Menston Thespians.

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