Goodnight Mr Tom

The show was staged at Shavington Academy Theatre in the school hall which was beautifully decorated with Union Jack bunting, trestle table settings with “rations” on each table and ration cards. The band pit was decorated as a bunker. This group have recently joined Noda but have been performing since 2009 to stage Musical Theatre for people who want to socialise and have fun without feeling the pressure to have a singing voice or dancing feet.

The deep stage was used well with Mr Tom’s house at the back which was then curtained for scenes in front of black tabs including The Beech house, the station and street scenes. The sets were great and worked well with a good stage team to move between scenes.

The lighting worked well and complimented the scenes but there were a number of issues on sound particularly in the first half with microphones and feedback. The balance of instruments particularly the piano sometimes overshadowed the vocalists.

Most of the costumes were good especially those knitted items made for the show by Sheila Bevan. Some costumes were too modern for the time but it can be difficult to source every item with such a large cast. The props looked good including many which were hand made. I liked the puppet dog played war horse style and operated beautifully by Alice O’Connor who never got in the way of the other actors.

Prior to this I had not experienced the show as a musical. Personally I found the music quite dreary and often the one note style detracted from the story and felt laboured. The cast were not the best singers but I don’t think the score did them any favours. Some chorus numbers needed more work as not everyone knew the lyrics, had clear diction or finished at the same time.

Angela Snell did a nice job on direction and choreography with such a large cast of varying abilities but there were some ensemble scenes where moving cast on and off stage needed more direction. The young band of drums, piano and bass did well, however some of the cast needed more help with when to start/end a song and keep time and I felt the MD may have needed his hands free for that on some of the unfamiliar numbers.

Gary Blackman as Tom Oakley produced a nice characterisation and accent with a gruff exterior but a real tenderness towards William. He looked the part and his scenes with William worked well but he did stumble on some lines.

Tracey Carter played Martha Beech and put in an interesting performance as the mother of William who is cruel to her children and neglects their needs. I felt that Tracey didn’t feel entirely comfortable playing this harsh character and because of this some of the lines were rushed. Her vocals were good on her songs but it’s difficult going from harsh character to vulnerable in the space of seconds. 

The two young people who played William and Zacharius were very good and will grow in confidence from performing these challenging parts. Brendan Roberts- Woodbine played Zacharius with a flair that suited the character and held the audience on his solo numbers with pleasant vocals. Archer Armstrong was really sweet as William with great projection of voice on both dialogue and vocals. At 7 years old to perform such an emotionally charged part and hold the stage especially in solo scenes and numbers is a real testament to the hard work put in from not just Archer but the production team too. And of course these two were word perfect on difficult dialogue.

Well done to supporting actors and ensemble in their roles and the other volunteers both backstage and front of house who made us so welcome during our visit.

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