HONK

HONK, the musical is written by George Stiles and Anthony Drewe, based on the Ugly Duckling story by Hans Christian Anderson.

St Phillips brought this story to life with the Youth Theatre, directed by Adam Manning .

Choreographer Liza Rigby put the cast through their paces and Musical Director was Philip Harper.

This was a small cast of whom some had to not only double up but triple up in characters they were playing.

Olivia Toft played Ida with a maturity belying her age, having a son who is different she plays the mother who stands up for him and leaves hubby behind to go on a quest to find him when he runs away. When she finds him she loves him so much she is prepared to give him up again. Olivia worked well with Cameron Holt who played Drake and doubled up as Greylag. The useless father Drake had some funny moments with Olivia and his brood. Their chemistry worked well on stage. Cameron had one of the fastest costumes changes I have seen for a while, - well done!

Ethan Birch who played their son Ugly - shunned by his own father and siblings - sets off on an adventure meeting various characters on the way, Ethan definitely shows promise as an up and coming actor of the society.

Kylah Green as Maureen, Ida’s friend was confident in her performance on stage and had other roles she played too.

Quinn Tappenden as the Cat who just wants to eat duck and look at cook books was the sly villain of the piece and played the part purrfectly. His interaction with Ethan had some great comic moments. John Booth who played bullfrog had the audience going when he swapped his outfit for a green sparkly outfit and proceeded to sing and tap dance.

 Rachel Salter who doubled up as Queenie and Dot gave a brilliant performance, managing to make the two characters completely different. Dot the efficient sidekick helping Ugly and Queenie who “thought”  she was happy with Lowbutt.  Rachel created a great double act with Jessica Jones who played Lowbutt, some lovely moments.

The characters were well cast and well done to the young company, some budding stars evident.

I would have liked to see the tea pot and an actual photo rather than mimed, just my preference. On a general note, there were some pitching issues with singing – maybe due to nerves – which I’m sure the adult leaders can help the cast learn to overcome.

Staging, Lighting and Sound helped make this production and the costumes were wonderful, especially  the outfits for the swans.

Well done St Phillips and lovely to see so many young people on stage and our future thespians coming through. It was obvious you are very supportive and proud of them.

Thank you once again for making my guest and I feel so welcome

Liz Hume-Dawson

District Rep 5

 

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