Joyce Handbury

To make ‘Summer Holiday’ as realistic as possible you need a ‘bus’ and knowing the performance area at Bolsover School I was very sceptical as to how they were going to achieve this but, I hadn’t counted on the ingenuity of Tim and Nancy Ballington whose daughters Milly and Olivia are in the cast. They had created a truly magnificent ‘bus’ based on two trucks with a centre piece. Not only was it the ‘bus’ but by clever adaptation became integral in forming other sets. Taking on the role of Don, made famous by Cliff Richard, was Kieran Buck who although at times seemed a little unsure of himself gave a very creditable performance. He was ably assisted by his three mechanic mates, eight year old Isaac Farnfield was suitably cheeky as Cyril, Connor Brown was fine as Edwin and Chris Hempenstall has great stage presence and was very self-assured as Steve. The singing trio, Angie, Alma and Mimsie were delightfully played by Madeline Blunt, Charlotte Blunt and Amylee Whitehouse. The runaway American singer, Barbara, who masquerades as a boy so as to join the travellers, is superbly played by Laura Hulett. She has such a lovely singing voice and is so natural and confident on stage. Chris Peck as Barbara’s agent, Jerry, and Megan Owens as her domineering mother, Stella, were perfectly cast. Jerry, always out to please Stella meant that Chris found himself adorned in many disguises including a Swiss maid (loved the socks) and waving his maracas as a street entertainer, both the cause of much hilarity. The chorus consisisting of young people from seven upwards were involved in many of the well choreographed musical numbers, I particularly liked ‘On the Beach’, ‘Do You Wanna Dance?’ and the title number ‘Summer Holiday’. Good costumes, sound and lighting with some excellent props and of course the wonderful ‘bus’ all added to make this a truly happy and entertaining show. Credit must go to the whole team and especially to the extremely hard-working stage crew who would definitely need a ‘Summer Holiday’ after the final curtain went down!!

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