Little Shop Of Horrors

This is an iconic show and, as such, it is always popular with cast members who want to be part of it.  This can be a problem as it was originally written for a cast of 16 plus the operator(s) and voice of the plant.  There were, in fact 26 cast members and with this small venue it felt overcrowded.

Director Bill Edwards used the floor of the venue for a lot of the action, this was a good concept but, unfortunately it meant that we missed a lot it because it was masked by the large number of chorus performing on the floor area.  There were certain scenes in the play that we actually could not see at all and had to trust to listening to them.  Amongst these were the ‘radio’ scene and the dentist’s surgery.

Doing theatre ‘in the round’ requires a lot of planning as sightlines can get masked by actors standing right in front of the audience.  This happened on a number of occasions.   I was also sorry to see that, when some of the actors came right forward to the audience, they moved out of the lighting areas and into darkness.

It is a shame because everyone in the cast had characters and they had clearly worked hard to develop them.  I also found the constant movement of members of the cast around the auditorium, a great distraction.  Fine at the beginning of each half but it would have been better if they had not been there, when there were things happening on stage.

Craig Stevens played Seymour well, he got the character perfectly and he has a good strong singing voice.  Lisa Rawlings played Audrey and she got the character well, although I would have liked her to have been a bit more ‘crushed’.  Simon Haskell played Mr Mushnik perfectly with just the touch of ‘Jewishness’ necessary for the part.  The three girls; Ronnette (Gail Hughes) Chiffon (Sandra Trott) and Crystal (Amy Pudney) worked well together although we did miss quite a lot of their performance when they were ‘on the floor’ due to the aforementioned masking.  Rob Lewis-Jones played the dentist Orin Scrivello well, although it was also a shame that a lot of his antics with the gas mask were not seen by the whole audience.    The company played a myriad of small parts, most of them well and with character.   Director Bill Edwards was the voice of the plant and John Hughes was the plant puppeteer.  Not an easy task and, in the bigger plant, usually done by two people so well done for doing it all!

The scenery was good, with one of the better plant sets around, and the changes were carried out well, the audience certainly appreciated the growth of the plant!  Costumes were, in the main good, I always think it is such a shame that the three girls are not able to stay in their sequinned dresses a bit longer; we barely had time to appreciate them!

Overall it was a good strong performance and clearly enjoyed by the audience, if only I had been able to see it all……….

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