Made in Britain

I was not quite certain what to expect and the programme gave no clue whatever.  What we were treated to however, was a very eclectic mix of music not all by British composers but with a British theme.  It must have been a real task to select what would and would not be used with such an enormously broad base – but I was surprised to see a tribute to the late, great, Cilla Black – but absolutely no mention of our (very British) Queen in the very week that she became the country’s longest reigning monarch.  

For my taste it was a bit too mixed up – I loved the opening scene and thought that we were going to have a compere throughout but that proved not to be the case and each ‘set of numbers’ just followed the next with as far as I could see no link whatever. Some of the sets of numbers seemed slightly unrehearsed – with some gold-fishing going on whilst others were of the very high standard that I have come to expect from this society.

The comedy numbers in the main were simply wonderful – and the facial expressions particularly within the Morris Men sketch were a joy to behold.

On a very personal note I found the lighting VERY difficult to cope with – lots of flashing and moving lights, especially in a small, dark theatre, can cause severe problems for some people – not helped by the fact the I found the stage very dark on occasions and over smoky.  I always appreciated being able to make out who people are and what they are doing – it makes it much easier to be able to comment on the show when you can see all of it! 

Some of the back projection was wonderful giving a real insight and helping the audience with a time-line – although I did find some of it somewhat distracting to the performers.

So many societies try to produce ‘revue-type’ productions ‘on the cheap’ but absolutely NO hint of that here – the numbers of changes of costumes was very impressive and obviously very well thought out – with coats covering the next costume etc.  All the costumes looked good – and you produced the best R.S.M. I have ever seen – with manner and bearing all spot-on!  I found the putting on and taking off of hoods in one of the early scenes with the men really irritating and quite pointless. Many congratulations on the musicians – live music in a revue is always a huge bonus, and your talented musicians are able to play quietly so creating a really good balance – thank-you!

All in all it was and interesting and entertaining evening – the hard work that had been put in by so many people was apparent and appreciated – and many, many congratulations on full houses.

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