Mary Poppins Jr

Many thanks to Preston College for inviting me to see their production of Mary Poppins Jr on Friday 12th May 2023 which was performed by their Foundation Learning students at the college’s performance theatre. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion is a matter very close to my heart, so to say I was thrilled when I was invited to this performance would be an understatement. This work is a condensed, one act version of the stage version of the classic film, of which I will not invest in providing a synopsis as this story is so well known that I am sure it is unnecessary. The work contained all of the biggest numbers from the hit movie musical as well as some pieces created especially for the stage production.

Direction was undertaken by Rachael Soar who carefully crafted this work which maintained a great pace throughout. The set was quite simple with a rostro-block style platform spanning the width of the space upstage which had 2 stepped thrusts projecting down stage left and stage right from it. Although simplistic, it was used in a multitude of ways which kept the production visually stimulating. As well as reconstructing the ever so familiar narrative, Rachael added a conceptual theme of acceptance and kindness into the message. This was delivered through using the infamous birdwoman character as a metaphor, whereby she shed her rags to become a more glamorous character when the other characters stopped judging her on her appearance, accepted her for who she was. This was beautifully coupled with the cast giving each audience member an origami bird during the ‘Feed the Birds’ number. Daniel Mason choreographed the piece, which was simple yet effective and engaged the casts’ talents. Everyone looked drilled on their movements, and more importantly, looked like they were loving each moment of the routines. There was a very notable moment of the choreography for me which was a stroke of genius. During ‘Supercalifragulisticexpialidotious’, there is a break in the music added for the stage production where the characters repeat the spelling of the word rhythmically. In the professional version of this moment, the cast create the shapes of the letters with their bodies, Daniel chose to instead have the cast sign these letters instead, which to me was really provoking and brought tears to my eyes.

Lighting was great and added a good atmosphere to the production. There was a white tab over the middle third of the black backdrop which was flooded in colour to help heighten the animation of the production. I particularly loved the rainbow flag wash which was visually striking. Low smoke was used for chimney scenes on the roof tops and some nice tricks were used with the trucks and props which delivered some of the magic that the story holds. Costumes, hair, and makeup were very vibrant and fitting to the cast and characters and added some great vibrancy to the piece. I particularly loved the bumblebee outfits!

Now to the cast, firstly thank you so much for congregating after the production so I could meet you. It was a true honour to be invited to watch this performance, which was truly inspirational, far from perfection, but still practically perfect in every way. Each and every person on that stage gave their all and looked so comfortable in what they were doing. One of the best things for me about theatre is the life lesson that it brings that if things don’t go to plan, we as humans muddle together to bring back order to get to the endgame, then we have a rest and do it all again the next day. Watching this show reminded me of how important that was, the cast worked as one team, overcoming obstacles and challenges to deliver one of my most favourite performances I have ever seen. As I was enthralled with the action so much, I didn’t make note of the entire casts’ individual performances so I will only comment on the lead players for the rest of this review. I really meant what I said backstage though, I truly hope this is just the start of these young persons’ performance journeys, they all are stars in my eyes!

Mary Poppins was played by Mia Howorth who was a delight to watch in this role. Constantly in character and never misplaced, she commanded the space with her presence, adding nice mannerisms to further ground the character and had wonderful comedic timing with her quick wit and sharp tongue. Her vocal work during song was strong and kept good time and rhythm and often found the place in the music to guide numbers back on track when timings went out of sync. Hamzah Zaman Ali played Bert who was just a joy to watch in this role. He too had a wonderful stage presence and brought an endearing and very likeable charm to his characterisation. His singing and dance work were also very strong. Mai and Hamzah had a wonderful rapport between them which added massively to the performance.

George Banks was played by Charles Hudson who was remarkable in this role! He had a strong characterisation, was very dramatic and delivered his text work with clarity in articulation. Mr Banks has the biggest character journey in the show and Charles played this extremely well giving a great contrast to the Mr Banks who follows rules to the Mr Banks who refinds his inner child and the fun and love that comes from this. Winifred Banks was played by Jessica Reid who again was strong in this role, providing a mature and gentle characterisation, I was blown away by the sound which came out of Jessica within song, it was full of power and a rich tone to it!

Jane and Michael Banks, the children in the story, were played by Elisha Harrison and Charlie Worthington who worked well together and brought a great energy to their parts. The songs they delivered were great, but the rhythms got a little lost sometimes, but they were tricky at times, so I thought they did really well.

Melanie Williams had a good presence and energy playing the maid Mrs Brill, her counterpart, Robertson Ay was played by Rory Graham, who also doubled up as Mr Northbrook. There was a great contrast between the 2 characters he played, almost comical as the household worker, and serious yet kind as the banker.

Kristian Haslam really stood out for me playing Miss Andrew. He was hilarious mincing around the stage, which helped keep this mean character friendly for some of the younger members of the audience. Finally for this review, Bird Woman was played by Rebecca Green who was brilliant in the role. She delivered the character’s transitional message which I mentioned before clearly and her version of Feed the Birds, which also featured Mia as Mary, had me a blubbering emotional wreck.

To all the cast, their families and those who worked on the show, you all should be super proud of what you have delivered! It isn’t easy to keep an audience entertained for over an hour, and they all absolutely nailed it! To do so with the additional requirements which life places upon these young people is extraordinary and truly inspirational, reminding me theatre really is for all. 

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