Once Upon A Time In Wigan

Let me start by saying I had never seen this play before so I went in with no real preconceived idea of what I was going to see.

I was greatly surprised and excited by Lee Brennan’s (Director) innovative way of choosing to have the actors already in place as the audience were filing in, also the bar tables at the edges of the “stage” were a great touch.

The set , designed and built by John Buckley and his tremendous team was a pleasure to view, the attention to detail was awesome, it had some very interesting levels, exits and entrances made possible by using the floor space in front of the stage as the “performing arena” and building the set up over the usual stage thus creating their own iconic Wigan Casino doors.

The sound was good, in particular all the snippets of northern soul music , the lighting plot well thought out and orchestrated.

Costumes and make up worked well within each individual character right down to the cigarettes and chewing gum.

Deane Dixon-Foster(Danny) showed a good aptitude for a Geordie accent , he also portrayed a roller coaster of emotions that really made me understand his character.

Frank Williams (Eugene) enveloped us all with his slightly manic, loveable character, it was a good solid performance with plenty of laughs and tender moments along the way.

Katherine Farrow ( Suzanne) showed us the  heart in the character she portrayed,she had some excellent facial expressions particularly eating the toasted currant tea cake and her timing was spot on.

Kira Richardson (Maxine) also showed us her heart and a great depth of emotions with the turmoil and wistfulness her character went through , she expressed herself well with her body language.

Well Done to all the cast for learning northern soul moves - not an easy task. I thoroughly enjoyed my evening with you , thank you for the hospitality shown towards myself and my husband, I look forward to seeing you all again very soon.

Keep the Faith.

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