Our House

Revolving around the music of British band, Madness, ‘Our House’ follows the story of London lad Joe Casey. On the night of his sixteenth birthday, an over-excited Joe takes Sarah, the girl of his dreams, out for a romantic evening. On a whim, he breaks into a new building development near his house to show Sarah the view over north London. When the police come, Joe faces a tough decision: to run, or give himself up. It is at this point that the story splits in two as we follow the fortunes, and misfortunes, of Good Joe and Bad Joe.

In KODS production, Joe was played by a young Jack Simpson with a mature ease that was very impressive. Jack gave a tremendous performance fulfilling both characters, often in the same scene, involving multiple costume changes to signify each character (hats off to the Wardrobe Team) including one on stage hidden behind the chorus umbrellas! Jack also sang well throughout and I particularly enjoyed ‘One Better Day’ which was sung with great feeling with Dad and Kath. Jack could move well too – an all-round excellent performance.

Referring to Joe’s deceased Dad and Mum Kath, both were played with great presence. Julian Richards had a particularly strong voice which it was a pleasure to listen to and brought great sensitivity to the role. Jill Parmenter also gave a great performance, stubbornly refusing to leave the family home despite pressure from developers and scenes with Joe were just right.

Whilst Joe alternated from ‘good’ to ‘bad’ you felt the anguish that Sarah his girlfriend was going through, played with great feeling by Lucy Passey. Lucy’s numbers with Dad and Joe were also very poignant.

Joe was tempted to stray under the influence of Reecey, played with just the right amount of sleaze by Tom Paine and Darren Richards provided another confident performance as Mr Pressman. Joe’s laddish friends Emmo and Lewis (Josh Dibble and Elliott Bowden) gave great support and the girls Billie and Angie (Claire Rutland and Molly Parmenter) also gave confident performances.

I liked the well-built set very much with the orchestra placed high at the back of the stage, and scene changes moved well utilising pieces that folded in and out of the permanent street scene. Lighting and props added to the overall effect, although I was not sure about the period for the small mobile phones and a laptop. The orchestra and sound were generally well balanced, particularly in Act 2 and the cast were all well-dressed for the period. The choreography was great and very well-rehearsed and I was impressed with the energy level maintained throughout each number.

Congratulations to Hollie Christian–Brookes on her debut musical production and all involved in this excellent show.

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