Our House

What a fabulous evening we had at Our House! LODS are a friendly group who are incredibly talented. They work hard and this is evident in the performance.

Our House is a complicated story but the talented direction of Drew Seal made it easy to follow. The show charts the life of Joe Casey played by James Cohen. Joe has a loving mother, Zoe Berry and his father is dead but, it is his dad, played by Peter Brown, who narrates the story. At a pivotal moment in his life, Joe’s decision leads him to live alternative lives, one good (white) and one bad (black),

Cleverly, the contrasts of good and bad are reflected not only in the acting but in the set, the costumes and even the stage crew. As explained in the programme, even the entrances of the characters are dictated by their colour. White enters from stage right and black from stage left.

The music is that of the band Madness, who were originally a ska band in the early eighties. Their publicity was based on black and white too; so, it was good to see this reflected in the set. From the offset the music was excellent; even if you are unfamiliar with the play, you recognised the music, especially if you are of a certain age, as I am. The musical direction by Rachael Plunkett was perfect and the conductor, Stuart Woolner did a fabulous job of bringing it to life with his talented orchestra and his excellent timing.

The ensemble pieces were joyous, energetic, full of movement and colour. The choreography was on point throughout the show, and I appreciated the vocal quality and musical harmonies. Occasionally the music drowned out some words but overall, it did not detract from the enjoyment. This show was the perfect match of music, movement, acting and technical. There were incredible graphics used in the production, projected onto the screen front-drop. Before the show, there was a projection of a man standing centre stage and then running in profile across the stage and at the end, we saw scenes and pictures of the cast members. It was very clever and fit well with the whole concept. The set seemed basic but it was highly effective; squares of black and white, lit perfectly, with three doors. The lighting effects for different scenes were well thought out and the addition of traffic lights, and road signs either side of the stage worked well too. When stage furniture was needed it was formed by black or white blocks; depending on whether we were viewing good or bad Joe’s story. Toward the end of the show when the two Joe’s stories become close even the colour of the telephones were black or white and the stage crew were dressed in black or white as they set the scenes.

The actors were well cast and very talented. James Cohen played both good and bad Joe, wearing black and white costume to signify which life he was portraying. James’ voice is excellent and his accent was accurate for the London setting. His character in each role was well defined and the energy of the quick changes and choreography must have been exhausting, but not once did he appear breathless.

Joe’s love interest since his school days was Sarah, played by Rebecca Wallace. Rebecca has a beautiful voice and a gentle character that stayed pure through the play. Rebecca was a good person in both Joe’s lives and it is Rebecca that saves the day with her selfless care for Joe even when she has moved on with someone else. The interplay between Rebecca and James was good to see and their delivery of It Must Be Love showcased their acting ability as well and the way their voices sounded together.

Joe had two friends as did Sarah. The group have a great relationship and the characters of each add humour to the piece. Natalie McMillan and Rosie Munns play Sarah’s friends, Billie and Angie Morton. The two work well together to play a couple of teenage cynics who have an opinion on everything. Their characterisation is excellent and very funny. Joe’s friends are Declan Wright and Alex Carter who play Emmo and Lewis. Both have produced incredible characters and bring an abundance of energy and humour to their roles. The group had such good chemistry on stage that it was easy to believe they were all school friends. Testament to excellent direction and professional stage craft. Their voices worked well together and the relationships between them was natural.

Peter Brown played Joe’s Dad. Dad had been in prison and had later died, leaving Joe with his loving mum. Dad was asking the question is it best to make the right decisions and lead a good life, or make bad decisions that lead to a bad life? Is Joe’s life going to be defined by that one pivotal moment when he was sixteen? We follow Joe’s dad from a young man in love, to a tortured dad who cannot influence the life of his son, knowing that he wasn’t the best role model. We learn that Joe’s dad tried to the best for the family and loved them dearly. In the second act there is a beautiful scene when Joe connects with his dead dad. I could really feel the emotion from the characters.

Monty Irving plays the evil Reecey well. Monty is an accomplished performer and his character influences other characters with his view that its easy to be successful by breaking the law. He is a career criminal and appears in the life of both good and bad Joe.

Zoe Berry plays Joe’s Mum. She is the mum everyone would want. Proud of Joe whether he is good or bad. Accepting and loving, Zoe has a great tone and her characterisation had a lot of warmth.

Barry Jones played Mr Pressman the owner of the property company that wants to destroy the Casey family home. Bad Joe is taken in by his wealth and status and good Joe wants to save the home by different means. Barry played a steady character; he gave gravitas to the role contrasting against the young naïve characters with his manipulative and philandering ways.  

There were so many great performances not only by the principal cast but by the chorus too. The characterisation was good throughout. Well done to Simon Sharpe who resurrected many roles in the show that he had previously played in 2011; to Paul Ward who played Sarah’s geeky partner from university hilariously, and to Crystalle Cox who played Pressman’s PA, professionally rescuing a stray office chair from the edge of the stage while continuing her performance with aplomb.

As the second act drew to a close the quick changes for Joe became more frantic. In one scene we saw Joe dressed half in white and half in black and the ensemble also had costumes representing two sides of the story. In bad Joe’s life he accidentally has his own mother killed when he arranges for their house to be torched and he loses the love of Sarah. In good Joe’s life, despite a prison term, Joe enlists Sarah to help him get the deeds for the house back.

The pace of the show was perfect. It’s not often you see a show that goes by so fast with no moments that drag. Our House was a celebration of the music of Madness, a celebration of local talent and a celebration of life and love. It’s a modern morality play that tells us that life is not black or white. Sometimes as dad says you do the ‘wrong things for the right reasons.’

Well done to all, on and off stage and a special mention to the publicity team. It was great to see the preproduction photos on the countdown to the show on social media and the photos in the programme are joyous.

Thanks for inviting me to Our House. I look forward to future productions.

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