Our House

This musical by Tim Firth has songs included by the 1980’s sca band  Madness. I didn’t know this before that the definition of sca is A genre of music that combines Jamaican and Caribbean rhythms and punk rock energy. These elements create an energetic, highly danceable style of music This production certainly had all of those elements and tells the story of Joe Casey a 16-year-old schoolboy who on the night of his birthday has to decide whether to do the right or wrong thing after breaking into an empty apartment. Good Joe (dressed in white) hands himself over to the police, and Bad Joe (dressed in black) runs away. We follow the concept of the split narrative of two intertwining outcomes.

The set, provided by Scenery Solutions, was good and slickly manoeuvred by the backstage crew.  I particularly liked the effect of the back cloth video for ‘Driving In My Car’. Lighting design by Harvey Ebbage was, as usual, excellent. I wasn’t blinded too often! It was a pity though, that the jail door was backlit, and you could see the shadow of the backstage crew pushing/pulling the door across. The seven-piece band which was beneath the stage and under the direction of MD Amanda Philip kept a good balance with the singers on stage. Choreography by Hollie Evans and Adele Ebbage was superb and so innovative. I was quite exhausted watching this young cast with all their energy! There was a lovely range of costumes and there must have been a lot of Velcro used for Joe’s quick changes between black and white.

Ian Blackmore had the difficult and demanding role of Joe but his energy and commitment, especially during all those quick changes, was admirable.  Ably supported, both vocally and dramatically,  was Iris Constant as Sarah, Joe’s girlfriend. Joe’s two school friends Emmo (Liam Clarke) and Lewis (Anthony James Foruria) provided the comic element and worked well together. Harry Hickmott was impressive in the difficult role of Joe’s deceased Dad as he could not interact with anybody else on stage. What a lovely performance by Emma Sharnock playing  Mum – Kath Casey. What a good role for George Fever as Bad Boy Reecey.  It was not overplayed, and George was able to show off his dancing skills as well. Georgie Drury (Billie) and Hatsy Faulkner-Amos (Angie) seemed to be mostly on stage together, but you could see the rapport between them which worked well. The all-important supporting characters could not be faulted.

I mentioned the word energetic or energy a lot in this report but there is no doubt that is what made this such an enjoyable show, even with the adult content surprises! Director Adele Ebbage and her well-chosen cast must have thoroughly enjoyed putting  Our House together as we, the audience, appreciated all their hard work.

From the Regopma; Councillor Kay Rowan:-

We had a great evening thoroughly appreciating all the hard work that goes into producing such a slick show. From the opening chord to the dying sounds the evening was full of fun, excitement, pathos and emothion.  My companion was totally bowled over by the show which truly reflected her youth!  You can imagine we talked about it all the way home. Thankyou LAMPS.

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.