Our House

‘Our house’ is a juke box musical based on songs by the Camden based ska band ‘Madness.’  With a book by Tim Firth, it is a morality tale featuring a parallel time zone created by a spur of the moment decision by the main character Joe Casey consequently resulting in two separate versions of himself.  It asks the question does crime pay or is there redemption to be gained from ethical choices.  It also explores themes of love, loss and family values.

Our story starts 17 years in the past as Joe’s mum Kath (Kimberley Kostryca) and dad (Zack Ball) are competing in a dance competition. Kath tells him that she is pregnant, and they have a picture taken together. Time moves forward and we meet the sixteen-year-old Joe Casey (Dion Oldridge) and realise that his dad is now dead, and Joe and his mum live in number 25 Casey Street alone.  The house is very special to the family as back in the day Kath’s Irish ancestors built the whole street and the house was given to her for perpetuity.

Opening with ‘Our House’ it is Joe’s sixteenth birthday and he has a date with his new girlfriend Sarah (Hannah Leaning). Armed with a musical condom, courtesy of his friend Emmo, he takes her to a building site owned by the high-end property developer Mr Pressman, to show her a view of Casey Street.  Suddenly, their amorous exploits are interrupted by the arrival of the police.  Joe is now faced with a moral dilemma – stay and face the music or run away and get away with his crime leaving poor Sarah behind. 

Joe’s decision results in two parallel timelines being created highlighting the life each version of Joe would lead.  Here we have a clever theatrical costume trick whereby ‘Bad Joe’ who made the decision to run away and leave Sarah, appears dressed in black clothing.  Even Sarah from that timeline wears a black dress.  The ‘Good Joe’ who made the choice to stay and be arrested wears white clothing.  We also see double-sided black and white rotating doors representing each version of Joe.

‘Good Joe’ ends up being sent to a young person’s correctional facility whereas where he learns pride in himself and ownership of his own decisions.   ‘Bad Joe’ continues at school with his friends Emmo (Kaius Calver-Hart) and Lewis (Isaac Ward) and a dodgy schoolfriend Reecey (Amy Petit).   Watching over all these proceedings is the ghostly spectre of his deceased father commenting on both boys’ choices and ruefully reflecting about his own bad life choices resulting in him being sent to prison and neglecting his family.

‘Good Joe’ is released from the facility but quickly realises that he is now an embarrassment to friends and family and is penalised when looking for employment.  He manages to purchase a second hand beaten up old car and takes Sarah, Emmo, Lewis and Sarah’s friends - Billie (Devon Riley) and Angie (Emily Jenkinson) for a ride and everything seems to be going well until to his embarrassment it breaks down.  Sarah is now slipping away from him as she aspires to be a lawyer.   When Joe meets Sarah’s university colleague Callum, in a jealous rage he punches him in the face and Sarah is horrified. ‘Good Joe’ is then tempted by the odious Reecey and agrees to do a job with her with devastating consequences.

 ‘Bad Joe’ however is sucked into an ever-increasing criminal way of life using his breaking and entering skills which fund a very lucrative lifestyle much to the disappointment of his dad who can only watch sadly from the shadows.

‘Bad Joe’ impresses Mr Pressman the property developer who has a less than honest way of dealing with reluctant residents who refuse to vacate their properties, and dressed in a tuxedo he attends a charity ball where he reunites with his former sweetheart Sarah.

So which version of Joe made the right choice sixteen years ago, will ‘Good Joe’ stay on the straight and narrow pathway, how far will ‘Bad Joe’ go to impress Mr Pressman and what will be the repercussions of that decision?

I was pleased to see the live band, ably led by Musical Director Simon Percy, who maintained the Madness themed music very well although some of the amplified music underscores overpowered the quieter dialogue.  The final song ‘One Step Beyond’  featuring a saxophone solo was joyous and had the audience clapping along.

Each song is literally interpreted for example ‘Baggy Trousers’ is set in a school room with a beleaguered headmaster surrounded by careering desks and riotous choreography with a nod to certain dance moves audience members of a certain age would recognise (choreographer Devon Riley herself leading the dancing) which cleverly segued way with ‘House of Fun.’  ‘Riding in My Car’ featured an Old Morris Minor style car which was wheeled out of double doors and had the cast acting out scenes from Titanic and Star Wars.

Kimberley played Kath Casey as a sympathetic character with a fierce pride in her son in both timelines.  She had good vocals and maintained her Irish accent.  Her husband played by Zack Ball stayed largely on the sidelines except in a funny cameo as the gondolier wearing a fez at the Las Vegas wedding of ‘Bad Joe’ and Sarah. 

Joe and Sarah’s friends provided comedy relief with Emmo and Lewis Joe’s best friends who develop and mature as the stories progress.  Sarah’s friends Angie and Billie were protective of Sarah trying to steer her away from Joe in both timelines.

Reecey was played with devilish glee by Amy Petit who, dressed in chains and black leather, provided the temptation to Joe’s characters but quickly turned on him when things got too hot.  She slinked around stage tormenting and taunting the other characters and had good vocals.  Satisfyingly she received a good boo from the audience sign of a good villain!

Hannah played Sarah developing and maturing her character from a love-struck teen to trainee lawyer.  She had a lovely relationship with both versions of Joe and her beautiful vocals shone through in her duets with him.  I especially liked the song ‘NW5’ where, watched by Joe’s dad she sings about her feelings for Joe but torn that she recognised he was making decisions that she did not approve of.

Dion as Joe was amazing with an incredible 29 costume changes requiring a shed load of Velcro for all his outfits and some quick-change routines which left the audience gasping and clapping in appreciation.  Dion went from winsome schoolboy to hardened businessman with ease and managed to create the two different characters with just his facial expressions.  His chirpy personality kept the action fast paced.  Dion had a good voice and I especially liked the scene with Sarah where he talked dialogue over her vocals as she sang her externalised feelings for ‘Good Joe.’  His heartbreak from both Joe’s when they realised the jeopardy that their mum was in was very well done – ‘Bad Joe’ guilt and ‘Good Joe’ relief.

Special mention goes to Isaac as Lewis who despite his young age, delivered a well-rounded confident performance with excellent vocals and dance skills.  Isaac was acting the whole time he was on stage.  He was often the butt of Joe’s jokes and Isaac managed to create a very believable comedy character.

Choreography provided by Devon Riley was always fast and energetic with lots of nods to iconic Madness moves especially in ‘Baggy Trousers.’  The set had the building site scaffold overlooking the action below and was used effectively in the initial scene with Joe and Sarah and in a quick change between the two Joe’s.   I especially liked the Camden Market scene with market stalls selling records and dodgy T shirts. A projector was used to good effect informing the audience about scene changes for example the Irish bar and the Las Vegas wedding scene.

Well done to director Greg Snape for creating this fast-moving speedy show with quick scene and costume changes the pace never dropped.

Thank you to the President, Julie Leaning for another warm welcome and I was delighted to present the society with my Representative’s Special Award.

© NODA CIO.  All rights reserved 

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.