Our House

I was very pleased to be invited to review Starmaker’s production of Our House and to celebrate director Oliver’s 10-year NODA award.

Our House is set in 1980’s Camden and tells the story of teenager Joe Casey who breaks into a building to look down on Casey Street as he tries to impress his girlfriend on his 16th birthday. The story featuring a parallel time frame created by Joe’s spur of the moment decision to either stay and face the music (good Joe) or run from the police (bad Joe) asks the question ‘does crime pay’ or is there redemption to be gained from telling the truth?

In only his second time directing, Oliver brought an excellent production to the stage. He had ensured that the 25 actors had been well prepared and understood their characters which were believable and delivered very well. There was some very good casting, and Oliver had developed the chemistry between the actors so that they were very natural together. Switching between two sides of the story could have led to some confusion for the audience, but using different costumes (black and white) for good and bad Joe and the odd ‘stand in’, it was easy to follow. Katie had clearly worked hard to produce high standards of the vocals, not only with the principals but also with the Ensemble. The energetic choreography for this show was obviously inspired by Madness and created the mood of the story straight from the first chorus number. The routines were imaginative and very engaging, full of interesting moves and very energetic. The cast had been well trained, and their movements were slick and precise and synchronised. Shannon gave some nice contrast in the dancing and movement with not just lively and fast-moving numbers. Adding in some gymnastic moves made the most of the skills of the ensemble.

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