Shrek Jr.

This is the junior stage version of the 2001 DreamWorks Animation film “Shrek”, along with elements of its’ sequels ‘Shrek 2’, ‘Shrek Ever After’ and William Steig’s 1990 book of the same name.

MADS’ set was backed by a cyc which was used for lovely story book projections – some moving and even a terrific animated one where the dragon crashed through the stained-glass castle window. Four good side flats featured forest and swamp – a pity that one black tab stage right did not pull back enough to reveal all the painted flat and one small boy at the end of his row did part of his dance behind it! A nicely painted castle on wheels became both Fiona’s prison tower and Duloc’s Castle. Small props were all appropriate. Lighting was simple but effective and sound mostly well balanced. An amazing number of head mics were utilised – no expense spared! 

Costumes were very mixed – animals such as Donkey, Three Bears and Big Bad Wolf were all convincing “onesies” and the Dragon’s head mask and huge red wings extending from her arms were excellent. The 3 Fionas were in lovely matching dresses as were the 3 Story tellers. Peter Pan and the Ugly Duckling’s costumes were convincing while the 3 pigs relied on pink ears and nose snouts and the 3 Blind Mice just wore sunglasses with their black leotards. There were some nice dancer costumes such as ‘skeleton” leotards, but other costumes were variable. I was confused by Shrek’s costume other than his tartan trousers (even though he was not Scottish in this production!) – it was a pity that the usual corpulent ogre looked rather underfed! Make-up for the fairytale creatures is quite specialised so some faces were more creatively painted than others. Donkey was particularly good while Shrek – although well painted needed stronger colours and his head piece needed to cover more.

Several roles were shared so sadly I can only comment on those I saw on Saturday evening. Others were – Iona McConville (Shrek), Mary Kate McKeag (Fiona), Aishlinn Hughes (Pinocchio), Dearbhla McCaughley (Gingy). Eve McCann (Dragon), Anna Ricardi, Maiya Galbraith, Erin Haddock (Young Fiona), Amy Nellis (Teen Fiona) -who were just as good as those I saw, I’m sure!

It was John Corr’s first performance as Shrek so, understandably, it took him a bit of time to ‘warm up’. He showed Shrek to be an unfriendly but rather lonely ogre - suitably grumpy but not terribly scary! His unwelcome sidekick Donkey was played with huge energy by Tyler Amos. I think he was inspired by the film as he successfully based his characterisation on Eddie Murphy’s mode of speech and really shone in the role. Tyler Headley played the difficult part of Lord Farquaad. As the narcissistic Lord he spent a lot of time on his knees, coping well with dance numbers – it was just a pity that his own feet were often visible sticking out from under his cape at the back!

When the 3 ages of Fiona were introduced ,the youngest Enya Doran, in particular, shone out. Her singing and stage presence bodes well for a future star! Nicole Fox was a believable teen Fiona, while Blathnaid Doran brought life to the adult princess, in her many quirky facets. She was, in turn, sarcastic, secretive, friendly and compassionate. There were many recognisable fairytale characters adding to the story of their expulsion from the city of Duloc – some had more to contribute than others. Pinocchio (Maria Coleman) was quite angry and frustrated that he was seen as a puppet rather than a real boy. She had the obligatory long nose, but I didn’t see it growing when he told a lie! Gingy (Eva Haddock) was a sweet and earnest ‘cookie’ and Big Bad Wolf (Summer Dougherty) was always an interested party in the proceedings. Kyla Fox was an effective Dragon, using her large red ‘wings’ to good effect. Finally, I loved the revelation at the end that young Dara Haddock, who played Grumpy - one of the 7 dwarfs – was the father of the diminutive Lord Farquaad. Perfect!

There are fart and burp jokes in this show to please the children in the audience and some ‘double entendre’ to make the adults chuckle! Everyone on stage worked really hard and obviously enjoyed participating. There were lots of green headbands with Shrek ears on them, worn by children in the audience to show their appreciation of a favourite story. Musical Directors Michaela and Fionnuala did not have an orchestra to control but the backing  tracks covered many genres of music, and they had trained their cast well to time their singing with it. Choreography by Adam and Poppy was adapted to varying dance abilities very successfully and the special dance troupe presented some original numbers. Erin Tennyson had a huge cast of young people to direct – over 70 from about age 8 to 16. She gave many of them a chance to shine by role sharing and both principals and ensemble obviously enjoyed their performing experience.

Jim McGuigan and I were glad to see MADS juniors on stage and thank everyone who was involved including the welcome and hospitality.

 

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