Sister Act

Director Cian Harriss along with choreographers Peter Dedman and Victoria Harvey had set themselves an ambitious task to bring together a remarkably large cast who had to sing and dance on stage dressed as nuns - not the easiest of costumes to wear in such circumstances. They remained undaunted in the face of such a challenge, and the result was a joy to behold, aided magnificently by Musical Director Karen Chinery and her splendid musicians.

The cast, too many to mention individually, gelled into a very well-coordinated group who kept perfect time in their dancing and sang beautifully throughout, apart from the deliberately painful noise the nuns first made before Deloris, played with great gusto by Em Robshaw, took them in hand. Good use was made of the stage so that it never felt too crowded or too empty during the nuns’ numbers, and their energy and enthusiasm was palpable throughout. This enthusiasm was matched by the comedic characters played by Charlie Jones, James Player and David Smithet, who worked well with their villainous boss Curtis Jackson, ably played by Graeme Johnston. They were not just there as his stooges, for their song and dance number with the ladies in the Fabulous Baby Number truly was fabulous.

In perfect contrast to their exuberance was Mother Superior, excellently portrayed by Victoria Carey, whose calm serenity was a worthy counterbalance to the craziness of her nuns. She was well supported by David Hart as Monsignor O’Hara.

Clever use was made of the side of the stage as Mother Superior’s office, and Victoria’s solo number in her dressing gown was beautifully executed. However, the spotlighting during this scene was somewhat shaky and didn’t always manage to follow her as she moved to centre stage.

Perhaps the star of the show, along with the many other stars in this production, has to be Mary Denton, the Wardrobe Coordinator. Not only for the number of costumes she had to provide, but for the imaginative way that she managed to dress the nuns so that each and every number produced a more spectacular look than the previous one. The costumes were truly superb, even though Deloris was not given any black tights to accompany her nun’s habit, which is a shame. The costumes were colourful, glittery and well-designed, without being gaudy or out of keeping with the characters who wore them. Credit here must also be given to James Jeffries as Eddie Souther for pulling off (pun intended!) his cleverly-hidden costumes in a great scene with him as police officer/singer/police officer in a very quick transformation and back again. That might be taking the role of “Sweaty” Eddie too literally, with so many clothes to wear at once, but was certainly very slick in its execution.

The production required a lot of scene changes. Unfortunately some of the energy exuded by the cast was dampened during the blackouts. It is always difficult to find a way around having blackouts, but worth thinking about alternatives wherever possible. Sometimes the scenery flats seemed a little lost on such a large stage, although the scenes that worked well really did look good, from the simplicity of the confessional scene, to the breakfast scene when Deloris first met all the nuns. The projected circular stained glass window was very effective, making excellent use of the space, but another star of the show had to be the four hand made coloured stained glass windows. They were spectacular.

A recurring issue with Centre Stage is the sound, where some of the words are lost due to difficulties balancing the microphones. This has happened over previous productions and unfortunately was happening during this one too.

But in conclusion, what the audience can take away from this production is a sense of joy from everyone involved. The cast shone in their delivery, enjoying every moment they were on stage, and the crew should be proud of the hard work they put into creating a home-grown spectacle that was really inspiring.

Well done one and all, and thank you for your very warm welcome.

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