South Pacific

This Rodgers & Hammerstein classic, which is a story of love amidst prejudice and the horror of war, is a huge undertaking, but this group of young people tackled it head on and gave polished performances. There was an emphasis on the serious themes of the story in this production which commenced during the overture with a mime in which the cast set the scene.

The set, which was simple in design, gave plenty of performance space for the large company numbers and it was enhanced by the lighting plot. The orchestra emotively accompanied and never overpowered the performers.

All of the ensemble numbers were performed with enthusiasm, the singing was good and the dance numbers slick.

The many cameo roles were well portrayed by Lauren Willis, Alex Richardson, Luke Chapman, Will Turner, Courtney Crawley and Emily Smith, and they gave good support to the main principals. The roles of Captain Bracket and Commander Harbison were played by Graduate members Adam Donald and Peter Lynn respectively. They provided the necessary maturity for these roles and gave a good contrast in performance to the unruly Seabees. Luther Billis who leads the Seabees in a unique manner was played by Owen Saunders who gave a terrific comedy performance and delighted the audience, particularly during his performance in “Hunny Bun”.

Emillie Atkinson, as Ngana, and Max Weatherhead, as Jerome, sang well and their French accents were very good. Bloody Mary, who was portrayed with a sinister edge by Rachel Smith, is exasperated when her plans to match her daughter Liat (Rebecca Wharton) with Lt Joseph Cable (Keiron Jackson) go wrong due to his bigoted upbringing and beliefs; strong emotions for such young people to portray, but they gave full commitment to their roles. Alex Smith, as Emile De Becque, gave a very strong performance tackling well the many emotions demanded from a role designed for a mature, man and his singing was good. Jess Furmedge, as Nellie Forbush, was superb; her accent was excellent and never faltered, and she looked and sounded beautiful.

It was evident that a lot of hard work had gone into the production from both the production team and the cast to achieve a high standard of performance, well done.

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