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Author: Tessa Davies

Information

Date
23rd May 2018
Society
Brentwood Musical Theatre Society
Venue
Brentwood Theatre
Type of Production
Musical
Director
Sarah Barton
Musical Director
Andy Prideaux
Choreographer
Sarah Barton

I did wonder just how BOS would be able to put this show on in this small and intimate theatre.  I need not have been concerned, in fact the show works extremely well in the space.  Being close to the performers gives an added dimension to the humour and being able to see all the expressions, gave the cast the opportunity to go to town!

I am not a huge fan of Monty Python, but I laughed a lot during this production, full credit to Director Sarah Barton for getting, absolutely, every last drop of humour and for the cast for working it so well.

Martin Harris played King Arthur extremely well, his doleful expressions and characterisation were excellent.  Juliet Thomas played the Lady of the Lake with great style, not to mention great costumes!  It would be very easy to go over the top with this part and Juliet did that in spades, which was perfect.  Emily Walker played King Arthurs sidekick, Patsy.   I had not considered the part being played by a female, but it worked well, and Emily’s range of expressions were terrific.

The knights were all excellent, Allister Smith played Sir Robin plus two other parts!  It must have been a bit hectic backstage for him, but he is a consummate performer and brought a different character to each part.  Newcomer (to BOS at least) Iain Johnson played Sir Lancelot with just the right amount of campness, a strong performance.  Jamie Fudge played Sir Galahad extremely well, I enjoyed his performance and his duet with Juliet (Lady of the Lake) was terrific.  Richard Orchard-Rowe played the fourth Knight, Sir Bedevere.   According to the programme, this is the first show Richard has done since his school days, but we would not have been aware of that from his confident performance.

It is simply impossible for me to mention everyone who had a speaking part as that was virtually the whole company!  Suffice to say that everyone was excellent.  If I seem to have gone over the top with my praise, it is well deserved.  My companion and I agree that there was very little to fault this excellent production.   The company was quite large, and I can believe that it was quite crowded back stage!  So much so that the orchestra was in the upstairs studio theatre, but we would not have known that if we had not been told.  They produced a good supportive sound, led by MD Andy Prideaux.

Costumes were good, and the scenery was just right for this small performing space, very versatile and it worked well in all scenes.  There were a few blackouts in the second act for scene changes but, as I know the show, I don’t think anything could have been done about it.  It is, however a strong contrast with the first half which segues smoothly from scene to scene.

Everyone was clearly enjoying themselves in this production and so did we.  My special thanks to Maggie Kiel for sorting out my late change of tickets.  Not an easy task when the show is a sell out!

There is no doubt that this was a successful production from a performance aspect, I hope it was as successful in making a profit.

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