Stepping Out

This was an outstanding and very professional production of a warm and funny play.  Roger and Janet have to be congratulated not only on this well-polished production, but also in bringing together such a talented group of performers who can dance as well as act.

The play concerns seven ladies and one man all from various backgrounds and with different issues causing them problems in their daily lives. They meet at weekly tap dancing class in a local church to tap away their troubles. As the play progresses, the reasons they all have for attending the class are slowly developed. This includes titbits about their hopes and anxieties outside the hall leaving the audience loving to know just a little bit more about their lives.  With mixed abilities and hilarious scenes their tap dancing skills move slowly along and when Mavis, the dance teacher, announces that they have been asked to perform in a charity concert this is greeted with mixed reactions. Their tap dancing skills  have to move up a few notches - will they make the grade? We see the class slowly develop the dance routine as Mavis puts them through their paces. She bravely gave them hats and sticks to enhance the routine but the sticks prove  a (clumsy) step too far and had to go.

All the actors are very talented and gave first-class and very confident performances. Their characters were well defined and physically suited to the roles they portrayed, likewise the costumes. The pace of the dialogue, clarity and comic timings were perfect from the very start and never faltered.

Dance teacher Mavis was brilliantly played by Rebecca Noble. Delivering the dialogue and teaching at the same time was perfect, as was her beautiful solo dance bringing back memories of her time as a professional dancer.  Mavis would not be able to keep her class going without the formidable and tetchy Mrs Fraser, a pianist with attitude, stomping off in a huff if she doesn’t like the way things are going. Elaine Demaine played this role to perfection.  

Fiona Broadhead was superb as Sylvia and her quick off-the-cuff remarks, comic timing and facial expressions were just amazing.  Andy, a plain do-gooder with no confidence was played superbly by Heather Brooke. Naomi Deaville was the timid Dorothy who works in Social Security and tries so hard to get to grips with her tap. Again wonderful performances. Likewise Jenna Seyboth as Lynne, the girl whose life revolves around taking care of her patients. Karen Powell played Maxine exactly right - as the very sharp and confident lady who could get hold of any clothing you want from her shop. Jude Gray gave another great performance as Rose, who always had to stand at the back of the class due to her height. Vera was not only snobby, but said what she thought and didn’t care if she hurt anyone’s feelings. An extremely vain lady who even had designer leotards and we lost count of how many costume changes she had. Anita Wilshaw’s portrayal of Vera was spot-on.  Dan Fisher gave a first-class performance as Geoffrey, the only male brave enough to attend the tap class. He’s shy, nervous and doesn’t appear to be very comfortable in the   presence of all the ladies. 

With hard work and encouragement from Mavis the class eventually make it to the top as we see in the final scene. The excellent set of the church hall disappeared almost in front of our eyes to be replaced by a star-studded backcloth and the audience were presented with an amazing and very professional tap routine. The cast were each given an opportunity to perform a solo tap routine, including Mrs Fraser. The costumes were out-of-this-world. 

It is evident that all the hard work and many hours of rehearsals paid off handsomely. This was an excellent production and everyone involved is to be congratulated. The amount of applause received was well deserved.                                        Thank you for a most entertaining and enjoyable evening.

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