Stepping Out

The original play was written by Richard Harris in 1984 with the premiere production of Stepping Out being directed by Julia McKenzie, the cast of the West End production in 2017 included Amanda Holden as Vera, there was also a notable film adaptation in 1991 starring Liza Minnelli and Julie Walters, whilst it has certainly attracted strong performers in the past and this production was no exception.  

Although the original play was set in London, Director Steve Bingham chose to keep the location broad, and the cast were able to use local accents. The extremely realistic set worked well, the costumes enhancing each character perfectly. While preparing for the up coming dance show is central, the characters and their backgrounds are ultimately the heart of the play.

The play opened with Sarah Dietrich as dance teacher Mavis performing a solo tap number which showcased her superb dance ability. Sarah was strong throughout the production, showed much patience, understanding and just enough frustration when demonstrating to her class, how to tap dance. The class participants were a variety of people from different walks of life as is typical of a group coming together to learn a new skill. As well as their dance teacher we meet Glenda Fraser the cantankerous pianist who feels undervalued. Anita Dalton did a super job of portraying this character, I loved her stomps out of the room, and her participation in the final routine was hilarious. The snobby, abrasive but well-meaning Vera was excellently played by Claire Griggs, her perfect outfits and her whole demeanour suited this character very well. Katie McDermott gave a characterful performance as Rose, the one person who was just there for a good time, despite the tribulations of having bad hair! The character of Sylvia was in the safe hands of Dawn Morris who gave a strong, natural performance of someone who is down to earth and sometimes speaks before thinking. Having played this role myself years ago, i must admit to beaming all the way through, the once learnt lines came flooding back. Kim Arnold portrayed the astute and perceptive Maxine providing assistance with the class organisation and life advice, another assured performance. As the excitable Dorothy who works in social services, Emma Napper was very funny, a great quirky characterisation. Lynne who i think was trying hard not to show she was in-fact a very good dancer was played convincingly by Lucy Owen. Due to a twist of fate choreographer Sue Biddle needed to step in to play Andy when the actress who was playing the role broke her ankle. She had the difficult job of portraying a character who was in an implied violent relationship and who had low self-esteem, not an easy task. Ultimately the ‘what if’ relationship with the character of Geoffrey was very sweet and well played as was her contrasting “meltdown” in Act 2. The class of 8 had only one male participant, Geoffrey, a bit of geeky guy who is oblivious to Andy’s reaching out for attention. This super character was brought confidently to life by Kev Wing who also showed good dancing skills.

Ultimately, this was an experienced group of performers who had clearly worked hard to bring the directors vision to life and to give credible presentations of their characters. Congratulations and well done, i know from experience it's so much harder to look naturally really bad when you have spent months learning the finale dance for the show. Finally, from me, your costumes at the end WOW.

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