Stepping Out

The village hall was nicely full for the opening night of Much Hadham Drama Group's latest offering of Richard Harris's up-lifting comedy about Mavis, a dance teacher, and her weekly class of tap dance students.  This had presented a real challenge to the cast - a play in which each of the characters endeavours to master some basic tap routines and Jenny Myhill's assistance with dancing lessons for the cast during rehearsals had helped them towards achieving a reasonable standard by the end of the performance.

John Wetherall and his team had designed and constructed the set, depicting the typical interior of a run-down church hall, which provided the backdrop for the entrances and exists, with a raised platform at the rear of the stage for the upright piano.  This small curtained stage area was augmented by a fairly large apron, to allow space for the various tap dance routines, which are crucial to the play, with two low benches for the cast to sit on before and after their "class". This created some nicely varied groupings in the scenes and meant that most of the dialogue was clearly heard.  The action takes place over several months and this was suitably reflected in the variety of winter and summer garments worn by the characters.

Stepping Out has some delightful characters and guest Director Barry Lee had strived to achieve this with the cast, who had all worked hard at their characterisations, but lacked a little conviction.  They were obviously out of their comfort zone, too, with having to master tap steps in addition to the dialogue - no mean feat for any actor!  As a result, there were quite a few missed cues, which meant the action was a little laboured at times and the fade-outs between the scenes were sometimes a little over-long, which slowed the pace somewhat, particularly in the second Act.

That said, Lisa Turpcu, as Mavis, the tap dance teacher, gave a plausible performance both as a dancer and instructor and was well-supported by Suzanne Vernon, as the accompanist, Mrs. Fraser, whose acerbic comments frequently drew a laugh from the audience.  The role of Andy was quite sympathetically portrayed by Laura Leigh as an unhappily married and self-sacrificing woman whio attempts to strike up a friendship with Geoffrey, the rather reserved shipping insurance clerk and the only male in the class, well-played by Paul Haimes.  The two friends, Sylvia and Rose, provide much of the humour in the play and this was borne out, with good solid performances from both Anne Senior and Sue Wetherall.  Lauren O'Neill as Lynne, the student nurse, Margaret Stainton as Dorothy, who works in the local unemployment office and Penny Deans as Maxine, who runs her own clothing business, completed the line-up.

But the performance of the night must go to Corrina Graham-Hodson's  confident characterisation of busy-body Vera, the newest member of the class.  Vera's penchant for cleanliness and orderliness was so well-acted and the silver lycra outfit was daring, to say the least!

Although the contrast in mood was evident between the first Act, which is full of light-hearted humour and fun and the second Act, in which the growing tension amongst the characters as they struggle to perfect their tap routine and their ultimate clash of personalities was revealed, the performance overall lacked polish and slickness.  However, the final scene, when they performed their "public" routine in their sparkly black and gold dance costumes, although still a little ragged around the edges, ended the evening on a high note and was appreciated by the supportive audience. 

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