Stepping Out!

This is the first play which SAMT has staged in over 50 years - and what a great choice it is too; full of broad comedy, pathos, dodgy dancing and a real feel-good finale, a sure fire crowd pleaser!
Notably, this play spawned the 1991 movie, staring Hollywood legend Liza Minnelli, which relocated the action from a church hall in north London to the outer-suburbs of New York City, then - a less successful stage musical version in the late 1990s, this production returns to the original version of a play with music.   

One night a week seven ladies, and one man, attend Mavis Turner’s tap class to escape their normal humdrum lives and to kick up their heels, rehearsing and working towards their own personal goals, and to the looming end of term charity show.
Where most of the characters are identifiably stereotypes, and in general the humour is broad, Stepping Out brilliantly blends huge belly laughs and slapstick in the dance class sequences, with brief and unexpected flashes of pathos, with glimpses of the troubles, tragedies and deficiencies that lead each, including dance teacher Mavis herself, to lose themselves in the dancing.
These portrayals really do expose the brief snapshots of back story to make the characters real and reach out so that the audience feels a part of, not only their personal journeys, but their ultimate triumph.

Unless the plot doesn’t allow it, it is quite often a decision with modern dramas to relocate the action to the area where the production is being put on. If you’re going to do this, I find it works best to go all the way with it and make it obvious, by just changing the names of the locations mentioned in the script to match the local area but still keeping the accents varied from across the country is confusing as it doesn’t  communicate a clear directorial vision, if you’re going to relocate the action, make a clear point of it and show us why – otherwise, it’s probably best to leave it where it’s supposed to be set.

Christine Meadows directs and choreographs a top-notch cast and manages to bring out the humanity without over egging the sentimentality.
The ensemble cast required for this play has no obvious leading role but does give each player the opportunity to a shining moment. Each of the ten were all equal and well balanced with no one stealing the lime light, each character (I'm sure) would reach out to some people more than others but for me, each of them complimented the next which is testament to a marvellous team effort.
 
The playing of the piano being mimed to track could have been disguised a little better and (although this play is notorious for it) the gaps between scenes are quite long which I can totally understand why, perhaps not the same snippet of music each time we had a blackout would have been more agreeable, however, these are fine tuning points which really didn’t hinder my enjoyment of the evening - this is by far the strongest production I've seen this society deliver.
There was not one weak link amongst the cast and as I’ve already said, no one out shone anyone else so I feel it would be wrong of me (for the purpose of this review) to single anyone out.

Stepping Out has a universal and enduring appeal with a super-satisfying ending which didn’t fail to please.

Congratulations SAMT!!

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