The Addams Family

I was very excited to go and see Newcastle Operatic Society’s production of ‘The Addams Family’ at the Stoke Repretory Theatre. It is a new show, not seen in the area before, and a nod to my childhood TV watching habits!

I have to say right from the start that the costumes were fantastic. The whole effect of the dead ancestors was stunning; hair and makeup also need to be praised. The family were dressed as we who remember the original would expect. There was so much attention to detail and that really makes a difference. The set lacked a little grandeur and spookiness for me but some of the finishing touches, for example the family portraits, worked well.

All of the principals embraced the characters and were a pleasure to watch. I particularly enjoyed Uncle Fester (Rob Lawton) who really went that extra mile with his characterisation and delivery. Wednesday (Elena Fox) gave a very confident and accomplished performance and Sam Horton’s singing was a delight. Ian Brereton played the part of Lurch brilliantly and I think I would definitely like to spend more time with the mad Grandma (Rosemary Gresty) who showed fantastic characterisation. Morticia (Shelley Anne Rivers) was suitably elegant and charming and was a lovely contrast to her husband Gomez (Dave Bryan), who played the humour well in a more over the top brash style. The Beineke’s worked well as family and Wendy Manns as Alice superbly handled the drastic change in character that was required after drinking from the chalice.

The company had great individual characters to play but sometimes needed to remember that they were a dead ancestor, from a specific time and place, and not just a ‘normal’ person watching the scenes unfold. Staying in character is hard but certainly worth spending some time on.

This is a show full of humour and fantastic characters with some good songs and the audience certainly got into the spirit of it and enjoyed the overall effect.

Well done to the production team, cast, crew, musicians and hair, make-up and costumes on a great show.

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