The Secret Garden

Choreographer: Rhonda Scott

The programme foreword stated that the production team believed “The Secret Garden” to be the most exciting, ambitious and demanding production they have undertaken and it had proved to be an excellent learning curve for the young cast who had risen to the various demands imposed by the musical and staging requirements. I am pleased to confirm that this was indeed the case as the company achieved an extremely high standard with this very challenging adaptation of Frances Hodgson Burnet’s children’s classic. The range and quality of the voices and acting standards on display were outstanding. In the leading role of Mary Lennox, Danielle Henderson, was a tower of strength with a clear voice both in song and diction. Laura Blackwood as Lily had a beautiful voice to match her appearance and the other main female leads, Keirah Kirton (Martha) – superb Yorkshire accent – and Kirsty Gordon (Mrs Medlock) were also top class. Hamish Somers (Archibald) was outstanding in his interpretation of the difficult role with a delightful voice and was well supported by Peter Fraser as Neville. In the extremely demanding role of the young Colin, Ewan Shand was also outstanding – a young man heading for great things – and Stephen Park (Dickon and Finlay McRobert (Ben) were equally up to the challenge. Unfortunately space prevents me mentioning everyone in the large cast but I must add that the ensemble singing and dancing was also of a very high standard. Well done the production team and all the youngsters involved.

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