The Wizard of Oz: The Ruby Slippers

This was the second production that I have attended at the Conquest recently where they have used little scenery and very few props. On this occasion the use of back projection was used to lead Dorothy and Toto to the Emerald City. It would have been nice to have seen a few props; a letter in particular in the first act would have made it more affective.

Annabel Mackereth was a very capable Dorothy, ably assisted by Maisie Clay as Toto. Jamie Hawkins played the Tin Man, Patrick Howells was the Scarecrow and Evan Pardoe-Matthews was the Cowardly Lion. All three were very good and had strong voices and Evan had many of the Lions actions and mannerisms.

Isabel Dowling as the Wicked Witch and Georgia Stallard as Glinda were well cast as was Josh Gifford who was extremely funny as the Guardian of the Gates. The remaining cast members did a good job too. However, I did struggle to hear the dialogue overall, which is such a shame after all the hard work they put into the production. Perhaps if they had faced the audience more, we would have had a better chance to hear them all.

Well done everyone.

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