Wind in the Willows

The Youth Group at Henfield have gone from strength to strength with Mandy Ainsworth taking the lead to build a group of over 70 children, 23 of which were cast in this production. This shows the stage craft that they all have been clearly learning, from spacing on stage to an awareness of each other even when not looking at each other, as well as great acting generosity. Most of all it shows team work, how they each are building each other up, knowing that they all contribute something significant to telling the story. There was no vying for the limelight, and each one of them knew exactly what they should be doing and where they should be at any one time. When all 23 were on stage together, that was extraordinary. And above all that it showed how much fun they are having which in turn exuded to the whooping audience. 

The team were all in the same base outfits of matching logo dark green T shirts with black bottoms, and the creatures were achieved with facemasks for the main characters, headbands with ears for other creatures, hats when there were Policemen and some hand held props, plus tails on waisted belts. These were so effective, letting the audience use their imaginations to colour in. The drawn projections at the back were lovely, with a nod to the illustrated book, also giving this production the old fashioned feel of the story. The lack of permanent set worked really well, with things being moved on and off where needed, such as a door or armchair. The special set items of the boat and the car were really super and worked beautifully. The river with shiny material held and moved by one of the team at each end so it shimmered like sunshine on water was such a sweet addition. 

The choreography was so interesting to watch, punctuating words and lines in the songs in many places. It was also very detailed and specific yet everyone on stage knew exactly what they were doing. The moving lines worked really well. The singing was super – not a pitch out of place, and sounding glorious: from the group numbers to the duets and solos. Singing to backing tracks can be tricky due to the lack of responsiveness of the music but they managed it all with aplomb. There was a dip in energy around ‘It takes all sorts to make a world’ but this was perhaps more to do with the script and the music and words, which really slowed the pace.  

There were many songs featuring many voices on stage and the performance of these with both placement and musicality was lovely, for example ‘Friends Together’ and ‘Twenty Years’. There was a surprising moment of quite complicated canon in ‘Bright Canary-Yellow Caravan’ with each of the three of them holding their own and not being thrown by the others singing: great job. ‘Messing About in Boats’ was such a lovely duet and ‘King of the Road’ solo was great. 

All of the cast were committed to their roles with focus which is lovely. There were a couple of moments where a couple of the children in the group scenes appeared to be looking for their people in the audience and smiling at them: it’s tricky if they’ve never been on stage before, but gentle reminders that “someone in the audience is always watching you if you’re on stage” is always good. Some of the team have been in other productions of course and this showed with their confidence and commitment. 

The four main characters of Toad, Mole, Ratty and Badger were all perfectly cast. Paisley Roworth shone as Ratty with confident physicality in her portrayal, as well as lovely singing and great a cappella singing too holding the pitch of the notes clearly and so well. Ratty was a confident friend to Olivia Jenner-Jones as Mole who was so shy and timid yet adventurous and brave. Joseph Smith-Barry put so much fun into Badger. Ludo Steiner was an incredible Toad, completely disappearing into the role, with brilliant affectations, the most hilarious “Poop! Poop!” of the car horn, and lovely clear singing voice. He made the reckless, ridiculous Toad likeable and sympathetic, even when he was behaving in such a rude and entitled way. He also displays some impressive dance movements such as moonwalking and a lovely high heeled kick. 

All the children did so well, including special mention to the Narrator Amalie Subedar who had lovely presence and confidence in her almost isolated little spotlight at the side. She spoke with confidence and authority and kept the story flowing, keeping us all interested. Oscar Postlethwaite was a lovely and hilarious Jeeves with his comic delivery. And Noelle Poole has such lovely stage presence: always focussed, always aware of being on the stage and acting right to the edges: for example marching all the way off. The whole team did so well and it’s a testament to how much fun they must have had on the stage and during the rehearsal process. As they continue they will carry on learning more stagecraft and developing deeper characterisation which will be great for them. 

It was such a charming production full of focus, energy, fun and enthusiasm. The four main characters had great characterisation with potential for more. The whole show was such a joy, and I hope this inspires, or continues to inspire, a lifelong love for the theatre. Congratulations to Mandy and Zoe Ainsworth for a wonderful production, and to the whole team for inspiring such wonderful young people. 

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.