AMATEUR THEATRE REVIEW: George's Marvellous Medicine - The Garrick Playhouse, Altrincham. Greater Manchester.

I have often been asked why I spend 90 minutes on public transport travelling to an amateur theatre, and then another 90 minutes to return home at the end of the show, when there are many amateur and indeed professional theatres much closer to my home. The answer has always been that Altricham Garrick have an excellent reputation and the quality of their productions has always been on par with, if not better than, professional companies of the same size. 

If I am absolutely honest however, this evening's peformance of  'George's Marvellous Medicine' has a little way to go yet before the same can be said about this particular production. The show hasn't quite found its feet yet and I think probably needs a few more runs before it gains pace and finds its stride; however that doesn't mean to say that the show hasn't got the potential - it has.

Fortunately however, the play's target audience this evening didn't seem to be so discerning, and once the play started to pick up pace and find the humour in the script (about one third of the way into the show), the children started to become far more engaged, and panto-like, a two-way banter between audience and cast began. An extra-large chicken caused some hilarity as it ran round the audience, and we all shouted "yes" and "in" to George's medicine making.

The set was quite good, consisting of a farm house interior, immaturely painted and decorated as if an illustration from a children's storybook, compact in design, everything we needed for the play was hidden away somewhere within. Across the front of the stage, the band pit had been covered to make way for a grass area where the chickens would come out to play - simple but effective. However the barn on the right of the stage most certainly needed a wall - when opened it revealed the back of the stage, not the interior of a barn.

The puppetry and effects on the whole worked well, and the children laughed at the chickens growing long legs or necks, and the lighting was creative.

George himself, played, with perhaps a touch too much gravitas in this production, by Andy Withers, was much more like the obstinate and petulant teenager, looking and acting too old to be the young preteen he is supposed to have been. More energy and boyish mannerisms would have helped enormously to have brought this character more to life. His dad, Michael Gallagher found comedy in his role, but had a tendency to speak directly to the audience even when the sense and impetus of the speeches didn't require it. We accepted right from the start that there was no fourth wall so to speak, but we still wanted to watch the story unfold, and only become complicit with it when required to do so. Gallagher is an easy-to-watch actor, and a little more direction would have cemented his character more securely. Christine Perry played the no-nonsense but worrisome and fussing mother who seemed to just simply accept the events happening around her with resigned amazement well; whilst occult-dealing, severe, and rude grandma was played by a very youthful Hannah Collman, impressively aging-up nicely. 

The story is well-known and loved by the youngsters, and this show is for them. This evening, once they were warmed-up, they interacted and enjoyed the show. 

Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 7.4.22