YOUTH THEATRE REVIEW: Madagascar Jr - The Hopwood Theatre, Middleton, Manchester.

Another first for me today, as I entered a theatre that I never even knew existed... and I LIVE in the town! The Hopwood Theatre is in part of the complex known as Hopwood Hall College - or for those, like me, of a certain generation, who still know it as De La Salle. The complex at the end of that cul-de-sac is much larger than expected, and the college boasts excellent facilities. It seems though, that those facilities don't necessarily extend to the Hopwood Theatre. The stage is nothing more than a few rostra built up at one end of what was once undoubtedly a large classroom. They have given it drapes, wings and lamps though, which did certainly help in creating the illusion. 

The Scott Cooper Academy, based in Rochdale, has been in existence since 2015, and aims at providing quality recreational drama and dance tuiton to children and youngsters. They have two centres where the workshops take place, one in Moston and the other in Rochdale, and so today, there were two performances. The first, at 1pm was for the Moston group; whilst the 4pm show, which I attended, was for the students who go to the Rochdale classes. I had never heard of the school before, and with them being on my doorstep, I was curious to find out more about them.

Performing on a bare stage, with just costumes and lighting to create all the necessary scenes, characters and effects, this was a tall ask even for hardened professionals. The 24 youngsters however, who would have been by my estimation between 4 and 15 years' old, didn't seem to mind, and happily trod the boards as they acted, sang and danced the story for us today.

'Madagascar Jr' is the 60 minute children's performing version of the professional musical based on the animated film of the same name. The characters and storyline are the same, just condensed and simplified. Performed this afternoon with a 20 minute interval half-way through, the show did seem much longer, and there was no air in the auditorium either, so how on earth the children managed underneath the stage lighting, goodness only knows!

The show started with a short song and dance routine - not part of the musical - with the very youngest members trying their best to follow some rather fast and tricky choreography for their age group. 

The 24 children did remarkably well, and all need to be congratulated. They were not given microphones, and so had to sing over the soundtrack and try and make their voices reach the rear of the auditorium. Needless to say, but most of them were far too quiet and the story was at times completely inaudible and incomprehensible. This was not the children's fault in any way - but it was unfortunate. 

Some nice characters started to emerge from the group as the show progressed and they gained confidence. However, I think the whole audience would be in agreement that the cheeky young chappy who played one of the penguins, was certainly the unofficial star of the show!

Academies such as this are an important part of a child's growing up. They don't just learn about stagecraft - although that is obviously the main objective, but they gain so many other vauluable and transferrable life skills into the bargain. Again, congratulations to the whole team of 24, and thank you for allowing me to be in your audience today!

Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 22.5.22