The musical adaptation of Frank Widekind's coming-of-age play, 'Spring Awakening' is not an easy piece to stage. The music is a mixture of pop music styles ranging from rock ballad to folk-rock to punk, and the themes within the musical; abuse of various kinds, rape, sex, suicide, and abortion to mention just a few, are not the everyday fare of Musical theatre.
UMMTS, Manchester University's amateur musical theatre society, therefore, have chosen a piece of modern theatre which requires careful and considerate handling in order to be able to present something which is both natural and relatable, without over-theatricalising. Madi French's directing for the society here brought about both a visceral and raw production which sensitively and sensibly dealt with the more contentious issues whilst not pulling any punches with any.
The cast performed on a quasi-traverse stage; a long runway down the middle of two rows of seating with a small stage erected on one end and a semi-circle of seats and an entrance on the other. This staging was less than optimal for this particular production and didn't work anywhere near as well as perhaps it should. Far too much emphasis was placed on the 'stage' end of the acting space, with too many pivotal scenes being performed here; however one cannot get away from the fact that the closeness to the cast and their unintentional or subliminal interaction with us, made us somehow complicit in their actions and we felt more a part of the production and the plot than we would otherwise have done.
Dressed all in black and white with all the cast wearing black eye make-up and nail polish, we knew that these people were all part of the same cult; however the modern dress and lack of set of any kind, diminished our understanding of the time and place of the action. Unless you either knew the musical beforehand or had read the programme notes, one would have had no idea that the action was actually set in the deeply religious Quaker-style fin-de-siecle Northern Germany of the late 1800s. It also didn't help our understanding of the narrative by utilising just one female (Megan Handy) and one male (Noah Wessel) to play all the adult parts between them, without any change of costume, accent or physicality.
On a much more positive note however, the suicide of Moritz (Xavier Moras Spencer) was handled beautifully (if that word can be ascribed to a suicide!) and the chemistry between the main characters was simply electric. I used both the words raw and visceral earlier, and I do not use them lightly, this was an electric production with every cast member working as an ensemble and producing a very high level of emotion and static - I could feel the hairs on my arms standing on end during much of the show.
With a fine-sounding offstage band, good sound levels and sufficient lighting, the talented cast had a blank canvas upon which to create their youthful and passionate characters, and with well-signposted dialogue, solid harmony singing, and contemporary and throbbing choreography, the show spoke about themes and ideologies which are as relevant today as they were when they were first written in 1891.
Heartfelt, sincere, poignant and performed by a group of multi-talented students. Not for the faint-hearted, or easily shocked and offended, but this production will truly leave its mark on you.
Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 2.12.22
on - 2.12.22
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