Whilst the cast of the musical, 'Six' were blasting their pop-infused songs out to an eager audience of tweenies in one theatre, the British Youth Music Theatre were on stage at The Quays Theatre showing their audience not six, but twelve strong independent females! Girl power was certainly alive and kicking in The Lowry this evening.
'Worn Out', by Zoe Morris and Meg McGrady told an updated and slightly bastardised version of the European folk tale, 'The Twelve Princesses'. (not known in the UK). It basically tells us that a King with autonomous power over his realm and subjects has 12 daughters, all of whom are kept in the finest luxury and waited upon hand and foot, but are not allowed outside the castle grounds. However, unbeknownst to the King his daughters all disobey him and find a way to visit the local town and see the people for themselves. They also see the poverty, the squalor, and the hatred the townsfolk have of the King and his rule. He cares nothing for them or their lives, except as slaves and a means for him to earn more money. The daughters infiltrate and help the people overthrow their father and restore justice to the realm. All ends happily ever after! This version however was, as already stated, quite so twee. Here we have children being killed in a mining disaster, eco-problems and concerns, and most interesting of all an LGBTQ angle using gender-blind casting and same sex relationships.
Director Francesca Goodridge seemed obsessed with material. It was used for the set, draping the backcloth, the steps to a material-covered chair sufficing as a throne, used as drapes, cloaks, additional set items, and even pieces of white material for the princesses to use as their peasant disguises. However, some of these ideas worked better than others and especially when it came to the costuming (Jida Akil), there was a truly strange mix of the modern, the not-so-modern, and pieces of material, none of which cohered. I am uncertain of what 'look' she was aiming for, but sadly it left me cold. There was nowhere near enough contrast either between rich and poor. As concerns the set too, a platform on wheels was utilised vagariously throughout, and yet, despite the foot pedal brakes being clearly visible they were never used, and the platform was unstable causing a health and safety hazard when the cast jumped on and off it.
The cast - youths between the ages of 11 and 21, from all over the UK, put their collective alls into this musical. the programme lists the cast in alphabetical order and so I cannot credit the 12 princesses by name sorry, but it was one of the elder ones who carried the narrative and had the majority of songs. The King's (Thomas Grimsley) overthrowing and downfall was very weak - a fault in the writing nothing more, and the end also did not truly feel like an end The song wasn't upbeat enough, nor did it finish with a triumphal flourish, but more of a whimper as the cast waited for a blackout. Vey strange. There were also three comedy royal suitors, and Goodridge had sadly tasked them into comedy routines which were beyond their tender years. If they had been given something much more simple and obvious they would have had the audience in stitches, but as it was their slapstick (something which takes years to perfect) simply didn't land, a real shame.
The choreography (Paul Smethurst) worked excellently. He gave the youths moves which were within their capabilities, allowing them to show off their rhythmic prowess with catchy movements which were apt and modern, lovely. Musical Direction (Bianca Fung) was secure and sounded superb throughout. A small live band was "hidden" behind one of said pieces of veil-like material. And apart from from a couple of mic issues (which can easily be rectified), the technical side of this production (lighting and sound) worked well too. It was a visually interesting show, and I enjoyed the use of lanterns and shadow-work.
The cast were well chosen and all obviously enjoyed their stage time (which is after all more than half the battle!), and they all gave 100% during the show, proving to be talented singers, dancers and actors / actresses. The show itself was not particularly exciting, but this energetic, enthusiastic, and highly proficient cast made it more than worthwhile.
Reviewer - Alastair Zyggu
on - 1.8.25
No comments:
Post a Comment