REVIEWS
Chicago (High School Edition) - 9th February 2020 - Spalding Guardian
ACT II'S MOST COMPLETE SHOW TO DATE
I'm always nervous for the kids before I watch an Act II show. I know how hard they've worked and what it means to them. I want to write a positive review but I need to tell the truth too.
And sometimes it's difficult. There may be a lack of boys so girls are playing male roles, which can detract slightly from the show. Or there's just not enough good singers, and you feel for those who can't quite hit the right notes.
But there were no such worries on Friday night when Act II put on probably the most accomplished performance in the decade I've been watching them. The singing was great, the acting was too, the dancing spot on and the band held the whole thing together.
The musical is set in Chicago in the 1920s jazz age and is a satire on the concept of the 'celebrity criminal'. The two main characters are Velma Kelly (played by Scarlett Bergin) and Roxie Hart (Keira Embleton).
Celebrity prisoner Velma is a vaudevillian entertainer who allegedly killed her husband and sister, and she is miffed when chorus girl Roxie Hart, who murdered a lover for trying to break off an affair with her, steals her limelight... and her solicitor. As Roxie's fame grows, Velma's notoriety subsides, although eventually both are shunned by the press and end up working in a show together, away from the limelight.
Scarlett, who got the show off to a great start with her rendition of 'All That Jazz' was superb as Velma. She put in a flawless performance and was brilliant in the hilarious 'Cell Block Tango' with the other murderesses.
Keira, too, was fantastic as Roxie - totally believable. Richard Simpson was a new face for me and he played bold, brash solicitor Billy Flynn with aplomb and nailed his singing spotlight with 'All I Care About'.
Freya Perkins was bright and beautiful as the upbeat newspaper reporter Mary Sunshine and Ashleigh Mills got perfectly into character as 'Mama' Morton, the matron of the Cook County Jail, especially when singing 'When You're Good to Mama'.
But I think many in the audience would say Joey Halifax was one of the night's best performers with his portrayal of downtrodden husband of Roxie Hart, Amos. He got totally into part as the simple man who nobody pays any attention to and had us all in stitches when performing 'Mr Cellophane'.
The pick of the rest of the cast for me was Zak Franklin, who gets more confident with each performance, Lia Feane, who is always exemplary in everything she does on stage, Alex Gilman, whose singing and dancing was superb, and Molly Ireland, who showed she's a bit of a gymnast as well as a great dancer.
Producer Karl Gernert and the band he conducted so superbly also helped make the evening so special. What a triumph.
I'm always nervous for the kids before I watch an Act II show. I know how hard they've worked and what it means to them. I want to write a positive review but I need to tell the truth too.
And sometimes it's difficult. There may be a lack of boys so girls are playing male roles, which can detract slightly from the show. Or there's just not enough good singers, and you feel for those who can't quite hit the right notes.
But there were no such worries on Friday night when Act II put on probably the most accomplished performance in the decade I've been watching them. The singing was great, the acting was too, the dancing spot on and the band held the whole thing together.
The musical is set in Chicago in the 1920s jazz age and is a satire on the concept of the 'celebrity criminal'. The two main characters are Velma Kelly (played by Scarlett Bergin) and Roxie Hart (Keira Embleton).
Celebrity prisoner Velma is a vaudevillian entertainer who allegedly killed her husband and sister, and she is miffed when chorus girl Roxie Hart, who murdered a lover for trying to break off an affair with her, steals her limelight... and her solicitor. As Roxie's fame grows, Velma's notoriety subsides, although eventually both are shunned by the press and end up working in a show together, away from the limelight.
Scarlett, who got the show off to a great start with her rendition of 'All That Jazz' was superb as Velma. She put in a flawless performance and was brilliant in the hilarious 'Cell Block Tango' with the other murderesses.
Keira, too, was fantastic as Roxie - totally believable. Richard Simpson was a new face for me and he played bold, brash solicitor Billy Flynn with aplomb and nailed his singing spotlight with 'All I Care About'.
Freya Perkins was bright and beautiful as the upbeat newspaper reporter Mary Sunshine and Ashleigh Mills got perfectly into character as 'Mama' Morton, the matron of the Cook County Jail, especially when singing 'When You're Good to Mama'.
But I think many in the audience would say Joey Halifax was one of the night's best performers with his portrayal of downtrodden husband of Roxie Hart, Amos. He got totally into part as the simple man who nobody pays any attention to and had us all in stitches when performing 'Mr Cellophane'.
The pick of the rest of the cast for me was Zak Franklin, who gets more confident with each performance, Lia Feane, who is always exemplary in everything she does on stage, Alex Gilman, whose singing and dancing was superb, and Molly Ireland, who showed she's a bit of a gymnast as well as a great dancer.
Producer Karl Gernert and the band he conducted so superbly also helped make the evening so special. What a triumph.
Revue 2020 - 21st December 2019 - Spalding Guardian
GASPS, LAUGHS AND CHEERS AS ACT II SUM UP THE YEAR WITH HUMOUR AND SATIRE
Ninety minutes of laughs and gasps were served up by Act II on Friday evening as they took a fun poke at 2019 and the characters who had dominated it.
Letting the kids step down for a minute, it was director Karl Gernert, Penelope Harrall, Dominique Spinks and Jo Wheatley who once again took to the stage, with a non-stop, revolving door of satirical humour.
From the opening sketch where political leaders performed a Spice Girls medley, to the vacuous Rebekah Vardy/Coleen Rooney social media spat, there wasn't a moment of the year left untouched.
Greta Thunberg put world leaders in detention, Russian leader Vladimir Putin put his drug cheat athletes through their paces and Jeremy Corbyn's mum was called into school because her son kept copying Diane Abbot's maths homework and, of course, she'd got her sums wrong!
There was loads of politics, of course, with Penelope developing her brilliant Theresa May dancing to a host of new tunes, Karl singing Eminem's Without Me, but as Nigel Farage, and Dominique giving a quite literally 'stand out' performance as Jo Swinson. Karl makes for a very good Boris Johnson and his heartbroken Corbyn at the end of the election even pulled on the heart strings a little!
Every weakness of each leader was seized on so delightfully that you almost wished they were there to cringe and suffer – but there was no bias at all and everyone was fair game.
Local issues were given a good airing too, with the Western Relief Road saga re-imagined as Nineties TV show Ground Force, with the team coming in to demolish residents' houses while they're at a planning consultation. The Market Deeping Railway Club vandalism sketch was very clever, putting it all at the hands of 'Failing Grayling' and the Oasis parody 'Lidl by Lidl' dealt with the supermarket opening a second Spalding store and the public's seeming obsession with getting a KFC in the town.
The Royal Family weren't beyond ridicule either, with Prince Philip's car crash, his son Andrew's arrogant TV interview and the Daily Mail's hatred of Meghan, Duchess of Sussex all lending themselves to hilarious skits.
This show is never greatly publicised and always performed to a few, small audiences, but please get along and watch it next year if you can. You won't regret it.
Jeremy Ransome
Ninety minutes of laughs and gasps were served up by Act II on Friday evening as they took a fun poke at 2019 and the characters who had dominated it.
Letting the kids step down for a minute, it was director Karl Gernert, Penelope Harrall, Dominique Spinks and Jo Wheatley who once again took to the stage, with a non-stop, revolving door of satirical humour.
From the opening sketch where political leaders performed a Spice Girls medley, to the vacuous Rebekah Vardy/Coleen Rooney social media spat, there wasn't a moment of the year left untouched.
Greta Thunberg put world leaders in detention, Russian leader Vladimir Putin put his drug cheat athletes through their paces and Jeremy Corbyn's mum was called into school because her son kept copying Diane Abbot's maths homework and, of course, she'd got her sums wrong!
There was loads of politics, of course, with Penelope developing her brilliant Theresa May dancing to a host of new tunes, Karl singing Eminem's Without Me, but as Nigel Farage, and Dominique giving a quite literally 'stand out' performance as Jo Swinson. Karl makes for a very good Boris Johnson and his heartbroken Corbyn at the end of the election even pulled on the heart strings a little!
Every weakness of each leader was seized on so delightfully that you almost wished they were there to cringe and suffer – but there was no bias at all and everyone was fair game.
Local issues were given a good airing too, with the Western Relief Road saga re-imagined as Nineties TV show Ground Force, with the team coming in to demolish residents' houses while they're at a planning consultation. The Market Deeping Railway Club vandalism sketch was very clever, putting it all at the hands of 'Failing Grayling' and the Oasis parody 'Lidl by Lidl' dealt with the supermarket opening a second Spalding store and the public's seeming obsession with getting a KFC in the town.
The Royal Family weren't beyond ridicule either, with Prince Philip's car crash, his son Andrew's arrogant TV interview and the Daily Mail's hatred of Meghan, Duchess of Sussex all lending themselves to hilarious skits.
This show is never greatly publicised and always performed to a few, small audiences, but please get along and watch it next year if you can. You won't regret it.
Jeremy Ransome
Evita - 21st September 2019 - Spalding Guardian
PERFECT CASTING BY SPALDING'S ACT II ENSURED A SUCCESSFUL PERFORMANCE OF EVITA
When Act II was preparing for this musical, it was essential that two roles were cast perfectly - that of Eva Perón herself and also whoever played narrator Che.
Luckily, they got it right and thus, on Saturday evening a packed audience at the South Holland Centre in Spalding saw great performances from Lia Feane and Bobbi Shepherd.
Charting the rise and fall of Argentina's most famous daughter was certainly a challenge for director and producer Karl and Charlotte Gernert and their talented protégés, especially as this is a sung-through musical, ie no spoken dialogue.
But there were enough good acting and singing performances to ensure an entertaining evening.
Evita follows the life of Argentine political leader Eva Perón (Evita), the second wife ofpresident Juan Perón. We see her early life, rise to power, charity work, and eventual early death to cancer at just 33. A woman who divided opinion, she was worshipped by some and detested by others.
And what a demanding stage role. Young Lia Feane was centre of attention for most of the over-two hour show yet seemed to shine brighter with every minute. She sang perfectly and even mastered an enigmatic smile befitting of the character.
Bobbi Shepherd also had a huge amount of stage time as Che, a member of the public who narrates our way through the story, singing, of course. It's been well documented that Act II do not always have enough boys to play the male roles, but testament to them and to Bobbi that this soon became irrelevant to me.
The same can be said for Koren Little who played Juan Peron. To start with I felt sorry for Lia, felt she deserved a leading man. But again, by the second half of the show, Koren was the leading man and I accepted and enjoyed her performance.
Zak Franklin also gave a steady performance as Magaldi, Eva's first lover as she sleeps her way up the social ladder, becoming a model, radio star, and actress before finally marrying Juan.
But, of course, a musical is all about the songs and the singers and there were some real star turns here. Bobbi (Che) set the bar high early on with 'Oh What A Circus', Lia (Eva) more than matched her with 'Buenos Aires'.
'Id Be Surprisingly Good for You' by Lia (Eva) and Koren (Perón) was another highlight, and then was the hairs standing up on the back of the neck moment as Lia totally nailed the evocative, beautiful 'Don't Cry For Me Argentina' as her character renounces her pursuit of fame to stand for the downtrodden masses.
Act II introduced its 'Mini Musical performers' for this show and they were quite wonderful singing 'Santa Evita' with the chorus. Beth Bailey, who played Peron's mistress, also belted out 'Another Suitcase in Another Hall' with gusto.
There were too many cast members to name them all, but I thought all members of 'the Army' performed well, as did ' the Requiem Girls' and 'the Aristocrats', with Niamh Mulley particularly impressive. Standing out for me among the impressive 'Descamisados' were Liam Exton and Calin Stoleru.
And, in a musical, the orchestra is ever-more important. They were superb too.
Jeremy Ransome
When Act II was preparing for this musical, it was essential that two roles were cast perfectly - that of Eva Perón herself and also whoever played narrator Che.
Luckily, they got it right and thus, on Saturday evening a packed audience at the South Holland Centre in Spalding saw great performances from Lia Feane and Bobbi Shepherd.
Charting the rise and fall of Argentina's most famous daughter was certainly a challenge for director and producer Karl and Charlotte Gernert and their talented protégés, especially as this is a sung-through musical, ie no spoken dialogue.
But there were enough good acting and singing performances to ensure an entertaining evening.
Evita follows the life of Argentine political leader Eva Perón (Evita), the second wife ofpresident Juan Perón. We see her early life, rise to power, charity work, and eventual early death to cancer at just 33. A woman who divided opinion, she was worshipped by some and detested by others.
And what a demanding stage role. Young Lia Feane was centre of attention for most of the over-two hour show yet seemed to shine brighter with every minute. She sang perfectly and even mastered an enigmatic smile befitting of the character.
Bobbi Shepherd also had a huge amount of stage time as Che, a member of the public who narrates our way through the story, singing, of course. It's been well documented that Act II do not always have enough boys to play the male roles, but testament to them and to Bobbi that this soon became irrelevant to me.
The same can be said for Koren Little who played Juan Peron. To start with I felt sorry for Lia, felt she deserved a leading man. But again, by the second half of the show, Koren was the leading man and I accepted and enjoyed her performance.
Zak Franklin also gave a steady performance as Magaldi, Eva's first lover as she sleeps her way up the social ladder, becoming a model, radio star, and actress before finally marrying Juan.
But, of course, a musical is all about the songs and the singers and there were some real star turns here. Bobbi (Che) set the bar high early on with 'Oh What A Circus', Lia (Eva) more than matched her with 'Buenos Aires'.
'Id Be Surprisingly Good for You' by Lia (Eva) and Koren (Perón) was another highlight, and then was the hairs standing up on the back of the neck moment as Lia totally nailed the evocative, beautiful 'Don't Cry For Me Argentina' as her character renounces her pursuit of fame to stand for the downtrodden masses.
Act II introduced its 'Mini Musical performers' for this show and they were quite wonderful singing 'Santa Evita' with the chorus. Beth Bailey, who played Peron's mistress, also belted out 'Another Suitcase in Another Hall' with gusto.
There were too many cast members to name them all, but I thought all members of 'the Army' performed well, as did ' the Requiem Girls' and 'the Aristocrats', with Niamh Mulley particularly impressive. Standing out for me among the impressive 'Descamisados' were Liam Exton and Calin Stoleru.
And, in a musical, the orchestra is ever-more important. They were superb too.
Jeremy Ransome
Sweeney Todd School Edition - 14th April 2019 - Spalding Guardian
"There's a hole in the world, like a great black pit".
The inner torment of barbaric barber Sweeney Todd, as described above, could well be the fate that awaits South Holland should it ever lose Act II Theatre Company.
Its latest production, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, should have proved one ambitious step too far for the danger-seeking young people's stage group.
Director Charlotte Gernert readily admitted it in her programme notes where she said: "The music is complex, to put it mildly, the themes are dark, the characters are sophisticated and, of course, the blood.
"Quite a lot to cope with really as a young performer, especially when you have school to contend with too."
As the show began its gruesome and tortuous journey through the legend of Victorian serial killer Benjamin Barker (Ashleigh Mills), a murderous barber based in London's Fleet Street who cut the throats of unsuspecting customers before turning over their bodies to his willing accomplice, Mrs Lovett (Beth Ward), to serve up as pie fillings, the number one question was this - has Act II gone too gothic for its own good?
But then came the scene when Senor Adolfo Pirelli (Kate Cole) came on stage, promoting his "Miracle Elixir" to rich and poor alike.
It was then that the whole show changed into the blackest of black humour that signalled a handover of the Advanced Skills' mantle from one generation to another.
In recent years, Spalding audiences have been impressed by the likes of Morgan Agate, Seren Cave, Charlotte Charleston-Stokes, Sophie Gale, Rebe Hawes, James Girard, Jack Harrison and Dominique Spinks carrying the responsibility of turning youth theatre into an artform.
But in the process of handling songs, such as The Worst Pies in London, God, That's Good, By The Sea and Not While I'm Around, this particular cast of Act II thespians came into their own.
Ashleigh Mills delivered the lead role with all the promise she showed in previous shows, including Carrie: The Musical, Bonnie and Clyde and, less than two months earlier, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.
There were other revelatory performances too, Beth Ward (Mrs Lovett), Lily Bergin (Johanna), Louise Underwood (Judge Turpin), Macie Harman (Beggar Woman) and Kate Cole (Pirelli) all revelled and relished in acting as perpetrators, co-conspirators and victims of the gorish, gut-wrenching and grisly crimes of Sweeney Todd and Mrs Lovett.
But the two stars to shine brightest of all in a spectacular galaxy of youth theatre at its most exciting were Libbi Wooding (Beadle Bamford) and the outstanding Liam Exton (Tobias).
Libbi, both with her superb vocals and ability to completely inhabit a character, put herself forward as the natural successor (if not undeniable double act to be) to Dominique.
But anyone who saw Libbi's show-stealing turn as Inspector Javert in University Academy Holbeach's Oscar, Emmy, Tony and Grammy Award-quality production of Les Miserables in November 2018 would have seen stage stardom coming her way already.
All that remains for this reviewer to do is to mention the show-stealing, star-making, standing ovation-worth display by Liam Exton, quite simply the most outstanding individual performance this reviewer has ever seen in nearly seven years of watching theatre in South Holland.
Liam was electric, energetic, eccentric, ecstatic, exotic, explicit, terrific.
Who better to sum up the sheer magic of Act II Theatre Company's version of Sweeney Todd than the Demon Barber of Fleet Street himself.
"I can guarantee the closest shave you'll ever know."
Winston Brown
The inner torment of barbaric barber Sweeney Todd, as described above, could well be the fate that awaits South Holland should it ever lose Act II Theatre Company.
Its latest production, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, should have proved one ambitious step too far for the danger-seeking young people's stage group.
Director Charlotte Gernert readily admitted it in her programme notes where she said: "The music is complex, to put it mildly, the themes are dark, the characters are sophisticated and, of course, the blood.
"Quite a lot to cope with really as a young performer, especially when you have school to contend with too."
As the show began its gruesome and tortuous journey through the legend of Victorian serial killer Benjamin Barker (Ashleigh Mills), a murderous barber based in London's Fleet Street who cut the throats of unsuspecting customers before turning over their bodies to his willing accomplice, Mrs Lovett (Beth Ward), to serve up as pie fillings, the number one question was this - has Act II gone too gothic for its own good?
But then came the scene when Senor Adolfo Pirelli (Kate Cole) came on stage, promoting his "Miracle Elixir" to rich and poor alike.
It was then that the whole show changed into the blackest of black humour that signalled a handover of the Advanced Skills' mantle from one generation to another.
In recent years, Spalding audiences have been impressed by the likes of Morgan Agate, Seren Cave, Charlotte Charleston-Stokes, Sophie Gale, Rebe Hawes, James Girard, Jack Harrison and Dominique Spinks carrying the responsibility of turning youth theatre into an artform.
But in the process of handling songs, such as The Worst Pies in London, God, That's Good, By The Sea and Not While I'm Around, this particular cast of Act II thespians came into their own.
Ashleigh Mills delivered the lead role with all the promise she showed in previous shows, including Carrie: The Musical, Bonnie and Clyde and, less than two months earlier, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.
There were other revelatory performances too, Beth Ward (Mrs Lovett), Lily Bergin (Johanna), Louise Underwood (Judge Turpin), Macie Harman (Beggar Woman) and Kate Cole (Pirelli) all revelled and relished in acting as perpetrators, co-conspirators and victims of the gorish, gut-wrenching and grisly crimes of Sweeney Todd and Mrs Lovett.
But the two stars to shine brightest of all in a spectacular galaxy of youth theatre at its most exciting were Libbi Wooding (Beadle Bamford) and the outstanding Liam Exton (Tobias).
Libbi, both with her superb vocals and ability to completely inhabit a character, put herself forward as the natural successor (if not undeniable double act to be) to Dominique.
But anyone who saw Libbi's show-stealing turn as Inspector Javert in University Academy Holbeach's Oscar, Emmy, Tony and Grammy Award-quality production of Les Miserables in November 2018 would have seen stage stardom coming her way already.
All that remains for this reviewer to do is to mention the show-stealing, star-making, standing ovation-worth display by Liam Exton, quite simply the most outstanding individual performance this reviewer has ever seen in nearly seven years of watching theatre in South Holland.
Liam was electric, energetic, eccentric, ecstatic, exotic, explicit, terrific.
Who better to sum up the sheer magic of Act II Theatre Company's version of Sweeney Todd than the Demon Barber of Fleet Street himself.
"I can guarantee the closest shave you'll ever know."
Winston Brown
25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee -17th February 2019 - Spalding Guardian
Act II Theatre Company's pair of brilliant minds, Charlotte and Karl Gernert, never play safe.
Anyone who has seen their productions of Bonnie and Clyde, Carrie: The Musical, Made in Dagenham and The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, all within the last three years, will now that on the edge stage works are the youth theatre group's speciality.
Which brings us to US Tony Award-winning The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, as close as Act II's Advanced Skills group have ever got to the same sort of adult humour that audiences can find at the annual, end-of-year Revue.
The musical centres around a strange mix of six complex characters all vying to win the spelling championship of a lifetime.
As the six contestants back stories, full of competitive parents, New Age converts and cruel-to-be-kind disciplinarians, a demanding set of well-known and suspiciously made-up words are set for them to spell.
To help them, contestants can ask for definitions, languages of origin, examples of its use and pronunciation, all the time fearing the sound of the bell which spells (pardon the pun) elimination from the competition.
What the unsuspecting audience who arrived at Spalding's South Holland Centre on Thursday night were unaware of was the chance of being called up as last minute contestants to take on the strange six, William Barfee (Alex Gilman), Leaf Coneybear (Ashleigh Mills), Olive Ostrovsky (Lia Feane), Marcy Park (Beth Robertson), Logainne Schwartzandgrubenniere (Lili Bergin) and Chip Tolentino (Richard Simpson).
As each contestant gets a spelling wrong, the bell sounds and Mitchell M. Mahoney (Theo Duddridge) arrives with a "juice box" to be presented to the losing candidate who is sent to their seat with the song "The First Goodbye" ringing in their ears.
Presiding over this "coalition of chaos", as Prime Minister Theresa May would call it, is a panel fronted by Mahoney, question master Doug Panch (Rory Prestt) and Rona Peretti (Eloise Wooding), the equivalent of Countdown's Dictionary Corner resident, Susie Dent.
Among the songs that were performed with pure relish by the cast were Pandomonium, Prayer of the Comfort Counsellor, I Speak Six Languages, My Friend, the Dictionary and I'm Not That Smart.
What made this particular Act II production so memorable was the sheer unpredictability of who would win, when a contestant would be "belled out" and the extra element of the four contestants from the audience.
In Thursday night's production, Charlotte Gernert's mum, Gill Graper, was an innocent victim of this enjoyable madness, although she should feel hard done by at having to spell two words back-to- back in what looked like a deliberate coup to get her eliminated.
In the end, the unlikeable swat Barfee lightened up enough to take the Spelling Bee prize after a tense, final spell-off with the eastern mystic finalist Ostrovsky.
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee was a rip-roaring roller coaster ride of a riotous romp that only Act II Theatre Company could have pulled off.
However, anyone thinking of buying tickets for the theatre group's next production, Sweeney Todd: School Edition, might have to think carefully about the chances of ending up in the Demon Barber of Fleet Street's chair for a hair cut.
Winston Brown
Anyone who has seen their productions of Bonnie and Clyde, Carrie: The Musical, Made in Dagenham and The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, all within the last three years, will now that on the edge stage works are the youth theatre group's speciality.
Which brings us to US Tony Award-winning The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, as close as Act II's Advanced Skills group have ever got to the same sort of adult humour that audiences can find at the annual, end-of-year Revue.
The musical centres around a strange mix of six complex characters all vying to win the spelling championship of a lifetime.
As the six contestants back stories, full of competitive parents, New Age converts and cruel-to-be-kind disciplinarians, a demanding set of well-known and suspiciously made-up words are set for them to spell.
To help them, contestants can ask for definitions, languages of origin, examples of its use and pronunciation, all the time fearing the sound of the bell which spells (pardon the pun) elimination from the competition.
What the unsuspecting audience who arrived at Spalding's South Holland Centre on Thursday night were unaware of was the chance of being called up as last minute contestants to take on the strange six, William Barfee (Alex Gilman), Leaf Coneybear (Ashleigh Mills), Olive Ostrovsky (Lia Feane), Marcy Park (Beth Robertson), Logainne Schwartzandgrubenniere (Lili Bergin) and Chip Tolentino (Richard Simpson).
As each contestant gets a spelling wrong, the bell sounds and Mitchell M. Mahoney (Theo Duddridge) arrives with a "juice box" to be presented to the losing candidate who is sent to their seat with the song "The First Goodbye" ringing in their ears.
Presiding over this "coalition of chaos", as Prime Minister Theresa May would call it, is a panel fronted by Mahoney, question master Doug Panch (Rory Prestt) and Rona Peretti (Eloise Wooding), the equivalent of Countdown's Dictionary Corner resident, Susie Dent.
Among the songs that were performed with pure relish by the cast were Pandomonium, Prayer of the Comfort Counsellor, I Speak Six Languages, My Friend, the Dictionary and I'm Not That Smart.
What made this particular Act II production so memorable was the sheer unpredictability of who would win, when a contestant would be "belled out" and the extra element of the four contestants from the audience.
In Thursday night's production, Charlotte Gernert's mum, Gill Graper, was an innocent victim of this enjoyable madness, although she should feel hard done by at having to spell two words back-to- back in what looked like a deliberate coup to get her eliminated.
In the end, the unlikeable swat Barfee lightened up enough to take the Spelling Bee prize after a tense, final spell-off with the eastern mystic finalist Ostrovsky.
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee was a rip-roaring roller coaster ride of a riotous romp that only Act II Theatre Company could have pulled off.
However, anyone thinking of buying tickets for the theatre group's next production, Sweeney Todd: School Edition, might have to think carefully about the chances of ending up in the Demon Barber of Fleet Street's chair for a hair cut.
Winston Brown
5/11 - 4th November 2018 - Spalding Guardian
There is no such thing as a simple task when it comes to Act II Theatre Company.
So why not stretch a group of secondary school-aged stage stars just that little bit further by setting them the challenge of acting out the Gunpowder Plot of November 5, 1605?
But this was no nursery rhyme as director Karl Gernert asked Year 7 to 11 students to find their inner Guy Fawkes, Freddie Krueger, Michael Myers and every other historic villain, fictional or real, and put it all out in the setting of Long Sutton's nearly 850-year-old St Mary's Church.
History says that Guy Fawkes, marked in his home city of York by a medieval inn on the very spot where he was born, and his fellow plotters were behind a failed attempt to blow up King James I and Parliament in order to end the persecution of Roman Catholics in England.
However, in keeping with Act II's billing of the play as a "visceral retelling of the lead up to, execution and ultimate failure of the Gunpowder Plot of 1605", Elizabethan costumes were replaced by 21st century casual and formal dress as the cast of youngsters tackled some of the most demanding, challenging and positively Shakespearean dialogue they will ever have to face.
The play was also contextualised further by running the on-screen narration of the Gunpowder Plot in parallel with the earth-shattering outrage now known as 9/11 when terrorists hijacked four aeroplanes and deliberately flew them into strategically chosen targets across the United States of America.
As the drama unfolded at Long Sutton Parish Church last night (Saturday), it was clear that the parents, grandparents, uncles, aunties and other members of the largely, but not entirely, adult audience, it was clear that extreme concentration and surreal imagination would be needed to follow the plotters and those who ultimately stopped them.
Without exception, the performances from Act II's Drama Group were earnest, sincere, mature and utterly believeable.
The sheer demands on teenagers, barely out of primary school, to understand early 17th century English culture were considerable.
But the relish shown by the cast, particularly Fawkes, Robert Catesby (the real brainchild of the Gunpowder Plot), Thomas Percy, Thomas and Robert Winter, Suffolk, King James and Queen Anne, showed that this play went far beyond a weekend history lesson.
In complexity alone, 5/11 was one stop away from tackling Shakespeare's most substantial tragedies (Hamlet, King Lear, Macbeth or Othello).
But Act II's Drama Group took up the gauntlet of an exceptional setting (St Mary's Church) just two days before the official Bonfire Night to present an alternative vision of "backstabbing, intrigue, mystery, conspiracy and religious upheaval", as producer Karl Gernert served the play up.
For these youngsters, the old nursery rhyme: "Remember, remember the fifth of November; Gunpowder, treason and plot; I see no reason why gunpowder treason; Should ever be forgot," will never be quite the same again.
Winston Brown
Hairspray - 2nd October 2018 - Spalding Guardian
Act II directors Karl and Charlotte Gernert always like to challenge their young thespians. Always making it fun but never making it easy.
And, just like previous productions such as 'Misery: The Musical', 'The Who's Tommy' and 'Bad Girls', this was certainly not an easy production to pull off - so all the more praise is due for doing so successfully.
Based on the American 1980s film and musical, Hairspray tells the story of 1960s dance-loving teen Tracy Turnblad.
Tracy auditions for a spot on 'The Corny Collins Show', wins and becomes an overnight celebrity as well as a trendsetter in dance, fun and fashion.
Her success angers previous dance queen Amber Von Tussle and her mother Velma, who oppose Tracy's plans to allow black kids to dance on the show every time and not just once a month (on 'Negro Day').
Act II took the decision that to deny an actor to play a role due to the colour of their skin would be its own form of racism. They did the same with actors playing the larger-sized characters. And I applaud them for that.
So although it was an initial challenge to realise, for instance, that Seaweed (Libbi Wooding) was meant to be black and Tracy's mum Edna (Adam Smith) was meant to be on the large size - and is played by a man - once I got to grips with characterization I was able to sit back and enjoy the show.
I thought Scarlett Bergin did a great job of playing Tracy. She looked like a 60s American teen, she sounded like one too and she didn't put a foot wrong throughout.
Adam Smith was absolutely splendid as Edna Turnblad. I've not seen the original 80s movie but I know his role was played by the late drag queen Divine. If this is what Adam had in mind, then he definitely succeeded.
And just as slim people played large people and white youngsters played black youngsters, so did girls play boys... and Niamh Mulley (Edna's husband Wilbur), Ruby Crick (Tracy's lover Link Larkin), Beth Ward (Corny Collins), Libbi Wooding (Tracy's friend Seaweed) and Maja Platek (show sponsor Harriman F. Spitzer) rose to the challenge admirably.
Freya Perkins showed the goofy grace required to play Tracy's friend Penny Pingleton while Ocea-Lily Jarvis and Lia Feane really did transform into their characters so believably, Ocea-Lily as precocious dance queen Amber Von Tussle and Lia as her pushy, pretty mum Velma, once played by pop Goddess Debbie Harry herself.
There were some great tunes in this performance too, belted out in style by the kids, accompanied by a great band (hidden under the stage!). I don't know where Act II have been hiding Macie Harman (Motormouth Maybelle) but she has a stunning singing voice and simply blew away the audience with a faultless performance.
Another success for Act II and one with a difference too, as there were also junior performances of this production.
Jeremy Ransome
Bonnie And Clyde - 22nd July 2018 - Spalding Guardian
W
hen news first broke that the ever-ambitious Act II Theatre Company were going to tackle Bonnie and Clyde, the possibility emerged that this could be the stage group's finest ever hour.
But as the late, great Sir Richard Attenborough was told 55 years ago when he was first approached to make a film about Indian peace campaigner Mahatma Gandhi, this production would stand or fall on the casting of the two lead characters.
So it was that Bonnie Parker (Molly Riches) and Clyde Barrow (Rory Prestt) were handed the once-in-a-lifetime job of singing, acting and impersonating the Depression-era outlaws.
Backed by a slim and select supporting cast, lead by the ever-reliable Dominique Spinks (Blanche Barrow) and Theo Duddridge (Buck Barrow, Clyde's brother), Bonnie and Clyde held your attention with an assortment of songs and dramatic stand-offs.
The musical marked a coming of age for Daniel Mulley and Emily Franklin who played Young Clyde and Bonnie respectively, while Dominic Thorpe continued to prove himself a worthy successor to Act II "legends" James Girard and Jack Harrison with one of the most convincing Tommy Lee Jones impressions ever heard in Spalding.
For Bonnie and Clyde to carry off a near 150 minute production, not only reciting their lines to perfection but handling the songs and action scenes as well, is testament to Molly and Rory's developing talents and skills and musical theatre performers in their own right.
There was even time for a nod to late comedian Kenny Everett's character, "Brother Lee Love", when "preacher" Ashleigh Mills led her "congregation" in the song
In fact the only thing missing from Bonnie and Clyde was their actual demise as director Charlotte Gernert ended the play with a newspaper headline reporting the deadly duo's deaths in a hail of bullets that we all, and both of them, knew were coming.
But perhaps the best summary of Bonnie and Clyde was provided, or sung, by Clyde Barrow himself, with the number "I won't get to heaven so let's just raise a little hell".
What would the parents and grandparents who saw their little gems brandish automatic rifles and hold up banks make of songs like "Dyin Ain't So Bad" and "Too Late To Turn Back Now".
But as the director assured everyone in her programme notes, "much of this musical is fiction, a great, romanticized version of the story of two frankly abhorrent murderers".
Who needs Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway, stars of the 1967 movie portrayal of Bonnie and Clyde, when you have Act II Theatre Company?
Winston Brown
hen news first broke that the ever-ambitious Act II Theatre Company were going to tackle Bonnie and Clyde, the possibility emerged that this could be the stage group's finest ever hour.
But as the late, great Sir Richard Attenborough was told 55 years ago when he was first approached to make a film about Indian peace campaigner Mahatma Gandhi, this production would stand or fall on the casting of the two lead characters.
So it was that Bonnie Parker (Molly Riches) and Clyde Barrow (Rory Prestt) were handed the once-in-a-lifetime job of singing, acting and impersonating the Depression-era outlaws.
Backed by a slim and select supporting cast, lead by the ever-reliable Dominique Spinks (Blanche Barrow) and Theo Duddridge (Buck Barrow, Clyde's brother), Bonnie and Clyde held your attention with an assortment of songs and dramatic stand-offs.
The musical marked a coming of age for Daniel Mulley and Emily Franklin who played Young Clyde and Bonnie respectively, while Dominic Thorpe continued to prove himself a worthy successor to Act II "legends" James Girard and Jack Harrison with one of the most convincing Tommy Lee Jones impressions ever heard in Spalding.
For Bonnie and Clyde to carry off a near 150 minute production, not only reciting their lines to perfection but handling the songs and action scenes as well, is testament to Molly and Rory's developing talents and skills and musical theatre performers in their own right.
There was even time for a nod to late comedian Kenny Everett's character, "Brother Lee Love", when "preacher" Ashleigh Mills led her "congregation" in the song
In fact the only thing missing from Bonnie and Clyde was their actual demise as director Charlotte Gernert ended the play with a newspaper headline reporting the deadly duo's deaths in a hail of bullets that we all, and both of them, knew were coming.
But perhaps the best summary of Bonnie and Clyde was provided, or sung, by Clyde Barrow himself, with the number "I won't get to heaven so let's just raise a little hell".
What would the parents and grandparents who saw their little gems brandish automatic rifles and hold up banks make of songs like "Dyin Ain't So Bad" and "Too Late To Turn Back Now".
But as the director assured everyone in her programme notes, "much of this musical is fiction, a great, romanticized version of the story of two frankly abhorrent murderers".
Who needs Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway, stars of the 1967 movie portrayal of Bonnie and Clyde, when you have Act II Theatre Company?
Winston Brown
Betty Blue Eyes - 27th April 2018 - Spalding Guardian
CLASS WAR FARCE HITS THE RIGHT NOTES
What can I say about Act II that hasn’t already been said? Their policy of inclusion and fairness sees different youngsters taking leading roles every time and yet the standards they reach always amaze me.
When I saw this musical was based on an Alan Bennett screenplay I expected plenty of laughs and I certainly wasn’t disappointed. Set in 1947 post-war England, this northern tale is a class divide farce centring around Gilbert and Joyce Chilvers, a working class couple aspiring for better things. Gilbert, played by Jack Wheatley, is a chiropidist, loved by the ladies of Sheperdsford for his magic hands but looked down on by the snooty members of the town council. When the Chilvers couple receive the double blow of not being invited to a posh Royal Wedding celebration in the town and Gilbert’s application to open a clinic is turned down, the mild mannered foot doctor has had enough. He steals the pig that the town council have been illegally rearing for the feast... and chaos ensues. All sorts of shenanigans then take place, but we enjoy a happy ending, with the Chilvers’ finally moving up in the world and the pig – Betty Blue Eyes – ensconced in the bed of smitten town councillor Allardyce!
I’ve not come across Jack Wheatley before but he put in a superb, flawless performance as Gilbert Chilvers. His comic timing, facial expressions and demeanour were wonderful and he doesn’t possess a bad singing voice either – he really is one to watch. Singing is where the audience do have to sometimes make allowances with Act II’s youngsters – we’re not all blessed with great voices and it’s an art learned over time – but leading lady Alex Gilman, as Joyce Chilvers, also hit all the right notes. Her portrayal as a loving yet frustrated wife was spot on. This musical was over two hours long and she was involved in most of it but never dropped her guard in an exemplary performance.
What I’ve often said about Act II is that the performances are so good that you forget you’re watching kids. This has never been truer than in this show with the performance of Maja Platek as Joyce’s 74-year-old ‘Mother Dear’. Before our eyes she really did become a crotchety old woman and showed her own capable singing voice in the second half of the show with ‘Pig No Pig’ during the hilarious kitchen scene. Two other youngsters who really caught the eye were Andrew Lucas as Allardyce and Max Szydlowski as Inspector Wormold. Max seemed to really enjoy his role searching for illicit meat and his little song as he painted the meat green to mark it against human consumption was hilarious. Andrew had to fall in love with a pig which is not the easiest thing to portray on stage but he did so with aplomb, mixing comedy with sensitivity . I enjoyed Freya Theed’s performance in ‘Made in Dagenham – The Musical’ 19 months ago. But whereas then she played the female lead, this time she played one of the principal males and her showing as town councillor and GP Swaby was really good.
Fellow, dour, serious town councillor and solicitor Lockwood was played by Eloise Wooding and although her character was not there for belly laughs she played it with all the snobbery and coldness required. Of the other main actors, Freya Perkins as PC Noble, Alex Lord as Mrs Allardyce and Molly Charleston-Stokes as Veronica all played their parts well. There were over 40 other young actors singing, dancing and playing smaller roles and none of them disappointed. The songs were catchy, the band superb and six months of hard work came to fruition because everyone played their part. Now I cannot wait until they tackle Bonnie and Clyde in July.
Jeremy Ransome
What can I say about Act II that hasn’t already been said? Their policy of inclusion and fairness sees different youngsters taking leading roles every time and yet the standards they reach always amaze me.
When I saw this musical was based on an Alan Bennett screenplay I expected plenty of laughs and I certainly wasn’t disappointed. Set in 1947 post-war England, this northern tale is a class divide farce centring around Gilbert and Joyce Chilvers, a working class couple aspiring for better things. Gilbert, played by Jack Wheatley, is a chiropidist, loved by the ladies of Sheperdsford for his magic hands but looked down on by the snooty members of the town council. When the Chilvers couple receive the double blow of not being invited to a posh Royal Wedding celebration in the town and Gilbert’s application to open a clinic is turned down, the mild mannered foot doctor has had enough. He steals the pig that the town council have been illegally rearing for the feast... and chaos ensues. All sorts of shenanigans then take place, but we enjoy a happy ending, with the Chilvers’ finally moving up in the world and the pig – Betty Blue Eyes – ensconced in the bed of smitten town councillor Allardyce!
I’ve not come across Jack Wheatley before but he put in a superb, flawless performance as Gilbert Chilvers. His comic timing, facial expressions and demeanour were wonderful and he doesn’t possess a bad singing voice either – he really is one to watch. Singing is where the audience do have to sometimes make allowances with Act II’s youngsters – we’re not all blessed with great voices and it’s an art learned over time – but leading lady Alex Gilman, as Joyce Chilvers, also hit all the right notes. Her portrayal as a loving yet frustrated wife was spot on. This musical was over two hours long and she was involved in most of it but never dropped her guard in an exemplary performance.
What I’ve often said about Act II is that the performances are so good that you forget you’re watching kids. This has never been truer than in this show with the performance of Maja Platek as Joyce’s 74-year-old ‘Mother Dear’. Before our eyes she really did become a crotchety old woman and showed her own capable singing voice in the second half of the show with ‘Pig No Pig’ during the hilarious kitchen scene. Two other youngsters who really caught the eye were Andrew Lucas as Allardyce and Max Szydlowski as Inspector Wormold. Max seemed to really enjoy his role searching for illicit meat and his little song as he painted the meat green to mark it against human consumption was hilarious. Andrew had to fall in love with a pig which is not the easiest thing to portray on stage but he did so with aplomb, mixing comedy with sensitivity . I enjoyed Freya Theed’s performance in ‘Made in Dagenham – The Musical’ 19 months ago. But whereas then she played the female lead, this time she played one of the principal males and her showing as town councillor and GP Swaby was really good.
Fellow, dour, serious town councillor and solicitor Lockwood was played by Eloise Wooding and although her character was not there for belly laughs she played it with all the snobbery and coldness required. Of the other main actors, Freya Perkins as PC Noble, Alex Lord as Mrs Allardyce and Molly Charleston-Stokes as Veronica all played their parts well. There were over 40 other young actors singing, dancing and playing smaller roles and none of them disappointed. The songs were catchy, the band superb and six months of hard work came to fruition because everyone played their part. Now I cannot wait until they tackle Bonnie and Clyde in July.
Jeremy Ransome
Candide - 27th February - Spalding Guardian
THE FACTS OF LIFE ACTED OUT CANDIDE-LY
Act II Theatre Company really set the bar high with their latest production based on work by the 17th century French philosopher Voltaire.
Candide (played by Dominic Thorpe), directed by Karl Gernert and adapted from a stage play by Scott Hunter, tells the story of how the illegitimate nephew of a German baron discovers that life can be “the best of all possible worlds”. Through a series of wrong turns, poor judgement and questionable advice, Candide and his faithful sidekick Cacambo (Koren Little) experience shipwrecks and pirates, war, passion, fortune and execution, all to end up with his love, the baron’s young daughter Cunégonde (Holly Maguire). Candide’s missteps appear to have been triggered by the “wise words” of famed philosopher Dr Pangloss (Jasmine Morley) who narrates the drama, alongside the baron’s chambermaid Paquette (Jess Toomey) and the strangely named Old Woman with No Name and Only One Buttock (Paige Burgess).
Taking elements from Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Macbeth, before mixing them in with real life history from the Russian Revolution and the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary which led to World War I, Candide was a rollercoaster ride that challenged Act II’s drama group like never before. When you consider that previous drama group productions included A Midsummer Night’s Dream (June 2005), The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe (May 2009), Treasure Island (November 2012) and, most recently, Peter Pan (April 2017), Candide represented a journey into the unknown for young actors aged between 11 and 16.
But despite dealing with issues such as capital punishment, contagious diseases, mass murder and even cannibalism (just ask the old woman with one buttock), the cast navigate their way through some dark, adult themes. Candide was a chance for drama group members to either enhance or establish their reputation for bigger and better things with Act II in the future, especially the players cast as Candide, Cunégonde and Cacambo.
But there was also rich promise to be found in the supporting cast, particularly India Brown (The Pirate King), Scarlett Bergin (Heinrich), Alfie Brooks (The Revolutionary Commander), Joe Smith (The French Inspector), Lauren Harvey (French mime artist Miss Rattoli) and Rosie Roulstone (Martin, the hyperactive pessimist). In summary, the young Act II cast did their best with what the director described in his programme notes as a “vast sprawling epic, with over 100 characters, five continents and a whole host of events”.
Winston Brown
Act II Theatre Company really set the bar high with their latest production based on work by the 17th century French philosopher Voltaire.
Candide (played by Dominic Thorpe), directed by Karl Gernert and adapted from a stage play by Scott Hunter, tells the story of how the illegitimate nephew of a German baron discovers that life can be “the best of all possible worlds”. Through a series of wrong turns, poor judgement and questionable advice, Candide and his faithful sidekick Cacambo (Koren Little) experience shipwrecks and pirates, war, passion, fortune and execution, all to end up with his love, the baron’s young daughter Cunégonde (Holly Maguire). Candide’s missteps appear to have been triggered by the “wise words” of famed philosopher Dr Pangloss (Jasmine Morley) who narrates the drama, alongside the baron’s chambermaid Paquette (Jess Toomey) and the strangely named Old Woman with No Name and Only One Buttock (Paige Burgess).
Taking elements from Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Macbeth, before mixing them in with real life history from the Russian Revolution and the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary which led to World War I, Candide was a rollercoaster ride that challenged Act II’s drama group like never before. When you consider that previous drama group productions included A Midsummer Night’s Dream (June 2005), The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe (May 2009), Treasure Island (November 2012) and, most recently, Peter Pan (April 2017), Candide represented a journey into the unknown for young actors aged between 11 and 16.
But despite dealing with issues such as capital punishment, contagious diseases, mass murder and even cannibalism (just ask the old woman with one buttock), the cast navigate their way through some dark, adult themes. Candide was a chance for drama group members to either enhance or establish their reputation for bigger and better things with Act II in the future, especially the players cast as Candide, Cunégonde and Cacambo.
But there was also rich promise to be found in the supporting cast, particularly India Brown (The Pirate King), Scarlett Bergin (Heinrich), Alfie Brooks (The Revolutionary Commander), Joe Smith (The French Inspector), Lauren Harvey (French mime artist Miss Rattoli) and Rosie Roulstone (Martin, the hyperactive pessimist). In summary, the young Act II cast did their best with what the director described in his programme notes as a “vast sprawling epic, with over 100 characters, five continents and a whole host of events”.
Winston Brown
Revue 2017 - 21st December - Spalding Guardian
TORYTUBBIES, TOP TRUMPS AND TIES
Act II's satirical look at the year just gone provided plenty of belly laughs and quite a few gasps too.
Usually known for its excellent child actors, this annual show gives the adults of Act II a chance to show what they can do - and they relish at the opportunity.
Played out by just four actors - James Girard, Penelope Harrall, Karl Gernert and Dominique Spinks - there was a constant whirlwind of set and costume changes, but as long as you kept abreast of the news throughout 2017 you were in for a treat.
'Torytubbies' was an hilarious send-up of the Conservative Party and their current problems, with Penelope as 'Terese-wesey', Karl as 'Bojo', James as 'Mogg' and Dominique as 'Priti'.
'The United Nations Primary Academy' was super too, with the children mirroring world leaders. During a vote for class leader, young Donald's manifesto was to get rid of everything the previous leader did, "even the good stuff".
And the American president was the target of the 'Top Trumps' sketch, where the idea of the game was for your card to portray a Trumpism even more offensive and outrageous than your opponent's.
There was also gentle fun poked at our MP John Hayes over his insistence earlier in the year that all male members of parliament wear ties.
In several sketches that popped up during the show, James' Jeremy Corbyn persuaded Karl's John Hayes that the necktie was a modern item of clothing and then continually persuaded him to go further back in history for his wardrobe, until he finally addressed the 'Commons' looking like a caveman.
Many shows throughout the UK will be targeting figures such as Corbyn, Trump and Theresa May, but I enjoyed these local references too, especially the grand switching-off of the county's streetlights by council leader Martin Hill, mimicking the usual Christmas lights switch-ons.
James dressed up as the Grim Reaper for the usual bad taste but funny song about all those famous souls who had died during the during the year - and there was even a verse for Keith Chegwin who had only left us four days earlier.
Harvey Weinstein, driverless cars and the hapless interviewee whose broadcast was interrupted by his children and their nanny also featured too on a great evening.
Jeremy Ransome
Act II's satirical look at the year just gone provided plenty of belly laughs and quite a few gasps too.
Usually known for its excellent child actors, this annual show gives the adults of Act II a chance to show what they can do - and they relish at the opportunity.
Played out by just four actors - James Girard, Penelope Harrall, Karl Gernert and Dominique Spinks - there was a constant whirlwind of set and costume changes, but as long as you kept abreast of the news throughout 2017 you were in for a treat.
'Torytubbies' was an hilarious send-up of the Conservative Party and their current problems, with Penelope as 'Terese-wesey', Karl as 'Bojo', James as 'Mogg' and Dominique as 'Priti'.
'The United Nations Primary Academy' was super too, with the children mirroring world leaders. During a vote for class leader, young Donald's manifesto was to get rid of everything the previous leader did, "even the good stuff".
And the American president was the target of the 'Top Trumps' sketch, where the idea of the game was for your card to portray a Trumpism even more offensive and outrageous than your opponent's.
There was also gentle fun poked at our MP John Hayes over his insistence earlier in the year that all male members of parliament wear ties.
In several sketches that popped up during the show, James' Jeremy Corbyn persuaded Karl's John Hayes that the necktie was a modern item of clothing and then continually persuaded him to go further back in history for his wardrobe, until he finally addressed the 'Commons' looking like a caveman.
Many shows throughout the UK will be targeting figures such as Corbyn, Trump and Theresa May, but I enjoyed these local references too, especially the grand switching-off of the county's streetlights by council leader Martin Hill, mimicking the usual Christmas lights switch-ons.
James dressed up as the Grim Reaper for the usual bad taste but funny song about all those famous souls who had died during the during the year - and there was even a verse for Keith Chegwin who had only left us four days earlier.
Harvey Weinstein, driverless cars and the hapless interviewee whose broadcast was interrupted by his children and their nanny also featured too on a great evening.
Jeremy Ransome
Ghostly Tales - 31st October - Spalding and South Holland Voice
Youth theatre group Act II brought the thrills and fun of a portmanteau horror to Ayscoughfee Hall in an innovative and triumphant three-night run of Ghostly Tales.
In the tradition of classic anthology horror films like Dead of Night and Dr Terror’s House of Horrors – which usually had a chiller, a thriller and a lighter tale – Act II put together a Halloween show comprising six stories of varied tone. Three were classic ghost stories, three were new stories with a modern twist, penned by Act II writer-director Karl Gernert.
The chills began on the approach to Ayscoughfee Hall. A blustery evening made the orange-glow of the dimly lit Grade I listed building an inviting haven in the darkness.
As the audience gathered in the reception hall, it was revealed we would be split into three groups, determined by the colour of our tickets. There would be three plays per half, each performed three times. This was an admirable feat for the young cast who managed to keep each performance feeling fresh, despite each playing two roles across two plays, for a total of nine times over the three-night run.
With three groups split into three rooms, there was a frisson of excitement knowing the hauntings were simultaneous. During a show, the occasional distant scream from another performance bled through the museum walls and doors, lending a feeling that the hall was alive with these tales.
Our group’s first outing was to the Gardens Room for a night haunting courtesy of The Tapestried Chamber by Sir Walter Scott. A strong supporting cast gave the leads Jasmine Morley and Fin Smylie the support to play out the tale about deception with a steely intensity.
With its lighter tone, Oscar Wilde’s The Canterville Ghost Pitched poltergeist against plucky family and turned the tables on traditional hauntings. The ghost (played by Dominic Thorpe in a performance that cleverly flipped from funny to touching) has driven people out of his castle for centuries, but when an American family moves in, his hauntings are less than effective and he turns from devilish to dejected.
The chemistry between the family and the ghost bristled and flowed at pace. In the setting of the Gentlemans Society room, with giant portraits looming over the audience and movements flickering in mirrored windows, the cast in period dress looked like apparitions in the low light during scene changes.
The Gentleman’s Society room was inventively used in the second half, too, for another comic tale that made use of the giant doors that led to the library behind. The White Lady, set in Ayscoughfee Hall itself, brought a comical Most Haunted style TV crew, complete with its own unhinged medium played by Joe Smith and short-tempered presenter played by Ellie Davies. The historical segments of The White Lady’s hauntings were told in the deliciously lit library. These hauntings through history were told through skits, before the finale that had her come into the audience and get the better of the crew.
The varied and inventive staging highlighted how impressive the performers were. Two of the three rooms were set out with the audience surrounding the performers, who played out their story in middle of the room. Not only were the cast undaunted by the removal of the stage/stalls dynamic, the set-up brought the audience in and everyone’s experience was subtly different. The performers played out their scenes seemingly unaware of the audience surrounding them, which gave a nice blurring of lines – for the duration of the play, we were the passive observers haunting their scenes that played out as real life.
Even when cast members of the M.R. James’ The Dolls House segment got an unexpected extra shock when the legs of a prop bed gave way, the young team powered through with an admirable professionalism and it was a fine reminder that each performance was different.
After the classic tales, technology touched the second half for the contemporary stories. Cory Brook played the bored partygoer who called upon internet legend for the incantation that summoned the twins of Play With Me (performed by the spectacularly in-sync Amy and Lilly Wood). Meanwhile, Snapchat bridged realms in the pathos-laden When Worlds Collide, which ended with a family forced to accept a sad fate.
After the final play, the cast went up to the top level of entrance hall and received a deserved extended applause.
Soon the cast filtered out to meet proud parents and carers. The sense of pride was rightly palpable – they’d delivered multiple performances of plays that were spooky, unabashed fun and an experience that was a joy to be part of.
Ayscoughfee Hall Museum and Act II have worked together on a range of performances – keep an eye out for their next one.
The hall played its part as a great setting and passive character. Director and writer Karl Gernert, along with co-story-adapter Charlotte Gernert, presented a polished and compelling set of stories. But every one of the young players were the stars.
Tom Cassidy
In the tradition of classic anthology horror films like Dead of Night and Dr Terror’s House of Horrors – which usually had a chiller, a thriller and a lighter tale – Act II put together a Halloween show comprising six stories of varied tone. Three were classic ghost stories, three were new stories with a modern twist, penned by Act II writer-director Karl Gernert.
The chills began on the approach to Ayscoughfee Hall. A blustery evening made the orange-glow of the dimly lit Grade I listed building an inviting haven in the darkness.
As the audience gathered in the reception hall, it was revealed we would be split into three groups, determined by the colour of our tickets. There would be three plays per half, each performed three times. This was an admirable feat for the young cast who managed to keep each performance feeling fresh, despite each playing two roles across two plays, for a total of nine times over the three-night run.
With three groups split into three rooms, there was a frisson of excitement knowing the hauntings were simultaneous. During a show, the occasional distant scream from another performance bled through the museum walls and doors, lending a feeling that the hall was alive with these tales.
Our group’s first outing was to the Gardens Room for a night haunting courtesy of The Tapestried Chamber by Sir Walter Scott. A strong supporting cast gave the leads Jasmine Morley and Fin Smylie the support to play out the tale about deception with a steely intensity.
With its lighter tone, Oscar Wilde’s The Canterville Ghost Pitched poltergeist against plucky family and turned the tables on traditional hauntings. The ghost (played by Dominic Thorpe in a performance that cleverly flipped from funny to touching) has driven people out of his castle for centuries, but when an American family moves in, his hauntings are less than effective and he turns from devilish to dejected.
The chemistry between the family and the ghost bristled and flowed at pace. In the setting of the Gentlemans Society room, with giant portraits looming over the audience and movements flickering in mirrored windows, the cast in period dress looked like apparitions in the low light during scene changes.
The Gentleman’s Society room was inventively used in the second half, too, for another comic tale that made use of the giant doors that led to the library behind. The White Lady, set in Ayscoughfee Hall itself, brought a comical Most Haunted style TV crew, complete with its own unhinged medium played by Joe Smith and short-tempered presenter played by Ellie Davies. The historical segments of The White Lady’s hauntings were told in the deliciously lit library. These hauntings through history were told through skits, before the finale that had her come into the audience and get the better of the crew.
The varied and inventive staging highlighted how impressive the performers were. Two of the three rooms were set out with the audience surrounding the performers, who played out their story in middle of the room. Not only were the cast undaunted by the removal of the stage/stalls dynamic, the set-up brought the audience in and everyone’s experience was subtly different. The performers played out their scenes seemingly unaware of the audience surrounding them, which gave a nice blurring of lines – for the duration of the play, we were the passive observers haunting their scenes that played out as real life.
Even when cast members of the M.R. James’ The Dolls House segment got an unexpected extra shock when the legs of a prop bed gave way, the young team powered through with an admirable professionalism and it was a fine reminder that each performance was different.
After the classic tales, technology touched the second half for the contemporary stories. Cory Brook played the bored partygoer who called upon internet legend for the incantation that summoned the twins of Play With Me (performed by the spectacularly in-sync Amy and Lilly Wood). Meanwhile, Snapchat bridged realms in the pathos-laden When Worlds Collide, which ended with a family forced to accept a sad fate.
After the final play, the cast went up to the top level of entrance hall and received a deserved extended applause.
Soon the cast filtered out to meet proud parents and carers. The sense of pride was rightly palpable – they’d delivered multiple performances of plays that were spooky, unabashed fun and an experience that was a joy to be part of.
Ayscoughfee Hall Museum and Act II have worked together on a range of performances – keep an eye out for their next one.
The hall played its part as a great setting and passive character. Director and writer Karl Gernert, along with co-story-adapter Charlotte Gernert, presented a polished and compelling set of stories. But every one of the young players were the stars.
Tom Cassidy
31st October - Spalding Guardian
NEW STARS MOVE FORWARD AS CLOCKS GO BACK AFTER LANDMARK PRODUCTION REVEALS SCARY NEW TALENT
Two and a half years ago, Act II Theatre Company staged one of its most ambitious productions when nearly 25 youngsters from its Drama group took on Charles Dickens Great Expectations won’t affect Act II’s place as possibly the most innovative theatre group in South Holland.“But it may be time to consider whether a small step backwards needs to be taken before attempting the literary might of Charles Dickens again.”
Well last Saturday night at Ayscoughfee Hall Museum, the dividends from that gamble in March 2015 were well and truly paid out as members of that same Drama group delivered some of the best acting seen since Act II staged Hamlet at the same venue, also in March 2015.
Act II Ghostly Tales were a series of six sinister stories acted out by a cast of more than 40 youngsters in three rooms at the musuem.
Three of the stories, “When Worlds Collide, Play With Me and The White Lady” were written by director and Act II co-founder himself, Karl Gernert.
The other three stories were classics, “The Haunted Dolls House” by M.R. James, “The Tapestried Chamber” by Sir Walter Scott, and “The Canterville Ghost” by Oscar Wilde.
Strange goings-on in old English buildings were in abundance, although the one personal reservation was with the depiction of seances, mediums and other forms of what has been called pagan rituals as entertainment.
In truth, there is nothing harmless, nor entertaining about the occult.
That said, Act II Ghostly Tales saw the emergence of a galaxy of worthy successors to the likes of James Girard, Jack Harrison, Natalie Pailing, Georgia Cantwell, Ben Norris, Jess Palmer, Seren Cave, Charlotte Charleston Stokes, Ashleigh Mills and Dominique Spinks, all of whom have delivered standout performances in the past.
Saturday night brought the coming of age for Scarlett Bergin, Cory Brook, India Brown, Lauren Harvey, Teo Kavvadias, Lauren Nox and Fin Smylie in Act II folklore.
As for Ellie Davies, who previously shone as Captain Hook in Act II’s Peter Pan in April, Jess Toomey and Joe Smith, both of them being true revelations in “The Canterville Ghost” and “The White Lade” respectively, plus Dominic Thorpe (Young Pip in Great Expectations), the world of acting is their oyster.
Review by Winston Brown
Two and a half years ago, Act II Theatre Company staged one of its most ambitious productions when nearly 25 youngsters from its Drama group took on Charles Dickens Great Expectations won’t affect Act II’s place as possibly the most innovative theatre group in South Holland.“But it may be time to consider whether a small step backwards needs to be taken before attempting the literary might of Charles Dickens again.”
Well last Saturday night at Ayscoughfee Hall Museum, the dividends from that gamble in March 2015 were well and truly paid out as members of that same Drama group delivered some of the best acting seen since Act II staged Hamlet at the same venue, also in March 2015.
Act II Ghostly Tales were a series of six sinister stories acted out by a cast of more than 40 youngsters in three rooms at the musuem.
Three of the stories, “When Worlds Collide, Play With Me and The White Lady” were written by director and Act II co-founder himself, Karl Gernert.
The other three stories were classics, “The Haunted Dolls House” by M.R. James, “The Tapestried Chamber” by Sir Walter Scott, and “The Canterville Ghost” by Oscar Wilde.
Strange goings-on in old English buildings were in abundance, although the one personal reservation was with the depiction of seances, mediums and other forms of what has been called pagan rituals as entertainment.
In truth, there is nothing harmless, nor entertaining about the occult.
That said, Act II Ghostly Tales saw the emergence of a galaxy of worthy successors to the likes of James Girard, Jack Harrison, Natalie Pailing, Georgia Cantwell, Ben Norris, Jess Palmer, Seren Cave, Charlotte Charleston Stokes, Ashleigh Mills and Dominique Spinks, all of whom have delivered standout performances in the past.
Saturday night brought the coming of age for Scarlett Bergin, Cory Brook, India Brown, Lauren Harvey, Teo Kavvadias, Lauren Nox and Fin Smylie in Act II folklore.
As for Ellie Davies, who previously shone as Captain Hook in Act II’s Peter Pan in April, Jess Toomey and Joe Smith, both of them being true revelations in “The Canterville Ghost” and “The White Lade” respectively, plus Dominic Thorpe (Young Pip in Great Expectations), the world of acting is their oyster.
Review by Winston Brown
Sister Act - 25th September - Spalding Guardian
YOUNG ACTORS PRESENT A FUN-PACKED MUSICAL MASTERPIECE
Sister Act was - and still is - one of my favourite movies. I love the soundtrack, the uplifting gospel music, the inspiring story, and the laughs – not to mention Whoopi Goldberg’s sassy and fun character. So when I saw Sister Act was coming to the stage in Spalding, I jumped at the chance to see it. This was a musical production based on the original film and staged by Act II Theatre Company, with a cast of more than 50 children aged from 11-18. Taking the lead of lounge singer Deloris Van Cartier/Sister Mary Clarence was the excellent Ashleigh Mills, an established performer with Act II. Whoopi Goldberg was always going to be a hard act to follow but Ashleigh did a fantastic job. She burst onto the stage at the South Holland Centre full of confidence - singing the rousing, soulful disco vibes of the first musical number ‘Take Me to Heaven’. She even adopted an authentic American accent which I couldn’t believe wasn’t her real accent. Taking the role of the strict Mother Superior was Diana Chareviciute. Her character reluctantly agrees to hide Deloris in her convent after the singer witnesses a shooting by her gangster boyfriend Curtis. Deloris, equally reluctant to join ‘a bunch of nuns’ goes on to become a great success, transforming the dowdy, out-of-tune convent choir into a hand-clapping, gospel-inspired, ‘fabulous’ group of performers. Diana was great in the role, giving us some classic facial expressions and has a singing voice that is sure to be heard on the West End in the near future. Curtis, played by Andrew Lucas, and his gangster crew T.J. (Harry Smith), Joey (Zak Franklin), and Pablo (Joe Smith) brought cheeky character to their roles. Joe even had to learn to speak Spanish for his role. In her director’s notes Charlotte Gernert said the heart of the show is the singing and she has “really pushed the group with putting in more harmonies than they’ve ever had in a music theatre show”. All that rehearsing and work paid off. I loved the show and no part of it dragged at all. Interspersed with live chase scenes, where Deloris tries to flee Curtis and his crew down the aisles, comedy and toe-tapping tunes, this was a fun-packed musical masterpiece. Great work from Act II, the talented live band and all behind the scenes.
Zoe Myall
Sister Act was - and still is - one of my favourite movies. I love the soundtrack, the uplifting gospel music, the inspiring story, and the laughs – not to mention Whoopi Goldberg’s sassy and fun character. So when I saw Sister Act was coming to the stage in Spalding, I jumped at the chance to see it. This was a musical production based on the original film and staged by Act II Theatre Company, with a cast of more than 50 children aged from 11-18. Taking the lead of lounge singer Deloris Van Cartier/Sister Mary Clarence was the excellent Ashleigh Mills, an established performer with Act II. Whoopi Goldberg was always going to be a hard act to follow but Ashleigh did a fantastic job. She burst onto the stage at the South Holland Centre full of confidence - singing the rousing, soulful disco vibes of the first musical number ‘Take Me to Heaven’. She even adopted an authentic American accent which I couldn’t believe wasn’t her real accent. Taking the role of the strict Mother Superior was Diana Chareviciute. Her character reluctantly agrees to hide Deloris in her convent after the singer witnesses a shooting by her gangster boyfriend Curtis. Deloris, equally reluctant to join ‘a bunch of nuns’ goes on to become a great success, transforming the dowdy, out-of-tune convent choir into a hand-clapping, gospel-inspired, ‘fabulous’ group of performers. Diana was great in the role, giving us some classic facial expressions and has a singing voice that is sure to be heard on the West End in the near future. Curtis, played by Andrew Lucas, and his gangster crew T.J. (Harry Smith), Joey (Zak Franklin), and Pablo (Joe Smith) brought cheeky character to their roles. Joe even had to learn to speak Spanish for his role. In her director’s notes Charlotte Gernert said the heart of the show is the singing and she has “really pushed the group with putting in more harmonies than they’ve ever had in a music theatre show”. All that rehearsing and work paid off. I loved the show and no part of it dragged at all. Interspersed with live chase scenes, where Deloris tries to flee Curtis and his crew down the aisles, comedy and toe-tapping tunes, this was a fun-packed musical masterpiece. Great work from Act II, the talented live band and all behind the scenes.
Zoe Myall
Peter Pan - 4th April - Spalding Guardian
WALKING THE PLANK WITH STAGE GROUP'S EMERGING GENERATION
If you went down to the woods in Spalding at the weekend, you were in for a big surprise.
Act II Theatre Company’s drama group took the term “touring arts” to a new extreme with their indoors-outdoors production of J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan. Director Karl Gernert lulled four sets of audiences at Ayscoughfee Hall and Museum into a false sense of sympathy by putting his “own little stamp” on a story “everyone thinks they know”, according to his programme notes. In her first starring role for two years since playing Red Riding Hood in Into the Woods, Alex Gilman approached the swashbuckling Peter Pan as someone unsure of his future path in life. Pan’s relationship with Wendy (Jess Toomey) and the Darling children (Scarlett Bergin and Alfie Brooks) was at the story’s core, along with the shadow of Captain Hook, a role played with relish by Ellie Davies.
In-between, younger members of the audiences got a glimpse of parental stress from the Darling parents (Diana Chareviciute and Christopher Simpson). Two things were notable about the 70-minute play, the first being the clever use of one of Ayscoughfee’s many rooms at the start and the end before the action switched to the gardens where audiences were advised to “do whatever the cast tells you to do”. But the lasting memory was the emergance of new and promising talent amongst Act II’s intermediate ranks. Alex’s potential had already been seen in Into the Woods, but Peter Pan allowed Ellie, Diana, Kelly Sawyer (as Captain Hook’s sidekick, Smee) and the Darling children to lay down a marker for future productions. The whole cast benefited from a tight, but adaptable script, as well as Ayscoughfee’s spectacular backdrop which reinforced one of Wendy’s lines that could have been said about the entire Peter Pan story itself, “Perhaps we don’t remember the old life as well as we thought we did”.
Winston Brown
Read more at: http://www.spaldingtoday.co.uk/whats-on/theatre-and-comedy/theatre-review-walking-the-plank-with-stage-group-s-emerging-generation-1-7899816
If you went down to the woods in Spalding at the weekend, you were in for a big surprise.
Act II Theatre Company’s drama group took the term “touring arts” to a new extreme with their indoors-outdoors production of J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan. Director Karl Gernert lulled four sets of audiences at Ayscoughfee Hall and Museum into a false sense of sympathy by putting his “own little stamp” on a story “everyone thinks they know”, according to his programme notes. In her first starring role for two years since playing Red Riding Hood in Into the Woods, Alex Gilman approached the swashbuckling Peter Pan as someone unsure of his future path in life. Pan’s relationship with Wendy (Jess Toomey) and the Darling children (Scarlett Bergin and Alfie Brooks) was at the story’s core, along with the shadow of Captain Hook, a role played with relish by Ellie Davies.
In-between, younger members of the audiences got a glimpse of parental stress from the Darling parents (Diana Chareviciute and Christopher Simpson). Two things were notable about the 70-minute play, the first being the clever use of one of Ayscoughfee’s many rooms at the start and the end before the action switched to the gardens where audiences were advised to “do whatever the cast tells you to do”. But the lasting memory was the emergance of new and promising talent amongst Act II’s intermediate ranks. Alex’s potential had already been seen in Into the Woods, but Peter Pan allowed Ellie, Diana, Kelly Sawyer (as Captain Hook’s sidekick, Smee) and the Darling children to lay down a marker for future productions. The whole cast benefited from a tight, but adaptable script, as well as Ayscoughfee’s spectacular backdrop which reinforced one of Wendy’s lines that could have been said about the entire Peter Pan story itself, “Perhaps we don’t remember the old life as well as we thought we did”.
Winston Brown
Read more at: http://www.spaldingtoday.co.uk/whats-on/theatre-and-comedy/theatre-review-walking-the-plank-with-stage-group-s-emerging-generation-1-7899816
Carrie: the musical - 19th February 2017 - Spalding Guardian
FAMOUS FLOP GETS NEW LIFE AS KIDS SHINE AGAIN
I’ve been a huge fan of Stephen King since I first picked up one of his novels at an airport 25 years ago. I think I’ve read everything he’s put into print now and I could not imagine any of his works being developed into a musical... especially this one.
But fair play to Lawrence D. Cohen for the idea and even more kudos for Act II taking on what the New York Times described in 1988 as “ the most expensive quick flop in Broadway history”.
The show, however, was reprised in 2012 with changes to the plot and the songs, and this is the one tackled by Act II.The story centres on Carrie White, an outcast high school girl with a religious zealot mum. When bullied by her peers she exhibits her long-held and strengthening telekinetic powers and when a cruel trick plays out on prom night she unleashes her wrath and destroys her school, her classmates and her mother.
And, as usual Act II put their own special take on proceedings. Rather than their usual South Holland Centre venue, audience members picked their tickets up there and were given a map to their location. The drive to the isolated village hall, in the dark, on a cold winter’s night, was the perfect prelude to what was to follow.
On arrival we were all treated as party goers as we walked into the transformed Elizabethan Centre and had our prom pictures taken. Even the programme was produced as the Chamberlain High School Yearbook.
The scenes were acted out in Carrie’s home at one end of the hall, the school classroom at the other end and the other scenes in the middle, with the audience on both sides.
There was a relatively small cast of 14 teenagers but they filled the hall with their energy and spirit.
Seren Cave was quite magnificent as Carrie and her transformation from dowdy frump to popular prom goer and finally to crazed killer was wonderful. She bloomed, wilted and burnt in the part.
I’ve always thought of Dominique Spinks as one of Act II’s shining lights and her portrayal of Carrie’s mum Margaret was also superb. Her beautiful singing, often in duet with Seren, was one of the evening’s highlights.
In fact all of the singing was of a pretty good standard, backed up by a very good band.
Molly Riches and Theo Duddridge also shone as high school sweethearts Sue Snell and Tommy Ross. Molly played the part of the philanthropic Sue and was particularly impressive as she narrated the most horrific parts of the story in a police interview room.
Theo nailed the role of school hero Tommy and the likeable personalty that shone through in last year’s musical Made In Dagenham once again came to the fore.
Rebe Hawes played school bad boy Billy Nolan with all the swagger of John Travolta in the original 1976 film version of Carrie and Ashleigh Mills seemed to revel as pretty but poisonous girlfriend Chris Hargensen, the architect of all Carrie’s misery.
The rest of the cast had less lines but played equally important roles, often acting out school yard or prom hall scenes.
They were Charlotte Charleston-Stokes as Miss Gardner, Morgan Agate as Ms Stephens, Zyta Tunley as Norma, Lily Bergin as Frieda, Alex Gilman as Helen, Rory Prestt as George, Findley Smylie as Stokes and Becky Girard as Freddy.
I know the good people at Act II were worried people would not attend such a show bearing in mind its subject matter and rural location but, like me, they knew the kids would pull it off with aplomb once again. And they certainly did.
Jeremy Ransome
I’ve been a huge fan of Stephen King since I first picked up one of his novels at an airport 25 years ago. I think I’ve read everything he’s put into print now and I could not imagine any of his works being developed into a musical... especially this one.
But fair play to Lawrence D. Cohen for the idea and even more kudos for Act II taking on what the New York Times described in 1988 as “ the most expensive quick flop in Broadway history”.
The show, however, was reprised in 2012 with changes to the plot and the songs, and this is the one tackled by Act II.The story centres on Carrie White, an outcast high school girl with a religious zealot mum. When bullied by her peers she exhibits her long-held and strengthening telekinetic powers and when a cruel trick plays out on prom night she unleashes her wrath and destroys her school, her classmates and her mother.
And, as usual Act II put their own special take on proceedings. Rather than their usual South Holland Centre venue, audience members picked their tickets up there and were given a map to their location. The drive to the isolated village hall, in the dark, on a cold winter’s night, was the perfect prelude to what was to follow.
On arrival we were all treated as party goers as we walked into the transformed Elizabethan Centre and had our prom pictures taken. Even the programme was produced as the Chamberlain High School Yearbook.
The scenes were acted out in Carrie’s home at one end of the hall, the school classroom at the other end and the other scenes in the middle, with the audience on both sides.
There was a relatively small cast of 14 teenagers but they filled the hall with their energy and spirit.
Seren Cave was quite magnificent as Carrie and her transformation from dowdy frump to popular prom goer and finally to crazed killer was wonderful. She bloomed, wilted and burnt in the part.
I’ve always thought of Dominique Spinks as one of Act II’s shining lights and her portrayal of Carrie’s mum Margaret was also superb. Her beautiful singing, often in duet with Seren, was one of the evening’s highlights.
In fact all of the singing was of a pretty good standard, backed up by a very good band.
Molly Riches and Theo Duddridge also shone as high school sweethearts Sue Snell and Tommy Ross. Molly played the part of the philanthropic Sue and was particularly impressive as she narrated the most horrific parts of the story in a police interview room.
Theo nailed the role of school hero Tommy and the likeable personalty that shone through in last year’s musical Made In Dagenham once again came to the fore.
Rebe Hawes played school bad boy Billy Nolan with all the swagger of John Travolta in the original 1976 film version of Carrie and Ashleigh Mills seemed to revel as pretty but poisonous girlfriend Chris Hargensen, the architect of all Carrie’s misery.
The rest of the cast had less lines but played equally important roles, often acting out school yard or prom hall scenes.
They were Charlotte Charleston-Stokes as Miss Gardner, Morgan Agate as Ms Stephens, Zyta Tunley as Norma, Lily Bergin as Frieda, Alex Gilman as Helen, Rory Prestt as George, Findley Smylie as Stokes and Becky Girard as Freddy.
I know the good people at Act II were worried people would not attend such a show bearing in mind its subject matter and rural location but, like me, they knew the kids would pull it off with aplomb once again. And they certainly did.
Jeremy Ransome
Revue 2016 - 12th December 2016 - Spalding Guardian
Anyone who has read our reviews of Act II will know we at the Spalding Guardian are great fans of the work carried out by the Clay Lake theatre company. But it’s the kids we are used to seeing on stage, not the adults, so this show was a chance to see the brains behind the operation in action, and with no age constraints as to the content! And what a wonderful evening it was. From Brexit to Brad Pitt and from John Hayes to Paddington, no one was free from scrutiny, but as long as you kept an open mind and a sense of humour you were in for a treat.
Written by Charlotte and Karl Gernert, this show comprised many quick sketches, usually with songs and music, poking fun at the main events of 2016 and those involved in them. The skits were wonderfully performed by four extremely endearing actors – Kev Arnold, Olivia Black, Dominique Spinks and Karl himself – directed by Charlotte, with lighting and sound by Joe Dickinson.
Mostly set to music (Karl’s keyboard), some of these songs were hilarious but also thought provoking, such as the version of Shaggy’s ‘It Wasn’t Me’, directed at the American justice system after the Stanford University sexual assault case. ‘In the Jungle (the Calais jungle, the migrants creep tonight)’ was also poignant and funny, and the Grim Reaper singing ‘(This is what it sounds like) When Folk Die’ was brilliant, although it did push the boundaries of taste somewhat!
My favourite sketch was The T**t in the Hat, a wonderful Dr Zeuss parody about Donald Trump and his rise to the White House. Another hilarious sketch saw Karl imitate Paddy McGuiness in a Brexit version of TV show Take Me Out (of the EU). “Let the Article see the 50…” A sketch imagining John Hayes’ reaction to (call me Gary) Porter becoming a Lord was also funny, as was the one about reactions to changes to lesson times and form groups at the new Spalding Academy. Paddington Bear’s arrest and deportation by customs officials was both hilarious and thought provoking and the Celebrity Wife Swap between Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt with Norman Cooke and Zoe Ball was fantastic.
I always thought Act II were pushing the boundaries with what they ask of their young performers… I now realise there’s some fantastically evil comic minds behind the whole operation! But they did remind us at the end that life’s not that bad in good old Britain, and all to the tune of one of my favourite Madness songs. This was the kind of show you talk to friends about for days afterwards, re-telling the jokes and sketches and spreading the laughter even further. Try to catch it next year if you can.
Jeremy Ransome
Written by Charlotte and Karl Gernert, this show comprised many quick sketches, usually with songs and music, poking fun at the main events of 2016 and those involved in them. The skits were wonderfully performed by four extremely endearing actors – Kev Arnold, Olivia Black, Dominique Spinks and Karl himself – directed by Charlotte, with lighting and sound by Joe Dickinson.
Mostly set to music (Karl’s keyboard), some of these songs were hilarious but also thought provoking, such as the version of Shaggy’s ‘It Wasn’t Me’, directed at the American justice system after the Stanford University sexual assault case. ‘In the Jungle (the Calais jungle, the migrants creep tonight)’ was also poignant and funny, and the Grim Reaper singing ‘(This is what it sounds like) When Folk Die’ was brilliant, although it did push the boundaries of taste somewhat!
My favourite sketch was The T**t in the Hat, a wonderful Dr Zeuss parody about Donald Trump and his rise to the White House. Another hilarious sketch saw Karl imitate Paddy McGuiness in a Brexit version of TV show Take Me Out (of the EU). “Let the Article see the 50…” A sketch imagining John Hayes’ reaction to (call me Gary) Porter becoming a Lord was also funny, as was the one about reactions to changes to lesson times and form groups at the new Spalding Academy. Paddington Bear’s arrest and deportation by customs officials was both hilarious and thought provoking and the Celebrity Wife Swap between Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt with Norman Cooke and Zoe Ball was fantastic.
I always thought Act II were pushing the boundaries with what they ask of their young performers… I now realise there’s some fantastically evil comic minds behind the whole operation! But they did remind us at the end that life’s not that bad in good old Britain, and all to the tune of one of my favourite Madness songs. This was the kind of show you talk to friends about for days afterwards, re-telling the jokes and sketches and spreading the laughter even further. Try to catch it next year if you can.
Jeremy Ransome
Private Peaceful - Sunday 23rd October 2016 - Spalding Guardian
A CHALLENGE FOR ALL, BUT STILL A SUCCESS
What I like about Act II is that director Karl Gernert always challenges his young actors and they always embrace what is asked of them.
Private Peaceful was certainly such a challenge. The story sees a young soldier called ‘Tommo’ Peaceful sitting on stage, looking back on his life from the trenches of World War I in France, while each scene, acted out among the audience in the function room, brings us closer to the present until the story turns to present tense.
It’s essential a tragedy examining the horror and senselessness of the Great War and the callous execution of shell-shocked and scared soldiers by firing squad, including Tommo’s brother Charlie.
Not only does this production challenge the young actors, but also the audience. Sat in the main function hall at the Centre, with the actors sitting around the room on tables near us and the action being acted out in front of us, rather than on the stage, was a concept new to me. And, with few props too, it took me a while to get into the unfolding story.
But it helped that there was no interval to further distract, and by the end of this 80 minute production I was quite engrossed.
The main characters in the play are Tommo (Teo Kavvadias on stage, Dominic Thorpe on floor), his brother Charlie (Joseph Harnett-Williams) and their best friend and eventiual wife of Charlie Molly (Hannah Robinson).
Dominic’s portrayal of Tommo was moving and compelling, while Hannah was likeable and believable as Molly. But I thought Charlie stole the show with his touching, heart-warming performance. Top stuff. Teo’s job was not easy, but he delivered his lines well, and when required to ‘take-over’ as Tommo at the end, did so convincingly.
Many of the other roles in Private Peaceful were brief ones, but Paige Burgess deserves a mention for her interpretation of Tommo and Charlie’s mum and Christopher Simpson put in a convincing act as inept and cruel commanding officer Sergeant Hanley.
The story ends in chilling manner as Tommo counts down his own brother’s death by firing squad on a watch bequeathed to him by tragic Charlie. At dawn, Charlie is marched before the firing squad, bravely singing their favourite childhood song, Oranges and Lemons.
Tommo ends the story in the present tense with Charlie’s execution and the promise of looking after Charlie and Molly’s new baby, Little Tommo. If I was going to criticise, then perhaps Tommo’s heartbreak at his brother getting Molly pregnant when he didn’t even know they were seeing each other, was not as evident as it should have been. But no big deal.
In Private Peaceful, it is usual for a cast member to address the audience at the end of the play and tell of the 306 British and Commonwealth soldiers executed by their own during the Great War, only to be posthumously pardoned 90 years later.
Act II’s touching twist on this was to leave letters on each table, complete with King George stamp, telling the tragedy like a message from the trenches.
Jeremy Ransome
What I like about Act II is that director Karl Gernert always challenges his young actors and they always embrace what is asked of them.
Private Peaceful was certainly such a challenge. The story sees a young soldier called ‘Tommo’ Peaceful sitting on stage, looking back on his life from the trenches of World War I in France, while each scene, acted out among the audience in the function room, brings us closer to the present until the story turns to present tense.
It’s essential a tragedy examining the horror and senselessness of the Great War and the callous execution of shell-shocked and scared soldiers by firing squad, including Tommo’s brother Charlie.
Not only does this production challenge the young actors, but also the audience. Sat in the main function hall at the Centre, with the actors sitting around the room on tables near us and the action being acted out in front of us, rather than on the stage, was a concept new to me. And, with few props too, it took me a while to get into the unfolding story.
But it helped that there was no interval to further distract, and by the end of this 80 minute production I was quite engrossed.
The main characters in the play are Tommo (Teo Kavvadias on stage, Dominic Thorpe on floor), his brother Charlie (Joseph Harnett-Williams) and their best friend and eventiual wife of Charlie Molly (Hannah Robinson).
Dominic’s portrayal of Tommo was moving and compelling, while Hannah was likeable and believable as Molly. But I thought Charlie stole the show with his touching, heart-warming performance. Top stuff. Teo’s job was not easy, but he delivered his lines well, and when required to ‘take-over’ as Tommo at the end, did so convincingly.
Many of the other roles in Private Peaceful were brief ones, but Paige Burgess deserves a mention for her interpretation of Tommo and Charlie’s mum and Christopher Simpson put in a convincing act as inept and cruel commanding officer Sergeant Hanley.
The story ends in chilling manner as Tommo counts down his own brother’s death by firing squad on a watch bequeathed to him by tragic Charlie. At dawn, Charlie is marched before the firing squad, bravely singing their favourite childhood song, Oranges and Lemons.
Tommo ends the story in the present tense with Charlie’s execution and the promise of looking after Charlie and Molly’s new baby, Little Tommo. If I was going to criticise, then perhaps Tommo’s heartbreak at his brother getting Molly pregnant when he didn’t even know they were seeing each other, was not as evident as it should have been. But no big deal.
In Private Peaceful, it is usual for a cast member to address the audience at the end of the play and tell of the 306 British and Commonwealth soldiers executed by their own during the Great War, only to be posthumously pardoned 90 years later.
Act II’s touching twist on this was to leave letters on each table, complete with King George stamp, telling the tragedy like a message from the trenches.
Jeremy Ransome
Made In Dagenham - Friday 30th September 2016 - Spalding Guardian
ANOTHER CHALLENGE THROWN DOWN AND NAILED BY YOUNG STARS
I'm known among family and friends for being a bit soppy at times and have been known to shed a tear in front of the TV on more than one occasion. But when my eyes well up during a production where the actors are teenagers and younger, then those budding thespians must be doing something right.
And so it was with Made In Dagenham: The Musical on Thursday evening.
By the time it came to the scene at the TUC conference where estranged husband Eddie (Theo Duddridge) declared his renewed love for wife Rita (Freya Theed) the show had long since got me gripped. But the touching, sensitive portrayal of working class love by Theo and Freya in this particular scene is what made me emotional...and I wasn't the only one.
Two years after its West End debut, Made In Dagenham tells the story of the women of Ford Dagenham in 1968 and their ultimately successful fight with the bosses for equal pay. But it is beautifully interwoven with the relationship between Rita, who finds her voice to lead the fight, and Eddie, a simple, scared soul who cannot work out what has become of his newly liberated wife or why on earth she's doing what she is.
Theo and Freya portrayed these characters superbly and, like the rest of the cast, seemingly developed into adults before my eyes. Like may Act II performances, I started watching children on stage but quickly, without realising, seemed to be witnessing fully-formed, adult actors.
It may have helped that the singing was less challenging than some production - I can't hold a tune that well but can manage a 'Mockney' accent - but it takes real guts to stand on a stage and belt it out, and these two have that quality in abundance
But the young actor who stole the show for many in the audience was Luis Iddenden-Rhodes and his hilarious interpretation of Harold Wilson. Small in stature, but huge on stage, his comic accent and timing really won people over. Ashleigh Mills' larger-than-life portrayal of long-serving MP Barbara Castle was full of confidence and no little talent. Lily Bergin impressed as Lisa Hopkins, the intelligent, repressed wife of Mr Hopkins, played well by eve Harris, and - I don't know what she's like off stage - but Renae Brook took to the part of the foul mouthed Beryl like a duck to water. Tamara Wade also captured the factory feel as Cass. Another of the evening's more assured performances was Lois Johnson-Smith as Connie, the tragic union rep. Harrison Hunns impressed as Monty, her unrequited lover. Eloise Wooding's interpretation of tart with a heart Sandra was also spot on. Of the ensemble cast, Sophie Oldfield and Dominique Spinks both caught the eye.
As with all musicals, though, it's the songs that are vitally important and these really has the toes tapping. Highlights include Lottie Gilman (Claire) singing 'Wossname', Theo's versions of 'I'm Sorry, I Love You' and 'The Letter' and Adam Smith (Tooley) with 'This Is America'.
My only criticisms would be that a few of the jokes were delivered a bit too flatly and the hands-free microphones sometimes left me straining to hear the dialogue. But all in all, this was another triumph for director Karl Gernert and his talented young proteges.
With productions such as Monty Python's Spamalot, The Who's Tommy, Avenue Q and Bad Girls, Act II are not afraid to push the boundaries and nearly always come up trumps
Jeremy Ransome
The Resistible Rise Of Arturo Ui - Tuesday 2nd August 2016 - Spalding Guardian
NEVER THE EASY OPTION AS ACT II BREAK NEW GROUND AGAIN
From the moment Dominique Spinks sang the US national anthem, The Star-Spangled Banner, like a nightingale, you knew there would be precious few laughs at South Holland Centre on Saturday.
That’s exactly how Act II Theatre Company would have wanted as its precocious stars from the Advanced Skills class pulled off as dark and as bleak a satire as The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui is. Drawing on inspiration from Shakespeare’s Richard III and Macbeth, mixed with Al Capone and Adolf Hitler, German playwright Bertolt Brecht came up with what he called “a gangster play that would recall certain events familiar to us all”. Ui (James Girard) is a parody of Hitler himself, but set in Chicago during the Prohibition era when the alcohol trade was banned at the same time as gangsters realised they could bootleg their way to criminal, economic and political power. But Act II set Ui on course for domination of Chicago’s greengrocery trade, helped by a motley crew of henchman named Roma, Giri and Givola (Rory Prestt, Hayley Guest and Morgan Agate)
Full marks go to the entire cast, including Rebe Hawes (Dogsborough), Seren Cave (Dullfeet and Defence Counsel), Sophie Gale and Charlotte Charleston-Stokes (O’Casy and The Judge), Sarah Green (in her swansong Act II play as Butcher and Prosecution) and Molly Riches (Cauliflower Trust and The Actor) for throwing themselves into a potentially difficult and black subject. Director Karl Gernert said: “This is our first piece of overtly political theatre and we have had a lot of fun playing with theatrical convention and pushing the boundaries of what can be achieved.”
However, this play was most notable for the emergence of Becky Girard (Dogsborough Junior and Fish) as the latest product of the Girard acting dynasty. Review by Winston Brown
From the moment Dominique Spinks sang the US national anthem, The Star-Spangled Banner, like a nightingale, you knew there would be precious few laughs at South Holland Centre on Saturday.
That’s exactly how Act II Theatre Company would have wanted as its precocious stars from the Advanced Skills class pulled off as dark and as bleak a satire as The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui is. Drawing on inspiration from Shakespeare’s Richard III and Macbeth, mixed with Al Capone and Adolf Hitler, German playwright Bertolt Brecht came up with what he called “a gangster play that would recall certain events familiar to us all”. Ui (James Girard) is a parody of Hitler himself, but set in Chicago during the Prohibition era when the alcohol trade was banned at the same time as gangsters realised they could bootleg their way to criminal, economic and political power. But Act II set Ui on course for domination of Chicago’s greengrocery trade, helped by a motley crew of henchman named Roma, Giri and Givola (Rory Prestt, Hayley Guest and Morgan Agate)
Full marks go to the entire cast, including Rebe Hawes (Dogsborough), Seren Cave (Dullfeet and Defence Counsel), Sophie Gale and Charlotte Charleston-Stokes (O’Casy and The Judge), Sarah Green (in her swansong Act II play as Butcher and Prosecution) and Molly Riches (Cauliflower Trust and The Actor) for throwing themselves into a potentially difficult and black subject. Director Karl Gernert said: “This is our first piece of overtly political theatre and we have had a lot of fun playing with theatrical convention and pushing the boundaries of what can be achieved.”
However, this play was most notable for the emergence of Becky Girard (Dogsborough Junior and Fish) as the latest product of the Girard acting dynasty. Review by Winston Brown
Maskerade - Monday 2nd November 2015 - Spalding Guardian
Two years before J.K. Rowling set the literary world alight with Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (1997), the late Sir Terry Pratchett released the 18th instalment of his Discworld series, Maskerade.
The ever-ambitious Act II Theatre Company set its drama group the task of bringing Pratchett’s reworking of The Phantom of the Opera to theatre audiences at Spalding’s South Holland Centre. Directed by Karl Gernert, the drama saw two witches, Granny Weatherwax (Lizzie Taylor) and Nanny Ogg (Kelly Sawyer) travel to the fictional land of Ankh-Morpork in search of Agnes Nitt (Hayley Guest) to join their coven. What unfolds is a murder mystery as a sinister Opera Ghost (Morgan Agate) does its best to ruin a performance at the opera house. The production turned into an epic, two-hour, 40-minute marathon with catchphrases like ‘It’s all about the music’, “the show must go on”, and ‘if your house is on fire, what’s the first thing you would take out?’ Kelly’s remarkable turn as Nanny Ogg, plus steal-the-scene turns from Lily Bergin (Sgt Detritus) and Summer Milnes (Corporal Nobbs), added to reliable performances by Morgan, Hayley and the precocious Alex Gilman (Greebo). But if Pratchett’s fantasy Discworld is not your cup of tea, Maskerade may have left you wondering if the author himself was right when he said “the wrong thing to do has to be the right thing to do”.
Review by Winston Brown
The ever-ambitious Act II Theatre Company set its drama group the task of bringing Pratchett’s reworking of The Phantom of the Opera to theatre audiences at Spalding’s South Holland Centre. Directed by Karl Gernert, the drama saw two witches, Granny Weatherwax (Lizzie Taylor) and Nanny Ogg (Kelly Sawyer) travel to the fictional land of Ankh-Morpork in search of Agnes Nitt (Hayley Guest) to join their coven. What unfolds is a murder mystery as a sinister Opera Ghost (Morgan Agate) does its best to ruin a performance at the opera house. The production turned into an epic, two-hour, 40-minute marathon with catchphrases like ‘It’s all about the music’, “the show must go on”, and ‘if your house is on fire, what’s the first thing you would take out?’ Kelly’s remarkable turn as Nanny Ogg, plus steal-the-scene turns from Lily Bergin (Sgt Detritus) and Summer Milnes (Corporal Nobbs), added to reliable performances by Morgan, Hayley and the precocious Alex Gilman (Greebo). But if Pratchett’s fantasy Discworld is not your cup of tea, Maskerade may have left you wondering if the author himself was right when he said “the wrong thing to do has to be the right thing to do”.
Review by Winston Brown
Urinetown - Wednesday 29th July 2015 - Spalding Guardian
A CALL OF NATURE THAT FINDS ITS SUNNY SIDE
There was a risk that Act II Theatre Company might have pushed the boundaries for young people on stage a bit too far with Urinetown The Musical.
New York playwright Greg Kotis' idea of a 20-year old drought opening the way for a corrupt tycoon to monopolise the pay-per-use public toilets market, complete with songs like Privilege to Pee and Don't Be The bunny, raised fears of a show short of taste and decency.
But apart from one four-letter word, Urinetown The Musical left Act II's Advanced Skills members in a very favourable light.
Director Charlotte Gernert, backed by a tight orchestra conducted by producer-husband Karl, inspired fine performances from Sarah Green (Penelope Pennywise), Harry Higgins (Bobby Strong) and Molly Riches (Little Sally), some of whom took rare leading roles.
Jack Harrison (corrupt boss Caldwell B Cladwell) and James Girard (Hot Blades Harry/Joseph Strong) kept up their usual high standards, along with Morgan Agate (Hope Cladwell) and Dominique Spinks (Little Becky Two Shoes).
But in sending up their own production of Les Miserables last year, plenty of young talent did well in banging on Act II's precious doors of talent.
Writing about the show, Charlotte said: "One of the best parts about our job in introducing our students to new shows they may not otherwise encounter.
'Urinetown The Musical' is one of those shows where we push the group to sing more harmonies, tackle more adult themes and not give the group the opportunity to hide in a large chorus."
Winston Brown
There was a risk that Act II Theatre Company might have pushed the boundaries for young people on stage a bit too far with Urinetown The Musical.
New York playwright Greg Kotis' idea of a 20-year old drought opening the way for a corrupt tycoon to monopolise the pay-per-use public toilets market, complete with songs like Privilege to Pee and Don't Be The bunny, raised fears of a show short of taste and decency.
But apart from one four-letter word, Urinetown The Musical left Act II's Advanced Skills members in a very favourable light.
Director Charlotte Gernert, backed by a tight orchestra conducted by producer-husband Karl, inspired fine performances from Sarah Green (Penelope Pennywise), Harry Higgins (Bobby Strong) and Molly Riches (Little Sally), some of whom took rare leading roles.
Jack Harrison (corrupt boss Caldwell B Cladwell) and James Girard (Hot Blades Harry/Joseph Strong) kept up their usual high standards, along with Morgan Agate (Hope Cladwell) and Dominique Spinks (Little Becky Two Shoes).
But in sending up their own production of Les Miserables last year, plenty of young talent did well in banging on Act II's precious doors of talent.
Writing about the show, Charlotte said: "One of the best parts about our job in introducing our students to new shows they may not otherwise encounter.
'Urinetown The Musical' is one of those shows where we push the group to sing more harmonies, tackle more adult themes and not give the group the opportunity to hide in a large chorus."
Winston Brown
Into The Woods - Tuesday 21st April 2015 - Spalding Guardian
A WONDERFUL WAY TO WALK THROUGH THE WILD WOODS
In her director's notes for Act II Theatre Company's programme accompanying the epic version of Grimms' Fairy Tales-inspired musical , Into The Woods, Charlotte Gernert said it was "without doubt, the hardest musical our Music Theatre class has ever performed."
The eye-catching and truly captivating result of the cast, crew, musicians and volunteers' "tireless work", as Charlotte described it, bore splendid fruit at the South Holland Centre for four nights and five shows on Wednesday through to Saturday. To take four of the most enduring fairy stories in history, Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk and Rapunzel, and then subject a young cast, some of whom are preparing to take GCSEs, AS and A-levels this summer seems almost cruel.
But the cast carries it off with distinction, supported by an orchestra mostly drawn form students at Spalding School of Music.
It seems unjust to single out individual cast members, but Alex Gilman as Little Red Riding Hood was a star right from the moment she first made the South Holland Stage her own.
However, Alex had strong competition from Connie Hudson (The Baker's Wife), Sophie Gale (Mysterious Man), Harry Higgins (Cinderella's Prince) and Amy Green Jack's Mother)
As for James Girard (The Baker), Seren Cave (The Witch) and Dominique Spinks (Cinderella), it's about time the National Youth Theatre (whose alumni includes Orlando Bloom, Daniel Craig, Michelle Dockery, Colin Firth, Felicity Jones, Matt Smith and David Walliams) paid Spalding a visit.
How can Act II Theatre Company possibly top this?
9/10 Winston Brown
In her director's notes for Act II Theatre Company's programme accompanying the epic version of Grimms' Fairy Tales-inspired musical , Into The Woods, Charlotte Gernert said it was "without doubt, the hardest musical our Music Theatre class has ever performed."
The eye-catching and truly captivating result of the cast, crew, musicians and volunteers' "tireless work", as Charlotte described it, bore splendid fruit at the South Holland Centre for four nights and five shows on Wednesday through to Saturday. To take four of the most enduring fairy stories in history, Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk and Rapunzel, and then subject a young cast, some of whom are preparing to take GCSEs, AS and A-levels this summer seems almost cruel.
But the cast carries it off with distinction, supported by an orchestra mostly drawn form students at Spalding School of Music.
It seems unjust to single out individual cast members, but Alex Gilman as Little Red Riding Hood was a star right from the moment she first made the South Holland Stage her own.
However, Alex had strong competition from Connie Hudson (The Baker's Wife), Sophie Gale (Mysterious Man), Harry Higgins (Cinderella's Prince) and Amy Green Jack's Mother)
As for James Girard (The Baker), Seren Cave (The Witch) and Dominique Spinks (Cinderella), it's about time the National Youth Theatre (whose alumni includes Orlando Bloom, Daniel Craig, Michelle Dockery, Colin Firth, Felicity Jones, Matt Smith and David Walliams) paid Spalding a visit.
How can Act II Theatre Company possibly top this?
9/10 Winston Brown
Hamlet - Thursday 5th March 2015 - Spalding Guardian
A GUIDE TO BREATHING NEW LIFE INTO SHAKESPEARE
English literature students struggling with the works of William Shakespeare would do well to see Act II Theatre Company's treatment of the Bard.
Just two years after a show based on the world's greatest playwright, Act II excelled again with a version of Hamlet that should earn some of its stars a place at drama school.
Jack Harrison, last seen as UKIP leader Nigel Farage in Act II's bawdy send-up of 2014, stole the show as an unhinged Prince of Denmark.
Ably supported by Morgan Agate (Gertrude), Sophie Gale (Laertes), Rebe Hawes (Polonius) and Act II regular James Girard (Ghost) (but in a role unlike any he has played previously), the astonishing level of expertise shown by the cast with such an old English script was amazing.
But even more of a marvel was Dominique Spinks as Ophelia, a revelation of a role for someone who only started her Act II acting career three years ago.
The Spalding High School student brought a frightening depth and realism to such a tragic role.
One wonders what Maxine Peake (Silk, The Village, Shameless) whose take on Hamlet comes to the South Holland Centre on March 23rd, would have made of it.
9/10 Winston Brown
English literature students struggling with the works of William Shakespeare would do well to see Act II Theatre Company's treatment of the Bard.
Just two years after a show based on the world's greatest playwright, Act II excelled again with a version of Hamlet that should earn some of its stars a place at drama school.
Jack Harrison, last seen as UKIP leader Nigel Farage in Act II's bawdy send-up of 2014, stole the show as an unhinged Prince of Denmark.
Ably supported by Morgan Agate (Gertrude), Sophie Gale (Laertes), Rebe Hawes (Polonius) and Act II regular James Girard (Ghost) (but in a role unlike any he has played previously), the astonishing level of expertise shown by the cast with such an old English script was amazing.
But even more of a marvel was Dominique Spinks as Ophelia, a revelation of a role for someone who only started her Act II acting career three years ago.
The Spalding High School student brought a frightening depth and realism to such a tragic role.
One wonders what Maxine Peake (Silk, The Village, Shameless) whose take on Hamlet comes to the South Holland Centre on March 23rd, would have made of it.
9/10 Winston Brown
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead - Thursday 5th March 2015 - Spalding Guardian
MINOR PLAYERS STEP UP TO MAJOR ROLES WITH EASE
In the luscious and grandiose setting of Ayscoughfee Hall Museum, two teenage girls play Heads or Tails on converted beer crates.
Little does the audience suspect that the pair are resurrected characters from William Shakespeare's Hamlet, given an opportunity to have their say by Czech-born playwright Tom Stoppard with his dark comedy Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead.
The play is the story of Hamlet through the eyes of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, chidhood friends of the Danish prince who then turn on him at the bidding of Claudius.
But Act II portrays the pair as doomed, even path-etic characters who are given some dignity by young actors Seren Cave (Rosencrantz) and Charlotte Charleston-Stokes (Guildenstern).
The miracle of learning your lines for a play where everything sits on your shoulders was pulled off by Charlotte and Seren, who, at times, looked like a young Suranne Jones (Scott and Bailey, A Touch Of Cloth, Vincent) in the making.
Other characters from Act II's companion performance of Hamlet made a fleeting appearance, although there was time for Molly Riches to show her rich promise as an actress as The Player.
9/10 Winston Brown.
In the luscious and grandiose setting of Ayscoughfee Hall Museum, two teenage girls play Heads or Tails on converted beer crates.
Little does the audience suspect that the pair are resurrected characters from William Shakespeare's Hamlet, given an opportunity to have their say by Czech-born playwright Tom Stoppard with his dark comedy Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead.
The play is the story of Hamlet through the eyes of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, chidhood friends of the Danish prince who then turn on him at the bidding of Claudius.
But Act II portrays the pair as doomed, even path-etic characters who are given some dignity by young actors Seren Cave (Rosencrantz) and Charlotte Charleston-Stokes (Guildenstern).
The miracle of learning your lines for a play where everything sits on your shoulders was pulled off by Charlotte and Seren, who, at times, looked like a young Suranne Jones (Scott and Bailey, A Touch Of Cloth, Vincent) in the making.
Other characters from Act II's companion performance of Hamlet made a fleeting appearance, although there was time for Molly Riches to show her rich promise as an actress as The Player.
9/10 Winston Brown.
Revue 2014 - Thursday 18th December 2014 - Spalding Guardian
|
YEAR ENDING ON A HIGH WITH ACT II'S NEWS SHOW.
Readers of a certain age may remember the satirical Friday night radio sketch show Week Ending broadcast of BBC Radio Four It was the breeding ground for such stars as Sir David Jason, Alison Steadman and Tracey Ullman, as well as producers like John Lloyd (Blackadder) and Armando Iannucci (The Thick of It) Act II decided to recreate the era of satire with Revue 2014 at Ayscoughfee Hall Museum. The biggest eyebrow-raiser was the appearance of co-director Charlotte Gernert in a rare outing alongside husband and fellow director Karl. Another Act II regular, Jack Harrison (The History Boys), managed to capture the essence of UKIP leader Nigel Farage and his modus operandi of "make every argument about Europe". There were also sketches about the Scottish referendum vote, political opposition in Russia, the craze over Disney film Frozen and a tribute to famous people who have died during the year. But perhaps the real crowd-pleaser was a three-man sketch about Spalding town centre's recent gridlock caused by work to level crossings, put to the tune of Madness' Driving In My Car Inventive, incisive, intuitive - Act II have done it again. 9/10 Winston Brown |
Tommy - Thursday 25th September 2014 - Spalding Guardian
Act II certainly don't shirk away from challenges when choosing their shows and this is a prime example.
Having seen them put on superb productions of Cats, Les Miserables, Avenue Q and Bad Girls, I was not surprised to see them tackle Tommy.
Not a Who fan and not familiar with the script I went along with my three children, all with open minds, and we certainly came away entertained, if a little uneasy.
The trouble is, however good the performances - and they were good - I didn't like the story. A deaf, dumb and blind child witnesses his father shoot his mother's lover and withdraws into his own shell.
He is bullied by other children, shunned by his family and abused by his uncle. Even when he is finally 'cured' it seems his popularity with the other teenagers wanes, although he does reunite with his family in the end.
Because this production charts Tommy growing up, we had three youngsters playing the role made famous by Roger Daltrey.
Megan Booth, just 4, was superb in her silence, Lily Bergin took the role further as 10 year old Tommy and 17 year old Sarah Green was superb as the older boy.
Her version of 'Sensation' was one of the stand out performances. And I particularly liked the Finale when all three 'Tommys' took a bow together.
Joe Dickinson was great as Tommy's Dad, Captain Walker and Mo Power really shone as his Mum.
Matt Day got the creepiness just right as the odious Uncle Ernie and sang 'Fiddle About' and 'Tommy's Holiday Camp' really well. Sophie Gale was suitably sinister as Cousin Kevin too.
And there must be a special mention for the band who, hid by a curtain were superb throughout. Dave Jackson was especially impressive on the drumming made famous by Keith Moon. Husband and wife Karl and Charlotte Gernert directed and produced as efficiently as ever.
To summarise, this was not my favourite Act II show, but my admiration for this superb company continues unabated.
7/10 Jeremy Ransome
Having seen them put on superb productions of Cats, Les Miserables, Avenue Q and Bad Girls, I was not surprised to see them tackle Tommy.
Not a Who fan and not familiar with the script I went along with my three children, all with open minds, and we certainly came away entertained, if a little uneasy.
The trouble is, however good the performances - and they were good - I didn't like the story. A deaf, dumb and blind child witnesses his father shoot his mother's lover and withdraws into his own shell.
He is bullied by other children, shunned by his family and abused by his uncle. Even when he is finally 'cured' it seems his popularity with the other teenagers wanes, although he does reunite with his family in the end.
Because this production charts Tommy growing up, we had three youngsters playing the role made famous by Roger Daltrey.
Megan Booth, just 4, was superb in her silence, Lily Bergin took the role further as 10 year old Tommy and 17 year old Sarah Green was superb as the older boy.
Her version of 'Sensation' was one of the stand out performances. And I particularly liked the Finale when all three 'Tommys' took a bow together.
Joe Dickinson was great as Tommy's Dad, Captain Walker and Mo Power really shone as his Mum.
Matt Day got the creepiness just right as the odious Uncle Ernie and sang 'Fiddle About' and 'Tommy's Holiday Camp' really well. Sophie Gale was suitably sinister as Cousin Kevin too.
And there must be a special mention for the band who, hid by a curtain were superb throughout. Dave Jackson was especially impressive on the drumming made famous by Keith Moon. Husband and wife Karl and Charlotte Gernert directed and produced as efficiently as ever.
To summarise, this was not my favourite Act II show, but my admiration for this superb company continues unabated.
7/10 Jeremy Ransome
The History Boys - Thursday 11th September 2014 - Spalding Guardian
Groundbreaking theatre company Act II marked its tenth anniversary with a one-off outing for Alan Bennett's hit West End play The History Boys on Saturday.
The play and the film, which turned the likes of James Corden (Gavin and Stacey), Russell Tovey (Being Human) and Dominic Cooper (Fleming) into household names, contains elements of the films Dead Poet's Society and Mona Lisa Smile.
Director Charlotte Gernert's ambitious take on the story of eight boys studying for their Oxbridge entrance exams at a Sheffield Grammar School had a number of surprises.
The biggest one was seeing Act II's usual suspects (James Girard, Kieran Watson and Adam Shah as Crowther, Lockwood and Akthar respectively) given more minor roles compared to the fresher faces of Patrick Taylor (Dakin), Zac Harlock (Timms) and Jack Harrison (Scripps).
Familiar faces Karl Gernert (Irwin) and Martin Tyrrell (Headteacher) were joined by Fiona Parrish (Mrs. Lintott) in three of the teaching roles.
But the main adult actor was Dave Wheeler as the unorthodox General Studies teacher around whom the play largely revolves.
However what made this play stand out was its blend of heavy satire, close-to-the-knuckle farce and utter irreverence that would make Grange Hill more like the Lavender Hill mob.
The play is set in Margaret Thatcher's Britain of 1983 when a group of sixth formers are coming to terms with an exceptional set of A-Level History results.
They are encouraged to join the educational elite by staying on for an extra term to sit their Oxbridge entrance exams.
But each of the boys' teachers have varying agendas ranging from the greying idealism of Hector to the 20th Century realism of Irwin, with Lintott's eye-for-an-eye dogmatism thrown in.
After Act II's last major production in April, Les Miserables School Edition a letter to our sister paper, the Lincolnshire Free Press from Josie Bray of Pinchbeck: "What a great pleasure to sit in a local theatre and have brilliance on your doorstep."
With The History Boys Act II Theatre Company demonstrated once again that you don't need to go to London for a good night at the theatre.
9/10 Winston Brown
The play and the film, which turned the likes of James Corden (Gavin and Stacey), Russell Tovey (Being Human) and Dominic Cooper (Fleming) into household names, contains elements of the films Dead Poet's Society and Mona Lisa Smile.
Director Charlotte Gernert's ambitious take on the story of eight boys studying for their Oxbridge entrance exams at a Sheffield Grammar School had a number of surprises.
The biggest one was seeing Act II's usual suspects (James Girard, Kieran Watson and Adam Shah as Crowther, Lockwood and Akthar respectively) given more minor roles compared to the fresher faces of Patrick Taylor (Dakin), Zac Harlock (Timms) and Jack Harrison (Scripps).
Familiar faces Karl Gernert (Irwin) and Martin Tyrrell (Headteacher) were joined by Fiona Parrish (Mrs. Lintott) in three of the teaching roles.
But the main adult actor was Dave Wheeler as the unorthodox General Studies teacher around whom the play largely revolves.
However what made this play stand out was its blend of heavy satire, close-to-the-knuckle farce and utter irreverence that would make Grange Hill more like the Lavender Hill mob.
The play is set in Margaret Thatcher's Britain of 1983 when a group of sixth formers are coming to terms with an exceptional set of A-Level History results.
They are encouraged to join the educational elite by staying on for an extra term to sit their Oxbridge entrance exams.
But each of the boys' teachers have varying agendas ranging from the greying idealism of Hector to the 20th Century realism of Irwin, with Lintott's eye-for-an-eye dogmatism thrown in.
After Act II's last major production in April, Les Miserables School Edition a letter to our sister paper, the Lincolnshire Free Press from Josie Bray of Pinchbeck: "What a great pleasure to sit in a local theatre and have brilliance on your doorstep."
With The History Boys Act II Theatre Company demonstrated once again that you don't need to go to London for a good night at the theatre.
9/10 Winston Brown
Les Miserables School Edition - 8th April 2014 - Spalding Guardian
Rarely can the South Holland Centre have been so fully exploited as it was by Act II Theatre Company with their version of Les Miserables School Edition.
The ambitious project by director Charlotte Gernert and her producer-husband Karl to transport the story of broken dreams and human redemption from 19th-century France to 21st-century Lincolnshire took some doing.
Jack Harrison starred as Jean Valjean, hunted by obsessed policeman Javert (Adam Shah) and charged with caring for factory worker Fantine's (Jasmin Rolfe) young daughter Cosette (Poppy Hudson and Molly Riches).
All the songs that have drawn millions of people worldwide to see the show were there - I Dreamed A Dream, Bring Me Home, One Day More and On My Own.
But what made this production special was the sheer length and breadth of it, illustrated by the use of a live orchestra, conducted by Karl Gernert and led by keyboard players Peter Graper, Julia Knight, and Zoe Wardell.
This show is best summed up in the context that the young actors and actresses did it all on their own, sung rather than spoken and without an adult in the cast.
Formidable as they say in France.
7/10 Winston Brown
The ambitious project by director Charlotte Gernert and her producer-husband Karl to transport the story of broken dreams and human redemption from 19th-century France to 21st-century Lincolnshire took some doing.
Jack Harrison starred as Jean Valjean, hunted by obsessed policeman Javert (Adam Shah) and charged with caring for factory worker Fantine's (Jasmin Rolfe) young daughter Cosette (Poppy Hudson and Molly Riches).
All the songs that have drawn millions of people worldwide to see the show were there - I Dreamed A Dream, Bring Me Home, One Day More and On My Own.
But what made this production special was the sheer length and breadth of it, illustrated by the use of a live orchestra, conducted by Karl Gernert and led by keyboard players Peter Graper, Julia Knight, and Zoe Wardell.
This show is best summed up in the context that the young actors and actresses did it all on their own, sung rather than spoken and without an adult in the cast.
Formidable as they say in France.
7/10 Winston Brown
Avenue Q School Edition - 18th February 2014 - Spalding Guardian
I have an extreme dislike for political correctness and great admiration for the Act II Theatre Company, so I was really looking forward to their performance of comedy musical Avenue Q - a kind of un-PC Sesame Street for adults.
Although the show was slightly toned down for its teenage performers, it was still hilariously risque.
Life may suck for the jobless, homeless, politically incorrect and gay residents of the street, but it's certainly a bundle of belly laughs.
There's no ventriloquism, with the young actors taking centre stage with their puppets and some of the cuddly creations lucky enough to have two human controllers!
The story centres around the quirky residents of the avenue, a lively mix of humans, puppets and monsters!
Central to the story is the love affair between bright-eyed college graduate Princeton (Kieran Watson) and Kate Monster (Poppy Lewis).
Along the way we see Rod (Jack Harrison) come out to announce his homosexuality, Nicky (Duncan Riches, Dominique Spinks) become homeless and Trekkie Monster (Richard Slade, Steph East) sell all his friends's internet data!
We see Princeton tempted by the slutty Lucy (Morgan Agate), Brian (Karl Gernert) and Christmas Eve (Sophie Gale) get married and the Bad Idea Bears (Bob Pratt and Lizzie Taylor) try to corrupt them all.
And then there's Gary Coleman (Georgia Cantwell), the fading child star from 80s sitcom Diff'rent Strokes.
I musn't forget the wonderful "moving boxes" of Olivia Black, Seren Cave, Dominique and Molly Riches or the cameo by Ricky (Olivia), Rod's lover and the crabby school teacher Mrs Butz (Rebe Hawes, Molly) and Newcomer (Harry Higgins).
And all these scenarios are set to wonderfully funny songs such as "Everyone's A Little Bit Racist", "It Sucks To Be Me", "If You Were Gay", "Schadenfreude" and "I'm Not Wearing Underwear Today".
Directed and produced by talented husband and wife duo Charlotte and Karl Gernert, this really was a joy to behold.
The acting was great, with with the actors' facial expressions often perfectly matching those of the puppets, and the American comedy accents simply spot on.
And the singing from Act II gets better every time I see them - perfect pitch to accompany these hilarious songs.
Stand out performances for me came from Kieran Watson, Jack Harrison and Georgia Cantwell but the whole cast can take a bow - this was terrific stuff.
Jeremy Ransome
Although the show was slightly toned down for its teenage performers, it was still hilariously risque.
Life may suck for the jobless, homeless, politically incorrect and gay residents of the street, but it's certainly a bundle of belly laughs.
There's no ventriloquism, with the young actors taking centre stage with their puppets and some of the cuddly creations lucky enough to have two human controllers!
The story centres around the quirky residents of the avenue, a lively mix of humans, puppets and monsters!
Central to the story is the love affair between bright-eyed college graduate Princeton (Kieran Watson) and Kate Monster (Poppy Lewis).
Along the way we see Rod (Jack Harrison) come out to announce his homosexuality, Nicky (Duncan Riches, Dominique Spinks) become homeless and Trekkie Monster (Richard Slade, Steph East) sell all his friends's internet data!
We see Princeton tempted by the slutty Lucy (Morgan Agate), Brian (Karl Gernert) and Christmas Eve (Sophie Gale) get married and the Bad Idea Bears (Bob Pratt and Lizzie Taylor) try to corrupt them all.
And then there's Gary Coleman (Georgia Cantwell), the fading child star from 80s sitcom Diff'rent Strokes.
I musn't forget the wonderful "moving boxes" of Olivia Black, Seren Cave, Dominique and Molly Riches or the cameo by Ricky (Olivia), Rod's lover and the crabby school teacher Mrs Butz (Rebe Hawes, Molly) and Newcomer (Harry Higgins).
And all these scenarios are set to wonderfully funny songs such as "Everyone's A Little Bit Racist", "It Sucks To Be Me", "If You Were Gay", "Schadenfreude" and "I'm Not Wearing Underwear Today".
Directed and produced by talented husband and wife duo Charlotte and Karl Gernert, this really was a joy to behold.
The acting was great, with with the actors' facial expressions often perfectly matching those of the puppets, and the American comedy accents simply spot on.
And the singing from Act II gets better every time I see them - perfect pitch to accompany these hilarious songs.
Stand out performances for me came from Kieran Watson, Jack Harrison and Georgia Cantwell but the whole cast can take a bow - this was terrific stuff.
Jeremy Ransome
Monty Python's Spamalot - 20th September 2013 - Spalding Guardian
Every time I see a youth production in Spalding I am amazed and delighted at the talent on show, but Act II surpassed all previous performances with their delivery of this Monty Python classic. There were no bum notes, no forgotten words and no moment where I was feeling nervous or sorry for one of the fledgling actors. Indeed, this perfomance was so mature and professional I had to remind myself I was watching an amateur production, and a youth one at at that.
Director Karl Gernert got the casting dead right, with each young actor making Python's fanciful characters their own. So funny was this send up of King Arthur's search for the Holy Grail, that my devoutly religious partner even forgave them having a good-humoured dig at God Himself.
Zac Harlock must have studied Python at length, because his portrayal of Arthur mirrored all Graham Chapman's goofiness in the original film. James Girard, Joe Dickinson and Abbie Shrimpton were superb as the three knights, Sir Bedevere, Sir Lancelot and Sir Robin, and Lauren Stanhope's portrayal of Patsy was superb, especially her comic timing and facial expressions during Arthur's singing of "I'm All Alone". Kieran Watson was laugh-out-loud hilarious as the gay Prince Herbert, as was Lois Johnson-Smith as the leader of the ridiculous Knights who say Ni. But stealing the show for me was Olivia Black, who was just perfect as the Lady of the Lake. She absolutely nailed the role with a comedic masterclass.
The audience also got a couple of chances to join in with "Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life", and who can resist that? And what's great about Act II is their strength in depth and the way everyone gets a chance to shine. Indeed, Georgia Cantwell and Dominique Spinks, who were so superb in their recent production of Bad Girls, have much lesser roles here but are still superb.
The standing ovation the whole cast received at the end was richly deserved. it was the Pythons who put together the original screenplay, and Eric Idle that was behind its move to a musical, but it is the young, talented cast of Act II who brought it to life with such vim and vigour on the stage of the South Holland Centre.
I must mention the orchestra too. Perfect timing to a man, and even time to enjoy the performance judging from the smiles and muffled laughter I observed! We are blessed in Spalding to have such fantastic young actors. You won't just be supporting them if you go along to the next production, you will be guaranteeing yourself a wonderful evening's entertainment.
Jeremy Ransome
Director Karl Gernert got the casting dead right, with each young actor making Python's fanciful characters their own. So funny was this send up of King Arthur's search for the Holy Grail, that my devoutly religious partner even forgave them having a good-humoured dig at God Himself.
Zac Harlock must have studied Python at length, because his portrayal of Arthur mirrored all Graham Chapman's goofiness in the original film. James Girard, Joe Dickinson and Abbie Shrimpton were superb as the three knights, Sir Bedevere, Sir Lancelot and Sir Robin, and Lauren Stanhope's portrayal of Patsy was superb, especially her comic timing and facial expressions during Arthur's singing of "I'm All Alone". Kieran Watson was laugh-out-loud hilarious as the gay Prince Herbert, as was Lois Johnson-Smith as the leader of the ridiculous Knights who say Ni. But stealing the show for me was Olivia Black, who was just perfect as the Lady of the Lake. She absolutely nailed the role with a comedic masterclass.
The audience also got a couple of chances to join in with "Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life", and who can resist that? And what's great about Act II is their strength in depth and the way everyone gets a chance to shine. Indeed, Georgia Cantwell and Dominique Spinks, who were so superb in their recent production of Bad Girls, have much lesser roles here but are still superb.
The standing ovation the whole cast received at the end was richly deserved. it was the Pythons who put together the original screenplay, and Eric Idle that was behind its move to a musical, but it is the young, talented cast of Act II who brought it to life with such vim and vigour on the stage of the South Holland Centre.
I must mention the orchestra too. Perfect timing to a man, and even time to enjoy the performance judging from the smiles and muffled laughter I observed! We are blessed in Spalding to have such fantastic young actors. You won't just be supporting them if you go along to the next production, you will be guaranteeing yourself a wonderful evening's entertainment.
Jeremy Ransome
Bad Girls: The Musical - 11th July 2013 - Spalding Guardian
Act II's advanced skills group took on an ambitious task with this musical but pulled it off with such ease that at times I totally forgot the tender years of the cast.
Directed and produced by Charlotte and Karl Gernert respectively, the show centres on wicked prison officer Jim Fenner's bid to become wing governor at any means, while the shocking nuts and bolts of prison life go on around the main plot.
Duncan Riches stole the show as Fenner, Dominique Spinks played the tough yet caring Shell Dockley with conviction and Georgia Cantwell shone as sassy gangster's moll Yvonne Atkins.
Alice Haley rose to the tough task of playing the misunderstood lesbian murderess Nikki Wade, Rebe Hawes was convincing as the tragic Rachel Hicks and Molly Riches was just wonderful as the tart with a heart Julie Saunders.
But then all the cast gelled superbly and all had their stand-out moment, aided by a very good orchestra.
I really love watching local productions. If you fancy an evening of great entertainment at a reasonable price, try to get along to one.
Jeremy Ransome
Directed and produced by Charlotte and Karl Gernert respectively, the show centres on wicked prison officer Jim Fenner's bid to become wing governor at any means, while the shocking nuts and bolts of prison life go on around the main plot.
Duncan Riches stole the show as Fenner, Dominique Spinks played the tough yet caring Shell Dockley with conviction and Georgia Cantwell shone as sassy gangster's moll Yvonne Atkins.
Alice Haley rose to the tough task of playing the misunderstood lesbian murderess Nikki Wade, Rebe Hawes was convincing as the tragic Rachel Hicks and Molly Riches was just wonderful as the tart with a heart Julie Saunders.
But then all the cast gelled superbly and all had their stand-out moment, aided by a very good orchestra.
I really love watching local productions. If you fancy an evening of great entertainment at a reasonable price, try to get along to one.
Jeremy Ransome
The Bible: The Complete Word Of God (Abridged) - 14th May 2013 - Spalding Guardian
Two years ago, Spalding’s Act II Theatre Company pulled off the unlikely feat of staging all of William Shakespeare’s 37 plays in one night.
South Holland Centre was the venue for Act II’s even more ambitious project of capturing all 66 books of the world’s best selling book in a single, 90-minute production.
The Bible:The Complete Word of God (Abridged) was a tongue-in-cheek, genuinely light-hearted attempt to take audiences on a whistle-stop tour of the Good Book, from Genesis to Revelation.
A cast of 26 youngsters aged between seven and 20, led by show director Karl Gerner, managed to put all their RE and Sunday School memories to good use in a production that exceeded all expectations.
James Girard showed touches of Matt Smith’s Doctor Who as he acted out the Ten Commandments one minute and the Goliath felled by David the next.
From the moment the show opened with the Blue Danube Waltz by Johann Strauss, you knew that a memorable night was in prospect, despite the use of water pistols for dramatic effect.
There was even a risky venture into the minefield of immigration issues with the theatre’s company version of The Tower of Babel story.
But it was hard to take offence with any part of the show which put some of South Holland’s most talented youngsters in a hugely favourable night.
In summary, this show left you wondering what Act II Theatre Company has up its sleeves with Bad Girls The Musical at South Holland Centre on July 3 and 4.
Winston Brown
South Holland Centre was the venue for Act II’s even more ambitious project of capturing all 66 books of the world’s best selling book in a single, 90-minute production.
The Bible:The Complete Word of God (Abridged) was a tongue-in-cheek, genuinely light-hearted attempt to take audiences on a whistle-stop tour of the Good Book, from Genesis to Revelation.
A cast of 26 youngsters aged between seven and 20, led by show director Karl Gerner, managed to put all their RE and Sunday School memories to good use in a production that exceeded all expectations.
James Girard showed touches of Matt Smith’s Doctor Who as he acted out the Ten Commandments one minute and the Goliath felled by David the next.
From the moment the show opened with the Blue Danube Waltz by Johann Strauss, you knew that a memorable night was in prospect, despite the use of water pistols for dramatic effect.
There was even a risky venture into the minefield of immigration issues with the theatre’s company version of The Tower of Babel story.
But it was hard to take offence with any part of the show which put some of South Holland’s most talented youngsters in a hugely favourable night.
In summary, this show left you wondering what Act II Theatre Company has up its sleeves with Bad Girls The Musical at South Holland Centre on July 3 and 4.
Winston Brown
Cats - 25th April 2013 - Spalding Guardian
Oh! Well I never! Was there ever a cat so clever as magical Mr. Mistoffelees?
Yep, that was the song that hung on the lips on my children and I all weekend after watching Act II's tremendous adaptation of this musical classic.
We went with an open mind but we left with heads full of tunes and an eagerness for more of the same.
From a slow start, this show exploded after the interval, and it was great to see at times all of the cast take to the stage at the same time.
It's also wonderful to see children and young adults of all ages dedicating themselves to such a worthwhile pursuit.
I'm not going to single out names but I will say that the whole cast singing Mr. Mistoffelees was a truly joyous moment and Sophie Gale, as Grizabella, moved everyone with a beautiful rendition of Memory.
All together a wonderful afternoon, watching some wonderful young people have the time of their lives. Make your heart feel good.
Jeremy Ransome
Yep, that was the song that hung on the lips on my children and I all weekend after watching Act II's tremendous adaptation of this musical classic.
We went with an open mind but we left with heads full of tunes and an eagerness for more of the same.
From a slow start, this show exploded after the interval, and it was great to see at times all of the cast take to the stage at the same time.
It's also wonderful to see children and young adults of all ages dedicating themselves to such a worthwhile pursuit.
I'm not going to single out names but I will say that the whole cast singing Mr. Mistoffelees was a truly joyous moment and Sophie Gale, as Grizabella, moved everyone with a beautiful rendition of Memory.
All together a wonderful afternoon, watching some wonderful young people have the time of their lives. Make your heart feel good.
Jeremy Ransome
Seussical - 15th September 2011 - Spalding Guardian
Dr. Seuss came to Spalding last week with Act II's highly energetic and colourful performance of the musical Seussical, showcasing local talent.
The musial, based on the book Horton Hears A Who, followed Horton the Elephant (Joe Dickinson) as he tried to protect his friend Jojo (Lloyd White), and the other inhabitants of Whoville, even though evryone else in the Jungle of Nool thought he was a fool for believing in people who live on a small speck of dust.
The cast were great throughout and the story easy to follow, involving many of the American author, Theodore 'Seuss' Geisel's famous characters including Thing One and Two, the Grinch, Gertrude McFuzz (Beth Knight), Sour Kangaroo (Abbie Shrimpton) and General Gengis Khan Schmitz (Jack Harrison).
The Cat in the Hat was played excellently by Alice Haley, who narrated and was even seen conducting the musicians.
During the interval, the younger sudience were invited to chat to Horton, who was on stage with Mayzie La Bird's (Jaz Myland) egg, which added a really nice touch to an enjoyable visit to the theatre.
The audience of all ages were very complimentary on leaving the theatre.
The musial, based on the book Horton Hears A Who, followed Horton the Elephant (Joe Dickinson) as he tried to protect his friend Jojo (Lloyd White), and the other inhabitants of Whoville, even though evryone else in the Jungle of Nool thought he was a fool for believing in people who live on a small speck of dust.
The cast were great throughout and the story easy to follow, involving many of the American author, Theodore 'Seuss' Geisel's famous characters including Thing One and Two, the Grinch, Gertrude McFuzz (Beth Knight), Sour Kangaroo (Abbie Shrimpton) and General Gengis Khan Schmitz (Jack Harrison).
The Cat in the Hat was played excellently by Alice Haley, who narrated and was even seen conducting the musicians.
During the interval, the younger sudience were invited to chat to Horton, who was on stage with Mayzie La Bird's (Jaz Myland) egg, which added a really nice touch to an enjoyable visit to the theatre.
The audience of all ages were very complimentary on leaving the theatre.
Charming! - 20th August 2011 - fringereview.com
Charming! was just that.Produced by a seemingly young company, Act 2 take on the classic tale of fairies, frogs, princes and princesses, but who to choose? Snow White? Rapunzel? Sleeping Beauty? So Prince Charming sets off through the fairy tale kingdom in search of this princess, becoming engaged to not one but four all the while while singing mildly amusing songs, adding some good pantomime touches and some gentle audience participation for good measure.
Targeted at 4-8 yr olds, I had a time in deciding whether an 8 yr old would really become engrossed in such a simple plot and panto-esque style, 8 yr olds i know watch Dr Who and Soap Operas. With this in mind, a target of 4-6 may be more appropriate and realistic.
Prince Charming carries the piece with a great load of energy and pace, clearly a skilled performer, although singing not so, the songs were often glazed over and moved through quickly. The score and the lyrics were however fun and moved the action on without detracting from plotting. The supporting cast are engaging with some strong singers and character comics, this small company bring the climax of the story to an upbeat ending. Whilst perhaps the audio could have been turned up to 9, some music, which may have affected the singing, was often almost inaudible, and the scene changes cleaner and clearer with far more use of the lighting rig at this venue. Tackling these technical issues would have made for something rather magical.
The majority of the audience between 3-6, smiles at this often candy for the eyes - which is a refreshing change often to the bigger budget theatre or less than perfect puppet theatre we often see. 4 yr olds would love it, the bright costumes and simple set provide a charming way to spend a morning with the family.
A less than faultless production, Charming! is a refreshing and modern retelling of the classics, with moments of enjoyment and amusement, very easy for children to enjoy.
JW
7th August 2011 - one4review.wordpress.com
Your average fairytale this is not. This is a creative and inventive take on the happily ever after, with a young and fresh take on everything you thought you knew about Prince Charming and his Princess. There is humour and interaction for the young ones, and some clever use of the minimal props on display along with some very good use of costume. The cast were lively and enthusiastic making this a very easy show for children to enjoy, and despite the traditional Princess and Prince Charming story being more of a girly affair, this appealed to both sexes in the audience very much, there were even the odd chuckle moments for the grown ups that were in the audience. The songs and music that were used were original and catchy and by the end of the show I’d say that most of the audience had the proposal song down enough to join in.
This is an ideal show for the family to go along to and enjoy, and I would recommend it.
Reviewed by Kath
Targeted at 4-8 yr olds, I had a time in deciding whether an 8 yr old would really become engrossed in such a simple plot and panto-esque style, 8 yr olds i know watch Dr Who and Soap Operas. With this in mind, a target of 4-6 may be more appropriate and realistic.
Prince Charming carries the piece with a great load of energy and pace, clearly a skilled performer, although singing not so, the songs were often glazed over and moved through quickly. The score and the lyrics were however fun and moved the action on without detracting from plotting. The supporting cast are engaging with some strong singers and character comics, this small company bring the climax of the story to an upbeat ending. Whilst perhaps the audio could have been turned up to 9, some music, which may have affected the singing, was often almost inaudible, and the scene changes cleaner and clearer with far more use of the lighting rig at this venue. Tackling these technical issues would have made for something rather magical.
The majority of the audience between 3-6, smiles at this often candy for the eyes - which is a refreshing change often to the bigger budget theatre or less than perfect puppet theatre we often see. 4 yr olds would love it, the bright costumes and simple set provide a charming way to spend a morning with the family.
A less than faultless production, Charming! is a refreshing and modern retelling of the classics, with moments of enjoyment and amusement, very easy for children to enjoy.
JW
7th August 2011 - one4review.wordpress.com
Your average fairytale this is not. This is a creative and inventive take on the happily ever after, with a young and fresh take on everything you thought you knew about Prince Charming and his Princess. There is humour and interaction for the young ones, and some clever use of the minimal props on display along with some very good use of costume. The cast were lively and enthusiastic making this a very easy show for children to enjoy, and despite the traditional Princess and Prince Charming story being more of a girly affair, this appealed to both sexes in the audience very much, there were even the odd chuckle moments for the grown ups that were in the audience. The songs and music that were used were original and catchy and by the end of the show I’d say that most of the audience had the proposal song down enough to join in.
This is an ideal show for the family to go along to and enjoy, and I would recommend it.
Reviewed by Kath
Whooooo's Afraid Of The Big Bad Wolf? - August 2010 - hairline.org.uk
The Big Bad Wolf is completely misunderstood, He is not that bad at all. In fact, all he wants is friends! And in this hour long show, he will try and convince you of why you should be his friend too. With songs, lots of characters and some very funny visual gags, Act II Theatre Company has created a fun-filled, simple and endearing show.
With only three actors on stage, they recreate, amongst others, the stories of Red Riding Hood, The Three Little Pigs and Goldilocks. But these are not the stories you remember because they re given fun, fresh twists that will appeal to kids as well as the kid in all of us. So the Big Bad Wolf is not a child-eating fiend; he's just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
With minimal yet effective set design and imaginative costume changes, Act II are able to transport the audience into the forest of these well-known tales.
Kids will love the idea of helping the protagonist find the three piglets, while being highly amused at the idea of a vegetarian wolf. The quirky songs help the storytelling move swiftly forward, and all the characters are quickly established with a couple of over the top personality traits, which makes them easily recognisable and likeable at the same time.
Highlights, apart from the wolf itself, who almost never leaves the stage, are the speechless sheep, Nige and Trev (two of the piglets) and kiddies' favourite Little Red's granny, who can rap and dance. Oh and don't forget to eat your carrot at the end!
With only three actors on stage, they recreate, amongst others, the stories of Red Riding Hood, The Three Little Pigs and Goldilocks. But these are not the stories you remember because they re given fun, fresh twists that will appeal to kids as well as the kid in all of us. So the Big Bad Wolf is not a child-eating fiend; he's just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
With minimal yet effective set design and imaginative costume changes, Act II are able to transport the audience into the forest of these well-known tales.
Kids will love the idea of helping the protagonist find the three piglets, while being highly amused at the idea of a vegetarian wolf. The quirky songs help the storytelling move swiftly forward, and all the characters are quickly established with a couple of over the top personality traits, which makes them easily recognisable and likeable at the same time.
Highlights, apart from the wolf itself, who almost never leaves the stage, are the speechless sheep, Nige and Trev (two of the piglets) and kiddies' favourite Little Red's granny, who can rap and dance. Oh and don't forget to eat your carrot at the end!