Reviews of our Shows

Review of Birthdays Past & Birthdays Present by Alan Ayckbourn

A warm welcome greeted us at the Phoenix Theatre in Bawtry, as Bawtry Phoenix Theatre presented their latest play, Birthdays Past and Birthdays Present, written by the multi talented, Alan Ayckbourn.

The story revolves around the birthdays of one family over four different eras, and centralises around Adrian, the son of the family. What makes this play rather unique, is that it goes backwards in time. The play starts in the present day at Mickey’s, Adrian’s father, 80th Birthday. We then move backwards in time to Meg’s, Adrian’s mother,60th birthday and then onto Adrian’s 30th birthday. The last scene is Sonia, the daughter of the family and her 18th birthday.

Three actors played the role of Adrian, throughout the different eras. Matt Pollard played the present day Adrian, Chris Austin played the 30 year old Adrian, and finally. Will Tempest portrayed him at 17 years old. All three of these performers played their part extremely well, and each one gave us more of insight into Adrian’s personality? I particularly enjoyed Chris’s Vodka swilling and snap playing performance.

Chloe Ashmore and Eleanor Dixon, played Adrian’s love interests throughout the years, with Eleanor raising plenty of laughs as the God worshipping Grace. Chloe excelled as both Charity and Hope, and for one so young displayed a maturity beyond her years. I’m looking forward to what this talented young lady does next.

Completing the cast we had Steve Kellett and Trudy Panting, as Mickey and Meg, Adrian’s parents. These two not only delivered first class performances but their diction and comedy timing were on point. It was if the roles were written for them. I couldn’t help but smile during the first scene of the play, as they reminded me so much of my own Grandma and Grandad.

Congratulations to all involved in this wonderful production, but special mention must go to Sue Stevenson, Director, who’s vision and creativity brought the show to life. The simple set was effective, and the choice of music was just right.

Thanks to all for a wonderful evenings entertainment.

Review by NODA North East District 5 Representative Ash Booker

Review of Grease by The Bawtry Phoenix Young Players

It is always good to see a “House Full” sign outside a theatre and it is even better when the performers are all youngsters, and this is exactly what happened in Bawtry this week when Bawtry Phoenix Players Young Players performed Grease.

This society is going from strength to strength and is testament to the committee members who all work so hard to encourage the younger members to join and perform on stage.

Due to the amount of talent this society has the female characters were shared between two sets of girls, however the male characters were performed by the same young lads at each performance.

I was pleased to see Team Lightening when I attended on Thursday evening, and here we had Beth Stroughair in the role of Sandy, Beth has a beautiful voice and was able to put it to good use especially in her song, Hopelessly Devote to You, you could hear a pin drop and it was obvious the audience loved it. Beth had a great relationship with Leo Cotton who played Danny and he was able to bring everything out of this part, they proved to be a great force in their duet You’re The One That I Want with the rest of the company.

One of the characters in this piece is that of Rizzo which is multi-faceted and therefore needs a strong actor to be able to pull it off, step in Lola Gill who was able to play this smouldering character and bring it to life. When she sang her song, which is a skit at Sandy, Look At Me I’m Sandy Dee she was perfect. Again, Lola was able to work so well with Thomas Wood who played Kenickie and it was good to see Thomas in a part totally different to the last one he played, Capt. Von Trapp in The Sound of Music, he was able to prove just how versatile he is.

One of the bubbly characters in this piece is of course Frenchy and Jasmine Maw was able to bring this character to life with ease, never going over the top which is so easy to do with something like this part.

Also being able to prove themselves were Freya Keenlyside as Jan and Tia French as Marty, both pulling out all the stops to get the best out of these parts and it was exactly the same with the parts of Patty, Miss Lynch and Cha Cha which were in the capable hands and voices of Millie Rhodes, Lucy Thiede and Molly Rowlinson respectively.

In Ryedale High’s dance we see Vince Fontaine who is quite a sleezy character who uses his work to hit on the girls in the school, Eloise Firth was perfect in this part and was able to show Vince’s “charm” and the right amount of sleeziness to make it work. In the same scene we see Jonny Casino who is the singer at the dance, again Alex Anderson was brilliant in the part and has a lovely voice to make it work.

When Frenchy has a dream about her beauty school, which we all know she has just dropped out of, we see the female Angels who together with Teen Angel deliver the song Beauty School Drop Out, I’m not sure how old Harrison Smith is but he was excellent as Teen Angel, his voice fitted superbly the song and his charm made everyone in the audience love him.

The other female character in this piece is Blanch Hodel and it was in the more than capable hands of Eliza Simpson.

The other young lads in this piece were played expertly by Oliver Wood as Doody, James Bilby as Roger, Will Tempest as Sonny and Levi Moyes as Eugene throughout the run.

Congratulations to everyone involved in this production especially Alan Cropley as Musical Director, Melissa Hodson as Choreographer and Jonah Thompson as Director and Leader. These were also ably assisted by Nell Stroughair as Asst. Director, Emma Spencer as Asst. MD and Barbara Dale and Beverley Daines as Co Producers.

Reviewed by NODA North East Councillor Les Smith