Review of Kiss Me Kate at Kilworth House Theatre

A theatre shrouded in trees on the estate of a house with landscaped, picnic and woodland areas is a tremendous boost to anyone putting on a show and Kiss Me Kate from director Matthew White lives up to the wonder of its location.
Kiss Me Kate based on a book by Sam and Bella Spewack with music and lyrics by Cole Porter is itself based upon Shakespeare's work The Taming of the Shrew. A theatre company with principal performers divorcees Lilli Vanessi (Caroline Sheen) and Fred Graham (Matthew McKenna) are putting on Shrew interspersed with their quarrelling behind and on stage. Added to the mix is a romantic side piece featuring Lois Lane (Monique Young) and Bill Calhoun (Justin Thomas) and some nefarious characters after some money.

Caroline Sheen

There is just so much to delight in from this production, right from the first viewing of the impressive and very grand set and an amazingly well choreographed initial number of Another Op'nin', Another Show, you just know that this is going to be a fabulous evening. The entire show is maintained at a flowing pace with set changes fluently becoming part of the show and never breaking the pace, and clever staging using all areas of the theatre space, including aisles and side entrances.

Matthew McKenna

The two leads Caroline Sheen and Matthew McKenna are brilliant together in their sparky dialogue. McKenna, in particular, had quite a brilliant way of enunciating his words making it all perfectly very thespian-like and tremendous fun. There were as this was opening night a few slight line fluffs, all in one scene between them, however, nothing deters the fact that these two are going to be tremendous together during this run.

Monique Young

Also once again rather special is Monique Young, having seen her in the Hairspray tour in 2015 and picking her out as the star of the show then, here as Lois Lane she very nearly steals the show once again. Her Lois is light and joyful and she shares with Gremio (Andrew Gordon-Watkins), Hortensio (Davide Fienauri) and Lucentio (Justin Thomas) perhaps the best number of the show, Tom, Dick or Harry. Thomas in this number and his delightful performance of Bianca in the second act also shows his quite incredible gymnastics ability.

Also highly entertaining and bringing great humour to the show were Cory English as Gangster 1 and Carl Sanderson as Gangster 2. Certainly audience favourites and the classic Brush Up Your Shakespeare was very well performed. There is also a great turn from Tarinn Callender as Paul, putting great vocal and dance skills in Too Darn Hot, in this, his professional debut.

Another interesting aspect of this musical for me was that despite being outside, the sound was the best that I have heard from a musical. Sound designer Chris Whybrow and strong 12 piece orchestra led by musical director Michael England fill the theatre with strong and meaty music, however unlike most shows in indoor theatres the balance is just perfect with the vocalists not disappearing behind the music. There are many a theatre that could learn from this venue, team and setup.

So a brilliantly entertaining evening of a really fun musical, full of great characters and bags of familiar tunes. Some incredible singing and a hugely skilled ensemble make this not only a must see if you can make it, but also a great opportunity to visit this brilliant venue.

★★★★★

Performance reviewed: Wednesday, May 31st, 2017 at the Kilworth House Theatre,

.
Kiss Me Kate runs at the Kilworth House Theatre until Sunday 16th July 2017.
For further details visit http://www.kilworthhousetheatre.co.uk/

Review of Jesus Christ Superstar (N.M.T.C.) at Royal & Derngate (Derngate), Northampton

The now-legendary Jesus Christ Superstar , written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, initially struggled to find backing in 1970, so its first airing was as a concept album rather than the now mainly recognised stage show. Now, 55 years later, the legendary Northampton Musical Theatre Company, at least in Northampton, brings the show to the Royal & Derngate once again, after last performing it in 2010. The story, I suspect, needs little introduction, so I leave you to ensure you know the story before heading to the theatre to see the show. And what a show it is: this is the N.M.T.C., almost at the top of their game, assembling the cream of their group and a vast cast supporting the main players. As lead, newcomer Linden Iliffe takes on the weighty role of Jesus of Nazareth, and he is terrific in the challenging part, depicting the innocent power imbued in him and his desperation and disappointment as his life unravels amid bitter betrayal and disownment. He has a powerful voice,...

Review of The Bodyguard at Milton Keynes Theatre

The 1992 film The Bodyguard , starring Kevin Costner and marking the acting debut of singing megastar Whitney Houston, was a standard romantic thriller, greatly enhanced by Houston's presence and a cascade of big musical numbers. Surprisingly, it took twenty years to make the transition to the stage. Premiering in London in December 2012, just ten months after Houston's death, the show has since become a massive global success. Now it arrives at Milton Keynes Theatre again as part of its fourth UK tour in just thirteen years. The Bodyguard sees former Secret Service agent turned bodyguard, Frank Farmer, hired to protect an Academy Award-nominated actress and music superstar, Rachel Marron, from a stalker. Between Farmer's duties and Marron's career, something inevitably builds between the two amid music and dancing aplenty. Taking the leads on this tour are Sidonie Smith as Rachel and Adam Garcia as Frank. Smith has appeared in The Bodyguard before, as a walk-in in a p...

Review of Hacktivists by Ben Ockrent performed by R&D Youth Theatre at Royal & Derngate (Underground), Northampton

The National Theatres Connections series of plays had been one of my highlights of my trips to R&D during 2014. Their short and snappy single act style kept them all interesting and never overstaying their welcome. So I was more than ready for my first encounter with one of this years Connections plays ahead of the main week of performances at R&D later in the year. Hacktivists is written by Ben Ockrent, whose slightly wacky but socially relevant play Breeders I had seen at St James Theatre last year. Hacktivists is less surreal, but does have a fair selection of what some people would call odd. Myself of the other hand would very much be home with them. So we are presented with thirteen nerdy "friends" who meet to hack, very much in what is termed the white hat variety. This being for good, as we join them they appear to have done very little more than hacked and created some LED light device. Crashing in to spoil the party however comes Beth (Emma-Ann Cranston)...

A Small Mind At The Theatre

Search This Blog