Act Reviews 2024 / 2025 Season

jarring when trying to imagine that this was playing out in the current day. I was therefore left wondering whether it would have been tempting to have set the play in the 60s and I am curious about why it was not? I wonder if this was because it was stated in the script that the setting is modern day, or because director John Mills wanted to be able to explore the themes through a modern lens? I really enjoyed the opening Front of House announcement being in the style of a radio broadcast – this perfectly set the scene for the central role that Applehurst and the BBC would play in the plot, and it sounded so genuine. Vivienne Mills entered the stage looking every inch the iconic June Buckridge, effortlessly slipping between accents to bring her character Sister George to life. Later in the play, Vivienne further showcased her talent for accents with her posh telephone voice and doing a very convincing highlands Scottish accent for us too. Vivienne really threw herself into this role without any apparent self-consciousness and appeared to revel in convincingly portraying the multiple sides to June Buckridge – playful and childish with her larger-than-life laugh and re-enaction of riding her moped, domineering and cruel towards Childie, and later in the play, anxious and distraught at her character’s death and the loss of her “George” identity. I really enjoyed watching Vivienne’s portrayal and her powerful performance gave the play excellent momentum. Jodie Cooper as Alice “Childie” McNaught also clearly relished her role. The Childie role is also a challenging one as she too has multiple sides. Early in the play, the audience are presumably

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