Act Reviews 2024 / 2025 Season

the annoyance of a select handful of characters. The audience laughed and she portrayed the character well. I would like to make a special mention to Sasha Carillo who played Ellen in the Dance Team. Whenever she was on stage, she was smiling, beaming with confidence, had co-ordinated make-up, great timing and an amazing voice – she shone through the ensemble and dancers and I couldn’t take my eyes away. I hope she goes on one day to lead productions; she was a joy to watch. As you watched the story and the ever-growing relationship form between Curly and Laurey, one of my favourite numbers arrived being ‘It’s a Scandal, It’s a Outrage!’ where the cast sang with confidence, the harmonies worked well and movement on stage was well timed with the band. The following track ‘People Will Say We’re in Love’ sung by Curly and Laurey was a delight to watch as you felt the connection between the two characters grow. Laurey was portrayed by Victoria Lewis. Both Callaghan and Lewis gave this scene a lot of effort, Callaghan was charming and entertaining and Lewis felt natural, organic, and had delicate tones during the number. Following this, she became emotional and upset and had real tears, the audience then felt and sympathised with her. Then came our first scene change, where the barn was reversed to form the smoke room. Unfortunately, it was frustrating to watch as such a big piece of set struggled to rotate on the small stage. There was also a DMX fault on one of the lights which kept flashing uncontrollably but hopefully this can be sorted and the change made much slicker for audiences later in the week. Residing in the smoke room was Jud Fry, played by Adrian Davison. The character has a dangerous, obsessive infatuation with Laurey. The room featured decoration from the correct era including posters for Camel and Piedmont cigarettes. There wasn’t much furniture as you would expect from a povertystricken farmhand. In the centre of the room was a makeshift table made of a wooden crate – I would have liked this to be distressed, dirty or painted to match the style of the room and Jud himself, but stood out looking brand new. Jud was dirty as you would expect from a farmhand, he looked down to the floor a lot which added to his character. He was depressed, emotional and hid his anger within. Davison’s vocals Asrian Davison as Jud Fry

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