Love Midlands Theatre

  • Home
  • Reviews
  • Contact
  • Home
  • Reviews
  • Contact

RENT - Old Rep Theatre

27/7/2016

Comments

 
Picture
How do you measure a year? Well ask any musical theatre fan and they will simply respond: Love. Set in the American AIDS epidemic, a young group of artists question their experiences of love, passion and life. This internationally acclaimed production is brought to the Old Rep stage by Michael Neri and his wonderfully talented cast with a company ranging in ages and professional status.

A sparse, industrial set – comprising of scaffolding bars, steel deck and rope – presented itself from the off and set the tone for the aggressive, gritty realism of poverty and isolation; helping to stimulate the narrative before the show had begun.

One element that enhanced this industrialised set was Charlie Morgan-Jones' open rig lighting design which created some beautifully artistic images throughout the performance: this was particularly apparent in Seasons Of Love. There were some moments where the lighting made it difficult to see some of the performers expressions and some facets of the individual performances were missed.

The cast led the narrative well with some strong vocal moments – notably during Take Me or Leave Me with Ashleigh Ashton as Maureen and Sophie Poulton as Joanne. The two strongest vocals in the cast came into play here and they should be commended for continuing to such a high standard despite sound difficulties. This was an issue unto itself and was apparent that there were some sound issues throughout which distracted the audience on many occasions and contributed to confusing the narrative, but the cast handled the technical opening night glitches very professionally.

Rhys Owen stole the show as Collins throughout. The character’s struggles were well realised by an actor who clearly knew this role. The role’s peak comes in I'll Cover You (Reprise) where Rhys shone and had the audience in the palm of his hand. A commendable performance also from the ensemble who provided a powerful backing during this musical number.

The band was good and although there were some timing issues, the cast pushed the narration and vocals and created real life in the Old Rep Theatre.
Comments

    Love Midlands Theatre

    Sharing the latest theatre news and reviews around the Midlands.

    Picture
    Tweets by @midlandstheatre

    Subscribe to our mailing list

    * indicates required

    Archives

    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015

    Categories

    All
    Amateur Theatre
    Birmingham
    Coventry
    Love Midlands Theatre
    Professional
    Review
    Solihull
    Stafford
    Tamworth
    Theatre
    Wolverhampton

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly