Love Midlands Theatre

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

The Witches - Hall Green Little Theatre

22/5/2018

Comments

 
Picture

The Witches is one of Roald Dahl’s darkest stories, telling the tale of children being turned into mice, with no hope of reclaiming their human form.   This stage adaptation was created in 1992 by David Wood, who has also adapted other Dahl stories including The BFG and The Twits, as well as writing a series of other original plays and musicals for family audiences.  So it was with great anticipation that I took both my Junior Reviewers to the delightful Hall Green Little Theatre to see their production of this classic story.

The performances, led confidently by Sammy Lees as the unnamed Boy and the delightfully creepy Zofja Zolna as the Grand High Witch, were committed and delivered with clarity (as someone who spends most of their time in the musical theatre, it was great to hear dialogue being projected properly, without the aid of mics!).   Alfie Redmond, as the constantly gorging Bruno, and Jean Wilde, as Boy’s cigar-smoking, story-loving Grandmother offered excellent support.

The entrance of the Witches had more than a hint of Monty Python about it; the echoes of Terry Jones were very clear, and that’s absolutely fine by me! And the pantomime kitchen scene added a much needed boost of energy in act 2.

When tackling a well known story like this, there is a certain expectation about how scenes requiring a magical transformation are tackled.  Director Roy Palmer and his technical team did well here with their limited resources, but we did all feel a couple of the scene changes could get slicker as the run goes on. 

It was just a shame that the performance was poorly attended.  A classic tale told with conviction in a charming little theatre deserves more support.  It is running until 26th May.  

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