Reviews
When Shotley Drama Group put on a production we have reviews in the papers. The reviews that we get are fantastic!
Read some of them below, if you wish to add your own review please visit our message board!
Red Riding Hood,
Shotley Drama Group,
Shotley Village Hall.
UNTIL you have heard Walking on Sunshine in Red Riding Hood you have not really seen panto.
The line to introduce the song was corny as it gets but delivered superbly and typified the whole performance.
Jokes to be groaned at, but more to cause laughter; bright, happy songs, mixed with the odd slushy ballad performed on a set of colourful and clever scenery.
From the moment the audience is invited to Come On Get Happy to the colourful and glitzy finale, the show is a breezy mixture, of fast moving action, clever, if sometimes obvious script.
But for me the most enjoyable aspect was the way the show was delivered with enthusiasm and joy. Yes, there were some nervous performances but they really looked as if they were enjoying it, shame the audience didn’t join in more.
Oh yes they did, oh no they didn’t.
The adults took something of a background approach as they encouraged the young one to take centre stage in more part than usual. Alf Arkley as the evil sheriff earned his boos and hisses, while Mother Hubbard (any Bynoth) ploughed on relentlessly.
Teenagers Lucy Roberts and Carmella Miller as Red Riding Hood and Robin Hood, who predictably fall in love were charming and confident and a joy to see them develop so well.
The witches coven scene was like watching two dozen Kate Bushes on acid, especially one young girl was clearly loving the frantic movement and being pushed around like a young puppy eager for more.
It was a cackling good act with convincing costumes and comical failure of the pyrotechnics only added to the humour.
But the stars of the show were probably the fairies, witches and villagers, too many to mention but the young girls (and one boy) were fabulous in their array of costumes and well choreographed by Tracey Miller and Lynn Judd.
To see almost 60 people on a small stage like Shotley is testament to the work of Carol Blumfield, David Armes, Ian Peters and Tom Durrant and others.
A great show well received.
Derek Davis: East Anglian Daily Times.
Goldilocks and the Three Bears,
Shotley Drama Group,
Shotley Village Hall.
REMEMBER the name …… Carmella Miller...when Pop Idol runs into its third or fourth year, as it surely will, this young lady will most probably be amassing millions of votes. Her rendition of Whitney Houston’s I Will Always Love You toward the end of the Shotley Drama Group’s excellent variation on Goldilocks and the Three Bears had the audience spell bound. At the risk of sounding like Dr Fox, the teenager was the jam in a blow of creamy porridge left to cool by the furry family.
If you think that was corny you should have heard the gags trotted out by Ambrose the Milkman, hammed up superbly by Andy Bynoth. The old joke involving Dame Downdale, carried off with panache by Adrian Gleed, about bathing in milk was pure Morecambe and Wise. “Do you want pasteurise? No, up to my chin will be fine”.
This was good old fashioned pantomime with a fairy Princess (Sandra Whayman) counteracting the convincingly evil Baron Rockhard (David Armes) as Maximillian (played by the leggy Diane Taylor) looked to claim his inheritance and marry Goldilocks (Barbara Moss-Taylor).
They were backed by delightful song and dance routines from young children and a troupe of teenage dancers who rivaled the can-can girls of the Moulin Rouge. An amusing script, meticulously directed by Carol Blumfield and well played out to provide a joyous evening’s entertainment.
I went to the West End to watch Chicago the week before but for me this was better value and far more fun. The group played to four packed houses in three days and no doubt audiences will want more.
So, the Shotley Drama Group is putting on its version of Oliver, in the October.
I hope no one will be sitting in my chair.
Derek Davis: East Anglian Daily Times.
Oliver!,
Shotley Drama Group,
Shotley Village Hall. October 24 2002
Carol Blumfield certainly knows how to put a show together. How she, as producer, and director David Armes unearth such a wealth of talent is incredible.
Carmella Miller; playing Nancy, is a star in the making, showing fine acting skills to complement her amazing singing skills.
She had good people to work alongside; Lucy Roberts as Bet works hard to keep up but is a developing talent, a sweet voice and convincing enough why Oliver (Nick Page-Vigus) would fall in love with her.
Page-Vigus is a confident and competent performer but Natalie Colwill stole the scene at times as the Artful Dodger; while Fagin was played by Derek Long, a septuagenarian, who brought a wonderful, mature feel to the show. The cast of more than 40 performed in wonderful costumes on a set that even managed to provide a roof for the scene where Bill Sykes (Adrian Gleed) gets his comeuppance, and musical director Tom Durrant linked the show brilliantly.
Derek Davis: East Anglian Daily Times.
Shotley Drama Group's
OLIVER
"OLIVER (as they say in all the best reviews) was a roaring success!"
Produced by Carol Blumfield and directed by David Armes, it played to a packed house for four of its six nights, winning huge applause each time. The 40th production of Shotley Drama Group, 'Oliver!' has taken five months to rehearse with some cast members taking two roles. Once again the costumes were first class and the stage had a new look with a second level. Musical accompaniment was expertly provided by Tom Durrant on electric organ, and Flautist Katie Cox.
Among many new faces in the cast were Nick Page-Vigus as a delightful Oliver, Carmella Miller played a vibrant Nancy who sung her heart out, Natalie Colwill was a roguish and beguiling Dodger and also appearing for the first time was Derek Long as an all too believable Fagin.
The Cast of Children who appeared in the workhouse and Fagin's den had obviously worked very hard on their singing and added real charm to the piece. The 'Old Hands', too many to mention in both major and minor parts, were as usual on top form, providing the solid foundation that carried it along.
Shotley Drama Group continues to go from strength to strength, look out for their next production in February, the Pantomime 'Little Red Riding Hood'. You won't be disappointed.
Melanie Long: The Shotley Notice board