There’s a lot not to like about the re-writing of historical works, especially when the original is an acclaimed play written by someone as famous as The Bard himself. Applying modern sensibilities and cultural practices to fictitious events that are set hundreds of years ago is a nonsensical exercise that some may say offends both the original work and the intelligence of those watching it.
But enough of that philosophical stuff. Let’s turn our mind to the absolutely frenetic and dazzlingly spectacular production of “& Juliet”, wonderfully presented by the Northern Light Theatre Company.
The show’s premise is that of some pretty large “what ifs” that we won’t reveal so as to avoid the old “spoiler alert” chestnut. The scene is set with a wonderful collection of fit, talented and mind-bogglingly energetic young people warming up as part of a “pre-show” of sorts. It soon becomes apparent that the warm-up was very much required. The tight, talented band led by Musical Director Billy St John starts up, allowing the extraordinary choreography to take hold and rush over the audience like an unstoppable freight train. The collective choreographic experience of Kerreane Sarti and Shenayde Patterson is pleasantly obvious, and is delivered by the wonderful cast looking every bit like a closely trained group that have spent significant time together learning each other’s foibles.
Yes, the now legendary NLTC cast bonding camp has paid off in spades.
This show was incredibly well cast, giving Director Ceri Hutton some excellent talent to work with. The titular character Juliet was played by Londyn Foreman. Londyn has racked up her performing chops in a significant amount of Youth Theatre, and her impressive voice had large numbers of the audience visibly mouthing “wow” at each other from her very first belt. “William” and and his long-suffering wife “Anne” are played superbly by Robbie Breugelmans and Bec Pynor respectively. Both are thoroughly entertaining in their parry-and-thrust dialogue, and like everyone else in the cast moved and sang with a natural flair. They really owned the stage with a wonderfully entertaining presence that defined the entire performance. Daniel Hamilton’s amusing version of “Romeo” was delivered with well drilled sleaze, while Robyn Brookes and Michelle Davey delighted with some excellent cameos they occasionally pulled out of their ensemble roles. Michelle’s comedic timing and delivery was particularly amusing. Bailey Edwards was wonderful as the archetypal milk-sop-turned-good Francois, demonstrating yet again his all-round quality as a performer.
There were a number of stand-outs from the cast that really stamped their mark on this show. Jake Hipkiss showed us beyond any doubt that he is a genuine “triple-threat”. The audience fell in love with his emotionally endearing “May”, with Jake using his lovely character to explore some challenging social issues.
Adorned by an impressive cod-piece and an outrageous French accent, Deon Martino-Williams made the larger-than-life role of “Lance” his own. Deon stepped up to fill in for Sam Mannix who had to regrettably pull out of the role through recent injury. Rumour has it Deon, a TASA Award winning actor, had less than a week to prepare for the role – no-one would have guessed. We wish Sam a speedy recovery and look forward to his return later in the season to a role he would also no doubt “own”. Co-choreographer Shenayde Patterson also managed to step-up, getting onstage as “dance captain” for this opening night performance.
Standing out amongst this stellar cast of award winning principal actors and energetic, well drilled ensemble was Sarah Hamilton, giving us an endearingly lovable and entertaining “Angelique”. Her reunification with Lance’s cod-piece after some decades was as funny as it was charming. This role was made for her, and she handled it with comedic timing that would be quite at home on Broadway or The West End. Her flawless delivery of her character was wonderful to watch.
There were the usual first night glitches such as sound mixing and one particularly confronting bit of feedback that stood out almost as much as Deon’s cod-piece. At times some dialogue couldn’t be heard over the plentiful applause which cast members could have managed by waiting just a few more seconds before starting their lines. And yes, there are the philosophical matters pertaining to the revisionist re-writing of history to suit modern-day societal mores. Yet, all that put aside for a Musical Theatre Degree tutorial session, Northern Light Theatre Company’s production of “& Juliet” was an impressively entertaining showcase of wonderful costuming, tireless delivery of excellent choreography by a well drilled and energetic cast and first class acting by what was a “who’s who” of Adelaide Theatre. It was hilarious and quite frankly, seriously funny. Director Ceri Hutton has delivered a show commensurate with NLTC’s now very impressive reputation. This one should not be missed!
