LOUISE LLYOD

MY REVIEW

Written by Rachel Sheinkin.

Music and lyrics by William Finn.

Director and choreographer – Adam Boland.

The show is based on a fictional spelling bee in Putnam County, New York where six kids compete in the battle of their lives. They compete against each other as well as members of the audience. Three adults help run the bee: a former spelling bee winner, a mildly insane Vice Principal and a comfort counsellor completing his community service. The show guides you through the spelling bee whilst giving the occasional flashback to show past happenings or to example what the children’s lives are like at home. 

     

 Staged in The Broadway Studio Theatre in Catford, London, the entire production had an amazingly relevant intimate feel throughout. The set is very much similar to that of an actual spelling bee and having two of the principles, Rona and principle Panch, seated at the front of the audience facing the stage adds to the realism of the performance.

     All of the roles were played by adults and for the characters Rona Lisa Peretti and Vice Principle Douglas Panch this obviously worked as the characters are adults. The six main spellers are all children so having these characters played by adults may be seen as a risk, but for me it worked brilliantly. I do think the quality of the actors had a huge impact on the success of this decision as I’m sure it could have just as easily been a disaster if the characters weren’t portrayed well and this in turn would ruin the reality of the show for the audience, so I give a big round of applause to those actors. From the start Caroline Rodgers (Rona) gave off a warm, ditsy but stern persona. The audience knew from the start that she was the lady in charge but as the show goes on we come to realise she’s a huge softy who just loves what she does. Brian McCann (Douglas Panch) gives off a secretive persona from the start. You don’t really know what the deal is with him or what the “incident” he refers to is until the second half when he loses his temper at one of the spellers showing an uncontrolled and dark side to him.

Both of these characters, although seen as maybe the easiest to play, show a range of dynamics making the characters intriguing and never boring to watch. Mitch Mahoney played by James Doughty starts on stage welcoming the audience in, perfectly in character. Throughout the show, and the different roles he plays Doughty is one of the most memorable actors. The extra characters (Olive’s mum and dad, Schwarzy’s two dads, Coneybear’s family and Jesus) are all played by the same actors just with an extra piece of costume to make them look slightly different. I don’t think this works greatly as it takes away from the reality of the performance.

    A special mention to Will Jennings (William Barfee) who is by far the most talented actor in the group. Giving off a Jim Carrey-like personality, Jennings plays the role to perfection. He is undoubtedly my favourite character thanks to the work of Will Jennings.

The best aspect of the show is that the director decided to cast people who can play instruments as the characters. This was a brilliant decision and worked very well in the space they had as it would have been very tight to fit a band in the studio too. It was an unexpected perk to the show which just added a hint of genius to the performance.

   The only noticeable mishap of the performance was during one of Olive’s songs and she stepped up onto the podium and fell. She carried it off well, stayed in character and to some it may have seemed deliberate, so it didn’t ruin the performance in any way at all.

All in all the performance was very memorable and enjoyable. I walked away quoting jokes from the characters and spoke for hours about all my favourite parts. I give huge congratulations to the cast, they should be very proud of themselves. A show I would 100% watches again.