These bold new creations are showing at The Blue Room Theatre, 53 James Street, Northbridge each evening – for two hours – commencing at 7.00. The season runs until Saturday 10^th September, with a Saturday matinée at 2.00 pm.

The first week of ‘Tilt’ had five diverse pieces; this second series has four equally as exciting offerings.

The performance making course is one of the few that trains each student in so many aspects of stagecraft. The idea of the course is to encourage lateral thinking and originality, whilst making the student accept responsibility for their decisions.

The skills cover the full gamut, from the initial draft, actor guidance, through the direction process to the final production.  As can be seen in these brilliant plays, playing safe is not an option for these students, they must push the envelope. Their training covers from classical to contemporary, from book to cinema and all in between – there are no limits.

This collection of pieces mainly demonstrates contemporary movement.

The superb lighting and sound was designed and operated by Phoebe Pilcher. This called for numerous accurate cues in fast succession. Faultless.

‘Where the Giant Fell’ was written and devised by the cast – Jennah Bannear, Laura Cameron, Amy Murray, Reilly O’Byrne-Inglis and Gala Shevtsov, and their director Frieda Lee,  (40 minutes)

Drew Krapljanov composed the incidental music.

The set comprises a boat constructed with milk crates, filled with coloured beer bottles and night-lights. Around a body lying in the corner, are dozens of miniature (5 cms high) houses, with their room lights on. Handheld torches supplied much of the lighting.

      Several years ago, Joséphine’s (Jennah Bannear) father left home. Now she has decided to find him. She was told that he was living in ‘a shit hole at the edge of the earth’. So, adapting a boat, she sailed to a beautiful tropical bay only to find that Jack, the local pub owner, had disappeared. In fact, there were no men around.

     Joséphine spoke to the broken-hearted barmaid, Jen (Laura Cameron) and discovered that another girl, Bea (Reilly O’Byrne-Inglis) is pregnant and the child’s father has gone. A strange girl, Pete (Gala Shevtsov) is also searching for her father, but being a little simple could she be mixing facts with her favourite fairy-tale?

     The only stable person in this seaside village is Abagail (Amy Murray), or is she?

What appears at first to be a modest story, gradually unfolds to show several very clever story threads. The cast build up the tension perfectly, to a disturbing climax. Very good character development. Chilling. Congrats.

‘The Disposables’ was written and devised by the cast, Adam McDowell and Sam Stopforth. I can find no credit for the wonderful Spanish stagehand. (10 minutes)

        In a pink – sorry ‘peach’ – jacket, Ben (Adam ‘Dowey’ McDowell), a suave stagehand who is a legend in his own mind, has decided to grab his chance of 10 minutes of fame between Acts, to bring quality to the evening. With stunning prizes on offer, he tries to lure the audience to join his act.

This is a very funny, well-observed look at a typical, insincere personality of the game show host. He has all of the smoothness of an echidna’s bottom.

Not to lose out, his friend Jack (Sam Stopforth), who is sweeping the stage floor, decides that he too can bring culture to the audience by relating an ode in Shakespearean style. Very clever, and when delivered with a sincere, stiff upper lip it increased the humour. Great fun. Well done.

 ‘Hunting Beauty’ was written and devised by the performer, Sarah Pantlin. (15 minutes)

The musical accompaniment was by Kevin MacLeod.

       An immaculately dressed model, Lilith (Sarah Pantlin) enters – strutting in catwalk style. She stares superciliously at the audience, before entering her dressing room and placing her makeup suitcase in front of the mirror.

      Living up to being a ‘Storm Goddess’, the meaning of her Hebrew name, Lilith describes her wonderful makeup, what it has done for her skin and what it could do for others – if they only ‘buy, buy, buy! Her brand’.

      However, she seems to gloss over the origin and testing of the products involved in the making.

Very clever script. Sarah slowly draws you under her spell, first subtly and then blatantly pushing the sales of her goods. Wonderful performance.

‘Rocketman’ was written and devised by the cast, Sean Crofton, Phoebe Sullivan and Jessica Russell. (30 minutes)

      Two women, Alex (Jessica Russell) and Jane (Phoebe Sullivan) are dressed in spacesuits; along with fellow astronaut, Lewis (Sean Crofton) they are trembling from head to toe as their rocket ship hurtles through space.

      We flash back to their initiation course, and the various physical and psychological tests they undergo before selection. Are they really the calm, even-tempered people that base control thought they were?

A script with a great deal of depth. Well presented, with convincing action and excellent effects.

These short plays clearly demonstrate the immense talent of the students and the quality of their training. A wonderful night at the theatre.

The 150-minute, energy-packed performances by these talented students can be seen at the Dolphin Theatre, in the grounds of their host, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley. The curtain rises each evening at 7.30, until Saturday 27^th August. There is one matinée on the Saturday at 2.00 pm.

In this selection of new dance works, each performance has been choreographed by a different student and performed by their peers. The idea is to make each piece unique, not simply to an established genre of dance movement. There are varying degrees of technically difficult and some have a narration.

The dance students are aided in bringing their dreams to the stage, by first year design students.

‘The Antisocial Social Club’ is quite a sad act choreographed by Nikki Tarling, with music by Dane Yates and design by Georgia Manning.

A shy, new schoolgirl looks at a group of students wondering how she can break into the clique. A group that is ever changing its favourites.

 ‘Ligne de fuite’ (in English ‘Creepage Distance’) is imaginative, choreographed by Anneliese Kirk, with music by Dane Yates and design by Eilish Campbell. The cellist was Ash Lazenby.

      Sitting in an old armchair, a young woman and her partner recall their memories in the home that is decaying around them.

 ‘20:50’ is impressive, choreographed by Sarah Sim, with music by Ash Lazenby and design by Aphra Higham.

       As a girl ‘empties’ her brain, she then regathers the sweet happenings and memories. Friendship, happiness, her partner’s love and, final in a powerful ‘lift’, the foetus of her child.

 

‘Something Lemon’ is unusual, exotic’ dance-theatre’ choreographed by Lauren Catellani, with music by Alexander Turner and design by Georgia Manning.

      A ‘lemon’ can be thought of as a loser. We see people being served lemons by the jealous people around them, not for the benefit of their health, but to maliciously drain their powers and make them losers.

‘Sloth’ is hilarious ‘dance-theatre’ choreographed by Mani Mae Gomes, with music by Jacob Morris and Jesse Bach, with design by Georgia Page.

     Half a dozen sloths shuffle around, when a group of ‘keep-fit addicts’ run past and mock their lethargy. The sport people try to inspire the physical failures of nature.

‘Bluets’ is visually spectacular, choreographed Ellen-Hope Thomson, with chanter (?) music by Rebecca Riggs-Bennett and design by Ashley King.

     A girl falls in love with the colour blue. Wearing midnight blue the dancers take us through shades of blue, blue emotions even to the coast to experience the blue ocean.

‘Synapse’ is exceptional, choreographed by Philippa Mills, with music by Dane Yates and design by Maeli Cherel.

      With UV light causing the nerves glow. We see two neurons – joined at the head, this is the synapse. As the nerves become activated, the signal rippled down their length.

‘Her Bones’ is impressive, choreographed by Mitchell Spadaro, with music by Robert Van Den Berg and design by Elise Stratton.

      I must admit that I did not get the theme, but the choreography was graceful and packed with energy. Some offerings are simply to enjoy. A beautiful piece.

‘This Is Our First Rodeo’ is exciting and remarkable, choreographed by Michelle Aitken, with music by Azariah Felton, and design by Eilish Campbell.

      With the dancers in black cowboy outfits, edged in red, we are welcomed into the rodeo – or could it be a Highland Gathering? The fiddle music was catchy, and one of the dances reminiscent of a Scottish ‘Strip the Willow’. Who are the stars of the rodeo, the cowboys or the beasts? – This routine made one think.

‘Flux’ is extraordinary, choreographed by Keshia Ollivierre, with music by Dane Yates, and design by Maeli Cherel with projection design by Jesse Cummings.

       An energetic display of dancing, showing several genres this act gave a powerful end to a brilliant production.

These phenomenal performances are not always meant to be understood. The amazing thing is that each member of the audience possibly saw a completely different, but wonderfully satisfying interpretation. Many of these prodigious presentations left the audience gasping at the versatility, strength, suppleness and clever interpretation. I have seen a few of these third-year presentations and this was one of the best.

The dancers – some of whom appeared numerous times – were:-

Alex Abbott, Michelle Aitken, Mitchell Aldridge, Joshua Arkey, Andrew Barnes, Kristen Barwick, Noah Beck, Sophia-Rose Berini, Sasha Brampton, Jordan Bretherton, Hayley Bruce, Denzel Bruhn, Jessie Camilleri-Seeber, Laura Carella, Aaron Carey-Burrows, Lauren Catellani, Jesse Clune, Romey Cresswell, Heather Crow, Briannah Davis, Corey Derrick, Alina Doyle, Khia Emslie-O’Brien, Bridget Flint, Scott Galbraith, Mani Mae Gomes, Celina Hage, Billy Halton, Hua Han, Karen Haruta, Olivia Hendry, Lilly King, Shae Larsen, Cassady Mann, Valentina Markovinovic, Morgan Martin, Esther McDonald, Philippa Mills,  Ana Music, Keshia Ollivierre, Kimberley Parkin, Hannah Phillips, Evelyn Roberts, Jack Ryan, Madisson Salan, Elena Salerno, Sonja Simonato, Georgia Smith, Mitchell Spadaro, Ryan Stone, Nikki Tarling, Ellen-Hope Thomson.

A very clever collection of performances, amazing dance routines and talented dancers. A special night out, try and catch the show.

This group of Performance Making students have been studying how best to use spaces given to them for performances, to achieve the most impressive results for the performers. They have used every square centimetre of the Bakery; the amount of work that has been put into preparing the sets is mindboggling. They have employed the outside area for a couple of scenes, but most of the work has gone into the interior, which has a large central dance floor as the Hades Nightclub. Leading off this central area are corridors of red velvet curtains, leading to the numerous rooms of Hell. Each room has its own particular secret.

     On entering the warmly lit, hellish nightclub, the King of the Underworld, Hades (Tristan Balz) is waiting with his lover, Persephone (Chloe Evangelisti). Their bodyguard, Cerberus (Haydon Wilson) and female servant, Medea (Lucy Clements) are close by. Suddenly the doors fly open and Orpheus (Jackson Used) enters looking for his only love, the beautiful blonde-haired woman, Eurydice (Zoe Hollyoak) still in her wedding dress, who was stolen from him by the Devil. Hades warns Orpheus not to meddle, before having him thrown out.

       Dressed in a tartan suit, the club’s master of ceremonies, Charon (Barney Pollock) welcomes the group and gives us warnings, including never removing our half masks.

The clubbers are divided into groups in a typical infernal way, before being led along different corridors to face the horrors of Hell.

    The three Fates, Lachesis (Talisha Bartlett), Clotho (Hayley Worsley) and Atropos (Antonia Sassine), pick off a newcomer to suffer from their trickery over a cup of tea. Poor Pandora (Mariah O’Dea), a young child locked in her room, searches for a better life. After seeing Aphrodite (Samantha Maclean) bathing and tempting the men, we move onto the depths of Hell, a dark cellar and its frightening minder, Prometheus (Timothy Wingfield).

     Past the Minotaur (Rachael Woodward), who had a feature that I had never before considered. We enter the sumptuous, golden bower of Midas (Helia Sulak) before passing on to the room of Narcissus (Elijah Melvin) where another sexual tempter was waiting.

     You meet a murderer, Heracles (Tiffany Blight), then on to an operating theatre that made the surgeons of the Middle Ages look advanced. A nurse (Nicole Harvey) is helping the surgeon, Caucasian Eagle (Melissa Ettler) dissect a man, Phineas (Timothy Green). Past the beautiful Helen (Indiana Coole) doing her exercises, to the temptations of life, where a King is suffering.

On first entering the ‘theatre’, one is immediately aware of the professionalism and huge amount of work that has gone into the production. No one was allowed to speak; even the ushers skilfully guided the groups through the corridors of Hell with slick precision (stage managed by Megan van der Weide).

With an audience of around a 100, the direction had to be precise. The timing for each little cameo had to be accurate within seconds. Director, Suzie miller and her assistants, Andrew Lewis and Frances Barbe, have taken the cast well outside their comfort zones and given us an outstanding piece of theatre.

The lighting rig was massive (Ashlee Poole) and demands on the sound designers (Christian Peterson, Lewis Spragg) complex. The whole system seemed to be controlled from a central point, which must have made the installer and operator’s task much more difficult.

The variety in the genres was enormous, each scene being very different. Ruth Mongey’s sets and costumes on such a big production could have been half-hearted, but instead, even the finest points seemed to have been considered. True quality.

This is a remarkably good production, and it is so reassuring to know that the future of theatrical spectacles will be in the hands of such talent.

This laugh-a-minute play is a WAAPA, third year acting students’ production. The 100-minute performance is showing nightly at 7.30 in the Roundhouse Theatre, Edith Cowan University, 2 Bradford Street, Mount Lawley until the 19^th June.

The scene is an untidy student bedsit. The tiled floor rises up the back wall, where it peels open to show a small amount of sky and the bedroom alcove beyond. There is an old settee, a basic table and two chairs and in the corner an old fridge and top loading washing machine. All the furniture has castors on to allow them to move freely around the room. (Set designer Sarah Duyvestyn, assisted by Tyler Hill and Nicola Stratman)

        It is Saturday morning, Liam (Liam Maguire) is woken from his slumbers by Alfie (Alexander Frank) who asks what he is going to do today, the reply being ‘F*** all’. It becomes clear that Alfie is in fact Liam’s alter ego, or interlocutor, telling him what to do and commenting on Liam’s every banal thought. Liam’s lazy day becomes very busy as his brain runs wild with daydreams, intimate memories from the past, all blended with his present routine and a brief insight of what may happen in the future.

       As he staggers around in his underwear, he sees his whole squalid existence, in pandemonium, coming to life. Simple objects in the room set him off on another tangent of thoughts and emotions. Although the whole situation seems bizarre, very soon you find yourself being dragged into his world, recognising situations you too may have experienced as a youth, and that he is seeing from another angle now.

       Liam watches TV and in his hazy drab mind, lives out the dramatic news from the Middle East and his favourite mystery series. When he is sorting out his house bills, we find ourselves whisked into an inappropriate, totally salacious song and dance routine, which is guaranteed to make even the most prudish person laugh aloud.

      The telephone rings, and when it is yet another telephone company’s salesperson, your sympathies are immediately with Liam. However, minutes later you will either feel against him or embarrassed for him. Liam’s only real friend is Gallows (Adam Sollis) his amazing, larger-than-life, brusque cat. Often his mother (Alexis Lane) or father (Ben Kindon) will berate him – popping up in unusual places and at inconvenient times – trying hard to swing his attitude around to their pedantic straight and narrow lifestyle.

      Liam’s love life is complicated, he loves young, blonde Laura (Harriet Davies) but it is the sophisticated, dark Kirsty (Kirsty Marillier) with whom his parents really want to see him to settle. As he thinks of his girlfriends, we are treated to his filthiest fantasies and his desires take flight.

      This show demonstrates that even when one is poverty stricken and alone, the most isolated student can still have a great day. An experience, that because it is in his head, is outside the control of his relations and authorities.

The script was extremely demanding of the actors, taking them well outside their normal comfort zones; however, under the skilled guidance of director Anthony Skuse, the show moved along at a tremendous rate. The energy shown by the cast, who were all outstanding in their teamwork, was magnificent. They must have had a ball at rehearsals because the whole effect was so slick.

Harriet Davies had the most beautiful operatic voice as she sang to her lover, and the dance routine arranged by Alexandra Lane, Teressa Izzard and the director was most impressive.

Devon Lovelady’s lighting design (operated by Cameron Routley) was clever. The scenes changed rapidly from a war zone to stormy weather, and intimate scenes. Along with Joel Bickford’s sound design (operator Kyle Long), the overall effect was one of excitement and fun. Hannah Matternick-Jones’ costumes covered a huge range from a spectacular musical number to the tatty moggy, Gallows.

The stage manager’s assistants were Sarah Roberts and Stephanie Tchorzewski, in unison with the timbre of the play brought a smile as they appeared in navy boiler suits, unbuttoned to the waist, with scarlet half-cup bras peeping through. A clever idea as the standard black SM outfits would have clashed with the action and mood of the play. A mention must be given to the production manager, Emma Barbaro and stage managers Isabella Strada and Kaz Kadarmia who must have an outlandish cleaning job at the end of every show. But the mess was worth it.

This was an unusual show from beginning to end, unrestrained, uncouth perhaps, but completely enjoyable. The cast can be most proud of such a unique production that will remain in their minds forever.

Just a couple of these extraordinary performances left, certainly not to be missed. Smile and gasp in amazement days later.

The 140 characters in the script have now been reduced to around 80 without affecting the power and gist of this two and a half hours long, enthralling, powerful play. It is comprised of rousing vignettes representing 250 years on the beaches around Australia.

‘Beach’ is being performed by the Second Year Music Theatre students, in the Enright Studio at WAAPA, Bradford Street, Mount Lawley each evening at 7.30 until Thursday 20^th March.

The three-tiered seating is in an L shape, the stage is the ground level floor. The walls and floor are all black. Centre stage is a mound of sand, and along the back wall is a wooden jetty.

      A young angler in oilskins (Alex Thompson) is reeling in a large fish. Suddenly a pod of dolphins (the whole cast in matching black bathing costumes – superb opening scene) swims past. Des, the local tour guide (Morgan Palmer) arrives and hands out flyers for his trips.

     We find ourselves back in the 1800s, watching Lieutenant Henry (Joe Meldrum) meeting an Aboriginal boy who is fishing with a spear. They compare catches.

     Lying on the beach sunbathing in a skimpy bikini is Karen (Jess Phillippi), she is thinking of her beloved surfing boyfriend, Todd (Jacob Dibb). The local parson (Joel Granger) is preaching and perving as he walks along the jetty. Suddenly Karen’s miserable mother (Tanèle Storm Graham), an embarrassment to Karen and other beachgoers, appears on the scene and drags her away.

    Magda (Rosabelle Elliott) and her husband Karl (Alex Thompson) have just arrived from Israel, optimistically in search of a new life and are experiencing their first trip to the beach. However, for refugee Tariz Al-Whalabi (Daniel Ridolfi) and his sister, Aliwah Fakhouli (Heather Manley) meeting the power mad beach inspector (Taryn Ryan) is going to be an experience they would rather not have.

     An Irish stranger (Matthew Hyde) is watching a little girl playing with her bucket and spade. On the pier a council official (Callum Sandercock) introduces the Lady Mayor (Matilda Moran) who has arrived on Australia Day to hand out citizenship certificates to the new Aussies. Nearby a young Greek girl, Toula (Tayla Jarrett) is being ripped off by the local scum.

     There is a flashback 100 years, when we find Mr Hodgson (Chris Wilcox) taking Miss Peacock (Megan Kozak) in her Sunday best, for a walk along the deserted beach. Mr Hodgson is soon treated to a tour of the bush by his new love.

     Forward to 1967 when we find Harold Holt (Harrison Prouse) in the arms of his secretary, Dulcie (Baylie Carson) just before he goes for his fatal swim. When the Head Lifesaver (Kate Thomas) is called, she is so obsessed with red tape that rescuing a drowning swimmer is the least of her worries.

 A huge range of tales have been served as tasty morsels, some are light and pleasant, others have a bitter taste to them, but all of life is there on the beach. Some of the tales are tragic others hilarious, but the cast – who all had to play several characters each – gave the audience a wonderful night of theatre. The performers had 150 minutes of non-stop, hard work as they flawlessly changed costumes, accents, moods and eras.

One tends to think of the beach as an easy going, relaxing fun place, but occasionally it is a source of sadness. There was a huge demand on the cast’s emotional skill, with misfortune and tragedy around every corner, mingled with irreverent fun. The history depicted the many struggles that the beach had for the first pioneers. It really made the audience wonder, with so many dark episodes of anguish, if Australia should really be as proud of itself as it is.

The voice coach was senior lecturer, Julia Moody, who last year was nominated for a prestigious Equity Best Actress award. Accents are difficult enough to handle when a whole play is in one accent, but when the actor has to change back and forth this can be beyond even the most experienced actors. For this production, Julia has trained this cast to cope with Strine, Iraqi, Arab, Asian variations, Israeli, Greek and Scots – just a few of the accents in this clever show, every brogue was most acceptable and at no stage was the dialogue jarring.

Lighting designer, Max Wilkie, succeeded in giving warmth to the happy scenes and a cool threatening effect to the war scenes. Along with head electrician Brayden Daniels, Emma Brown and Joshua Punshon and operator Luke Ioppolo the lighting effects were outstanding.

Sound designer Ben Henry filled the air with 100 decibels of gun warfare, coming down to the most subtle of sound effects. Well operated by Kyle Long, crewed by Lewis Spragg and Cameron Murphy.

With the hundred costumes and unusual props, Production Manager Christabel Ataliah, and the stage team, managed by Kennah Parker, assisted by Eloise Hall and Sarah Oldham still ensured that the fast pace and emotion was retained.

The original, understated, melodic music was composed by Matthew Hyde, scored and performed enchantingly by ‘The Man from Another Place’.

This is the cast’s first major production. Being at the beginning of the students’ second year, one would expect to see them still feeling their way; however, in this magnificent play under the guidance of their Equity award winning director, Michael McCall, the actors all gave good, solid performances. It could have been a very worthy, third year production. McCall always manages to find the many innuendos and hidden messages that the average director would miss, and then bring them vividly to life. When a cast has such excellent rapport and chemistry, it inevitably indicates their appreciation of the director.

A fascinating storyline that held the interest throughout. This second year took on a difficult script and won hands down. Extra special. Be proud, you were excellent.

This show started life in 1967 but closed quite quickly. After thirteen new songs and the nudity scene were added, the show reopened on Broadway. It got a Grammy in 1969, but it was not until 2009 that it won its only Tony as ‘Best Musical Revival’.

In the late 60s, the show opened around the world, with the opening at the Shaftesbury Theatre in London being delayed until the abolition of censorship in September 1968. The cast were not happy about the nude scene and so they were given the option to choose – on the night – whether to disrobe. Many of this cast later became household names, such as Paul Nicholas, Elaine Paige, Marsha Hunt, Floella Benjamin and Tim Curry.

The set (designer Hannah Metternick-Jones) is a grassy park with children’s climbing frames, a trampoline and a ‘teapot’ roundabout. The ground is littered with golden leaves. The back wall is a dark green gauze cyc. Behind which is the band.

        On a grassy slope in a children’s New York playground, it is autumn 1968 and flower power, along with the sexual revolution, is going strong. Slowly, counterculture hippies, part of ‘the Tribe’ known as ‘The Age of Aquarius’, start to gather. They take up lotus positions on the ground amongst the fallen leaves.

      A cheeky character, Berger (Daniel Berini), interacts with the audience, giving a member his trousers to hold. He spends the rest of the show in his underpants jesting with his African American friend, Hud (Lyndon Watts). Jeanie (Eloise Cassidy), a pregnant blonde, in a long flowing purple dress, stands in a moonbeam and sings ‘The dawning of the Age of Aquarius’. Jeanie is madly in love with Claude (Du Toit Bredenkamp), a young man who claims he comes from Manchester in England, when in fact he comes from the grubby area known as Flushing.

       Claude’s distraught mother (Ashleigh Rubennach) and proud father (Nick Eynaud) hand him his call up papers. His friend’s wonder whose numbers will be chosen next. For fun, Sheila (Sophie Stokes) puts on a yellow T-shirt, but worried about being next for Call Up, Berger tears it off and hits her. She then sings ‘Easy to be Hard’.

       Woof, the wild one of the bunch (Stephen Madsen), decides that they should all go out and celebrate with as many sexual positions and drugs as they can find. Attired in his kilt, Angus (William Groucutt) stands aloft and sings to the fornicating group in a slow 20s style.

The first Act ends with a most beautiful rendition of ‘Frank Mills’ by Crissie (Shannen Chin-Quan).

 

       The second Act commenced with the Tribe chanting ‘Hare Krishna’ before settling on the ground to take their hallucinogenic drugs. A couple of tourists, Hubert (Ben Adams) and his overbearing ‘wife’, Margaret Mead (Chloe Wilson) entered, thrilled to be part of the commune. As the Tribe enjoyed life to the extreme, we see poor Claude petrified, fighting in South East Asia.

       The stage darkens and a magnificent audio-visual design (Josh Walther) of the horrors of war over the centuries is depicted on the backcloth. The cast portrays all the raping and gruesome atrocities still taking place in America. As the action quietens down, the cast – now nude – are bathed in blood red light (lighting design Ashlee Blakers). They drift towards the front of the stage. Their nudity is minor, but the horror of the futile war and the outrages are now staring us in the face. This scene was not a few hippies stripping off, but they are going nude to prove that the average person objects more to their nudity than the unspeakable war being raged in Viet Nam.

      This magnificent show ended with the uplifting ‘Let the sunshine’ where the cast came into the audience, gave out paper water lilies and encouraged people to join in the dancing and singing.

Other members of the cast included Max Bimbi, Suzie Melloy, Rebecca Hetherington, Patrick Whitbread, Jack Van Staveren, Sophie Cheeseman, Miranda MacPherson and Jessica Voivenel. I must stress that these cast members were not mere chorus line actors, there was no chorus line; everyone played major integral parts and this wonderful team worked themselves into the ground. The booth singers, including Katherine Schmidli, Stephanie Wall, Hayden Baum, Nathan Stark, Stephanie Caccamo, and Jason Arrow supplemented the main cast and helped give that extra oomph to the big numbers.

The superb musical director, David King (on keyboard), led his team of Aaron Logan and Daniel Harrison on percussion, trumpets Laura Halligan and Jack Keady, guitars Jarrad van Dort and Joe Powell, and on woodwind, Max Koenig. The musical instruments were well chosen to give the sound of the day. The music itself had a vibrancy, plenty of drive when required and yet never overpowered the singers (sound Nick McKenzie, James Langlands).

The costume design by Georgia Metternick-Jones completely captured the era. With flowers in the hair, and all of the bright clothes of the day. The crew has another couple of dozen people listed, all of whom have done their hardest to bring the authentic feel to this glorious show.

When jokingly asked if the show was to be called ‘Brazilian’ instead of ‘Hair’, the director – who was hardly a glint in her parent’s eye when all of this took place – is said to have told the cast that not a razor was to be used anywhere until after the last performance. Good to see the natural look again.

I saw the original production in London 45 years ago; it came at a time when the most exciting musical was ‘Sound of Music’, so it truly was ground-breaking. I wondered whether in this day of nudity everywhere and loud music in numerous venues in town whether the show would look aged. As soon as the first number belted out, I knew this show was on a winner. The singers had pure voices, no nasal enunciation; every word could be clearly understood. Even on the liveliest number, with the performers leaping around every note was perfect and no gasping for air after an energetic workout. With superb, memorable songs like ‘Good Morning Sunshine’, this show just glowed. It was vibrant and exciting.

In the final scene of the London show, the Tribe gathered in a circle and stripped off, they were bathed in beautiful colours and patterns of flowers; unlike Tanya Mitford, this show’s amazing director, their director had totally missed the point – it is an anti-war spectacular.

The choreography, also arranged and directed by Tanya Mitford, was inventive, exciting and filled with humour. The whole cast were given different situations and things to do, gone was the boring line-up of hoofers.

This presentation was far superior to the original acclaimed London show. An absolute triumph. Many congratulations to all concerned for their courage and skills, and to Tanya Mitford for having the insight and comprehension to present the show accurately.