Arabian Nights/In the shadow of the Cross/Cabaret/Salome

 
Young cast weave tales of Arabia in clever setting
 
Shining Lights - Arabian Nights, New Greenham Arts Centre
 
This was not only youth theatre at its best but quality ensemble playing rarely seen on the professional stage. This is not to say the production was faultless.
 
Director Pete Watt draws on a wide range of talents from the utterly compelling to the barely adequate. Mostly the casting is clever and effective but occasionally weaker cast members were allowed to drag the performance down.
 
However, cleverness of setting, a child's nursery filled with toys, and the costumes, a hybrid mix of nightgowns with a hint of the east, allowed the cast to really work together to weave these Arabian tales.

Special mention must be made must be made of Alec Hopkins who player the Vizier, as well as a multitude of other characters. His strong vocal delivery, excellent timing and subtle characterizations often threatened to upstage the others and unsettle the ensemble feel - it is a tribute to him and his director that this never happened.
 
Holly Sainsbury gave us some delightful comic characters, particularly as the snobbish sister-in-law of Ali Baba, while Jade Buller and Lana Howard had exactly the right combination of gravitas and childish innocence to carry off the different parts of Dinarazard and Shaharazad respectively.
 
Neil Edlin was a commanding King Sharayar but I felt that he needed to develop a wider vocal range if he is to create more variety in his characters.Tom Harlland and Shenelle Metha both demonstrated a clear understanding of ensemble playing, creating a variety of delightful characters.
 
The end of the first act saw an hilarious coup de théâtre when the story of Sinbad the Sailor (breathtakingly delivered by Alec Hopkins) was acted out as a puppet show using various items found in the nursery - action men, a child's teapot, and Ed the Duck as an evil Rook.

Pete Watt has clearly worked hard at developing these youngsters' talents and self-belief but his own talent as director should not be undervalued - the clarity of story telling and delicate touches of humour throughout made this a first rate family show. This was Shining Lights first Christmas show; I will be booking early for next year's and taking the entire family. I suggest you do the same.

JAMES BIRKETT Newbury Weekly News
 
Power in the passion
 
Shining Lights Theatre Company: In the Shadow of the Cross, at St Nicolas' Church, Newbury, on Wednesday, April 7.
 
As the rector of St Nicolas' Church told us before the play started, the events of the first Easter have become so familiar to most of us that we hardly need to be reminded of them. However, each time we do take the time to reflect, and if this time is enhanced by some excellent theatre, the experience can be very powerful.
 
Watching this group of young actors re-telling the story, in their own everyday clothes, was very moving. The understated performances were full of sincerity and commitment, and the general lack of histrionics made the occasional outbursts from some characters even more telling.
The nature of the script meant that there wasn't much opportunity to develop relationships between characters, although it did give some of the actors the opportunity to play different parts, which they did well.
 
Telling the story from the very beginning, from before creation, with the rebellious Satan being expelled from heaven, gave a wonderful opportunity for sustained performances from Holly Sainsbury, as a gently persuasive and not unlikeable Satan (which is the whole point - if it was easy to resist people would, wouldn't they?) and Christopher Scott who was great as Archangel Michael, strong, focused, and uncompromisingly loyal.
 
The role of Jesus must be a challenge for any actor, but Peter Hartley-Kane took it in his stride, giving us a portrayal full of sincerity, emphasising the amazing truth that to his friends and followers Jesus was just an ordinary man, but one with an extraordinary edge.
 
The Last Supper, one of the few longer sections, was beautifully played by the ensemble, with a tangible sense of the realisation amongst the disciples of the divine nature of Jesus.
The intensity grew through Judas's betrayal, Jesus praying while his disciples slept, and the arrest, building up to a visually impressive climax with the whipping and the crucifixion, lit by torches and narrated with lines from the Gospels, and the cold, horrific facts of how crucifixion killed its victims.
Director Pete Watt inspired his actors to achieve something remarkable in this production. It was a privilege to be in the audience.
 
LESLEY MCEWEN Newbury Weekly News
 

Sense of ensemble shines through

Shining Lights' Cabaret, at New Greenham Arts, from Thursday, June 12 to Saturday, June 14.

Peter Schaffer has complimented Shining Lights for being daring. They were certainly daring to take on Cabaret, and in many ways it paid off. It was cleverly staged, with many of the audience playing the cabaret patrons.

Once again, artistic director Pete Watt set a standard which many adult theatre groups would do well to emulate, with his chorus performers totally committed throughout the show.

The four male leads were excellent, both singing and acting, although I worried about the long-term effect of James Elliott's exaggerated vibrato on his voice! His cynical, seedy Emcee commented slyly on events, and Carl Stallwood was a worryingly sympathetic Ernst Ludwig, the manipulative young Nazi.

Neil Edlin captured the kindly nature of the old Jew Schultz in a very well-observed portrayal, and Peter Hartley-Kane was brilliant as Cliff, the idealistic American writer, and totally believable.

Unfortunately the female leads lacked the boys' insight and stage presence. Abi Preston's Sally Bowles would not have been the main attraction at any nightclub, let alone the sleazy, exciting Kit Kat Klub. It was difficult to believe in her character because the actress didn't seem to believe hi it either, lacking commitment and passion as she delivered her lines.

I kept being reminded that this was, after all, a youth theatre group, and here we come back to the choice of Cabaret. This is a very grown-up musical, which needs to be completely decadent if it is to succeed completely. The chorus girls here were very pretty and flirty, but too innocent and not world-weary enough. Nevertheless, for their first musical they did it well, with good singing and movement and a good sense of ensemble.

LESLEY MCEWEN Newbury Weekly News

Trial by dialogue

'SALOME', performed by Shining Lights at New Greenham Arts, on Friday, January 24, and Saturday, January 25.

Oscar Wilde's 'Salome' is notoriously difficult to bring off successfully. Although defined as a play, like Ibsen's 'Peer Gynt' it is written as a poetic dialogue. In it, Wilde uses a heightened style of language that intentionally avoids anything approaching natural speech and also pays little heed to any staging conventions. In other words, he was experimenting. He even wrote it in French and left it to Lord Alfred Douglas to translate.

In this production by Shining Lights, director Pete Watt wisely adopted a stylised approach. All the characters were on stage throughout; when not actually required they emphasised the decadence of the court by sitting at tables slowly and unobtrusively miming eating and drinking. A combination of formal modern costume and distressed make-up further enhanced the air of decay.

Unfortunately there seemed to be no overall decision made on how to deal with artificiality of the script. A range of techniques was used, some more successful than others. It was enterprising of a youth group to take on a challenge like this but they needed a firm directorial hand to guide delivery and achieve cohesion.

Most of the smaller characters delivered their lines in a detached, unemotional, way that generally worked. The two guards (Jade Buller and Caroline Gibson), the Cappodocian (Daniel Sherratt) and especially the Syrian Captain (Holly Sainsbury) used this style to particular effect. In contrast, Salome (Sophie Hicklin) and Herodias (Beccy Chaplin) were much more naturalistic and this was a mistake. Granted, they have more emotional demands made on them, but amid the dreamlike atmosphere being conjured their interpretation jarred. Salome's seduction of Iokannan and, even more, her later interaction with his severed head, needed to be much more erotic and mesmerising, while Herodias lost regal dignity.

At the other extreme, the most stylistic interpretation of all came from Herod (Joe Thorpe) and as a result he commanded the stage. Using enhanced diction without losing any nuance of meaning and underpinning this with a precise manner of movement he had the necessary confidence and élan to overplay by exactly the right amount for a winning performance.

ROBERT BAKER-GLENN Newbury Weekly News