Little Shop of Horrors

C too    31 July-11 August, 13-25 @ 20.00    FirstMinute Productions

It’s hard to know quite how to respond to this piece.  If this is a young performing arts BTEC course performance, then well done to the company for making bold, sustained choices and for attempting something that – for all its surface silliness – is a technically very demanding piece.  On the singing front, the voices are young and not ready for this kind of challenge and at least half the company very wisely choose to keep vocal choices very low-key.

In terms of acting, even a performing arts BTEC company should keep in mind that big characters require an even greater dimension of honest observation and are always impoverished by imitation or ungrounded ‘theatrics’ – a problem with a few of the performers.  They might take a lesson from the young man playing Audrey II, who manages to inhabit the big dimensions he brings to a role so often vulnerable to hammy overplay. 

Overall the production simply feels like a night out at the local high school and in those terms it’s credible enough.  One comes away with admiration for the overall durability of the piece, which seems to be able to please an audience in both amateur and professional guises.