Madness turns Armstrong Hall into a House of Fun (From Gazette Series)

Review: Our House. NYTC, Armstrong Hall, Thornbury

11:04am Wednesday 20th April 2011 in Leisure By Jayne Bennett

I WENT to the Armstrong Hall, Thornbury, with an open mind last night - I was expecting Madness, but what I got was a powerful performance from what is obviously a very talented and dedicated group of young actors.

‘Our House’ is based on the music of Madness, but is also a heart-rending tale of one boy - Joe - and his decision to take the right or wrong path in life at the age of 16. The musical explores Joe’s parallel lives and, although the plot is quite confusing at first, the consequences of Joe’s actions and their effect on others soon become clear, especially as the youngsters relaxed into their roles.

The performance starts with a bang - quite literally - as indoor fireworks mark the start of what turns out to be an explosive performance, filled with special effects, extraordinary props and lighting. And when the entire cast came onto the stage for the opening number in Casey Street, the entire hall was lit up with joy and exuberance.

True, there were some gremlins in the sound system to start with, but these problems were soon sorted.

Worthy of special note was the dancing, which was brilliant. Without exception.

Choreography for so many numbers, with such a huge cast, must have been something of a Herculean task but the kids barely put a foot wrong - the female dancers’ synchronicity was amazing.

There were too many outstanding performances last night to mention them all by name, but certainly worthy of a special mention were Matthew Poad, who, in his role as dad , was as close to Suggs in both vocals and mannerisms as you could ever expect, and Hannah MacLeod, who virtually never left the stage and held us spellbound with her singing.

Of course I must also give credit to the two Joes, Charlie Masters and Anthony Pengelly, Rosanna Barber (mum), Adam Dolan (Lewis) and Timothy Boothman (Emmo), whose characters knitted together seamlessly to form the rather dysfunctional Casey family.

Cast members Matthew Whittleton (as Reecey - a decidedly nasty piece of work!), Natalie Collins (Angie), Ella Manley (Billie), Gareth Ivett (Harold Pressman) and Joshua Stanton-Davies (Callum) also all deserve praise for bringing extra dimension to what is a very complicated show for such a young cast to pull off.

It is clear that a great many people behind the scenes have worked extremely hard to make this production such a spectacle. Small touches - such as the lighting that puts Good Joe behind bars - give a professional touch to a show which is in no way short of other, more spectacular props (whose idea was it to bring a car on stage?) .

This is a very high calibre performance and director Lyn Bedford deserves high praise indeed.

Our House is on at the Armstrong Hall, Thornbury, until April 23 (7.30pm start).