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| SWEET JESUS! – WHAT A SHOW! | |
Jesus Christ Superstar |
[print] |
What was That? Production |
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Morlan Centre Aberystwyth |
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May 28, 2008 |
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I have to begin this with the declaration that I know Al Mehdizadeh and many of the students who were in this production. People who know me are aware that I ‘speak as I find’ and I found this to be a fabulous production with very few faults.In fact the few criticisms I have are more to do with the space - there is no rake in Morlan and this is perhaps something the venue should invest in. It is rather hot in there sometimes but not unbearably so. There were times when the very talented band were louder than the singers and on reflection perhaps the stage could have been moved forward and the band placed behind the set. However, the company can’t help the space, they don’t have their own rake, they can’t do anything about the temperature in the space and they had to use do their best with the technology to hand. I have heard on the grapevine and read the other responses to the show and would like to put forward my reading of it and in some ways respond to what has been previously suggested. I didn’t know Jesus Christ Superstar at all and my 16 year old heathen of a son didn’t even know who Judas was but he still understood the story, believed in the characters and we both absolutely loved it. I have heard some suggestions that Judas shouldn’t have been a woman – as far as I am aware there wasn’t a suitable man to play the role and Becky Renton gave a very strong representation of the character really taking the audience with her and singing with such strength and, most importantly, performing the songs (something which is often missing in musical theatre) so for my money it didn’t matter that Judas was a played by woman. The duet ‘I don’t know how to love him’ between her and the very talented Delyth Owen was really moving – they knew what they were singing and why and the audience were taken with them. Jesus, played by Dafydd Hall Williams was beautiful both to watch and listen to. He portrayed a complex character who one believed could enable Mary Magdalene to completely change her life around. She might have been a prostitute before knowing JC but that doesn’t mean she was a ‘bad’ person and we must remember the given circumstances for the character - she was with the Son of God who, if the stories are true (?) was a pretty powerful person so perhaps a ‘hard bitten whore’ could become sweet if not a ‘born again innocent’. Josh Dowen as Herod was perfect light relief, Adam Lacey was strong and scary (!) as Pilate, the choreography was superb and the cast worked together as a strong company - the ensemble were spot on. I saw this on the Saturday night; it was the third performance of the day and thanks to great professionalism from the company and clearly mature work from the vocal coach Craig Miller they got through the show with very few problems. The set and costume design was simple and very effective – again they had to work with the space they were in but this was a clean design and worked really well. I don’t do standing at the end of a show – unless that is to escape to the bar if it has been a particularly trying evening - and I don’t do crying but on this occasion I was one of the first to my feet clapping madly and fighting back tears of pleasure and pride. Al Mehdizadeh is an early career director and I believe a great one who I expect to see more of in the future. What makes a great director is someone who knows the play, understands what it is to be an actor, who motivates, enthuses and supports the whole team with honesty and passion. This enables the company to see and share in the creative vision and makes them want to succeed. They should be mighty proud of that show and the department should be mighty proud of the students it produces – BRAVO! |
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| Caz Tricks | |
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