A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum

 

Our usual reminder of our show
Thanks Hugh for taking the pics!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

OUR NODA REVIEW

St IVES MUSIC AND DRAMA SOCIETY (SIMADS):

A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM

Director: Scott Andrews   Musical Director: Sarah Phelps

 

 

 

Performed at the Burgess Hall, St Ives on 14th October, 2009

 

This was quite an unusual choice for SIMADS, having quite a small cast, but this is still a very funny and tuneful show and it was nice to see it revived once again. To begin with, the presentation was excellent with a massive, well lit and very solid looking set that created exactly the right atmosphere and supported the build up of frenetic action with its variety of doors and windows. As the action progressed into pure farce this set really came into its own and was a great credit to Director (alias Set Designer and Builder!), Scott Andrews. Nothing in the plot was very serious so it gave a great opportunity to the cast to get the maximum of comedy out of every situation. The Funeral Sequence and ‘Everybody ought to have a Maid’ were particularly well done. There were some strong individual performances from Phil Leverett as Senex, Alan Fitzgerald as Hysterium and Will Waldron as Lycus and this trio worked well together in the comedy scenarios while Dave Arnold was an impressive Miles Gloriosus, appropriately dominating all of his scenes. I particularly liked the facial expressions of Norman Grantham as the much travelled Erronius while Pat Keane was a fearsome yet sympathetic Domina, especially effective in her main solo. Nicola Hatton, as the simple Philia, also displayed an attractive solo voice and she was well matched romantically by Daniel Laycock as the innocent Hero. However, the main burden of this production always falls firmly on the shoulders of Pseudolus and here, Simon Maylor was superb, handling this large and demanding part with great confidence.  The assorted and versatile Courtesans and Proteans combined to provide much of the musical support and slapstick humour and, altogether, the performance was a very enjoyable experience.

 

Michael Williamson

 

NODA Regional Representative : District 1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These were our promo pics

Pseudolus with 3 Courtesans

 

Don't mess with Domina

 

But she loves her son, Hero, dearly

 

She scares her husband, Senex

 

But they are a lovely family

 

Pseudolus is tired of slavery

 

1 of 3, or is it 30? Look out for Proteans!

 

Magnificent Warriors, but none as great as Miles!

 

Don't tell me that Toga has fallen off again?