We have received some great reviews for our shows.
See for yourself.
NODA
Society Name: Birmingham Youth Theatre
District: District Nine
Title of Production: Disco Inferno
Production Reviewed by: Paul Douglass
Date of Review: 24th July 2021
Venue Name: The Crescent Theatre
Venue Town / City: Birmingham
Producer / Director: Mark Shaun Walsh
Musical Director: Chris Corcoran
Choreographer: Joe Logan
Show Report:
It’s been eighteen months in the making, what with Covid and lockdowns, but Birmingham Youth Theatre bounced back with this, not only first class production, but the first amateur production in Birmingham for quite some time.
Disco Inferno, as the name suggests, is a fast moving production full of the music of the 70’s which everyone knows and gets the audience singing and clapping along, and Birmingham Youth Theatre did it proud.
Charlie Bland played Jack Flash, the central character, who sells his soul to the devil. Charlie leads the company well with a very good performance. He was well supported by Ruby Blount as Jack’s long suffering girlfriend Jane. Jack’s best friend Tom, was played by Harrison Doherty who sang well and used the stage to the full. Maggie, was played by Molly Ewins who gave a very confident performance.
Maddison Clarke played Lady Marmalade, the devils femme fatile, who had a great stage presence and gave an outstanding performance.
The main principals received good support from the remainder of the cast and chorus members. I really enjoyed the renditions of Pop Muzik and the Village People medley.
The company used the set well and the costumes stood out, very colourful. It was good to see the live band on stage with the cast and this worked well, they were well balanced and you could hear every note.
Congratulations to everyone involved in the production and Welcome Back.
District: District Nine
Title of Production: Disco Inferno
Production Reviewed by: Paul Douglass
Date of Review: 24th July 2021
Venue Name: The Crescent Theatre
Venue Town / City: Birmingham
Producer / Director: Mark Shaun Walsh
Musical Director: Chris Corcoran
Choreographer: Joe Logan
Show Report:
It’s been eighteen months in the making, what with Covid and lockdowns, but Birmingham Youth Theatre bounced back with this, not only first class production, but the first amateur production in Birmingham for quite some time.
Disco Inferno, as the name suggests, is a fast moving production full of the music of the 70’s which everyone knows and gets the audience singing and clapping along, and Birmingham Youth Theatre did it proud.
Charlie Bland played Jack Flash, the central character, who sells his soul to the devil. Charlie leads the company well with a very good performance. He was well supported by Ruby Blount as Jack’s long suffering girlfriend Jane. Jack’s best friend Tom, was played by Harrison Doherty who sang well and used the stage to the full. Maggie, was played by Molly Ewins who gave a very confident performance.
Maddison Clarke played Lady Marmalade, the devils femme fatile, who had a great stage presence and gave an outstanding performance.
The main principals received good support from the remainder of the cast and chorus members. I really enjoyed the renditions of Pop Muzik and the Village People medley.
The company used the set well and the costumes stood out, very colourful. It was good to see the live band on stage with the cast and this worked well, they were well balanced and you could hear every note.
Congratulations to everyone involved in the production and Welcome Back.
Society Name: Birmingham Youth Theatre
District: Birmingham District 9
Title of Production: Guys and Dolls
Production Reviewed by: Paul Douglass
Date of Review: 22nd June 2019 Venue
Name: Old Rep Theatre
Venue Town / City:
Birmingham Producer / Director: Mark Shaun Walsh
Musical Director: Chris Corcoran
Choreographer: Joe Logan
Show Report:
What a privilege it was to see a group of young actors performing the classic show “Guys and Dolls”, this was no easy feat as the music can be difficult to sing, even for adult performers. Set in New York “Guys and Dolls” has lyrics and music by Frank Loesser and the story centred around the romances of two couples who are all very different characters. It also has some of the most iconic musical theatre songs in its score such as “Luck be a Lady” and “Sit Down Your Rocking the Boat”.
Directed by Mark Shaun Walsh, his directorial debut, this young talented cast entertained us with excellent strong performances, all with a maturity that belied their ages. They included Emily Ewins ,who had a lovely singing voice and suited the role of Salvation Army Sargent Sarah Brown beautifully and Daniel Porter gave a strong performance as her love interest Sky Masterson the gambler who accepts the bet that he won’t be able to persuade Sarah to go to Cuba with him, they were very believable as the unlikely lovers and both maintained their very different characters throughout. Lucy Bisseker gave an excellent mature performance in the comedic role of the dizzy night club entertainer Miss Adelaide and she was well complemented by Sam Cox who also gave a good comedic performance as her on off fiancé of fourteen years Nathan Detroit, who runs an illegal floating crap game. Rui Greaves as Nicely Nicely Johnson one of Nathan’s friends and fellow gambler expertly led the company in a superb rendition of “Sit Down Your Rocking the Boat”, Riu also has really good stage presence and rapport with the audience. Rachel Ewins kept everyone together at The Mission as General Cartwright and she was supported by Cameron Simpson as Arvide Abernathy, who I must say sang really well especially his song with Sarah. I would love to mention everyone in this review but I don’t want to miss anyone out as there were many very enjoyable performances from the actors in the supporting roles as well as from the ensemble who all performed as a team with loads of energy and enthusiasm all appearing to be enjoying themselves immensely. Generally, diction, clarity of words and American accents were spot on and the pace of the show was just right.
The cast were accompanied by a superb orchestra led by Chris Corcoran who played at just the right level so every word could be heard from the stage. Choreography by Joe Logan was well thought out, just right for the show and was executed very well by all the cast.
The set was very good, well designed add to this lighting by Going Dark and you have the makings of a great production. Costumes were authentic for the era and the production; much thought must have gone into getting them right.
Congratulations to Director Mark Shaun and to all involved in bringing this excellent production to the stage, and for their leadership and dedication. Thank you for a very enjoyable evening, I hope to see you for your next production.
District: Birmingham District 9
Title of Production: Guys and Dolls
Production Reviewed by: Paul Douglass
Date of Review: 22nd June 2019 Venue
Name: Old Rep Theatre
Venue Town / City:
Birmingham Producer / Director: Mark Shaun Walsh
Musical Director: Chris Corcoran
Choreographer: Joe Logan
Show Report:
What a privilege it was to see a group of young actors performing the classic show “Guys and Dolls”, this was no easy feat as the music can be difficult to sing, even for adult performers. Set in New York “Guys and Dolls” has lyrics and music by Frank Loesser and the story centred around the romances of two couples who are all very different characters. It also has some of the most iconic musical theatre songs in its score such as “Luck be a Lady” and “Sit Down Your Rocking the Boat”.
Directed by Mark Shaun Walsh, his directorial debut, this young talented cast entertained us with excellent strong performances, all with a maturity that belied their ages. They included Emily Ewins ,who had a lovely singing voice and suited the role of Salvation Army Sargent Sarah Brown beautifully and Daniel Porter gave a strong performance as her love interest Sky Masterson the gambler who accepts the bet that he won’t be able to persuade Sarah to go to Cuba with him, they were very believable as the unlikely lovers and both maintained their very different characters throughout. Lucy Bisseker gave an excellent mature performance in the comedic role of the dizzy night club entertainer Miss Adelaide and she was well complemented by Sam Cox who also gave a good comedic performance as her on off fiancé of fourteen years Nathan Detroit, who runs an illegal floating crap game. Rui Greaves as Nicely Nicely Johnson one of Nathan’s friends and fellow gambler expertly led the company in a superb rendition of “Sit Down Your Rocking the Boat”, Riu also has really good stage presence and rapport with the audience. Rachel Ewins kept everyone together at The Mission as General Cartwright and she was supported by Cameron Simpson as Arvide Abernathy, who I must say sang really well especially his song with Sarah. I would love to mention everyone in this review but I don’t want to miss anyone out as there were many very enjoyable performances from the actors in the supporting roles as well as from the ensemble who all performed as a team with loads of energy and enthusiasm all appearing to be enjoying themselves immensely. Generally, diction, clarity of words and American accents were spot on and the pace of the show was just right.
The cast were accompanied by a superb orchestra led by Chris Corcoran who played at just the right level so every word could be heard from the stage. Choreography by Joe Logan was well thought out, just right for the show and was executed very well by all the cast.
The set was very good, well designed add to this lighting by Going Dark and you have the makings of a great production. Costumes were authentic for the era and the production; much thought must have gone into getting them right.
Congratulations to Director Mark Shaun and to all involved in bringing this excellent production to the stage, and for their leadership and dedication. Thank you for a very enjoyable evening, I hope to see you for your next production.
At The Old Rep Theatre
Birmingham Youth Theatre
Snow White
by Joe Logan & Adam Swift
This version of a well known story was well performed by this group of talented young people. written by Adam Swift and Joe Logan this panto had everything. Fun, laughter,good acting and some great music.
Taking the lead role of Snow White was Emily Ewins, who excelled herself with fine acting and singing. Georgia Taylor played Queen Lucretia, who played this evil role well. Cameron Simpson as the Queens sidekick Fleshcreep was in a role which suited him well, and, had a nice twist at the end of the production when his true identity was revealed. Maddison Clarke played Sidekick Sally, the right hand woman to The Prince. she gave us a wonderful rendition of the song"How will i know", and she deserves all the applause that she received.
Playing the comedy roles were Sam Cox as The Prince and Joe Logan as Muddles. It was good to see these two working together again. Besides playing these two roles they were also transformed into the two Dames of the show. Well done to the writers for thinking of this.
This panto had, of course, Seven Dwarfs, but they were given original names. Really enjoyed Trumpy and weepy. Every time Weepy cried the audience got wet courtesy of a water cannon shot into the audience. That went down well. Congratulations to the seven young people who played these roles. I do have to mention Dylan Jack O'Dwyer who played Gok. Great actor.
Directors and writers Adam Swift and Joe Logan did a good job with the cast and with good musical arrangement by Chris Corcoran nothing could go wrong. My one criticism of the show was the sound let them down slightly at the commencement of the show, but nothing which the company did not overcome.
Young people are the future of NODA and of amateur theatre as a whole and with this the talent in this company the future is in safe hands.
Birmingham Youth Theatre
Snow White
by Joe Logan & Adam Swift
This version of a well known story was well performed by this group of talented young people. written by Adam Swift and Joe Logan this panto had everything. Fun, laughter,good acting and some great music.
Taking the lead role of Snow White was Emily Ewins, who excelled herself with fine acting and singing. Georgia Taylor played Queen Lucretia, who played this evil role well. Cameron Simpson as the Queens sidekick Fleshcreep was in a role which suited him well, and, had a nice twist at the end of the production when his true identity was revealed. Maddison Clarke played Sidekick Sally, the right hand woman to The Prince. she gave us a wonderful rendition of the song"How will i know", and she deserves all the applause that she received.
Playing the comedy roles were Sam Cox as The Prince and Joe Logan as Muddles. It was good to see these two working together again. Besides playing these two roles they were also transformed into the two Dames of the show. Well done to the writers for thinking of this.
This panto had, of course, Seven Dwarfs, but they were given original names. Really enjoyed Trumpy and weepy. Every time Weepy cried the audience got wet courtesy of a water cannon shot into the audience. That went down well. Congratulations to the seven young people who played these roles. I do have to mention Dylan Jack O'Dwyer who played Gok. Great actor.
Directors and writers Adam Swift and Joe Logan did a good job with the cast and with good musical arrangement by Chris Corcoran nothing could go wrong. My one criticism of the show was the sound let them down slightly at the commencement of the show, but nothing which the company did not overcome.
Young people are the future of NODA and of amateur theatre as a whole and with this the talent in this company the future is in safe hands.
Bfame
At The Old Rep Theatre
Birmingham Youth Theatre
Snow White
by Joe Logan & Adam Swift
For this year’s pantomime Samantha Depper and Joe Logan took on the role of choreographers and Adam Swift together with Joe Logan that of director, retaining Chris Corcoran as the musical director. Joe and Adam were also responsible for writing this particular version of Snow White.
The team, together with this versatile company produced a show which will be well remembered by the audience. A simple open stage set was again utilised this year, which gave a large amount of space for the group to enhance and extend the large ensemble numbers, and maximise the ir potential. This all worked to create an interesting and entertaining production for the audience.
This story of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs has been updated with some of the well known characters receiving new names. The villain of the story is Queen Lucretia played by Georgia Taylor and her sidekick Fleshcreep played by Cameron Simpson- this proved to be a well maintained pairing that created a strong rapport with the audience.
Emily Ewins as Snow White gave a lovely performance and was well represented, in the early scenes by Georgina Otero Salgado and Kamile Kazlauskas, who played the Young Snow White and Emily Ewins the older one.
The Prince, played by Sam Cox provided a performance of this supercilious character with zeal.
The two comedy characters Sidekick Sally (Maddison Clarke), who lit up the stage whenever she made an appearance and will be remembered for her rendition of “How Will I Know”, together with Muddles (Joe Logan), both showed a great flair for comic timing.
The seven dwarfs, Mopey (Abie-Mai Hudson), Weepy (Abi Shriane), Weezy (Abigail Guest), Gok (Dylan JakO’Dwyer), Slappy (Ella Giles), Trumpy (Molly Ewins) and Cashful (Saran Sambhi) all created very strong personalities for the irrespective roles, their “Kung Fu Fighting” routine will be long remembered by all of the audience.
As well as villagers and animals, there were some seven named dancers who also stood in for the magic mirror. The dancers together with the rest of the company provided strong and memorable scenes, one in particular was “Skyfall” at the end of act1.
Another memorable moment was the rendition of “Move Towards The Darkness” when Fleshcreep interplayed with the ‘Mirrors’.
When summing up this production of Snow White, we saw a strong company performing a pantomime, brought up to date by two new authors from within the company, who introduced a number of modern and current songs, performed by this talented young company with a great sense of enthusiasm and dedication. There were some hitches on the opening night which spoilt the pace of the show, however sound and lighting created a good atmosphere in which the company could work, and the locations were enhanced by the set and props. Costumes and makeup were of a good standard, which helped in creating a show that the audience could participate and enjoy, congratulations to everyone involved..
Birmingham Youth Theatre
Snow White
by Joe Logan & Adam Swift
For this year’s pantomime Samantha Depper and Joe Logan took on the role of choreographers and Adam Swift together with Joe Logan that of director, retaining Chris Corcoran as the musical director. Joe and Adam were also responsible for writing this particular version of Snow White.
The team, together with this versatile company produced a show which will be well remembered by the audience. A simple open stage set was again utilised this year, which gave a large amount of space for the group to enhance and extend the large ensemble numbers, and maximise the ir potential. This all worked to create an interesting and entertaining production for the audience.
This story of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs has been updated with some of the well known characters receiving new names. The villain of the story is Queen Lucretia played by Georgia Taylor and her sidekick Fleshcreep played by Cameron Simpson- this proved to be a well maintained pairing that created a strong rapport with the audience.
Emily Ewins as Snow White gave a lovely performance and was well represented, in the early scenes by Georgina Otero Salgado and Kamile Kazlauskas, who played the Young Snow White and Emily Ewins the older one.
The Prince, played by Sam Cox provided a performance of this supercilious character with zeal.
The two comedy characters Sidekick Sally (Maddison Clarke), who lit up the stage whenever she made an appearance and will be remembered for her rendition of “How Will I Know”, together with Muddles (Joe Logan), both showed a great flair for comic timing.
The seven dwarfs, Mopey (Abie-Mai Hudson), Weepy (Abi Shriane), Weezy (Abigail Guest), Gok (Dylan JakO’Dwyer), Slappy (Ella Giles), Trumpy (Molly Ewins) and Cashful (Saran Sambhi) all created very strong personalities for the irrespective roles, their “Kung Fu Fighting” routine will be long remembered by all of the audience.
As well as villagers and animals, there were some seven named dancers who also stood in for the magic mirror. The dancers together with the rest of the company provided strong and memorable scenes, one in particular was “Skyfall” at the end of act1.
Another memorable moment was the rendition of “Move Towards The Darkness” when Fleshcreep interplayed with the ‘Mirrors’.
When summing up this production of Snow White, we saw a strong company performing a pantomime, brought up to date by two new authors from within the company, who introduced a number of modern and current songs, performed by this talented young company with a great sense of enthusiasm and dedication. There were some hitches on the opening night which spoilt the pace of the show, however sound and lighting created a good atmosphere in which the company could work, and the locations were enhanced by the set and props. Costumes and makeup were of a good standard, which helped in creating a show that the audience could participate and enjoy, congratulations to everyone involved..