Last night, six Theatretrain companies took to the stage of the Derngate Concert Hall in Northampton. At one stage, I looked across at Robert, our musical director, and remembered that we had been doing this for 34 years. Still standing there with the whole cast sitting on the floor, giving them feedback before the performance.
I love that in Theatretrain, companies work alongside each other, find solutions to problems, and get so much from watching each other perform. They are so different, but they come together, especially in the choir – they are one team.
The show explored 6 different decades from the 1960s to the 2010s. The music, the stories, the fashions, the things that made them different. I like that students, their parents and their grandparents can relate to it. I watched the audience around me by sneaking a few looks. I saw that they were drawn in and responded enthusiastically to all the performers, not just their own.
I thought this performance was outstanding. It was very technical with projections, headsets and solo mics, sound effects and so on – a very complex set of happenings at the same time. The students threw themselves into their own sections as well as the choir. Solihull gave us a Tardis in which some present-day students travelled back to experience the colour and attitudes of the 60s – even James Bond and his nemesis Blofeld, and some white cats. Sudbury showed us the 70s with strikes, even a blackout, but a wonderful beach surfing scene to Mr Blue Sky and a fantastically energetic Boogie Wonderland. Derby swept us onwards in the 1980s with Sweet Dreams and a broody “People Are Strange.”
The mood backstage was excited, nervous, of course, but professional. You could feel that students wanted to do a proper job. Here we were well served by a theatre crew who worked so hard all day. It’s amazing how much you can learn in a day, even if you have done it all before.
In the second act, Bury St Edmunds used the Spice Girls to take us on a journey and drew in Take That and brilliant Mr Vain. Her Majesty was hilarious – and an affectionate reference point used throughout the show. Then, Watford took us off to Harry Potter land in the 2000s, where Harry’s trio tried to convert Lord Voldemort into a nice guy. There were wands and wizardry, but also swirling capes and moments of magical stillness. Finally, Rugby took us back to the London Olympics and that helicopter drop before cleverly using picture frames to lead us to important figures of the age.
We were assaulted from the stage by the huge commitment of the performers, as well as being impressed that their hard work could come together in one place with so many other performers. As far as I know, we are still the only company that works in this way, and I’m so proud of them all.
