‘Stunning shows and nothing cringeworthy’

2011 was another good year for amateur theatre – and in the main I believe audience figures have risen.

All the societies worry that they won’t even break even, but the majority end up doing so.

It was a year with some very interesting and different productions. I don’t think I’ve seen a cringeworthy show this year, and a number have been up in the realms of stunning.

At the outset can I thank everyone for making John and I so welcome. It is always good to catch up with you all.

The two stand-out productions for me were One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest from Griffins and Les Miserables from Empire Arts. Luckily they both fall into different categories, so I can confidently name One Flew... as my Play Of The Year and Les Mis as my Musical Of The Year.

Joe Butcher directed an excellent play and the likes of Alan Clarke, Liz Caswell and Errol Albert, with an impeccable cast, made it an evening to remember. The characterisations were diverse and always excellently executed. The cast gave us humour, sorrow, despair, revulsion and many other emotions allied to the subject matter of One Flew...

Lucy O’Hare with her production team always amaze with their superb musicals for young performers. Rehearsed and staged over a two week summer school, the quality of production and performance for Les Mis showed the standard and quality getting better and better every year.

My Best Young Male Performer Award Aged Over 13 And Under 18 Years is split between two young men in Les Mis who gave us superlative performances, Ollie Slade as Javert and John Douglas as Thenardier.

Two completely different performances, the downright bawdiness and comedy of Thenardier and the dark menace of Javert, both excellently captured by these two talented young men.

For Best Young Performer Under 13, I go to Stage 1, who once again gave us a very enjoyable pantomime, Cinderella, where Kyle O’Hara was a very chirpy and upfront Buttons, showing how to handle an audience. Lots of promise there.

Best Young Female Performer In A Musical must go to Lauren Houghton, who was a lovely Joanna in the Griffins’ Sweeney Todd, showing both understanding of the character and a new depth of singing voice.

> For Nova’s full review pick up a copy of the Luton News/Dunstable Gazette on sale from Wednesday