As usual it has a large cast of all ages. We were pleased to see 38 people at our workshop to find out more about the production on July 21st.  We reviewed the story,  listened to some of the music and tried out different characters and developed various scenes -  in London and in the country village to where the Vackees were moved.

If you would like further information please email smash@solihull-methodist.org.uk. View more details about the story, the characters, the songs.
STOP PRESS – the auditions will be held on October 7th and October 13th – more details here as soon as they are available.

Just So

Review from Solihull Times (19th March 2008)

Knockout show much more than ‘just so’

Based on Kipling’s “Just So Stories”, this play follows the story of an inquisitive Elephant-Child who embarks on a journey to correct the injustice of the world he lives in by finding a giant crab who’s playing with the sea. There’s an array of spectacular characters, a wise magician, a rowdy rhino, a neurotic chef and what musical would be complete without a singing stove? The talent in the SMASH cast is abundant and apparent, first-rate voices, fabulous cameos and full sounding chorus numbers make for top notch entertainment.

JLG

Photos from the performance

Photographs by Bill Penny

The story of Just So

At the beginning of time, Pau Amma the Crab began playing with the ocean, causing a flood that threatened the other animals. The Elephant’s Child sets out to stop the Crab, and discovers how the Leopard got his spots, how the Rhinoceros got his skin and how curiosity and a hungry Crocodile can turn an Elephant’s small nose into a very large trunk. He also discovers that one determined individual can make a real difference in this world.

Whistle Down The Wind is a story set in the late 1950s that highlights the uncluttered thinking of children that is, for the most part, sadly lost in adulthood. It seems as if children and adults live in separate worlds with different perceptions and languages, but as in life sometimes an event – in this case a stranger in the barn – can bridge the gap.

We first performed Whistle in 1997 and received so many requests to repeat it that we did!

Six new SMASHERS joined us for this production.

Review from the Solihull Times

4th March 2007

SMASH, the music and drama society of Solihull Methodist Church have revisited a previous production this week at the Dovehouse Theatre. Based on both the book by Mary Hayley Bell and the 1961 film, the musical version of ‘Whistle Down the Wind’ was presented by SMASH in 1997.

Laura Ralph (Cathy), Kim Deane (Nan) and Matthew Austin (Charlie) were outstanding as the trio of children who find an escaped convict in their father’s barn. Mistaking him for Jesus, the secret soon gets out and the rest of the children in the village are enlisted to keep ‘Jesus’ safe. The group of children were consistently excellent, singing superbly and staying in character throughout.

The adult characters gave full weight to the dialogue and songs illustrating their brusque impatience and the fear surrounding the situation. The song at the Sunday school nativity play was one of many highlights. This was a definite SMASH hit and there will be many more to come.

F.W. Crane

Photos from the performance

The story

The time is the late 1950s in a small village in Lancashire. Hurrying to a barn with three rescued kittens, Cathy, a schoolgirl, discovers a stranger hiding there. She recognises him immediately as Jesus Christ and tells her sister, Nan.

The next day their brother Charles also learns of their discovery. They decide to tell nobody, but gradually word spreads through the children of the village. Anxious to protect Jesus from unbelieving adults, they keep his arrival a secret and besides, most of their parents are preoccupied with news of a convict on the loose in the area.

Trouble starts when the village bully, Raymond, threatens to give the game away.

Proceeds for the Emmanuel Young People’s Trust

This production was performed in the round, ‘almost from scratch’ after four rehearsals! There were 59 performers.

Rehearsal photos

Photographs by Bill Penny

Ebenezer Scrooge has swapped the love of people for the love of money. It’s Christmas Eve and he is to be visited by three spirits who show him how things might have been…

Review from the Solihull Times

Wednesday, 14 December 2005:

Scrooge proves to be a SMASH
Scrooge, Dovehouse Theatre

As I entered the Dovehouse Theatre to watch the latest performance by SMASH, Solihull Methodists Acting and Singing in Harmony, I was transported back to Victorian England. The performance of Leslie Bricusse’s musical Scrooge not only boasted a cast of talented actors and singers but also some fantastically intricate costumes and special effects of a quality that I have not before seen on an amateur stage.

Alan Faulkner played the eponymous hero brilliantly, showing a trajectory of emotions as Scrooge learnt from his past, and we learnt why his life has been so cold.

Iain Cameron was thoroughly and wonderfully convincing as the ghost of Jacob Marley, his vocal range showed the black humour of the character and he encompassed the irony and searingly scornful laughter needed.

I had not seen this musical before, and was impressed with the intricate score. Peter Farndon made full use of technology to bring a complete ensemble of instruments into the small Dovehouse Theatre and his conducting ensured a beautiful harmony with a complex arrangement.

LRB

Some comments from our audience via email

The show last night was brill. I was most impressed with the costumes – and all down to two people mainly!! It really was very well rehearsed with everyone confident and really in character. It certainly tops last year’s show. Good effects on stage too. Well done to everyone – a big success. The only downside is that it will have to be followed by something equally great!

We went to the Thursday performance. Our reaction was one of utter amazement! The sets were wonderful and so cleverly moved around by the stage hands. The choreography was professional. What can we say about the costumes? So many people to dress and every one individually designed. As for the effects, they had us spellbound. How on earth did the ghost get through that mirror? We have come to expect a high standard and SMASH did not let us down. All accompanied by superb music of course!

Yet another winner for SMASH – the show was characterised by creative adaptation and staging, colourful costumes, the high quality of scoring and sound that we have come to expect… , some delightful, heart stopping and at times tear jerking moments from the children, well crafted performances from our old stagers – all with some ‘wow’ moments – and the emergence of two shining stars in Tiny Tim (I knew the lad had talent!) and Marley’s Ghost (a skilled performance of depth and character – ‘full many a pearl..!’)

Superb as usual. Movement, vitality, message: all there.

Book and lyrics by Michelle Magorian
Music and additional lyrics by Gary Carpenter
2nd–5th April 2003 (five performances)
Midlands Premiere

Young Willie Beech is evacuated to the country as Britain stands on the brink of the Second World War.

A sad, emotionally deprived child, he slowly begins to flourish under the care of old Tom Oakley – but his new found happiness is shattered by a summons from his mother back in London…

We were very pleased to welcome the composer, Gary Carpenter, to one of the performances.

Solihull News Friday 4th April 2003

WORTH STAYING UP FOR

Goodnight Mister Tom, The Dovehouse Theatre

The intimate Dovehouse Theatre was brought to life as we were transported between wartorn London and the tranquil countryside home of Tom Oakley, who had begrudgingly taken in evacuee Willie Beech.

The SMASH cast sang and danced through the Michelle Magorian story, made famous by the late John Thaw film playing to a much-deserved sell out audience. Alan Faulkner was a heart-warming Tom, suitably tetchy at the beginning and gradually softening as he mellowed through his care for the boy.

Ryan Carter was also superb, alternating between a suppressed frightened child in London, to a carefree country boy and Sam Coleman as Zach is certainly a name to look out if he decides on a stage career.

SG

Photos from the performance

Solihull Times, Friday 11th April 2003

POIGNANT TALE OF OUTSIDERS

Goodnight Mister Tom, performed by SMASH, The Dovehouse Theatre

Arnold Wesker once said that the memoir of an outsider inevitably tells us as much about the society he’s outside as it does about himself. So it is apt that, in Michelle Magorian’s musical Goodnight Mr Tom, the audience learns about wartime Britain through the eyes of four outsiders.

Having read the powerful novel, I did not anticipate empathising with William Beech’s mother, yet Lucy McGann’s portrayal movingly contextualises Mrs Beech’s violence and verbal abuse in her own vulnerability.

Will is an outsider at school; bullied by his peers as well as his mother. He only becomes integrated into society through evacuation to the home of Tom Oakley, who lives on the margins of his close-knit village, and friendship with Zac – another evacuee who is alienated both by his Judaism and by his theatricality.

I was lucky enough to see Will played by each of the two boys chosen for this demanding role. Ryan Carter brought out the joy buried inside the troubled child and Andrew Branson’s pure singing voice provided poignancy to the character’s heartbreaking situation. Both young actors created a believable friendship with Zac, who was played with just the right combination of comic exuberance and emotional sincerity by Sam Coleman.

As Tom, Alan Faulkner shone particularly in his vivid recreation of his character’s love for his long dead wife.

These principal actors were supported by an ensemble who brought the wartime communities vibrantly to life, in wonderful costumes designed by Shirley Aldridge.

Director, Sheila Tallon, and musical director, Peter Farndon, can be justifiably proud of their cast.

LB