Stage Experience: Our House, Grand Opera House York Review
Stage Experience: Our House
Grand Opera House, York
31 July to 2 August 2014
Reviewed by Emma Wasson
Having never attended a Stage Experience Production before I was not sure what to expect, however I was not to be disappointed one bit, the performance was a resounding success from start to finish, full of energy, enthusiasm and charisma from the lead performers, and supporting cast. There was also a live orchestra, complete with sax player, who all did an amazing job of playing the music throughout, and added to the overall experience.
“Our House” is a musical based around the songs and lyrics from the hugely successful band Madness, and was a joy to watch. An extremely difficult production to stage, as two stories are told simultaneously on stage, leading to different characters to portray and many many costume changes. The story is set around Casey Street, NW5 in London and tells the story of 16 year old Joe Casey and his girlfriend Sarah. One night Casey breaks into a block of flats, and from there the story splits to show two lives, one where he is caught by the police, and the other where he escapes. Casey’s deceased father plays a crucial role in narrating and singing between the scenes, singing about the differences between the two choices – the good and bad. On stage they use the colours, black and white, which are easily distinguishable to represent good and evil and as the scenes change black and white doors spin round to show the audience which character they are portraying.
The performance is extremely fast paced and runs simultaneously from scene to scene, the performers do an amazing job making these scene transitions run flawlessly. As ever in a musical the songs play a crucial part of the story itself, and the cast did a superb job of portraying the meaning and feeling within each song across to the audience. To aid in the story telling, the cast often stopped mid way through certain songs to act out additional storylines, but had no trouble picking the songs back up again and carrying on where they’d left off.
The first group dance on stage is to ‘Our House’ when the audience has just been introduced to Joe Casey and is extremely lively and clearly loved by all in the audience. The entire set was used to its full potential, having a raised platform accessed by stairs on both sides towards the back of the stage; this allowed dancers to position themselves all over to complete the dance. With over 50 dancers on stage together, there was so much going on your eyes didn’t know where to turn next. My other favourite group dance was the back to school scene, where the school pupils performed some amazing choreography, making full use of the school set on stage and each other to perform back flips and spins and turns with the school desks to the unforgettable tune of ‘Baggy Trousers’, whilst of course incorporating the well known moves of Madness themselves. An excellent job done, with attention paid to every detail.
Throughout the show the actors playing the lead roles, had a good rapport with the audience and their confidence shone through, especially the lead man himself, Reece McMahon who plays Joe Casey. Reece was clearly born to perform, and his passion for acting shone through to the audience whilst he successfully portrayed the two different lives of Joe Casey on stage. Sarah, played by Lizzie Nunn also did a fantastic job of portraying her character on stage, Lizzie also has a beautiful singing voice and in Act II the audience were able to appreciate her voice as she sang a solo rendition of ‘NW5’, which was shortly followed by a duet with Reece of ‘It Must Be Love’, which was cleverly thought out as whilst each character was singing their part the other was sat on the bench talking away. All the cast did an amazing job, Joe and Sarah’s friends incorporated humour into the play whilst Reecey did an amazing job of playing the baddie, not forgetting Claire Wimbush, who plays the role of Kath Casey, Joe’s mum extremely well.
Considering that the cast only met for the first time on July 19th, they have clearly not wasted a single second of their time together over the last two weeks, and their hard work and dedication shone through last night on stage for all to appreciate.
This was an amazing production, with attention paid to every detail across the board, full of Madness classics for all to enjoy, with their unique style of dancing incorporated into the musical itself. The costumes were brilliant throughout and the extremely quick costume changes executed perfectly, my favourite being the change from white to black suit behind the British umbrellas during the market scene, and clearly appreciated by the audience as well by the cheers. All the young dancers gave it their all and their hard work clearly paid off.
At certain points during the production they were clearly struggling with the sound and it was difficult to hear some of the characters, however this did not affect the actors at all and they all carried on regardless, well done.
‘Our House’ was a fitting end to the show and an excellent finale performed by the cast whilst they took their bows. The curtain fell and the audience started to gather their belongings to leave when the conductor stood up and the orchestra performed a short medley of Madness classics. The conductor was clearly in his element showing off not only his conducting skills but his finest Madness dance moves!!! It was a fitting end to an excellent night as the audience were all on their feet clapping along to the music.
Overall, what an amazing performance, packed with talented youngsters, who all performed an outstanding rendition of “Our House”. I loved every minute would recommend this to anyone, and would definitely go back again.
Rating: 5/5 
Tickets cost from £15.90 to £21.90 (plus £4 transaction fee).
Our House is at the Grand Opera House in York until 2 August 2014. For more information or to book tickets click here or call the box office on 0844 8713024.
Grand Opera House York, Clifford and Cumberland Street, York, YO1 9SW | 0844 8713024
