COLIN SMITH THEATRE (SENIOR GROUP)
So many of our long-serving young members have reached an age where they are perhaps a little old for the youth group yet still want to be a part of the Colin Smith theatrical family. Therefore, CSYMT's Stuart Farrar has formed a new Luton society to allow a possible path of continuation for our ex-youth group members, as well as being open to other local actors.
Last week saw the debut production from this new group, 'The Graduate' by Terry Johnson, take to the Library Theatre stage. The play, which was adapted for the stage from the hit 1967 film, enjoyed successful West End and Broadway runs as well as national tours and CST were delighted to be the first to secure the rights to perform it locally. With a stellar cast (including three ex-youth group members) and a national media frenzy surrounding the more controversial aspects of the production, it appears that all the stirling efforts of the company were rewarded as we have received an enormous amount of positive feedback from those who came to see it.
As far as the media attention was concerned, we have to say we were very surprised at the extent of the reaction. Initially, it was simply an article in the local papers (read it here) which stated that it was unsuitable for children as it contained nudity. From there, the Daily Mail picked up on it and asked permission to cover the story (read it here) and soon after that BBC Look East, Anglia News and even the Alan Titchmarsh show featured the story on the television! We also had requests to put over our side of the story on the Vanessa Feltz BBC London Radio show although this was not to be as we were not aware of their contact until it was too late. It all grew over the fact that were a few people who contacted the Luton Library Theatre and voiced their opinions about the staging of a play that contained nudity, but despite a small protest the week of the show all performances passed without further incident. The nudity was all in context and was very subtly lit and handled without causing offence to cast or audience members.
The company are proud of what appears to have been a tremendously successful first production from the Senior Group and we look forward to the follow-up!
CST will be presenting another play in Autumn 2009 - watch this space for details!
REVIEW - THE LUTON NEWS
'The Graduate'
Colin Smith Theatre (Senior Group), Luton Library Theatre September 16th - 20th 2008
IMPRESSIVE ACTING TO A HIGH DEGREE
This is more like it Luton - a well-directed and exceedingly well-acted play. So come on all you Lutonians, why weren't more of you there cheering on the the actors? This could even rival the best that Dunstable Rep has to offer!
The play was both thought-provoking and funny - I hadn't realised just how funny - and it gave it the necessary light and shade. I was very impressed with the pace of the action and the delivery of the words. It didn't lose the pace the whole way through which was a joy. I have only admiration for Natalie Gordon who, as the infamous Mrs Robinson, appeared unclad in the first scene. It just seemed right, I will not say more.
Natalie gave us an utterly believable Mrs Robinson and the scenes with her and Megan Farrar as her daughter were both funny and poignant. Natalie did not go over the top, which it would have been so easy to do and her inhibitions were few.
Tom Jennings played Ben Braddock so well. This young man is going from strength to strength as a performer. One got a good sense of his frustrations with life and his naivety and insecurity shone through - so it made a good contrast when he suddenly made up his mind what he actually wanted.
Megan Farrar is also a young lady who continues to give us nicely crafted performances and her relationship with Ben was both funny and intense and the final scene where they end up on the bed eating Cheerios was exactly right for them.
It was good to see Stuart Farrar on stage and he created a complex character as Ben's father - showing that in one respect he approved of his son's moves, in a man-to-man, wink-wink type of way, but couldn't really understand them. Christine Mackinven played his rather annoying wife very well. You know the sort, slightly daffy, not terribly intelligent. Again, I liked the contrast between the two. Mike Aherne was a good foil to Mrs Robinson, although I felt he wasn't strong enough at the beginning. But he warmed into the part and came into his own in Act Two.
Alan Clarke is adept at getting his actors to create relationships and this was evident with the two families. A couple of slight down notes. It was a shame Sean Furey had to play all three of the smaller parts as it detracted slightly from the reality of the rest of the action, although he did bring a different feel to each of the characters.
The other down for me was the set. I know the Library Theatre stage has its limitations but I would have liked to have seen a little more imagination, perhaps with some scenes more offset, with more punchy lighting, as it all seemed a little bland. The only scenes that were more colourful were the strip club and the hotel reception, where the lighting definitely helped - and the set changes were much too long.
On the whole, the costumes were very much in keeping with the era the play was set in and they worked very well. So there we have it - an exciting start to the Autumn season, which was enjoyed by the audience.
Nova Horley