Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

A South Yorkshire Amateur Premiere! I have been very fortunate to see three newly released shows to amateurs – Priscilla (Croft House Theatre Company in March), Betty Blue Eyes (Ellesmere Musical Theatre Company in March) and now Dirty Rotten Scoundrels with Southey in May. It is always interesting to see a successful play, film or novel being transferred to musical theatre, and Southey with Mark Feakins in the Director’s chair certainly brought out the best of this particular transferral.

First I must congratulate the Set Design people who together with the Set Build team and Scenic Artist certainly gave us a simple set very much “a la South of France”. Michael Moore’s costumes and millinery were a delight and together with good and effective properties (Jill Beckett) and a good lighting design from Tom Dyson we were certainly transported to the South of France.

Both Martin Scattergood (Lawrence Jameson) and Mark Holmes (Andre Thibault) gave performances we have come to expect of them over the years, and new-comer Ben Bason (Freddy Benson) was amazing – a wonderful lesson in characterisation – he certainly had an excellent grasp of a cheeky young upstart/conman. Gina Townend as Christine Colgate gave an assured performance together with her excellent singing voice. It was good to see Joanne Ringrose back with Southey and I am sure she enjoyed playing the part of Muriel Eubanks. Congratulations to Rosie Choppin who made the most of her brief opportunity to excel in the cameo role of Jolene Oakes. Well done to the ensemble, and particularly in one of the show’s best musical numbers – the hoedown.

Congratulations to Matthew Moore (Musical Director) and the orchestra, who gave excellent support to those on stage, but unfortunately the music in the show is not very memorable. Well Done!

• Type: admin
• Performance Date: 10/05/2017
• Star rating: 12345