REVIEW
Spring Awakening
Palace Theatre, Westcliff on Sea
17th to 20th October 2018
Spring Awakening
Palace Theatre, Westcliff on Sea
17th to 20th October 2018
IN an era of safe format and revival musicals, Spring Awakening is a unique phenomenon, and it arrives in Southend in a uniquely phenomenal production by LODS.
The show is a Tony and Olivier award winner, but it only achieved a short West End run, and then disappeared into the cellar reserved for great but unseen and unsung musicals. Proof once again that there is no justice in the land of song and dance.
Local audiences who have now had the good luck to experience Spring Awakening will give a standing ovation to director Andrew Seal, for his rescue job, and for a staging that is 5-star in every department.
Unique's the word. Spring Awakening belongs to no familiar genre, although its subject matter makes it perhaps a very distant cousin to a shows like Rent, or even West Side Story, which are based on the tribulations of youth.
Shakespeare discovered youth angst as a dramatic subject (in Romeo and Juliet), but it was then ignored for 300 years until the German playwright, Frank Wedekind, penned the play on which the current show is based.
Spring Awakening shocked European society to the depths of its hidebound soul, and was promptly banned. Amazingly, this campaigning narrative, written and first staged when Queen Victoria was on the throne, still carries the power to shock, today.
Set in a rigid German community that is hellbent on resistance to the new ideas sweeping Europe (represented by Freud, Ibsen, Darwin, Marx, and indeed Wedekind himself). Spring Awakening focuses on a group of young people who take the brunt of these reactionary attitudes. Spoiler alert: the consequences include child suicide and death by abortion, though even these are viewed by the adults as all the kids' fault.
The opening scene brilliantly dramatises this tension, as the sweet-natured Wendla (Eva Tobin) pleads with her mother to explain “how babies are made”. Shocked and revolted, the mother covers Wendla's head with a cloth, and then mouths empty rubbish about loving one's husband. The consequences of this squeamishness prove catastrophic.
Meanwhile, Wendla's intellectually brilliant pal Melchior is starting to question and even confront his parents and teachers, while the academically challenged Moritz disintegrates under the weight of expectations from the intransigent older generation.
Be aware! - this may sound a bit depressing, but it ain't. Spring Awakening has two vast assets which ensure, despite the tragedy portrayed, that you actually leave the theatre with a smile on your face.
One is the raw energy of a show that is dynamised by its passionate young cast. More of that in a moment.
The other is the music. It is worth a second trip to the show just to focus on Duncan Sheik's score. It may sound like a contradiction in terms, but this is essentially a restrained rock score. It discreetly supports the singers, and deepens the meaning of the lyrics, while never showing off. The honesty of the music ensures that the final big number, The Song of Purple Summer, is utterly convincing as an expression of hope for the future.
In contrast with the stiff, even stilted 19th century period language in which the characters are forced to communicate, the lyrics are streetwise and modern, liberally laced with the f-word and the a(rse) word. They signal how the world of youth will change, despite the rearguard action by all those stupid adults.
The show is a Tony and Olivier award winner, but it only achieved a short West End run, and then disappeared into the cellar reserved for great but unseen and unsung musicals. Proof once again that there is no justice in the land of song and dance.
Local audiences who have now had the good luck to experience Spring Awakening will give a standing ovation to director Andrew Seal, for his rescue job, and for a staging that is 5-star in every department.
Unique's the word. Spring Awakening belongs to no familiar genre, although its subject matter makes it perhaps a very distant cousin to a shows like Rent, or even West Side Story, which are based on the tribulations of youth.
Shakespeare discovered youth angst as a dramatic subject (in Romeo and Juliet), but it was then ignored for 300 years until the German playwright, Frank Wedekind, penned the play on which the current show is based.
Spring Awakening shocked European society to the depths of its hidebound soul, and was promptly banned. Amazingly, this campaigning narrative, written and first staged when Queen Victoria was on the throne, still carries the power to shock, today.
Set in a rigid German community that is hellbent on resistance to the new ideas sweeping Europe (represented by Freud, Ibsen, Darwin, Marx, and indeed Wedekind himself). Spring Awakening focuses on a group of young people who take the brunt of these reactionary attitudes. Spoiler alert: the consequences include child suicide and death by abortion, though even these are viewed by the adults as all the kids' fault.
The opening scene brilliantly dramatises this tension, as the sweet-natured Wendla (Eva Tobin) pleads with her mother to explain “how babies are made”. Shocked and revolted, the mother covers Wendla's head with a cloth, and then mouths empty rubbish about loving one's husband. The consequences of this squeamishness prove catastrophic.
Meanwhile, Wendla's intellectually brilliant pal Melchior is starting to question and even confront his parents and teachers, while the academically challenged Moritz disintegrates under the weight of expectations from the intransigent older generation.
Be aware! - this may sound a bit depressing, but it ain't. Spring Awakening has two vast assets which ensure, despite the tragedy portrayed, that you actually leave the theatre with a smile on your face.
One is the raw energy of a show that is dynamised by its passionate young cast. More of that in a moment.
The other is the music. It is worth a second trip to the show just to focus on Duncan Sheik's score. It may sound like a contradiction in terms, but this is essentially a restrained rock score. It discreetly supports the singers, and deepens the meaning of the lyrics, while never showing off. The honesty of the music ensures that the final big number, The Song of Purple Summer, is utterly convincing as an expression of hope for the future.
In contrast with the stiff, even stilted 19th century period language in which the characters are forced to communicate, the lyrics are streetwise and modern, liberally laced with the f-word and the a(rse) word. They signal how the world of youth will change, despite the rearguard action by all those stupid adults.
This is a young person's show. Such illustrious previous-generation LODS performers as Helen Sharpe and Peter Brown give background support, playing representatives of the the bonehead older generation, the show belongs to the kids.
And what a superb job they make of it, both vocally and in their characterisations. James Cohen gives his character an almost Shakespearian heroic status as the incipient rebel Melchior, whose keen intelligence can pierce right through all the cant of the society in which he is being raised.
In a beautifully considered and fully rounded performance, Eva Tobin brings tenderness and vulnerability to the role of Wendla. Her final scene, at the door of the abortion clinic, is one of the most gutting stage exits I have seen for a long time. Matthew Wallace is also marvellous as Moritz, tortured by a puberty that he does not understand, and battered by the cruelties of the education system.
The director, Drew Seal, along with choreographer Laura Hurrell and lighting designer Joshua Blows, combine to give Spring Awakening the energy and visual inventiveness that it deserves, and the amazing set – at first, a bit mysterious, but gradually becoming more potent as the show progresses – deserves to be preserved for future generations in Southend Central Museum. Another credit must also go to Rachael Plunkett as MD who has managed to produce some fabulous vocals and harmonies from the cast as well as the musicians in the pit.
Spring Awakening provides yet another reason to give thanks to LODS. Once again, LODS has demolished the word “amateur”, depriving it of all validity. This is a show that any professional company would boast about. It displays a boldness of vision and a willingness to take risks, artistic and financial, that puts the big professionals to shame. With Spring Awakening, LODS has excavated an overlooked gem, and given it a production that allows all 24 carats of the gem to sparkle.
Tom King
Spring Awakening is at the Palace Theatre, Westcliff, until Saturday October 20th.
www.southendtheatres.org.uk
And what a superb job they make of it, both vocally and in their characterisations. James Cohen gives his character an almost Shakespearian heroic status as the incipient rebel Melchior, whose keen intelligence can pierce right through all the cant of the society in which he is being raised.
In a beautifully considered and fully rounded performance, Eva Tobin brings tenderness and vulnerability to the role of Wendla. Her final scene, at the door of the abortion clinic, is one of the most gutting stage exits I have seen for a long time. Matthew Wallace is also marvellous as Moritz, tortured by a puberty that he does not understand, and battered by the cruelties of the education system.
The director, Drew Seal, along with choreographer Laura Hurrell and lighting designer Joshua Blows, combine to give Spring Awakening the energy and visual inventiveness that it deserves, and the amazing set – at first, a bit mysterious, but gradually becoming more potent as the show progresses – deserves to be preserved for future generations in Southend Central Museum. Another credit must also go to Rachael Plunkett as MD who has managed to produce some fabulous vocals and harmonies from the cast as well as the musicians in the pit.
Spring Awakening provides yet another reason to give thanks to LODS. Once again, LODS has demolished the word “amateur”, depriving it of all validity. This is a show that any professional company would boast about. It displays a boldness of vision and a willingness to take risks, artistic and financial, that puts the big professionals to shame. With Spring Awakening, LODS has excavated an overlooked gem, and given it a production that allows all 24 carats of the gem to sparkle.
Tom King
Spring Awakening is at the Palace Theatre, Westcliff, until Saturday October 20th.
www.southendtheatres.org.uk
