Kipps: the new Half a Sixpence musical
Scunthorpe Musical Theatre Society
The Plowright Theatre, Scunthorpe
Saturday 4 March 2023
Review Culture had the privilege of being invited to review a show by Scunthorpe Musical Theatre Society for the first time this week. We were delighted to attend.
Kipps is the story of an impoverished, uneducated young draper's assistant who falls into wealth quite unexpectedly and attempts to navigate the social whirl surrounding the elite of Kent society. Through a mixture of coincidence and fate, Arthur Kipps discovers that he was the illegitimate son of a wealthy heir that died before his mother could marry him. Arthur's grandfather lived with the shame and knowledge that he failed his own son, but sought to make it right in his will when he died and left a small fortune to the grandson he never knew. The kind-hearted and unassuming Arthur struggles to gain acceptance though he wins the hand of Helen Walsingam, though a candle still burns for his childhood sweetheart, Ann Pornick, with whom he shares Half a Sixpence as a token of their love.
Director Jacky Bacon has created an engaging, colourful and lively show to the stage with an innovative solution to the complex scene changes required throughout. Simple sets adorn a basic stage and set pieces are mostly brought on and off by the cast themselves. The benefit this brings is that it allows for a greater performing area in which the ensemble can really move on stage to the lively choreography of Becky Toward. Simon Percy proves to be a perfect Musical Director and brings his usual flair and professionalism to the process of sharpening and honing vocal performances and leading the orchestra with aplomb.
The role of Arthur Kipps is a star-making one. In London's West End, Charlie Stemp firmly established himself as a hugely talented lead based on the role. Here, 17-year-old student Suren Beacock has the difficult task of leading a large cast, and barely leaves the stage throughout the evening which in itself is no mean feat. Looking like something of a cross between Another Country-era Rupert Everett and Robert Pattinson, Beacock charmed this audience with his characterisation and sang and danced with confidence for the whole show. To see such confidence in one so young is impressive. He managed to whip up a storm with his performance and the audience were whooping with delight after his energetic musical performances.
Following his lead, is Livija Kiselyte, also a student from Scunthorpe, as Ann the other owner of Half a Sixpence. She too brought great confidence to her performance. I always feel Ann's best song is a duet with Flo as together they sing A Little Touch of Happiness. Kiselyte did not disappoint and really came alight whilst performing this song and showed the depth of her character in her performance. Her solo song, Long Ago, was performed beautifully and Livija Kiselyte really manages to win the audience over, and we see a significant change in character throughout her journey, so that by the time of her wedding she is a bright, bubbly winner in life. It is also a delight to see age-appropriate casting in a show of this nature too.
The third corner of the show's love triangle is Helen Walsingam portrayed by Lisa Smith. Smith oozed class. Smith was able to make Helen sympathetic and to evoke a lot of sympathy when left in the lurch by Kipps calling off the wedding. Helen is the one character that, in my opinion, sadly does not receive a satisfactory resolution in the play. She is not the villain of the piece by any means, she wants to see Arthur better himself but genuinely cares for his future and his well-being. Lisa Smith brings that across so well in her performance. Helen is far froma a gold-digger only after Kipps' wealth. She is a caring and considerate woman who does not look down on Arthur even when he was working at Shalford's. It's no wonder I feel sorry for the character's fate.
David Hand delivered an energetic performance of Chitterlow, the instigator of Arthur's good fortune. His comic timing is excellent and he masterfully owned the stage showing years of good, old musical theatre experience in every ounce of his most enjoyable performance. This was an object lesson to younger performers in how to deliver lines to the audience whilst talking to another character on stage, thus avoiding constantly performing in profile or acting upstage. Take a bow sir!
There were many excellent performances in this production and Tom Heathcote as Sid stood out for the way in which he constantly stayed in role, paying attention to every little detail, even when providing non-verbal, background support; he too is a young student with a real future in theatre. I must also mention Mrs Walsingam played by Vicky Toward, who relished the melodramatic nature of the role and milked the comedy for all it is worth. David Phillips played an imperious James Walsingam, the role switched from Helen's brother to her uncle in this production, which was wise and credible. John Parsons made the most of his twin roles as did Laura Hunt and Paul Newton. Tom Toward was a memorable, food-obsessed Buggins and Becky Toward was bold and brassy as Flo, especially in the afore-mentioned A Little Touch of Happiness.
In a large production of this nature, it is difficult to include everyone in a review, but the audience was delighted by the spectacle delivered by the cast and its hard-working crew. I suspect that the young performers who led this show will not be strangers to the stage for long and will return to bring their talents to the fore once more. This production delivered a true Flash, Bang, Wallop!
Andy Evans
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