 Tads Theatre Group “Road” by Jim Cartwright.
May 2009.
Directed and Produced by Chris McLoughlin.
Tads may only be a small Society – but I can’t fault them on their approach to amateur theatre – they tackle many and various different genres, always with enthusiasm, and with some very good performances.
“Road” to me was a strange and not very nice play, focusing as it does on the grimmer side of life, but Chris McLoughlin, in his directorial debut, got some excellent performances from his cast of Tads stalwarts.
I felt that the direction sometimes lacked the vision that a more experienced director might have brought to this play, but this was over-ridden by the performance level, and everyone has to start somewhere. I’m sure Chris will continue to direct now that he has got his foot on the ladder, and hopefully Tads will support him, as we always need new directors to give us a different view on things.
Dan Nicholls as ‘Scullery’ the central character who wove all the threads of the play together, gave a very upbeat performance, which contrasted well with the gritty and stark realism of some of the other parts.
I particularly liked the pairing of Chloe Palmer as Clare and Rory Smith as Joey, they created a good relationship in what was a difficult scenario, very good acting from both these young people. They also performed their other characters very well.
Ben Calder as the Brother showed how much he is improving with every performance, a strong character with lots of edge.
I always like Jordan Nicholls, he throws himself into his parts, and in the scene where he was a soldier, despite not saying anything, he was very funny.
The four older people in the cast Judy Palmer, Anne Fowler, Steve Pryer and Simon Giltrow, all took on two or more wildly different parts, showing once again what good actors they are, creating pathos and humour in equal amounts.
Katie Smith’s ‘Carol’ was very strident and so reminiscent of today’s youth, despite being set in the 1980’s. Katie does well with strong characters, the relationship (or lack of it) between Carol and her mother (Judy Palmer) was excellent, you could really feel the bitterness and hatred combined with acceptance of their various failings.
There were some very poignant moments, and as I said before I did not like the play, but commend Tads for really making a good showing. It was just a pity that they didn’t have a larger audience.
Again, I would send out a plea to anyone out there who is interested in amateur theatre, to give our local societies a chance, there are many of them out there, all doing good work which deserves to be seen by a much wider public. I never cease to be amazed by the quality of work Tads produces, even if the subject matter is sometimes not to my taste. They have won several awards, and you can always be sure of a welcome at their small but nicely appointed theatre.
Nova Horley
NODA Representative
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