National Operatic & Dramatic Association London Region
Thank you Peter Dodsworth and Ruth Salsbury for your extremely warm welcome and the
refreshments. It was nice too to have time to chat to both of you, not only about this
production but about your future plans for BTC.
The moment we walked into the auditorium with its open stage, very well and
atmospherically lit by Peter Humphreys and Hannah Richardson, we felt that a lot of time,
effort and thought had gone into creating the set which was designed and constructed by
Andy Kennett, Ian Selinger and Paul Roxan. The use of the light boxes, which I gather was
suggested by Peter, for the video effects as well as providing the white squares on a chess
board worked incredibly well.
David Rhys, your director, created an extremely effective show with some excellent
choreographed movement by the ensemble, especially in the Prologue and The Story of Chess
Visually the whole production was a delight; costumes, particular plaudits here to David as
well as Julia Saddler, Michelle Selinger and Joy Hester, were black and white which I think
works better than other productions which have introduced grey and purple, but the
occasional splash of red served to highlight dramatic moments.
Where props and furniture had to be moved, SM Andy Kennett and his crew shifted them
seamlessly and efficiently. However, no ‘wine’ in the wine bottle in the mountain scene? I
know liquid on stage can be a nightmare when you have ballet dancers and I assume that this
was why the bottle was empty but coloured glassware, fully consistent with a European
mountainous region, might have helped to hide the fact that it was missing?
I think that your MD, Graham Thomson, had his work cut out with this one. Unusually for
BTC your chorus numbers seemed a tad ragged at times, was this due to the fact that you
could not use the usual large central monitor to enable a good view of the MD from the stage
but instead relied on two at the sides? Alternatively, were your pit singers with the band or
elsewhere as there can be a delay when using some CCTV systems? Also, some of the band
sounded far too loud, especially the bass guitar and drums, with the result that we could not
hear all the words as the music drowned some singers, especially when there was
underscoring. Talking to other Regional Reps I find that this is a constant problem and I am
not sure how to suggest you tackle it. I do know that quite often in professional shows some
instruments are surrounded by sound deadening material to avoid the problem. Maybe Nick
Cooper, your sound man could come up with something which could help?
The four ballet dancers from Tring Park School, Francesca Goode, Charlie Mellor, Edward
Truelove and Louise Rigby were excellent and added a great deal to the whole show as did
the entire ensemble, apart from, as I have said, a couple of the early numbers which sounded
slightly ragged as you did not always ‘sing with one voice’ which made it hard to distinguish
the words. However, you came together in the Anthem which ended Act 1 and continued
well in Act 2’s opening number, One Night in Bangkok, which was excellent and set the
standard for the rest of the act. Excellent hand movements in this one particularly!
No programme credit for make up so I assume that you all did your own? You got it right as
none of you looked bleached under the stage lights and, ladies, your eye make up was
excellent.
I will comment on the principals in the order listed in the programme which I found slightly
arbitrary as it reflects neither the order of appearance nor size of the role! With one
exception I think you had a few problems with the accents as these were not always fully
sustained or consistent when singing and this was particularly noticeable because of the said
one exception.
Anatoly, played by Terry Cavender, was very good. I particularly liked the nervous fiddling
with your pen at the beginning Terry which said so much about Anatoly’s character and
almost paved the way for his defection at the end of Act 1.
Shell Harris’s character, Svetlana, is, of course, not on stage in Act I but looked sufficiently
Russian to be believable and sang the hit duet from Chess, I Know Him So Well, with great
sensitivity.
Becky Curtis created the role of Florence and made it her own. Well sung and acted at all
times Becky. Again, your part in the hit duet was sung beautifully as was Heaven Help My
Heart.
Freddie, Andrew Whelan, the American chess player was another very good portrayal of a
stereotypical gum-chewing character. Your outbursts of temper were very believable too.
Laurie Asher sang the role of The Arbiter very well and dramatically. A very good
performance Laurie.
Gemma Lloyd-Buckingham’s strong voice was ideal for the part of the Narrator and you also
acted and reacted very well when you appeared to be listening to the unfolding events on
stage
Ian Slack’s portrayal of the manipulative TV man Walter De Courcey, supported the action
well and Diplomats was very well performed alongside Molokov.
David Crew gave us a really superb performance as the Macchiavelian Russian Molokov,
bringing the character to life with an extremely well sustained accent both when singing and
speaking.
Last, but by no means least, the Civil Servants were very well acted and sung by Gareth
Johnson, Ben Sewell, Ian Wainwright, Max Wittwer and Tom Wittwer. Your ‘processing’ of
Anatoly’s asylum application (with the two chatting secretaries acting as a most effective
back drop) worked well.
I know that this musical is not the easiest to stage but you all worked hard and the result was
a very good production. Congratulations on providing your packed audience with an
excellent evening’s entertainment.
I thoroughly enjoyed your performance and thank you again for welcoming both my
companion and me so very warmly.
Judith Watsham
Regional Rep NODA London 11 and 11A
Thank you Peter Dodsworth and Ruth Salsbury for your extremely warm welcome and the
refreshments. It was nice too to have time to chat to both of you, not only about this
production but about your future plans for BTC.
The moment we walked into the auditorium with its open stage, very well and
atmospherically lit by Peter Humphreys and Hannah Richardson, we felt that a lot of time,
effort and thought had gone into creating the set which was designed and constructed by
Andy Kennett, Ian Selinger and Paul Roxan. The use of the light boxes, which I gather was
suggested by Peter, for the video effects as well as providing the white squares on a chess
board worked incredibly well.
David Rhys, your director, created an extremely effective show with some excellent
choreographed movement by the ensemble, especially in the Prologue and The Story of Chess
Visually the whole production was a delight; costumes, particular plaudits here to David as
well as Julia Saddler, Michelle Selinger and Joy Hester, were black and white which I think
works better than other productions which have introduced grey and purple, but the
occasional splash of red served to highlight dramatic moments.
Where props and furniture had to be moved, SM Andy Kennett and his crew shifted them
seamlessly and efficiently. However, no ‘wine’ in the wine bottle in the mountain scene? I
know liquid on stage can be a nightmare when you have ballet dancers and I assume that this
was why the bottle was empty but coloured glassware, fully consistent with a European
mountainous region, might have helped to hide the fact that it was missing?
I think that your MD, Graham Thomson, had his work cut out with this one. Unusually for
BTC your chorus numbers seemed a tad ragged at times, was this due to the fact that you
could not use the usual large central monitor to enable a good view of the MD from the stage
but instead relied on two at the sides? Alternatively, were your pit singers with the band or
elsewhere as there can be a delay when using some CCTV systems? Also, some of the band
sounded far too loud, especially the bass guitar and drums, with the result that we could not
hear all the words as the music drowned some singers, especially when there was
underscoring. Talking to other Regional Reps I find that this is a constant problem and I am
not sure how to suggest you tackle it. I do know that quite often in professional shows some
instruments are surrounded by sound deadening material to avoid the problem. Maybe Nick
Cooper, your sound man could come up with something which could help?
The four ballet dancers from Tring Park School, Francesca Goode, Charlie Mellor, Edward
Truelove and Louise Rigby were excellent and added a great deal to the whole show as did
the entire ensemble, apart from, as I have said, a couple of the early numbers which sounded
slightly ragged as you did not always ‘sing with one voice’ which made it hard to distinguish
the words. However, you came together in the Anthem which ended Act 1 and continued
well in Act 2’s opening number, One Night in Bangkok, which was excellent and set the
standard for the rest of the act. Excellent hand movements in this one particularly!
No programme credit for make up so I assume that you all did your own? You got it right as
none of you looked bleached under the stage lights and, ladies, your eye make up was
excellent.
I will comment on the principals in the order listed in the programme which I found slightly
arbitrary as it reflects neither the order of appearance nor size of the role! With one
exception I think you had a few problems with the accents as these were not always fully
sustained or consistent when singing and this was particularly noticeable because of the said
one exception.
Anatoly, played by Terry Cavender, was very good. I particularly liked the nervous fiddling
with your pen at the beginning Terry which said so much about Anatoly’s character and
almost paved the way for his defection at the end of Act 1.
Shell Harris’s character, Svetlana, is, of course, not on stage in Act I but looked sufficiently
Russian to be believable and sang the hit duet from Chess, I Know Him So Well, with great
sensitivity.
Becky Curtis created the role of Florence and made it her own. Well sung and acted at all
times Becky. Again, your part in the hit duet was sung beautifully as was Heaven Help My
Heart.
Freddie, Andrew Whelan, the American chess player was another very good portrayal of a
stereotypical gum-chewing character. Your outbursts of temper were very believable too.
Laurie Asher sang the role of The Arbiter very well and dramatically. A very good
performance Laurie.
Gemma Lloyd-Buckingham’s strong voice was ideal for the part of the Narrator and you also
acted and reacted very well when you appeared to be listening to the unfolding events on
stage
Ian Slack’s portrayal of the manipulative TV man Walter De Courcey, supported the action
well and Diplomats was very well performed alongside Molokov.
David Crew gave us a really superb performance as the Macchiavelian Russian Molokov,
bringing the character to life with an extremely well sustained accent both when singing and
speaking.
Last, but by no means least, the Civil Servants were very well acted and sung by Gareth
Johnson, Ben Sewell, Ian Wainwright, Max Wittwer and Tom Wittwer. Your ‘processing’ of
Anatoly’s asylum application (with the two chatting secretaries acting as a most effective
back drop) worked well.
I know that this musical is not the easiest to stage but you all worked hard and the result was
a very good production. Congratulations on providing your packed audience with an
excellent evening’s entertainment.
I thoroughly enjoyed your performance and thank you again for welcoming both my
companion and me so very warmly.
Judith Watsham
Regional Rep NODA London 11 and 11A