Wiltshire Times |
 |
Trowbridge Amateur Operatic Society CUMBERLAND at the turn of the century is the setting for The Hired Man, TAOS’ latest production at Trowbridge Civic Hall last week. Based on Melvyn Bragg’s novel, and with words and music by Howard Goodall, it traces the move of workers away from the land, the growth of the trade union movement in the northern pits and the terrible consequences for the First World War, as well as the joys and sorrows of one family’s life. From the opening chorus of the title song, the show swept the audience along. Paul Butler’s tight, well-paced direction kept the stage full of incident. Crowd scenes were interspersed with intimate moments, so there was always something going on: particularly impressive given the size of the cast and the convolutions of the plot. The society has some superb singers and actors: Sean Andrews and Allison Lomax as John and Emily, the couple at the centre of the drama, were both utterly convincing, and their final duet, No Choir of Angels, was heart-stopping. Tyrone Butler as John’s brother Seth, and Nikki Greatwood as Emily’s friend Sally also gave effective performances. As the couple’s children May and Harry, Jessica Hunter and Christopher Worthy showed enormous promise. The fact that Christopher is Allison Lomax’ son – and is exactly the same age as so many of the young boys who signed up to fight in France – gave an almost unbearable poignancy to their scenes together. As always, the chorus were outstanding – and it has to be said their songs were on the whole more ‘singable’ than many of the solos and duets. The orchestra, directed by Ronald Foxwell, balanced the singers well, and coped admirably with some challenging music. The costumes and set looked marvellous: set construction was by inmates at Erlestoke Prison, and they should be congratulated on a terrific job. The Hired Man is not an obvious choice for an amateur society, but TAOS showed once again just how much of an asset they are to the arts scene in West Wiltshire. Joceline Bury |