Amadeus
The Senior Production 2022 of Amadeus…Wow! Claire Fenton pushes boundaries with each production, assisted by the amazing Helen Kirk and Aidan Wilkins, such a talented team.
Peter Schaffer’s Amadeus was so professionally interpreted by Miss Fenton and performed by an amazing group of young men and women.
Jo Price as Antonio Salieri was quite unbelievable, his acting ability is magnificent, I can imagine we’ll be seeing him on the stage in the future. The equally super talented Alex Maltby as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, what a formidable team they made, so inspirational.
All of the actors were first class, their hard work clearly evident. From the first few words of dialogue I was hooked, as were the rest of the audience, it was intense, clever, funny, sad and thought provoking. Jo portrayed Salieri’s jealousy of Mozart in such a way it was palpable. He delivered his extensive dialogue with ease, his torment and rage bubbling just below the surface. Alex portrayed Mozart as a juvenile, silly young man who loved having fun but who was blasé with regard to his natural ability and tremendous gift not realising how much pain this was causing Salieri who had always dreamed of being the genius that Mozart clearly was. Salieri is so disappointed that God has chosen someone in his opinion below him and so uncouth, he feels utterly betrayed and his anger is hard to hide as time goes on. The torment when he speaks is clear to everyone as the pain that he is feeling is literally spat out at times, jealousy personified. All of the actors complimented one and other extremely well, the costumes and makeup were wonderful and took us right back to the eighteenth century.
We had the pleasure of a live orchestra thanks to the gifted Simon Hendry, Luca Swinnerton, Jaz Hutchinson Bazely and Will Roberts. The music and singing from our boys and some TWGGS girls were sublime. All of this added another dimension to the play so it was great to have the collaboration.
James Dean (the brilliant Deano) was in charge of Lighting and Sound which was faultless. His team, Dan Maxted, Tom Hubbard and Zac Jackson all working extremely hard; when you’re watching a performance, you might take the lights and sound for granted, I’m sure James and his team will affirm just how much skill it takes to get the job right. Tom Hubbard was also the stage manager.
The phenomenal Mike Taylor in charge of set design, he always manages to carry out Claire’s vision with aplomb.
Everyone involved with the play, the orchestra, choir, singers, crew and the numerous people behind the scenes who help make the school plays so successful deserve all the plaudits too.
The importance of the arts couldn’t have been showcased enough, watching an ‘amateur’ school production which was far from ‘amateur’ that could very easily have graced any stage, it really was such a wonderful complete package of sheer brilliance and I urge everyone to get involved in one way or another. It instils confidence and a camaraderie that will always stay with you.
Fiona Perry
