The Worst Witch Review
The Worst Witch Live on Stage at The Orchard Theatre - Review.
Long before Harry Potter, there was Mildred Hubble. An ordinary girl who found herself in an extraordinary place: a school for witches. Now in her final year, accident prone Mildred and her fellow pupils are about to embark on their biggest and most important adventure yet.
Jealous Ethel Hallow is always out to spoil Mildred’s fun. Miss Hardbroom is opposed to all fun in general. And just as Mildred sparks some inevitable mayhem certain to upset them both, an old enemy returns with a plan for revenge that could threaten not just the academy, but the whole world …
We were invited to review this wonderful stage adaptation, which brings to life all of Jill Murphy’s much loved characters in this new exciting story which is brilliantly adapted by Emma Reeves.
It is amazing to think the first Worst Witch Story was written over 40 years ago, yet fast forward all these years and the storyline is still so exciting, original & full of mischievous fun.
We took our recently turned six year old along & I did wonder if he was going to be slightly too young for this two hour show, but because of how many stage shows he has seen, because he loves everything to do with theatre, I thought it was worth taking the risk & I am so pleased I did. He loved it! He sat through the whole show studying the cast’s every move, absolutely mesmerised by the wonderful actors, the toe tapping tunes, the special fx and all the hocus pocus!
However, there were just two minutes in the second half where he was left with his mouth open and so were we! It all got a little serious for a moment, to the point where my husband and I glanced at each other from the corner of our eyes, grimacing! I’m pleased to say, the feeling was very temporary and all was good in the end ... and what is the point in going to see a live theatre performance if you don’t get absorbed into the story and feel a connection with the characters right??
Mildred who was played by Meg Forgan, was really entertaining to watch. Her face was brilliantly expressive, it was very clear to see how multi-talented she is and she played the endearing Mildred perfectly. We later found out that Meg was in fact an understudy and usually plays the bass with, the again very talented duo which are also an integral part of the show. The fact that they were covering for the bass player was amazing. However they managed it, they did a fantastic job and you would never have known one of their band members were playing the lead character instead!
Polly Lister cleverly played the part of both twins, Agatha and Miss Cackle and at one point literally was a split personality! Our son said that he “liked Miss Cackle a lot more than Agatha” … We agreed!
It is really difficult to single the actors out for specific highlights, they were all clearly technically trained, both in singing and dancing, their animation was very entertaining, their voice expression was capturing and their Cat taming skills were astounding! … Yes, I said Cat taming skills!
I can say though, for facial animation our favourites were definitely Meg Forgan (Mildred) and Rosie Abraham (Ethel, below) They were both naturally funny. Consuela Rolle (Enid) had an amazing singing voice … but then they all did, they could all dance too! … Nope, I tried to single them out, but I just can’t do it!! They were all blooming fabulous for many similar reasons!!
From the very beginning the cast were interactive with the audience and even made a surprise appearance in the auditorium during the show. The story was very clever, with some unpredictable twists, the set was quite simple, yet so creative, we all loved the magic tricks, the potion making and the funny outcomes and not just myself and my husband, but also our 6 year old, we were thoroughly entertained the whole way through.
Our son loves reading, he has never read The Worst Witch, we haven’t before given it a thought thinking it could be too old for him, but the show really captured his imagination and it has left us thinking that maybe he could be ready after all!
The Worst Witch is on at The Orchard Theatre all this week until the last performance on Sunday 3rd March 2019. If you have kids and they love the theatre then we can definitely recommend you going. Our son is an expert when it comes to family theatre and if he says something is good, then it’s pretty safe to lay your money on it! It’s a great time well spent together, it encourages your children to explore their imagination, there is an inspirational message that you should always be you no matter what, it’s lots of fun and it’s being performed at a fabulous Kent venue. What could be better than that?
To find out more, or to book tickets, please see The Orchard Theatre’s box office here and if you manage to get yourself a ticket ... Enjoy!!
Written by: Jill Murphy, adapted by Emma Reeves.
Directed by Theresa Heskins.
Cast: Rosie Abraham, Danielle Bird, Molly-Grace Cutler, Meg Forgan, Rachel Heaton, Rebecca Killick, Emma Lau, Megan Leigh Mason, Polly Lister & Consuela Rolle.
