Marvellous night with a motley crew
FOUR STARS
STEPPING Out mixes highly visual comedy with lots of wit and a bit of drama to make this a very enjoyable show.
The 21st anniversary tour of the 1984 play written by Richard Harris tells of the complicated lives of seven women and one man, their teacher and pianist at a weekly tap dancing class.
The pressure is on when the Mavis Turner Tapers find out they are to perform in a charity concert and the practising begins in earnest.
Only the motley crew of misfits don't have much talent and we giggle our way through some fantastically awful dancing.
Every member of the cast gives an outstanding performance.
And it combines with such precise comic timing that you barely have time to catch your breath before erupting into the next belly-laugh.
Highlights included Susie Fenwick as the busy-body, pseudo-posh housewife Vera. She captured the character perfectly.
Brian Capron, best known for his role as Richard Hillman in Coronation Street, is fantastic as the nervous widower Geoffrey.
We never quite discover Geoffrey's motivation for taking the tap class but he is clearly a fish out of water. With a fantastic array of patterned jumpers, slightly too short trousers and shaky dancing skills his visual humour is superb.
Bolshie commoner Sylvia played by Jessie Wallace (Kat Slater in Eastenders) did the best job in terms of character development. By the end of the play I felt as though 'my Terry' was part of the show.
Timid, covered up Andy (Johanne Murdock), who is lacking in self esteem because of a violent relationship, adds another great dimension to the cast. She keeps herself to herself and even Vera's constant gossiping fails to expose Andy's skeletons.
Personal details are skilfully interwoven and often come out through Vera's incessant gossiping.
The set was brilliantly designed as one of those slightly drafty multi-purpose church halls that anyone who has taken an evening dance class has probably visited.
A very nice touch was the use of the front of the stage as a mirror, enabling the performers to look directly into the audience whilst delivering lines to characters behind them.
Set in the 80s, an era of leg warmers, leotards and tights, the costumes are a joy.
The finale exhibits the cast's dancing talent to the full and you begin to appreciate just how hard it must have been to dance so badly.
Stepping Out is a great feel-good performance. And as the cast took their final bow, grinning from ear to ear, you got the impression they'd enjoyed it almost as much as the audience.
