Edinburgh’s oldest amateur theatre company, Southern Lights brings us their original take on the classic Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, Jesus Christ Superstar. Featuring a huge ensemble, powerhouse vocals, and mixed media, this certainly went above and beyond my expectations of what amateur theatre is capable of.
It is noted in Southern Light’s programme that each new production must not replicate any previous production by order of the show’s licensing. And what with Jesus Christ Superstar having first performed on Broadway in 1971, conjuring an original take on the show is no simple feat, with decades worth of adaptations having already been staged in every way imaginable.
For me, the most interesting new directional concept, director Fraser Grant brought to the show was his choice to view the show as an oratorio rather than as a musical. With its religious narrative and unconventional structure, it isn’t hard to see why Grant made this connection. While of course it definitely is not a by-the-book oratorio (as this would have consisted of the performers standing still with no production design around them for two hours) I think that framing the musical in this way showcases Grant’s unique knowledge and experience through his textual analysis. The main actualisation of the oratorio was the ensemble being present on stage the whole time which I think given the themes Grant tries to incorporate, was very effective, really highlighting Jesus’ (played by Colin Sutherland) influence. This idea of influence was one of the highlighted themes Grant chose to lean in to, with ensemble ‘filming’ events on smartphones, posing as news reporters, and selling Jesus merchandise giving us the ancient story through the frame of modern-day consumerism and celebrity influence – with Jesus’ crucifixion being a sort of metaphor for ‘cancel culture’.
While I often find depictions of cancel culture in media to be rather cringeworthy, Grant employed the themes with subtlety and purpose making for meaningful commentary. I especially enjoyed the use of the live camera work that was projected onto tapestry, furthering the theme of celebrity. The camera was of course only able to highlight a narrow view of the story, but this again furthered the theme of media manipulation and censorship – the camera being in control of what we are allowed to see. I think this could have been utilised much more throughout as it was visually and metaphorically stunning but seemed to have been forgotten about over the course of the show. The only metaphorical device I was unsure on was the use of graffiti in the show. While this is an interesting idea, I feel the execution was a little underwhelming and didn’t have a clear link to the themes, making it seem a bit gimmicky.
Jesus Christ Superstar is undoubtedly an extremely vocally demanding show, but each cast member made it sound easy. Ethan Baird’s angsty, office-bro Judas was stirring, with his performance in Damned For All Time/Blood Money being a stand-out. The raw, vulnerable emotion, contrasted with his pure anger made for a perfect Judas. Lara Kidd as Mary gave such a strong vocal performance that it was no surprise to me that she trained at Mountview – through Kidd’s performance we really felt for her as she was condemned by Judas and pushed away by Jesus. Kidd’s duet with Aaron De Veres who played Peter was beautiful, with both actors working in perfect unity with each other. And of course I have to congratulate Colin Sutherland who played Jesus – Sutherland gave us a very human version of Jesus, really showcasing the solitude and responsibility the character has to face alone – bringing the character down to a more relatable level.
Now this seems to be becoming a common theme in my reviews (maybe I’m going deaf in my old age), but I was very much struggling to make out what the characters were saying throughout a lot of the show. This wasn’t as much of an issue in the less orchestrated numbers, but when the whole band was playing it definitely was an issue. With the nature of the show, I understand it must be very difficult for the audio not to peak, what with the rock-style of singing, but just something to consider. The lighting was some of the best I’ve seen in amateur theatre – I thought the use of gobos was great although maybe slightly overdone by the second act.
What really threw me off in this production was King Herod’s Song – considering the tone of the rest of this production, this huge, camp dance number was very unexpected. When Judas was dressed as George Michael it really seemed like an absolute fever dream. It makes sense for this to be a silly, grand number in the context of the song itself, but in the context of this show particularly, it seemed very odd. Nonetheless the dancers were very talented with a number of lifts and tricks being undertaken.
Conceptually I think the production was well considered, but not quite committed enough to those concepts. If the media angle was pushed heavier, I think this could have worked really well, but for me this wasn’t as out-there as I think it had hoped to be. Despite my negativity I really was impressed by the professionalism of this company – the scale they are performing at is huge and it’s clear both the cast and crew are incredibly dedicated and talented. Southern Light will be performing at the Festival Theatre until the 10th of May so if you like Andrew Lloyd Webber and you like supporting incredible local talent, then don’t miss this!
Reviewer: Jessie Martin
Reviewed: 7th May 2025
North West End UK Rating: