Beauty and the Beast – Church Hill Theatre
We all know that opening nights can go one of two ways; either a riot of mistakes ,technical blunders and missed lines or that rare perfect explosion of nervous energy which propels the production to new heights. I’m happy to say that tonight, on April Fool’s day, this is no blundering joke, instead it is one of those unique stunning, wonderful events.
But this is no happy accident. Whether by stick or carrot, Director Louise Sables pulls off a masterclass of amateur direction and casting, to marshal the talented folks of EMT to tell a simple story with real emotion, humour and clarity, and at a pace that many a professional production would only dream of, whilst eking out a meagre budget in all the right places.
Take the costumes for example: to open the programme and find that the ...