Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford – until 30th March 2019
Reviewed by Antonia Hebbert
4****
Well, that was fun. The country might be going mad, but things aren’t completely bad when you can see a daft musical about an ogre who falls in love with a princess who turns out to be an ogre too. Guildford School of Acting students gave their all in this romp of a show, with some terrific ensemble numbers and outstanding individual performances.
The show is closely based on Shrek, the Dreamworks animated film. Aidan Cutler (Shrek) and Bradley Walwyn (Donkey) managed the tricky feat of making very familiar jokes from the film sound fresh and hilarious, with perfect comic timing. Matthew Rankcom was sheer delight as the fiendish Lord Farquaad. Jessica Bates made a funny, feisty Princess Fiona, and wowed us with nifty tap-dancing in one of the best ensemble pieces, involving the Pied Piper and wayward rats. Other ensemble highlights were What’s Up Duloc and the party-like final scene (choreography was by Amy Oxley). All the cast deserve credit: the energy never flagged as they appeared and reappeared as fairy tale characters, guard, villagers and so on in a succession of quick changes. Nick Gartland’s Pinocchio was spot on, and Anna Davey sang dazzlingly as the love-struck dragon (nicely conveyed by a giant stick puppet).
A very enthusiastic audience of fellow students probably helped, but could have been a distraction for their friends on stage. It was impressive that the performers never looked as if they were just playing to the home crowd: they were professional throughout. The set (by UK Productions) had lots of charm. Jenny Sawyer was the director, and the musical director was Michael Cotton, who led the band.