Review of The Outside World - written by Tony Watts

A hundred years ago the railway came to Wrington. Writer Tony Watts set
Julie Marshall the challenge of staging his play on the railway's arrival -
"The Outside World" - using 75 children aged from 5 to 17. In the event,
they acted, danced, sang and smiled their way through a couple of hours of
brilliant entertainment.

Julie acknowledged the great help she received from Sandra Gilling, a line
dance instructor. A slick routine from Night Fever was but one example of
some polished movement.

The simply-told story traced the arrival of the railway - despite protests
by disapproving locals - "We don't want no Bristol folk coming to live
here!"... "the animals would be frightened and the children knocked down".

There was romance - when the young Irish navvies came to build the line and
the local girls went along to eye them up... oh dear! The parents did not
approve. I loved Abi Baker's portrayal of stiff-backed moral indignation.

In spite of this, Ruth (Heather Bullen) eventually goes to Canada where her
Irish suitor (Robin Sheridan) had prepared a home for her. Who taught these
three lads how to speak with Irish accents? Spot on!

I thought the Irish dance, complete with costumes echoing the national
colours - orange, green and black - was beautifully done. In fact all the
costumes were so evocative: girls in pinafores and flounces, the boys in
knickerbockers.

Neil Vaux brought an authoritative air to his role of officialdom - he
really sold the idea of a wider world out there to the populace - no more
struggling up Redhill in the snow! Thank goodness for God's Wonderful
Railway.

The past and present were cleverly linked with the group on stage
representing the modern age, equipped with a computer and surfing on the
web to link up the families from Wrington and Canada. Gran started it all
with a photo album and the final outcome was the relatives arriving from
Canada at Bristol Airport - the modern day equivalent of the railway.

I was amused by the reference to the Reading Room - one villager had been
reading the newspapers there and was highly suspicious about the proposals
to bring the railway through the valley.

Another lovely touch was the scene where two girls chatted by a stile - the
only thing was, I thought the distressed green paint was too modern - just
nit picking!

The playground singing games - "Dusty Bluebells and others - were nostalgic
to older people in the audience and have been sung for generations in our
local schools.

I can't leave out the Canadian end of the family - Kay-Marie Dors and her
grandchildren had convincing accents.

Julie told me that the very young performers came with their parents to
collect older siblings from rehearsals and were dying to join in - and
didn't they dance and smile! Brilliant - and some only 5 years old.

An important development in this Junior Drama Workshop is the increasing
involvement of the youngsters in backstage work, and of course the front of
house boys. Oliver Willems made a gracious thankyou speech at the final
performance. How lucky they are - and we are - to have such a group in the
village.

.

Rosemary Hodges