Review
Published: Wednesday 02 September, 2009 by Philip Horton, Bath Chronicle
Next Stage Youth has split into two for this production, playing alternate performances and the first night was for the younger group. Younger in this case meaning from 11 years old and upwards – the sort of age when fun usually involved a catapult or matches for me.
Luckily this group has more ambition, and the play isn't really about Lady Macbeth but adolescence and the problems that abound at that stage.
This year the school play is Macbeth and the auditions for Lady Macbeth loom. Lily and her friend Mon(ica) are not the chosen few in this class.
They are considered the "dull and dumb" by the svelte chosen group who rule here, sneering at those who don't match up.
Lily and Mon are aware of their position. "Do you think I'm me because I want to be me?" Mon asks Lily. But Lily can dream and Lady Macbeth is everything she isn't.
The pair imagine elaborate deaths for their perfect classmates and Lily stuns with a great audition, finding her dream in literature.
I can't imagine that the older group will be any less fascinating.
It's a clever, quite witty, play. The cast has a lot of fun, as does the audience, and it's interesting to guess who'll go on in this business to be seen in years to come when we'll say, "Do you remember when they were in ...?"
There are performances each night until Saturday at 7.30pm with a matinee on Saturday at 2.30pm. Tickets cost £7/5 on 01225 428600 or on 01225 463362.