Our House

Every now and again theatre companies such as the Genesian, that usually produce dramas, decide to indulge in a musical. Not necessarily one that is well known nor one that requires a large cast, a multi-piece band or a big stage – but a musical, nevertheless. Our House is that sort of musical. It can be staged with a small cast (fourteen in this production), has relatively uncomplicated music (which could easily be have been recorded to disc rather than using a live band); and the action can be adapted to a smaller stage.

The play is set in Camden, London. The music is based on songs written by the ska/pop band Madness (as the title of the play suggests!). The plot follows the two roads that sixteen-year-old Joe Casey could choose to take after breaking into a block of flats to impress his girlfriend, Sarah. The ‘right’ road leads to a custodial sentence and the difficulty of getting on in life with a prison record; the ‘wrong’ road to a life of crime and wealth and a guilty conscience.

Add the ‘spectre’ of Joe’s father (played by Geoff Stone) watching his son make similar mistakes to those he made himself, and his loyal mother (Melanie Robinson), and you have what director Roger Gimblett describes it as a ‘modern morality tale’, or as the London Evening Standard put it: “This is not just laddish humour, it is about adolescent angst, friendship and loyalty, the importance of family and home”.

With music that lends itself to contemporary jazz choreography and the ordinary, down-to-earth London characters created by Tim Firth (Calendar Girls), the play won an Olivier award for best new musical in 2003.

That being said, this is still a challenging production for a stage as compact as that of the Genesian Theatre. Despite designer Owen Gimblett’s effort to use as little of the stage as possible in establishing the ‘bricked in’ atmosphere of a housing estate in London’s Camden, the stage is still a little really too cramped for twelve people to dance.

However Debbie Smith has adapted her choreography to make the most of what space there is by using relatively uncomplicated dance routines enhanced by much more complex arm movements that are extremely effective, especially in Wings of a Dove.

Matt Clark plays Joe Casey. He copes well with the complexity of playing both the ‘good’ Joe and the ‘spiv’ Joe, and the quick costumes changes this involves. He is an engaging performer who relates well with the other characters, especially his ‘adopted’ brothers Emmo (Mark Kruize) and Lewis (Jonty Davies-Conyngham), both of whom are versatile performers.

Sarah is played by Rachel Hertz, who finds both the love and the pain in Sarah’s relationship with Joe in gesture, expression and her singing, especially as their duet, It Must be Love.

Despite the cramped wing space of the stage, and the problems with continuity and movement of props that this creates, especially as one of the songs , Driving My Car, involves, as the title suggests, a ‘car’ that can hold the all of the young characters, this production is fun, and  the energy and enthusiasm of the cast is infectious.

Carol Wimmer

Photographer: Grant Fraser