"Ring Around The Moon" by Christopher Fry and Jean Anouilh.

Lace Market Theatre, Nottingham.

Here's yet another play that I've not seen before, so what's it all about you may ask.

Adapted from Jean Anouilh’s 1947 play "Invitation to the Castle", "Ring Round the Moon", subtitled "A Charade With Music" and first performed 75 years ago, is a whimsical jaunt of love and matchmaking. Set in the winter garden of an estate during a ball, dancer Isabelle has arrived at the invitation of Hugo, a charming scoundrel and twin brother to Frederic, a young man hopelessly in love. However, Hugo believes that Frederic loves the wrong woman--the manipulative millionairess Diana--and wants to use Isabelle to break up the engagement.

At the same time, Isabelle must hide her identity (and melodramatic mother) to play the part of a wealthy socialite. Lady India, Hugo’s eccentric cousin, is the mistress of Diana’s father Messerschmann, but carrying on a secret romance with Messerschmann’s secretary, Patrice. And Madame Desmortes, the hostess of everyone, has just about had it with everyone’s secrets. A gorgeous and tasty confection of mistaken identities and heartbreak schemes.

It all appears to be very confusing and chaotic, in the best possible way, and has echoes of Shakespeare as well as Noel Coward's "The Importance Of Being Earnest" but is fantastic fun.

David Field plays Hugo and Frederic. Frederic is a young man with a heart and the identical twin of Hugo. Engaged to Diana Messerschmann, he blindly follows where love leads until Hugo plots to end his infatuation by hiring Isabelle to lure him away from Diana. Hugo, on the other hand is a scheming young man without a heart. David plays both parts very differently, so there is no mistaking which of the twins he is playing at any time due to how both brothers speak and their physical postures. I say that, but there's one scene where he does not speak, and for a time is an onlooker for a minute or so, so is it Hugo, or Frederic?

Very cleverly staged where David exits the stage as one brother, to return to the stage on the opposite side as the other. Is it theatre magic? James Whitby knows the answer!!

Trev Clarke plays Joshua, the Butler/Manservant/Handyman who manages to keep all of his butlering balls in the air. along with attempting to keep various secrets.

Holly Cooke is Diana Messerschmann, a young lady without a heart. She is engaged to Frederic, whom love has blinded to her true nature, she finally is led to see that she is meant for another.

Max Bromley plays Messerschmann, Diana Messerschmann's millionaire father, in love with Lady Dorothy India. It's not that often that we see Max on stage, but it's treats like this make his appearances such a treat on stage.

Kareena Sims is Lady Dorothy India, Madame Desmermortes' niece and Messerschmann's mistress. There's an hilarious scene with Kareena and Bombelles when they are discussing a certain situation that arises, while at the same time dancing around the stage. It really is amazing just how different a person can look when their hair is done different - I'm not sure if Kareena is wearing a wig but her hair looked wonderful. Her hair style completely transformed her whole face and look. Like Max, I personally don't think we see enough of them on stage.

Will White is Patrice Bombelles and is Messerschmann's secretary, engaged in a secret love affair with Lady Dorothy India. A brilliantly comical role which, at times, was wonderfully over the top, which was just the way the role should be played. 

Mandy Hodgson is brilliant as Madame Desmortes, the aunt of Hugo and Frederic and the hostess at the ball. Shrewd and worldly-wise, she sets to right the confusion brought about by Hugo's hiring of Isabelle to masquerade as an invited guest. Mandy handles the tricky script as adeptly as she handles the wheelchair she is in. A lovely acerbic tongue on Madame Desmortes, but delivered with a twinkle in her eye.

Clare Choubey plays Capulet, Madame Desmermortes' companion. There is a lovely character growth with Clare's role, as when we first meet her, Capulet starts out quite shrew-like, but then when she meets someone from her past, she explodes into an excited little girl, jumping up and down, clapping and giggling away.

Romanville, a guest gently blackmailed by Hugo to pass off Isabelle as his niece and, hence, an invited guest at the ball, is played by Nik Hedges. Romanville is a lovely animated character whose range of emotions are played out wonderfully by Nik.

Fiona Bumann is Isabelle, the ballet dancer hired by Hugo to masquerade as an invited guest at the ball and to win Frederic away from Diana. You see Isabelle grow from a shy, nervous character into a fiery, bold woman who finally stands up for what, and who she wants. You totally believe that Isabelle could be a ballet dancer because physically Fiona has the stature of a ballet dancer. Another funny scene is where Isabelle and Messerschmann are together discussing her payment and they both end up tearing up wads of money; this may not sound funny, but the way that Max and Fiona play the scene is.

Dawn Gutteridge plays Isabelle's Mother, who accompanies her to the ball. Initially she is told to keep out of sight during the ball and then Isabell and her mother can leave in the morning richer and well fed. But Mother has different ideas, especially when she runs into an old friend who she had thought was dead, and soon becomes the centre of attention.

Anthony Owen we get to see near the end of the play as a General Footman alongside Anne McCarroll  playing a Maid.

Directed by Peter Konowalik and assisted by Polis Loizou, they bought this chaotic piece of farce to life on the stage, which they made sure was paced to perfection.

Nik Hedges also is responsible for the sumptuous set design. When you first enter the auditorium it hits you right between the eyes, once you get used to the stage haze, which I didn't really see the purpose of. With an array of variable sized round and red paper light shades suspended to the left, right and centre stage, it was like walking into the lighting department at Ikea. They certainly made an impact, as did the rest of the static scene stage design. 

Lighting Design is by Esther Warren. The boldness of the red light shades was all that you needed really for this comedy to compliment the steady fades for the changing of the scenes. Simple lighting is sometimes all that you need.

Sound Design is by Aaron Connelly. Perfectly cued music for dancing at exactly the right sound level.

Choreography for the several ballroom sections was by Orla McMahon.

The costumes are thanks to Max Bromley and Sue Drew and were, as to be expected, incredibly stylish and beautiful.

Stage Managed by Jenny Timmins with Assistant Stage Manager Russel Lawrenson, they made everything go as smooth as silk and were inobtrusive with the prop changes on set, so much that you didn't even notice they had changed anything. You only noticed when you looked twice.

Props Manager is Rebecca Steele.

The script, while being in places quite tricky, it must be remembered when this play was written, the language was slightly different, is great fun. It helps when delivering lines at this speed that you have an excellent cast of actors who can deliver at pace and still make sure that the comedy comes through with the pace. It is of the style of Wilde, and in parts Shakespeare, so straight away guarantees immense fun. There were real guffaws in the theatre on Monday night, and for a play that is not so well known and where you don't anticipate the laugh lines, this production is a real comic smash. If you want to see something not so well known, and like a good laugh along with some marvellous period costumes with a brilliant cast, then this is the play to see this week.

"Ring Around The Moon" is at the Nottingham Lace Market Theatre until Saturday 28 June.

Photography by Grace Eden Photography.

 "Seussical The Musical" by The Young Performers.

Duchess Theatre, Long Eaton.

The Cat in the Hat tells the fantastical story of Horton, an elephant who discovers a speck of dust containing Whos, including Jojo, a Who child sent off to military school for thinking too many "thinks." Horton faces a double challenge--not only must he protect the Whos from a world of naysayers and dangers, but he must also guard an abandoned egg, left to his care by the irresponsible Mayzie La Bird.

Although Horton faces ridicule, danger, kidnapping, and a trial, the intrepid Gertrude McFuzz never loses faith in him. The powers of friendship, loyalty, family, and community are challenged and emerge triumphant.

It's one of the most colourful and fun shows with the most fabulous and unbelievable of tales; let's face it, when was the last time that you heard of an elephant hatching out an egg up a tree?

It's also quite a landmark production for The Young Performers because this show will be the last show for quite a few of the young actors with this group.

When I first took a look at the programme and spotted that Finn Boswell had been cast as The Cat In The Hat, I knew that the show would be a good 'un with this choice of casting. Great, fun role which Finn took in his stride. He has a very comfortable stage presence and looked great in his black evening suit with that famous red and white striped hat.

Amelia Forecast and Livvy Read share the role of Jojo, the young Whos boy and Mayor's son who Horton hears on the head of a clover. Not sure whether it was Amelia or Livvy I saw tonight (Thursday), but they did a brilliant job, and again great fun to watch.

Horton the Elephant is played by Lewis McDowall. What I noticed with Lewis in this show is what a really distinctive voice he has which sounded great on his own and also really nice in his duet with Ella Charlesworth.

Heidi Parsons plays The Sour Kangaroo. I have seen a couple of productions where a separate actor plays the Sour Kangaroo's baby, but I think the decision to have Heidi carry with her a toy baby kangaroo made her scenes even cuter. Heidi's character may have the title "sour" but this performance was really quite sweet.

Mayzie La Bird was played by Neve Johnson who has an absolute gem of a voice, and I loved the characterization that Neve gives to this naughty bird.

Ella Charlesworth is another of those actors whose voice is always worth listening to, and especially in this role of Gertrude McFuzz, the bird with a short tail who asks the doctor for a finer plumage, and then realises that when she has what she wants is not really what she wants. Her unrequited love for her neighbour, Horton, is tenderly insinuated at in her song "Notice Me, Horton". Ella is one of those young performers who'll be stepping down from this group after this show, but I've seen Ella's past stage work and know that this won't be the last we see of this lovely lady on the stage of the Duchess Theatre.

Mr Mayor is played by Jamie Higgins, who I last saw playing the role of Little John in the Young Performers panto "Robin Hood & The babes In The Wood" at the start of the year. Jamie, like Lewis, has a really distinctive singing voice which I can't remember hearing from one so young. I'd gauge that in a few years time Jamie is going to have a fine bass/baritone voice with the right vocal training.  I would just offer one word of advice though, and that is to slow down just a tad with his delivery of the script, mainly so that we can hear the full richness of his voice.

Mrs Mayor is played with great enthusiasm by Millie Weston.

The Bird Girls are dressed to the nines and resemble the Flapper Girls of the 1920's/1930's, very sophisticated and sounded great. Evie Perks, Lucy Coulson-Jones, Isabella Frampton, Remy-Mae Read and Sophie Longcroft make up the Bird Girls.

The mischievous Wickersham Brothers are played by three young actors who I've seen several times over the last few years and always, separately and together, make me smile; Fin Tomlinson, Alex Povey and Daniel Swan.

Another actor who I've seen many times on stage over the last few years is Will Mellor who was commanding as General Genghis Kahn Scmitz, who was in charge of putting Jojo through his paces in the Whos army.

AJ Chamberlain played Yurtle The Turtle, which is a character that I can't remember seeing before in any other production of this musical.

Dillan Brookes plays The Grinch. There's a nice little cameo bit in this production that features The Grinch which highlights some nice comedy aspects that are presented with ease by Dillan.

 One of my favourite little actors that I've noted from other Young Performers shows is Elijah Green, who plays the Elephant Bird in this show. He almost erupts out of the egg at the end, and with quite a few of these actors moving on up, this might mean that we see Eljah in some bigger roles as he is a joy to watch on stage.

The Whos and Jungle Animals are played by Carly gaunt, Emily Wilkins, Clarissa Armitage, Emily-Mae Taylor, Emmie Simmons, Jess Henshaw, Keeley Rickerby, Olivia Monk and Violet Graney.

Directed by Vicky Byrne, she has really brought the energy out of this group, as well as the fun element, both of which makes this production absolutely fly.

This is one hell of an energetic show and not least where the dancing is concerned. Choreographed by Lottie Ludlow this cast must lose pounds every night from the amazing choreography. There are all styles of dance and I loved the jive sequence where the kicks and flicks were so sharp. Oh and then there's the Latin section, and with those costumes. As one dance expert would say A MAY ZING dahlings! The ensemble during these choreographed pieces were incredible.

Set design is by Roydon Charlesworth. It's set on two very colourful levels which allows loads of space to house this large cast, when they are all on stage at the same time.

The Musical Support is Ben Ward and sounds great. Some of these songs are not the easiest to sing, but with support from Ben, these young actors brought life to this soundtrack. There's some catchy tunes in this musical; tunes like "Oh The Thinks You Can Think", "How Lucky You Are" and "Green Eggs And Ham".

The sound tonight was by The Young Techies: Eva O'Riordan, Gizel Chaparova, Lewis Cuthbert, Maddie Taft and Olivia Michaud. Sound is always the most difficult aspect of a show to get spot on, and there were a few issues tonight, but first night, in my opinion is always the most difficult to get right because the auditorium always slightly distorts the sound as the music and voices bounce off of a full auditorium. This is something that you can only plan so far for in technical rehearsals. There are a lot of bodies on stage all with various mic packs and there are loads of sliders that need to be operated, often at the same time. This group haven't been doing this for that long, but they are doing a fantastic job and are learning as they go with each new production. And where would any production be without the sound superstars?

From start to finish this is the most colourful of musicals. I've seen less impressive and colourful light shows in nightclubs. It is an explosion of colour, and all thanks to Dave Martin.

This must be one hell of a fantastical job to stage manage but Stage Managers and Crew Roydon Charlesworth, Paul Wheddon and the Young Techies did a very smooth job of it.

Now, I must also mention just how amayzing the costumes are in this show. There were pink flamingoes, matching brown monkey costumes, The Cat's slick suit as well as all of the other animal costumes that didn't leave you guessing what they were, and all thanks to Sarah Charlesworth.

An array of props managed by Fiona McDowall.

The show was produced by Zak Charlesworth who also designed the artwork.

If ever there was a cure of the blues, then this show is that. If the NHS could prescribe a medicine for feeling down, then this production would cure all in just two hours flat.

"Seussical the Musical" is at The Duchess Theatre in Long Eaton until Saturday 21 June.

 "Cheshire Cats" by The Watson Players.

Shakespeare House, Derby.

"Cheshire Cats" are a group of charity walkers, Hilary, Siobhan, Vicky, Yvonne and Maggie who are fund raising in the Moonwalk Marathon; walking thirteen miles across London in record time in their decorated bras and trainers. There is a sixth member of the group though who does not quite fit the required physical criteria for this fund raising mission!

Written by Gail Young, she combines all the fun of a group of girls on a night out with the sensitivity and emotion that is involved in these kind of charity walks for breast cancer. This was Gail's first full length play, written in 2005, and first performed in 2006 at the Edinburgh Fringe.

Hilary is the bombastic team leader of the Cheshire Cats, played by Liz Woolley. She is on a mission to walk the race is record time, for a very good personal reason, but forgets that the others are not as physically fit, or as motivated as she is, which causes a few mini disagreements within the group. Hilary's heart though is very much in the right place and we get to see a softer side of the character later on. Love the accent as well as some very quick thinking and ad-libbing in the first act. Who knows if this will be kept in throughout the run? Only one way to find out!

Siobhan is the diplomatic and caring friend of Hilary's and played by Angela Swift. Siobhan is always there to back up Hilary and her aims for the group, but there's another lovely moment in the second act where the roles are reversed between the best friends.

Maggie is a younger mum who replaces one of the walkers at the last minute. Maggie, who always has a plaster on hand for a blister and has put herself forward to lose a few pounds, weight wise, is played by Ciara Beighton. Maggie is a real fun character who nearly doesn't make the run due to her anxiety problem, but thankfully she does and becomes a real team player.

Yvonne is a stressed out, over-worked mum, and friend of Hilary's and played by Angela Barradell. When Yvonne discovers that the newest member of the Cheshire Cats is not a girl, he's a man, she really causes a scene, something that she regrets near the end of the play.

Karen Jones plays Vicky, an artistic and glamorous, middle aged divorcee. She has just found love, or is that lust, prior to the charity walk with a toyboy, and is immediately labelled the "cougar" in the pack of cats. A wonderfully fun character that Karen looks to be really enjoying.

Andrew, played by Jake Perry, is the young, fit toyboy who joins the walkers to raise money and has also found love, thinly disguised as lust, but there's another reason why he is keen to take part in the moonlight walk. Fun to watch and proves just what brilliant chemistry this cast have with the other cast members.

The aerobics instructor is played by Wayne Perry, who also doubles as a charming drunk as well as the photographer, is great fun as he warms the ladies, as well as the audience, up with exercise routines before the walk, creating a real party atmosphere. His role as the drunk who meets Maggie and Yvonne during the walk, is also another lovely character role which extracted an enthusiastic response from the packed out audience.                 .

Madge and Ron are a pair of cockney marshals and are played by Lyn Wynn and Ed Watkins respectively, and provide even more humour as they keep the walkers' spirits up at the nine-mile mark.

James Ash plays a Policeman controlling the traffic at the final stretch of the walk, and Karen Sharratt plays a Train Attendant as well as one of the Marshalls with James.

The cast deliver the script, which includes some lengthy monologue style pieces, not unlike some of Jon Godber's plays, with the natural feel intended by the writer, making the play such an easy watch. By doing this, when certain parts in the play are reached, it makes these sections very poignant.

Directed by Gina Repton, assisted by Karen Jones. This production is like the recipe for your favourite cake. It has to have all the right ingredients in, and in just the right amounts. Gina and Karen have made sure that there's plenty of comedy, blended with just the right amount of pathos - given the subject matter of the charity, this has to be well balanced. There are sections where each Cheshire Cat has a time in the spotlight, quite literally, and we get to know more about them in an almost soliloquy style of delivery, almost in the way John Godber wrote sections of "Shakers" and "Bouncers". 

The scene where the Cats are gathering together before the run in a "packed" hall is well acted, making you believe the lack of space, and even incorporating a couple of audience members in the front row. The belief of organised chaos, especially with the enthusiastic aerobics instructor, comes across really well. The end scenes are emotionally packed, but our spirits are lifted with the final section, allowing us all to have hope even in the darkest scenario. A well paced piece of theatre.

Sound is by John Woolley, and there are plenty of sound effects for John to cue up, as well as a nice train and countryside soundscape.

Lighting design and operation is by Lee Hartshorn, and as you'd expect there are plenty of pinks and purple tones in the lighting design.

The costumes are created by The Crafty Ladies and co ordinated by Patricia Church. Jake's costume that Andrew wears for the walk is something very special!

Props, and there are many of them in this play is by Lyn and Chris Wynn and James Ash. 

I've deliberately not picked any of the cast out for special mention because this is truly an ensemble piece and that is how the cast should be seen as an ensemble who worked together to deliver a comic play that will also tug at your heart strings. You can see that the cast are great friends offstage as well as in the play though due to the chemistry they all have. They'll all have you feline like the cat that got the cream after seeing this lovely piece of theatre.

The Watson Players are also fund raising for Treetops Hospice during the run of the play.

Another successful show for this already award winning theatre group. 

"Cheshire Cats" is at Shakespeare House, Kedleston Road in Derby until Saturday 21 June. "Meeeeooowww"