"Theatricality" by Bear Left Theatre Company.
Bonington Theatre, Arnold.

This was something just a little bit different to what I've seen from Bear Left in the past. A showcase of musical theatre songs and a selection of scenes from dramatic plays.

Nor all went to plan but that's the "fun" of live theatre. Turning these blips in on themselves and making comments about what didn't go to plan shows professionalism which also made the small, but appreciative audience warm to the group even more.

Our MC for the night was Sofia. I loved the casual approach and the comedy, having MC'd shows like this before myself, I know that it's not easy but Sofia made it look effortless.Not an easy feat when she only agreed to the role a week ago.

After the introduction they went into an entertaining version of "All That Jazz" from Chicago featuring Eleanor Mallinson and Danielle Hall as well as introducing us to the whole cast.

Cat Howourth gave us "Every Story Is A Love Story" from Aida followed by a great version of "Pulled" from The Addams Family Musical sung by Danielle Hall. That song had been stuck in my head since I saw the musical a couple of weeks ago.

We had a bit of drama from Lauren Nicole taken from Hamlet and Ophelia's flower speech, and when I say drama I really mean dramatic!

Stacey gave us a belter of a version of "The Wizard And I" from Wicked, followed by more drama from Danielle, Stephi Durand , Marina Kyriacou and Carly Smith with the Sally Nix re write of a section from "Robin Hood"

One of my favourite songs from the "9 To 5" Musical called "Get Out And Stay Out" was belted out by Eleanor Mallinson.

We then found out what "Swans On Strike" meant on the programme with a bit more comedy.

In contract, Carly Smith gave us the famous "Winter of Discontent" speech from Richard III.

More drama from Eleanor, Marina and Carly with three short scenes from Shakespeare's "Macbeth".

Act Two continued with another of my favourites, which I've seen Bear Left perform in full, from "The Importance Of Being Earnest", the tea and cake scene between Cicely and Gwendoline, acted out by Stephi,Marina and Danielle.

More drama comedy, once more from the pen of the Bard and the night fight scene from "A Midsummer Night's Dream" from Danielle, Sally, Carly and Marina..

Danielle next delivered a wonderful song from a musical that I'd not heard of before tonight. the musical is called "Ordinary Days" and the song, which was delivered with such emotion, was called "I'll Be There".

"Make Him Mine" from The Witches Of Eastwick was up next from Cat, Eleanor and Stacey.

I loved the Yorkshire version of "Love Letters", a scene from the Merry Wives Of Windsor, complete with mugs of tea (Yorkshire tea I imagine), headscarves and overalls tha knorrs, A lovely comic slant presented wi accents by Marina and Danielle.

Up to yet I've only mentioned the female section of the cast, but there was one male contigent in Josh Hayes. Josh performed a brilliantly emotive piece from "Doctor Faustus" called Time Is Up. I was expecting this to be good as Josh is a drama teacher for Nottingham Academy of Performing Arts.

The final bows were done to the playout music of "Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life".

A lovely evening of theatre based entertainment from a talented band of actors and singers. Just a shame that more people didn't experience this entertainment as local theatre needs as much support as possible.