How To Succeed in Business...WASS

How To Succeed in Business Without really trying, is being presented by WA Stage School from 30th May to 2nd June at the Subiaco Arts Centre.  Having gone last night (31st May) i found this production very light and fun.

It revolved around the young man Finch who wanted to...you guessed it... succeed in buisiness without really trying.  It unrealisticly followed his journey of what seemed to be a few short days. from the moment he was first employed to his first promotion, leading to his second, etc.  we, the audience kept wonder, what does Finch have planned next.

The Character of Finch, played by Cale Watts, kept the audience laughing the whole way through.  his facial expression, body language, verbal communication and movement allowed the character of Finch to continually develop with use of comedy through out the whole performance, not one point being boring.  It  would be interesting to see what Cale was like off the stage to see how much he was like this character.

The relationship between Finch and J B Biggley (the boss) was successful much to the fact that the actors Watts and Robert Woods were so profesional throughout their characterisations and relationships between each other in character.

The female lead of Rosemary, played by Rebecca Daniels, was beautifuly portrayed as being comical on the outside, but dreamy on the inside as she was always dreaming over Finch and "what could be".  The singing was beautiful.  Rosemary's best friend Smitty, played by Briohny Thomas was forever making the audience laugh.  her "Nerdyness" was well sustained throughout the show.

the relationship between Rosemary and Finch needed a little work.  it wasn't convinsing that they were in love. 

the supporting roles were good.  characterisation slipped a bit here and there, and some lines needed to be delivered with more confidence, and it would have been nice to see them "shine" a bit more through uniqueness, but otherwise they were a solid cast.

because some lines needed more confidence, it affected the pace of the story.  a comical line would be delivered, the audience would laugh and then, were left dry untill the next comical bit finally came along, as an audience member i wanted to keep on laughing.

the set changes was something that needed further rehearsal and stylisation.  not every scene and set change needs a blackout.  to add to to comics a dance or movement could have been developed to set up each scene.  the audience were left very borred waiting for the set changes and it took the focus out of the story, reminding us we were in the theatre, and i personally didnt want that.

also were a few technical difficulties throughout the night but were beautifully saved with Ab-lib from certain characters.

over all it was an enjoyable performance, and each time, WA Stage School steps up the productions, i'm looking forward to seeing what tey do in the future... well done Renae, Paul, Bec and Briohny!