Fiddler on the Roof

Having never before seen 'Fiddler on the Roof', I went in to the production at the Old Mill Theatre with an open mind in the hope of enjoying myself - and enjoy the show I did. Generally speaking the cast has done very well, particularly the main cast members, as has the chorus. A special mention must be made however for Scott Burns as Tevye. In a word - sublime. His performance struck me as being professional standard, and I must admit to being shocked when I read the programme and discovered that, apparently, Scott has only previously done productions at Roleystone theatre. As an example of the quality of the performance by Scott, not only was his accent fantastic but he never broke character. In one scene he jumped out of 'bed', quickly noticed the bottom button of his costume was undone, covered himself, and continued without missing a beat. At the end of the performance a number of items fell out of the wheelbarrow. He apologised to the audience member and thanked them for returning the items all in a sombre tone and with the accent firmly in place. An amusing incident and yet one handled with aplomb. I must also admit to taking a liking to Angela Padley as Yente. Perfectly cast as the elderly matchmaker, she was a delight in all of her scenes. All of the remaining major cast have done terrific jobs and two extra scenes stood out for me. The proposal scene between Perchik and Hodel was great, and the confrontation between Tevye and Chava was a standout. The chorus also deserves praise in creating a real 'community' feel to the various scenes, and for really bringing the songs in the play to life. Everyone looks the part and looked to be putting 100% effort in. There were some downsides to the performance however. Whilst her performance was good as Tzeitel, Katherine Friend is just too old to be playing a young daughter. This is nothing against her acting abilities, only that it is jarring to have her claiming to be a young daughter whilst we have in the chorus 'mothers' who are clearly much younger. It unfortunately breaks immersion and stretches credibility. Perhaps the worst aspect of the play is a certain prop. This prop is rolled onto the stage to represent the front of the tailors store, however there are a number of problems with this. Firstly it is completely, utterly pointless. The prop is placed with the narrow end facing the audience, so the only time the window/store front is seen is when it is being placed on, or taken off, the stage. Secondly it takes time to bring onto and take off the stage. This breaks the flow of the performance, and in our showing, a woman clad in black (clearly not a performer) walked onto the stage to lock down the wheels of the prop, and seemed in no hurry to leave the stage. Finally, it seems to present a safety risk. A number of times the prop quite clearly moved whilst being walked over by performers. I was concerned at this point that a cast member would walk over the prop, the prop would slide, and the cast member would fall and possibly injure themselves. One then has to wonder why this was being persisted with. Other downsides included the Grandmother in the 'dream' sequence being too quiet in her singing, as were a few of the Cossacks. Some of the Cossacks are girls - the cast know they're girls, the audience know they're girls. So why I must wonder do they have fake moustaches on? To be honest it looks ridiculous, and perhaps this is the point, but it does seem odd. They too could have been louder, but overall put in a good showing. The last negative point I would make is about accents. Tevye has a superb accent, and a few others seem to have put some effort into utilising their own accent. However other members of the cast have just as clearly put no effort whatsoever into trying to present a credible vocalisation of their character. It provides a strange contrast in the production, which would have been that much stronger and immersive with proper accents all-round. An additional mention has to be made for the actual Fiddler. Initially I thought the Fiddler to be an actor pretending to play the instrument, and realised at the end of the play that he was in fact playing for real. A great extra touch that brings much more to the play rather than using canned music. Overall, a great performance. There are a few issues, but this is to be expected in any performance anywhere in the world. Some members of the cast have done exceptionally well and should be congratulated on their efforts. The chorus is very solid and energetic, the overall plot is well acted, and the songs are sung to a high quality. Thank you to all involved.