I had a fun time shooting the final rehearsal of 'Anything Goes'
As reported by David Kenworthy, Head of Drama at Marlborough College; Jane Darby's sparkling production of Anything Goes was as delightful as the famous Cole Porter song suggests. The treats were more delicious than delovely, packing a real contemporary punch into this 1930s farce set on the cruise liner Americana.
From the moment the audience entered the Ellis Theatre we were treated
to a sumptuous dockside vista, complete with sailors that seemed to have
walked straight off an early 20th Century cigarette card. The
interactive element of this innovative production was set up: we were
guests on a themed cruise, the entertainment – Anything Goes
– but a disaster (in the form of ‘man-flu') required the all-female
crew to recruit men from the audience. The planted male cast were quick
to volunteer – much to the relief of several boys in the Remove.
This
quickly ascended into a very polished and sharply slapstick production
that buzzed and fizzed from one classic musical number to the next.
Perhaps the greatest compliment for this production was the seamless
nature of the musical transitions, the actors effortlessly switched from
dialogue to music putting character and intention before the
school-actor stereotype of ‘showing-off' in front of their peers.
