Photo Credit: Chris Nash.
Arthur Kipps (Charlie Stemp) finds himself with a stroke of financial luck, followed by a sticky romantic situation. His interest in both Helen Walsingham (Emma Williams) and Ann Pornick (Rebecca Jayne Davies) results in several misunderstandings and a some almost-broken hearts.
I was lucky enough to see Rebecca Jayne Davies playing Ann, in place of Devon-Elise Johnson. While I didn’t love Davies’ voice, that’s likely to be personal preference rather than any kind of comment on actual talent. Her portrayal of the part was wonderful nonetheless, and her scene with Flo (Bethany Huckle) was particularly memorable. Speaking of Bethany Huckle, she was a versatile and valuable member of the cast, who probably could have told the entire story with her facial expressions. I mean that entirely in a good way.
Charlie Stemp, who lost out on an Olivier this year to Groundhog Day’s incredibly deserving Andy Karl, was also fantastic. His performance screams ‘Laine Theatre Arts’ with his dance numbers seeming as natural to him as a stroll across the stage, but that certainly isn’t a bad thing.
Ian Bartholomew’s ‘Chitterlow’ is invariably optimistic, while Sid Pornick (Alex Hope) offers a light relief to the current political climate with his extreme yet jovial socialist views.
Emma Williams was the real star of the show, though. She is a class act and I sincerely hope that she wins one of those prestigious awards soon because she sure as anything deserves one. Having spoken to her in a Q&A session just before the cast started their warm up, I knew she was Emma Williams who had just told us how wonderful it is to create a role, and I still believed that she was an incredibly upper class Helen Walsingham.
This is the epitome of a production which I would explain to my friends who don’t ‘go and see shows’ as A Proper Musical. In the sense that it’s full of class, a bit old fashioned, featuring tap dancing in the least appropriate of places and absolutely wonderful with it.
Half A Sixpence is currently booking at the Noel Coward Theatre until 2nd September 2017.
Tickets are available from the Noel Coward Theatre Box Office in person or from their Website.
Tickets are priced from £12.50 – £77.50.
A limited number of £20 day seats are released each day from 10.00am in person at the box office.
TodayTix sell tickets up to a week in advance and currently have seats available with up to 46% off, from £15.50. Use code TUNWE to get a further £10 off your order.
Have a look at my guide to good deals on tickets for Half a Sixpence and almost everything else.
Emma Betty is 28 and a nurse in Birmingham Children’s Hospital’s Paediatric Intensive Care Unit. Emma has the Les Miserables 10th Anniversary Soundtrack (On CD!) to blame for her love for Musical Theatre, which she found in her parents living room pretty much as soon as she was old enough to know what it was. She began combining her love for Theatre, the Internet and Writing while she was still at school, through various blogs and on social media. Having moved to London in 2013, she launched Upper Circle 4 years later. A couple of years on, she is delighted to have a small team and is so grateful to those helping Upper Circle to grow every day!
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