Hadestown: Teen Edition
Anais Mitchell
Directed by Cat Nicol
Behind the Bars
ADC Theatre, Cambridge
Star rating: 4
Hadestown is a hauntingly mesmeric piece and to see it carried off by a company of talented 14 to 19 year olds is quite a treat. Their work buzzes with energy and enthusiasm.
The catchy folk/jazz music, often very lyrical, captivates from the first bar of that exposed trombone solo (Ellie Curson – excellent) at the start. The rest of the band does a fine job too, under Sam Kirby’s direction from keys. Musicians are seated upstage with a corridor through so that cast and players become an integrated unit. There are also two very competent actor musos in the ensemble (George Ducker and Nafsika Kazani.)
Jennie Youngs, as Hermes who narrates and directs the two timeless love stories within the plot, finds exactly the right level of sassy insouciance. She’s a very engaging performer to watch with the wings on her bomber jacket and wild blue green hair. Youngs sings in a rich mid range voice too, every note and every word made to speak with just the right level of American inflexion.
Hades is a gift of a part for stage dominance and drama and Laurie Jones carries it off with aplomb. His Hades is suitably chilly, ruthless and dominant until we finally see him, softened, with his beloved Persephone once the agreement is made. Jones has an intensely powerful bass voice which belies his 15 year old stature. Naomi Mallabone more than matches him. She’s an unusually mature actor and singer and has a gift for nuanced facial expression.
Then there’s Elin Gregory as the vulnerable, wistful Eurydice and she tears your heart out with her anguished singing. And Charlie Dawe, complete with guitar creates a charismatic Orpheus with the requisite beautiful singing voice.
The Fates (Ceana Arnold, Grace Maynard and Isabelle Holme) work well together as a menacing trio and provide some attractive harmony singing.
And so to the backbone of the show: the ensemble who are workers in the hell which is Hadestown. My goodness they’re slick. Movement director Frances Sayer has them providing repetitive angular movements to represent machines and it’s seamless. So are the dance interludes.
Behind the Bars has been producing theatre in Cambridge for fifteen years. This is their first foray into youth theatre and they did it, the director told me after the show, by holding open auditions. The result is an achievement to be proud of and I hope the company has are plans for more youth theatre very soon.
