2007

Autumn 2007
The Crucible

by Arthur Miller

16th-19th January

“Menacingly told by a young cast. The mass hysteria at the heart of the Salem Witch trials is superbly captured by the splendid Stage2. What better way for the company to celebrate its 20th anniversary than Arthur Miller’s excellent play, grippingly told by this talented young cast. The astonishing production ultimately pits innocent John Proctor, brilliantly played by Scott Westwood, against the zealous witch finders headed by Reverend Parris and later Deputy Governor Danforth, equally well played by Matthew Urwin and Mike Haydon.” Evening Mail

Autumn 2007
ICE

devised by Stage2

19th-21st December

Invent. Create. Evolve. It’s time to melt the ICE! In order to complement the ‘adult’ and harrowing The Crucible‚ revived for the new year in 2008, Lucy Bailey led our younger members in a devised production in BSA’s Studio at Millennium Point. The audience were treated to a civil war between two opposing groups of jelly babies – The Jelly Teens and The Jelly Globs. This show saw a first (and fantastic) professional lighting design by Dave Mooney who had joined us 4 years before on our Technical Training course and worked his way up to our Technical Leader before leaving us to work freelance at some of the venues where he trained – The Crescent, The Hippodrome, The Town Hall…

Summer 2007
Two

by Jim Cartwright

19th-21st July

“Jim Cartwright’s award winning play is usually for two actors involving just the fiercely bickering Landlord and Landlady. But Stage2 have cleverly adapted the bitter-sweet drama to involve virtually the entire company of 9-21 year olds. Yolanda Kettle and Luke Waite are outstanding as the feuding couple who run the pub and Scott Westwood is the pick of the ‘regulars’ as the vicious bully Roy.” Evening Mail.

Yolanda Kettle went on to perform at the Royal Court and tour China with the National Youth Theatre (even appearing in the handover of the Olympic Games 2008) before taking up a place at LAMDA.

Spring 2007
Much Ado About Nothing

by William Shakespeare

18th-21st April

“However many times I see this ever changing young company, I am unfailingly amazed at the wealth of talent that director Liz Light contrives to fashion. This time it’s a slice of Shakespeare, served up by a cast of 70 to yield a boisterous result that defies you not to be enraptured. It’s very funny too – thanks in no small measure to Rowan Turner-Powell, a miniature Dogberry who is word perfect, joyous in his gestures and clear in his delivery. Here is a youngster destined to go far.Mastery of the script as is expected of Stage2, is universal. There are a host of powerful performances – Carly-Jayne Hutchinson a fiery Beatrice, Billy Coughlin (Benedick), Matthew Urwin (Claudio), Ellie Jurczak (Hero) and Lucy Bailey as Leonata – are all remarkable. This is a clean-cut production that brims with life, that often overruns the auditorium and that even uses outsized puppets in its wonderful trial scene. It’s a joy of ingenuity. A Great Ado.” Evening Mail