“And it’s 5,6,7,8 ...”
Stepping Out
Newcastle Peoples Theatre
Tuesday 17 June - Saturday 21 June 2014
The People’s Theatre prides itself on the variety
it offers. So as well as regularly performing plays audiences might not have
seen before they are also not adverse to some old favourites too.
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| Stepping Out Cast Photo: Paula Smart |
From Tuesday 17th June they present the
Richard Harris toe-tapping comedy Stepping Out that charts the exploits of the
Mavis Turner Tappers, a class of amateur hoofers who meet once a week in a
scruffy church hall and who are forced to raise their game and work as a team
when they are invited to take part in a big charity show.
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| Mavis (Kath Frazer) and Mrs Fraser (Anne Havis) |
It’s a play so popular with People’s members and
audiences that two of its cast are returning for a third time! Anne Havis returns as acerbic pianist Mrs
Fraser, while Roger Liddle reprises his role as the only man in the class, the
rather hapless Geoffrey. They are joined
by eight actresses brand new to the play, and in some cases brand new to
tap-dancing.
Because Stepping Out isn’t your usual production,
as on top of the typical blocking and line learning there’s the added challenge
of learning how to do the Time Step, the Maxi Ford, paradiddles and much more! Experience
amongst the cast ranges from over ten years tapping to never having worn a tap
shoe before lessons started in March. But under the patient tuition of
choreographer Julie Bowman, Head of Dance at Central Newcastle High School, the routines have taken shape. Julie comments, “it has been great fun to
teach tap to the cast. They have worked very hard to learn and perform. I am
delighted to be part of this company, and am looking forward to the show.”
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| Lynne (Jessica Chapman), Dorothy (Geffen Yoeli-Rimmer), Sylvia (Leigh Denley) and Rose (Eileen Davidson) |
One of the great appeals of Stepping Out has got to
be its characters. They’re a rag-tag bunch from different backgrounds and walks
of life, each coming to the weekly class for their own different reasons. Director Sally Cooper says “the people that
we meet are so diverse and fabulous. They’re each juggling the traumas we all
face in our daily journeys through life. Just about every problem of family,
work, self-esteem, self-confidence and the decisions we make are represented.”
So The People’s Theatre is the place to be next
week to see how Lynne, Dorothy, Maxine, Andy, Sylvia, Rose, Vera, Geoffrey, Mrs
Fraser and Mavis cope with the steps - and each other - in this energetic, feel
good comedy that is the ideal way to step (ball change) into summer!
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| Vera (Alison Carr), Maxine (Jo Kelly), Geoffrey (Roger Liddle) and Andy (Emma Wass) |
Photos by Paula Smart: https://www.facebook.com/thejazzdevilphoto
STEPPING
OUT by Richard Harris
DATE: Tuesday
17 – Saturday 21 June 2014
TIME: 7.30pm
VENUE: The People’s Theatre, Stephenson Road, Newcastle upon Tyne,
NE6 5QF
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