ACT Reviews 2022-2023 Season

her situation and courage. This was a wonderful performance, Rachel, and it will remain with me. Charis Deighton as Linda was responsible for many of the funniest moments of the production, and we could also feel her longing for "Sir". Charis's rendition of "I'm In Love with Sir" was another highlight for me. It was both sweet and funny and used the rhyming offered by the Liverpool accent to great effect. Charis was ably accompanied by Kayleigh Hindle as Jackie, and although Jackie did not have as many "solo" moments as Linda, Kayleigh fully embodied the character and provided a fantastic presence for Charis to act against. The rest of the cast

embodied their roles equally as successfully. Beth Whittaker never failed to make me smile, Rachel Kay was every inch the "know-it-all" in stance as well as words. The "bored girls", Sian Maymond and Jess Whittaker were very

relatable and made me laugh out loud every time they gave us one of Russell's rhymes so flawlessly, and Liam Husband, Gary Leonard and Leighton Hunt as "the lads" were fantastic. I especially enjoyed Liam and Gary's manipulation of the elephant puppet: (in fact the animal "reveal" at the end of Act 1 was also a particular highlight of the whole production for me – so funny, unexpected and well portrayed) and also Leighton's scene with Mr Briggs talking about his early introduction to cigarettes which was funny and sad at the same time. The Teachers, David Cross, as Mr Briggs, Marina Butterworth, as Mrs Kay, Liz Wood, as Susan, and Simon Bailey, as Colin, provided a perfect counterpoint to the children. Mrs Kay was desperate to give the children an experience they would always treasure. Colin and Susan were more interested in each other than their charges, and the jaded, long-suffering Mr Briggs, David Cross, had the biggest character development to