Cumbria Dance Drama Group Production – Jungle Book, West Walls, Carlisle. Friday 19th and Saturday 20th February 2010
The jungle drums were beating loudly on Friday and Saturday night at West Walls Theatre in Carlisle as Cumbria Dance Drama Group put on their production of the Jungle Book. If patrons were expecting an amateur production they will have been pleasantly surprised by the high calibre of acting and presentation delivered by this young group of actors.
The story was expertly narrated by Natalia Clark as she led the audience through Rudyard Kipling’s legendary tale. From the moment Kaa (Molly Giles) entered the stage and performed her hypnotic dance the audience were enthralled. Baloo (Harry Wharam), Bagheera (Richard Gibbon) and Mowgli (Joseph Jackson) had a fabulous rapport, which leant itself very well to their performances and eased the audience through the story.
There was a definite Indian theme from the vibrant costumes and dazzling make-up, to the atmospheric music.
The conflicts between the animals were played out very dramatically, and all those children playing more than one role, switched between their roles seamlessly.
The inclusion of the junior drama group was an asset to the story and given the children’s size and ages they were very comfortable on stage and performed extremely well.
When it was time for the interval we were left on the edge of our seats waiting to see how the story would unfold, and were in no way disappointed.
The climax when Shere Khan (Jenny Wharam) was defeated brought the whole production to a very dramatic and timely conclusion.
Both nights received rapturous applause from a very satisfied and entertained house and we all look forward to next year’s production.
Cumbria Dance Drama Group should be very proud of themselves and deservedly so, every child’s performance was fabulous, but of course none of this would have been possible without the talented skill of Debbie Marper (director, choreographer, costumes etc) to whom we are very grateful.
Michelle Jackson
