Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Julie Evans, Phil Birss, Franki Burke, Camille Machin, Jamie Barfield, Jak Malone, Ruth Dalton, Charlotte Dawson, Sarah Hale, Rosemary Barfield, Trev Fleming, Ady Thompson, James Hill, Andy Godden, Carrie Cushman, Edward Feery, Andrew Abrahamson, Clare Fozard, Andy Walker, Tom Lox, Lorna Foley, Eugene Chong Hon Zhen, Sara Barnes, Jayne Strahan, Ellie Gray, Steph Minshall, Zoe Thirsk, Danielle Fernando.

There are times, not often, but on the wonderfully rare occasion, where you think you know how a play or a musical can play out because it is of the immense stature that surrounds its very core that it can only be played out in a particular, perhaps reliable fashion.

Then something happens, your expectations which may have wobbled, as it undoubtedly did for a few in the audience at the Unity Theatre, which had gathered to watch the superb theatre company What We Did Next and their version of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s classic Carousel, suddenly go through the roof. It takes off in such a way that the big production that usually needs the biggest of stages, the mammoth, steely determination of the vast band suddenly felt more accessible, more in tune with the times in which it was conceived for and so much more enjoyable than perhaps anybody sat in the audience could have ever wished for.

Carousel done this well could only perhaps be captured in its sheer will power to succeed because What We Did Next, celebrating five years as a company, are so adept at what they set out to do and in Director Shaun Holdom-Eyles, choreographer Dominique Sze and an incredibly talented cast they raised the bar of what smaller-scale theatre companies should be considering in performing.

With great tracks succeed because What We Did Next, celebrating five years as a company, are so adept at what they set out to do and in Director Shaun Holdom-Eyles, choreographer Dominique Sze and an incredibly talented cast they raised the bar of what smaller-scale theatre companies should be considering in performing.

With the production stripped back in size but not in fabulous content, this was really a chance for the actors and two piano players to really stretch themselves physically and artistically. Not only did it work but during the famous rendition of You’ll Never Walk Alone, it wouldn’t have been surprising to witness the stifled sniffles and a glistening tear running down the cheek of anyone performed by the cast, including You’re A Queer One, Julie Jordan, June Is Bustin’ Out All Over, (When I Marry) Mister Snow, The subtle humour of There’s Nothin’ So Bad For A Woman and of course You’ll Never Walk Alone, the evening was one of pure enjoyment.

The cast, despite the size of the stage they had to work in, gave their all and much more again as anyone who has ever caught a What We Did Next production will attest. Notably Franki Burke as Carrie Pipperidge, Phil Birss as Carousel Barker Billy Bigalow, Jamie Barfield as the righteous Enoch Snow, Jak Malone as the unscrupulous whaler Jigger Craigin, Ruth Dalton as Mrs Mullin and the smashing Julie Evans as Julie Jordan all drove the play home to the extent of being sublime and in particular the chemistry between Jamie Barfield and Franki Burke was electric.

Just because you may have seen Carousel once before done on a grand scale, doesn’t mean you have experienced it. What We Did Next and Shaun Holdom-Eyles should stand up and take the applause coming to them, for it will be lengthy and as loud as the sea that batters the Maine coast.

Ian D. Hall