Summer Holiday

Four young bus mechanics travel across Europe to Athens by bus on their summer holiday. En-route, they meet four girls (one who starts out as a boy), and eventually arrive at their destination with the boy/girl's mother in pursuit. They have many diversions, including romance, song and dance.

• Don - Joe Barnes
• Edwin - Thomas Hodge
• Steve - Dan Hardy
• Cyril - Lewis Slade
• Angie - Laura English
• Mimsie - Helena Rant
• Alma - Lois Coppins
• Barbara - Natasha Graul
• Stella - Emily Parker
• Jerry - Michael Gardner

Reviews

SUMMER HOLIDAY Performed by Pedal at The Beacon Centre, Beaconsfield, Bucks. 21-23 February 2008

When Carole asked me if I would come along to your production of ‘Summer Holiday’ I remembered back many years when as a 15 year old lad I went along to the ‘pictures’ – Chesham’s Embassy Cinema - to watch Cliff Richard star in this exciting new musical film!

In those days Cliff was the British answer to Elvis Presley – who was making 2 or 3 films a year. We all knew and loved the brilliant Cliff and the Shadows’ songs. After so many years I was really pleased that the ‘60’s’ pop songs stood up well and were sung with such gusto by the soloists and ensemble alike. The actual show and the material was a pleasant surprise to me – it was great fun, well staged and in the main well performed by your young cast.

The opening of the show went well. Although voice projection by some of the lads needed a bit more oomph as it was a little difficult to hear all of the lines – the one exception was Ed played by Thomas Hodge – well acted and he had a really confident style.

The Summer Holiday number was a little too static – it needed more movement but was well sung. I thought that Alma (Lois Coppins) had a very good voice but needed to play to the audience more and stop looking around her fellow performers but this was otherwise a nice performance.

Emily Parker as Stella was exceptional – great voice projection and stage presence. Her husband Jerry played by Michael Gardner acted very well but I would have preferred him to have had an American accent. I also really liked Lewis Slade as Cyril – nice sense of comic timing – but needed a little more voice projection.

Don played by Joe Barnes was nicely played with confidence and style as was Dan Hardy as Steve. Mimsie and Angie played by Helena Rant and Laura English sang and moved well. All of the ensemble pieces and cameo roles were played well and confidently by the cast - even when the phone appeared to be mysteriously stage right supported by a hand! I really liked Emma Jewell in her various guises – nice look and stage craft, well done!

Now a special mention for Barbara played by Natasha Graul – you’re a terrific mover and possess a confident look but you must learn not to react to your friends in the audience and not giggle and make faces at them! That having been said the show was a real treat and I enjoyed it immensely. Costumes were very good, lighting and sound were suitably well designed. Matt, the sound man, got off to a bad start with quite a few missed cues but then redeemed himself! Carole’s band was just terrific, choreography was nice and set design was great. Sarah Pinkney’s direction gave a slick, pacy show enjoyed by all – cast, crew and audience – and after all it’s supposed to be fun and entertaining and it was – us oldies in the audience were singing along - very well done to all of you!

Thanks for asking me to review ‘Summer Holiday’ and I wish Pedal well for your future productions.

Paul Woodstock

NODA Support Representative Area 11A