Some laughs, some pathos

Stepping out. Kapiti Players 3 Aug 23

🌟🌟🌟

It was an exceedingly cold evening and it was a difficult decision to get out of the house to see a show that I knew nothing about other than some posts I had seen on the Community Theatre page. The story revolves around a group of strangers who get together once a week for a dance class and over the course of a number of weeks we discover about each of the characters, building up to a public performance that most are not prepared for. The framework of the story is solid, but I found it far too long with a less than satisfying resolution. I enjoyed the dancing. The cast have obviously spent a lot of time going through their routines and delivered a great finale performance. The set design was functional, though I found some of the scene changes in blackout to be a bit too long before we started up again. Lighting was good. Mostly basic but worked well. Costuming deserves a special mention as I thought they did it really well, especially knowing the budget constraints of community theatre. The performers were on the whole pretty good, but there were two standouts, Sarah Wilson playing Maxine was wonderful in her role and Regina Castle as Vera stole most scenes she was in as a blunt upper class woman who just can’t stop talking. She had the majority of the killer one liners and relished in their delivery. Samantha Edwards as Mavis also deserves a mention as she had a solo tap number and did it well. Overall, I really did enjoy this show, as did the people who I sat with. I also wanted to give a shout out to a couple of the cast from the last KAT show that were there last night. It’s great to see other theatre companies supporting each other. That’s what community theatre is all about.

I hope you enjoy these reviews. As it’s is community theatre, I want to highlight positives and support our thriving theatre community.