Oliver
Theatre

Play On!

18 January 2025

Play On was a jazz-version of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, set in 1940s Harlem. The performance was great- the singing was spot on, and the choreography was so in sync it was absolutely incredible to watch.

The choreography was snappy and syncrhonised!

However, for me, the play was let down by a pretty floppy script - the first 30 minutes lacked momentum, and the second half was decidedly ropey. If you pivoted from looking at it as a musical and more as a concert, these issues resolve themselves!


As well as this, while the lighting had some nice moments, it felt a bit... flat. Throughout. There were big, upbeat numbers where the stage was... warm white. It just felt like it lacked something. The set too was decent, but just lacked a bit of the sparkle that the performers brought to the production.

Overall, really good, but could be amazing with just a few tweaks!

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