The Good Person of Szechwan
Basingstoke Youth Theatre
The Haymarket

THE lucky young performers from this group – which is affiliated to Proteus Theatre Company, Central Studio and Anvil Arts – benefit from staging their performances in the town’s historic Haymarket theatre. 

It must be wonderful to avail of the dressing rooms and all of the rest of the full theatrical experience offered by putting on a production in this venue and I am sure that the town’s other youth theatre groups would relish a similar opportunity.

This year’s production was a treatment of Bertold Brecht’s Good Person of Szechwan, with the setting altered to focus on 1950s Russia and the Ukraine, rather than China. Co-directors were Amanda Affleck-Cruise and Ross Harvie. 

On Sam Pine’s predominantly red set, a tank rolled relentlessly forward to intimidate and oppress the gathered crowd as a young man delivered an intimidatingly long opening monologue.

Watched by “supreme commanders” (the gods of the original text), the lead character Monika (Enya Murphy-Mauchline) was given money and opened a tobacconist shop, only to find herself immediately overburdened by the demands of the poor and needy who came calling. 

The young performers, projecting well throughout, also delivered a number of songs. A lucky few had the opportunity to work with Nick Ash’s puppets, which were utilised as young children.

Basingstoke Gazette:

The audience of supportive family and friends watched as Monika regained control by donning male dress and pretending to be her own cousin, culminating in a dramatic courtroom finale.

Well done to all, especially Enya for her hard work in what was clearly a very demanding dual role.

CAST: Thomas Affleck-Cruise, Thalia Baylis, Dan Bentall, Scott Bentley, Dexter Bird, Grace Blakely, Raphael Bori, Oliver Cooper, Alex Dimasco-Anderson, Jenny Dimmock, Rosie Duncanson, Joe Hemchaoui, Kai Hendren, Edward Howard-Jones, Meabh Howell, Megan Mason, Enya Murphy-Mauchline, Dominic Payne, Kim Rose, Isobel Rubin, Daniel Scaffert, Holly Sephton, Luke Telling.

Find out more about Basingstoke Youth Theatre and the Central Studio and Proteus Young People's Theatre online at proteustheatre.com, call 01256 354541 or email info@proteustheatre.com.