The Seven Deadly Sins - A 'Sung Ballet'

Don't let the title put you off - This was actually very good. Performed tonight by the Musical Theatre Society, it was Kurt Weill's satirical 'sung ballet' and his last collaboration with Brecht (Brecht! says the over excited drama student inside of me recognising a name!)

The play, or ballet, or opera or whatever you would like to classify it as focuses on Anna, played by two actresses as Anna 1 and 2. Anna 1 is the singer and the rational side of the character whereas Anna 2 is the dancer and the more emotional irrational side. She leaves her home in Louisiana and moves to various American cities to earn money and as she does so commits the 7 deadly sins in each city. The voice of Anna is complimented throughout by the thoughts of her family.

The stage and set was simple. Both Anna's sang and danced centre stage while the family had simple bits of furniture downstage right to portray their home. The scene changes were a bit of a distraction however because they happened underneath the action centre stage. The lights were again simple but effective some nice uses of blues and greens, especially in the 'envious' scene. The orchestra were fantastic, very atmospheric and conducted extremely well by Lee Tsang.

This was a well cast show. Anna 1, the singer was played by a recently graduated masters degree Music student and her voice was strong enough to be heard over the full orchestra. Eve, who played Anna 2 did well in portraying the more emotional stroppy sister and had some wonderful facial expressions at points throughout the play. Hull University's barbershop quartet added a nice comic touch throughout the show, especially with Ryan as one of the bass singers playing the mother's part in a pink dressing gown and wig. The only problem was that some of the solos couldn't be quite heard over the orchestra.

Although a short show running at only about 45 minutes it was enjoyable and well performed, I felt there could have been more of an audience there to support and hope that the matinee showing drew more of a crowd.