By Ben Mills
The CLV Phoenix reviews the Music and Theatre Department’s latest show, Billy Elliot.
In their annual Easter performance, CLV Music and Theatre Productions have done it again with their latest singing and dancing extravaganza, Billy Elliot.
In this musical/drama, Callum Picton (who has recently been offered a place at the prestigious SA Performing Arts School - his acting talent is truly phenomenal) stars as Billy, a young North East boy growing up in the poverty, politics and general turmoil of the 1980s miners strikes.
When Billy is sent to a boxing class by his father (Tommy Hewitt, Year 12), he instead finds he has a hidden talent for ballet dancing. Under the guidance of his teacher, Mrs Wilkinson (Lindsay Booth, Year 13), his skills blossom to be good enough for the Royal Ballet School. But stereotypes around male ballet, gender and homophobic attitudes prevent Billy from fulfilling his potential, and when his disgusted father finds out about Billy’s dancing, it seems his talent is to be wasted.
Picton gives a captivating performance as Billy, but all the members of the cast have shown their aptitude for acting in flawless portrayals of their characters. Tommy Hewitt as Billy’s father, Jackie, and Lindsay Booth as Mrs Wilkinson give some particularly unforgettable performances.
But the talent doesn’t stop at the acting. With the help of CLV’s very own live student band, dance along to “Express Yourself”, sob along to “The Letter”, get fuming at “The Angry Dance” and of course sing your heart out to “Electricity”. Visually, the dancers of the CLV Ballet Club have gracefully taken to the stage, delivering the audience some truly remarkable performances along to styles as diverse as ballet classic “Swan Lake” and all the Billy Elliot originals, while an impressive set design and lighting scheme perfectly accompanies the tone of the show. The scale of the work which has gone into this performance across all roles from set design to acting to sound balancing to stage management is inspiring.
It’s not just purely the talent which makes this performance so engaging and effective. Billy Elliot ingeniously manages to convey serious themes of individuality, finding your own way in life, family, loss, aspiration and removing the stereotypes which prevent us from being who we want to be in a way which is truly funny, heartwarming and beautiful. A strong political message is also conveyed throughout this show. From the tension between the rich and poor characters to the raucous cries of “Thatcher out!”, the atmosphere of the time and struggles of the working class here in the north - east of England are perfectly captured and conveyed to the audience with passion and accuracy.
Perhaps, at a time when wealth seems to divide society more than ever and prevailing stereotypes, like those Billy and his friends face, widen divisions more, the stark and very sincere message of Billy Elliot is more important today than ever before.
But besides the underlying ideas and messages, it is the dedication and talent which makes this performance as memorable as it is. The stunning actors and actresses, musicians and backstage technicians of the CLV Music and Theatre department have managed to put on a show which is thoroughly entertaining, humorous and dramatic; this is surely one of the CLV Youth Theatre’s best shows yet.
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