It's Time For Africa

Every once in a while in the entertainment industry there comes a point where the abundance of talent available is referred to as a "Golden Generation".

On a slightly smaller scale and based in no small part on last night's performance of 'It's Time For Africa',  Burneside Amateur Theatrical Society (BATS) are currently in possession of just such a generation.

This was a fund raising show for the benefit of sending two of the performers; Fraser Wright and Emily Baxter, to Kenya to assist in the construction of classrooms for poor and deprived children, who've been driven from their homes. A worthy cause if ever there were one.

For the £7 admission the audience were treated to an evening of dance, songs and sketches that had the - admittedly partisan crowd - whooping and banging their hands together for most of the evening.

BATS fans may be thinking that the format sounds a little similar to the long running Showstoppers series, and in truth you wouldn't be far wrong. However, it was the "young 'uns" (under the moniker of G6) that took centre stage with choreographer/director, Kat Irving; local celeb, Steven Hall in supporting roles and Lakeland Radio's own Simon Yaxley on compering duties.

From the very first moment when Fraser Wright in single spot against the red curtain began to sing the opening bars of "Bugsy Malone" the audience were hooked. As the Bugsy Malone section closed, Elliot Baxter was given the stage and treated us to a drum solo of the highest quality.

Act One was closed out with a reprisal of the Hairspray segment of Showstoppers 13 and despite the reduced number of cast members, proved just as popular the second time around.

Interspersed throughout were a comedy sketch and a haunting dance routine performed by Emily Baxter and Emily Davies (I believe it was called 'I Own You') using domestic abuse as its central theme. Steven Hall was also on hand to perform his audition piece for Britain's Got Talent, which although having seen many times, still makes me laugh.

Act Two didn't let up for either pace or energy as G6 turned their hands to Little Shop of Horrors as Fraser Wright stepped into the shoes of Seymour, which for my money is the role he was born to play. Special mention again to Elliot Baxter who clearly enjoyed playing the part of the sadistic dentist.

Via a tap dance routine from Emily B to the strains of James Brown, "Roxy" (from Chicago) by Emily Davies we arrived at a solo number from the oft criminally overlooked Jennie Mangan.

Two years ago, this shy, quiet young lady would not have said boo to a goose, but it would seem that membership of G6 does not permit reticence and so it was that Ms Mangan emerged onto the stage, front and centre and gave a heartfelt rendition of Vanessa Carlton's "1000 miles" which received an extended round of applause at the close.

The evening seemed to be closing with the lively 'Grease' section which again had the audience tapping their toes, but compere for the evening; Mr Yaxley, informed us that we had a final number to come and thus it was that the evening was closed out with a full cast rendition of Shakira's "It's Time For Africa". The number was used as the encore piece and had the audience up and dancing to round off a fantastic evening.

Having known the cast for a few years now, it is very difficult to provide an opinion on them that isn't biased, however having had the luxury of simply being able to sit back and watch them perform last night, labelling them as BATS' Golden Generation is praise of which they are surely worthy.

Director/Producer, Kat Irving must also take a lot of credit for steering G6 and instilling the “work hard, play hard” method into their psyche.

I would like to take this opportunity to extend my own personal best wishes to the beneficiaries of last night's fund-raising activities and wish them all the best for their trip to Kenya.

Come back safe, Showstoppers 14 needs you!

Up with snow!

Earlier this week 74 people in Egypt lost their lives and over a thousand more were injured following a football match.

Following a football match.

On hearing the reports via the BBC website and comments on Twitter, my initial reaction was one of shock, then sadness and finally anger. Anger, that members of the human race can still inflict this kind of atrocity on their own kind.

Without wishing to be too melodramatic, I was left contemplating – again – the state of the world, when something like this can still happen in this day and age, when we as human beings are supposed to have progressed and evolved beyond feral animals.

Of course, there is no answer for this and ultimately it seems to boil down to the same old thing, that people are – by and large – fine and normal as individuals, but placed within a group of people with whom we have some common ground, things will invariably take a turn for the worse or in this case; savage.

This had been banging around in my head for a couple of days and in addition, I’ve had a cold hanging over me, which hasn’t helped lighten my mood.

In general, I’ve been feeling pretty much “down with people”, what a bunch of scum bags we are etc. and then as I was going into the cinema with my daughter on Saturday, the snow started to fall.

On completion of the instantly forgettable film, we went back outside and joined the winter wonderland. We walked home quickly to collect the sledge I’d bought via a colleague a couple of months ago and headed up and over to the castle and promptly stepped back in time to a more innocent age.

There were plenty of other people who’d had the same idea as us and were flying down the hill on a wide variety of plastic sledges, wooden toboggans and a large sheet of plastic.

My daughter was quickly off and in hindsight we were probably a little hasty in starting from the top of the hill as, shortly after hitting terminal velocity, she flew into some bushes and came out a little shaken, a little annoyed at me but determined to carry on.

I digress. She carried on sledging and each time she trudged back up the hill, I took the time to look at those people around us and something struck me. All those people of varying degrees of age (and ability) were laughing, smiling and generally having some good old fashioned fun.

Light hearted banter followed a spectacular wipe out and there was genuine concern from one would-be entrant to the luge after he’d mounted a fellow slider by accident.

Where ever you looked, people were looking out for each other, taking care not to career into one another or get in the way of someone else’s run.

In short: people were being nice to each other!

Being part of that rare snowy experience has lightened my cloudy mood and served as a timely reminder that at our best we are kind, compassionate and respectful of our fellow travellers on this journey to who-knows-where.

However, rather than having to wait for that perfect winter day, imagine what kind of place the world would be if the human race could show that same kindness, compassion and respect throughout the year?