Puss in Boots Review

The Year 2 Musical Theatre students put on a production of Puss in Boots and on Wednesday 16^th December, we got the chance to watch it in the theatre at our college. The first few minutes of just walking into the theatre and glancing around the stage clearly showed that they put a lot of effort into designing the set design and I was very impressed to see such detail. It was almost like it was a huge production at the Royal Theatre and I was intrigued by the leaflet I was given showing the cast and the chapters of the play when I walked in through the door.

Those few moments of the characters being introduced I thought that was spectacularly funny and a great way to start the show. By looking at their costume, I could clearly see who is what character because the costumes were so detailed and the actors managed to adapt the way their character speaks for example, the actress playing Puss had probably researched the way cats move and adapted that to put into the show to make it more believable. The students in the play had great projection through the microphone and the articulation of the words was perfect. I think that being committed to the pantomime, working hard for the past few weeks on it and memorising yet still remembering all of their lines must have been very exhausting and quite hard however it all paid off as they gave their best of their ability to make sure the show went perfectly. On top of that, they had songs to learn and dance moves too which I thought worked well in the show.

Throughout the show, some of the original parts were changed to fit the modern period so the audience can relate and I found myself doing so. This way it engaged the audience more. The whole show in general was very humorous and genius for example, I liked the idea of having a rabbit toy in a remote control car to move it around, it was a great laugh seeing Jack and Puss chasing after the rabbits as they drove around the stage. I noticed that the set changes and the lighting were precise and in time with the music which showed that remembered their ques. The music and the light changes really set the mood and made it more engaging. The backdrop set the scene and it give the audience an idea of where the characters are and what scene they’re in.

I particularly liked the character Hettie Quette as she was a very funny character and enthusiastic, she was very confident in engaging with the audience by speaking to them and also being a bit flirtatious to one of the boys in the audience which made it even better to watch because of the reactions given. Moreover, I thought they all did a great job in maintaining their character throughout the show.

On the other hand, I noticed a few things that could’ve been improved such as the singing; it was off pitch at times and not all the right notes were hit however it’s understandable because not everyone was born a professional singer and also their vocals seemed quite tired from delivering all those lines. Also, I felt that some of the lines of some characters were quite rushed so it was quite hard for the audience to catch what they’re saying because they were speaking too fast or weren’t that clear. They could improve that by slowing down and taking their time with their lines to make it sound perfect.

To conclude, the whole show was brilliantly put together by the technical theatre crew and an amazing performance was given by the musical theatre students.