Little Shop of Horrors
From Monday 6 February to Thursday 9 February the cast and crew of St Mary’s School, Cambridge put on four fantastic performances of Little Shop of Horrors. Students from Year 7 to the Upper Sixth have been working together since September, under the expert direction and musical direction of Ms Esther Roberts (Head of Drama) and Mrs Sonia Gears (Acting Head of Music and Conductor during the run) respectively, to produce an entertaining and finely tuned production.
The “horror comedy rock musical” is set in ‘Skid Row’ in New York, and follows the story of Seymour Krelborn – a poor young orphaned man who works in a not very successful florist’s shop. Seymour, played by Year 9 student Lizzie H. who gave a stellar performance, is in love with pretty blonde co-worker Audrey – a part played by two different Lower Sixth students on alternating nights: Lily B. and Phoebe T. Seymour obtains an unusual plant that looks like a venus flytrap and, early on in the story, discovers that the plant thrives on eating blood! As the plant (which Seymour has named Audrey II due to his love of his co-worker) grows, thanks to Seymour feeding it his own blood, Audrey II starts to attract a lot of attention to the shop, and in so doing brings fame and good fortune to Seymour.
The only problem is that to continue in his success, he needs to be able to keep feeding the plant – which means he needs to find additional sources of blood! Seymour has a run-in with Audrey’s abusive boyfriend, Orin Scrivello who is played menacingly and superbly by Year 10 student Charlie S., and has to make the decision about whether to save Orin’s life, or to let him die (providing essential food for Audrey II as well as leaving Audrey ‘free’ for Seymour to pursue).
The florist, Mr Mushnik, is also played by two students on alternate nights: Beatrice B. and Molly P., both in Year 10. Joining Lizzie and Charlie (Seymour and Orin), Beatrice and Molly take on the challenge of playing male characters. Beatrice explained that her biggest challenge was “working out how to talk and act like a grumpy, middle aged American man” but that she “loved exploring the character and pushing [her]self, as an actress, out of [her] comfort zone”. Each of the girls did a stellar job of presenting themselves as men, and of course the costume, hair and make-up departments (all student-led) also played an essential role in making the girls look like grown men.
As Audrey II, excellently voiced by Year 10 student Eve M., including the infamous line “Feed me Seymour!”, and brought to life by our two puppeteers, Polly C. (Year 11) and Poppy E. (Year 8), continues to grow and grow, the audience is shocked to see the extent to which it has flourished thanks to its diet of human blood! Without wanting to give any spoilers, it must be noted that the production took on the school’s own personality when the finale saw a number of characters who had been killed for/by Audrey II return as zombies to close the show.
The audience was absolutely blown away, once again, with parents telling the school that it was “simply phenomenal” and “absolutely superb”. The dedication from everyone involved in putting on such an entertaining run of performances is clear to see, and we congratulate all members of the cast, crew – without whom props and costumes and lighting would not be in the right place at the right time – and the wonderful musicians without whom the performance would simply not work.
Phoebe T., who shared the part of Audrey, said “I love the fact that everyone comes together as a team and you make new friends from different year groups” – and it really is an excellent opportunity for all of the girls involved to experience teamwork and to gain confidence by stepping out of their comfort zones. We can’t wait to see what the next production will be, in two years’ time.
Click here to view photos from the show.