Images by Peter Buncombe
Lisa Clatworthy joined The Addams Family for dinner, dancing and singing
Start 2016 with a giggle (or three) at the ADC where the musical comedy The Addams Family is playing this week
I have a full disclosure to make: I’m not an Addams Family fan, I’m not even a fan of musicals, but I love a good comedy and this show from the Cambridge Theatre Company is full of laughs. OK, so the laughs are quirky and dark, but they’re still suitable for all the family; young and old were certainly laughing at opening night.
The premise of the show is that daughter, Wednesday Addams is in love with Luke, a boy from a normal family (is any family normal?). Wednesday is beautifully acted and sung by Nadia Saif as she navigates her way through the disconcerting feelings that love has brought her. While she is ably accompanied by parents, Morticia and Gomez, for me there were two scene stealers: Uncle Fester and Alice, Luke’s mother.
Tim Meikle as Uncle Fester never missed a beat, and had the audience in stitches with his off-key love song to the moon and his ukulele playing. But for utter craziness, look no further than Claire Mead as the uptight, advice-toting, rhyming obsessive Alice – wonderful tics and a great physical transformation.
The stage set is itself worth mentioning; I particularly loved the signposting. The craziest and possibly best bit of stagecraft though has to be the arrow scene. Sorry, but I’m not revealing the details, you’ll have to see it.
All credit to the band too, who kept up a wonderful pace from their lofty position (above the stage).
The final words, ironically, have to go to Lurch. Grunting and lumbering superbly all the way through, Lurch (Dominic Bright) puts in a great finale.
The Addams Family is on at the ADC until Saturday 9 January.
