Something Old, Something New - Sheffield Theatres Review
The cast of Something Old, Something New. Photo by Chris Saunders
Written by Kirsty for Theatre and Tonic.
Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in return for an honest review. All opinions are our own.
What is a wedding without a little bit of drama? Tess Seddon brings all the dramas and emotions of being in a wedding to life wonderfully in this new piece of theatre which has been brought to life by the Sheffield People’s Theatre. This hilarious and heartwarming piece of theatre was inspired by workshops held with over 200 people from all over Sheffield and the sense of community is clear throughout the show.
Centering on the wedding of Nat and Alex played by Ezzie Nettleingham and Mark Kenny, the audience is definitely made to feel like the extra guests at the wedding ceremony, welcomed by the groomsman and groomswoman as we entered the auditorium. We discover that Nat used to work at the Burton Street Community Centre which had recently closed and sold to developers, and she and Alex would be moving to Surrey after the wedding. Nat is a Sheffield girl through and through and the journey she goes on through the piece is the real heart of the show, and the impact she had on so many people is a truly beautiful story.
Due to a protest at the hotel hosting the reception, Alex, his family and Nat’s friends and family realise that the only place to hold the reception has to be the closed community centre, and with the help of the various groups that used to call the centre home, we see just what people can do when they band together and put someone else before themselves.
In an attempt to delay Nat getting to the reception, Alex enlists his parents, the photographer TJ and Nat’s friend Andre to take Nat to the places in Sheffield that mean the most to her for wedding photos and the locations were truly iconic parts of Sheffield, and with the help of Alex’s mum Patricia we even get a mention to the iconic Hole In The Road which is long gone but never forgotten. Rachael Hope was wonderful as Patricia who thought she had left Sheffield long behind her, but she shows that Sheffield is a city that never leaves you.
The whole cast were a joy to watch, with special mention to Debbie Audus and Ian France who played Nat’s Mum and Dad Trish and Gary. Any scenes featuring them were always hilarious, however there was always real heart and love. I particularly loved the Men’s Group and the Cooking Group, both groups being left without somewhere to meet with the closure of the Community Centre.
The whole cast were engaging and it felt like everyone was there to have a wonderful time. What was so lovely to see in the cast was such a wide cross section of people in the cast, and it was so refreshing to see seamless and effortless diversity in the cast. There was something for every cast member, and the diversity felt preformative or patronising at no point.
What is life without a little drama, and this was brought to the show with the Drama Kids, who acted as the narrators of the piece, and other iconic roles such as the ghosts of the fish from the Hole in the Road. They were all so enthusiastic and such fun to watch.
Something Old, Something New was a truly wonderful piece of theatre, and was undoubtedly a love letter to Sheffield, and shows how important supporting local theatre groups and giving them a place to shine really is. I can’t wait to see what comes next.
★ ★ ★ ★
