Set at the fictional Townsville Comprehensive School, Kiddy-fiddler On The Roof is a high energy musical satire, produced by The Bad Taste Ideas Factory and incarnated by a cast of twenty all-singing all-dancing actors.
Marigold (played by Meg Powell-Chandler) sweetly lisps her way in to our hearts, as she sings of her unrequited love for her fellow teacher, Arnold (Will McCallum). He too longs for her and moons about wishing he had the nerve (or, as he sweetly sings, ‘b*llocks’) to ask her out. However, he sets himself up for disaster when he sends half of his history class, including a beleaguered Peter, to detention for being unruly. Peter is a fifteen year old struggling to come to terms with his homosexuality, and rejected by his beloved Mr. (Arnold) Finkler, tells his mother that he was fiddled by him on one of their fishing excursions. Meanwhile, at the advice of students Moesha, Keisha and Oleisha, Arnold and Marigold express their love for each other whilst standing on the roof of the school. They disappear to consummate their love, and return to the roof rather dishevelled, to find a crowd gathering below and pointing at, as you may have guessed, the accused kiddy-fiddler on the roof. After a near lynching, Peter confesses to his falsehood and our lovers are reunited. However, this not before the headmaster, the matriarchal gossip columnist and the newspaper editor meet their untimely end in a rather bizarre episode involving a pig mask and a bag of money.
Aside from the odd stumbled line, the singing and acting were generally very good. Of particular note was the rather sexually explicit and inappropriate headmaster (Sheridan Edward), the overbearing gossip columnist (Tor Lupton) and Moesha, Keisha and Oleshia (OJ Johnson-Sherlock, Illana Lever and Thishani Nadesan) who are fantastic as schoolgirl chavs - though one does wonder if they were simply plucked from the local comprehensive (rather than being the Oxford students the program claims they are). The supporting cast, including the ‘fattie’ (John Bainton), the oaf (Charlie Mallinson), the newspaper editor, his assistant and the parents of the PTA are also excellent.
Overall, this was a highly entertaining and professional student production. It is about two and half hours in length, including an interval. Please note that the show includes language and situations that may offend some.
Marigold (played by Meg Powell-Chandler) sweetly lisps her way in to our hearts, as she sings of her unrequited love for her fellow teacher, Arnold (Will McCallum). He too longs for her and moons about wishing he had the nerve (or, as he sweetly sings, ‘b*llocks’) to ask her out. However, he sets himself up for disaster when he sends half of his history class, including a beleaguered Peter, to detention for being unruly. Peter is a fifteen year old struggling to come to terms with his homosexuality, and rejected by his beloved Mr. (Arnold) Finkler, tells his mother that he was fiddled by him on one of their fishing excursions. Meanwhile, at the advice of students Moesha, Keisha and Oleisha, Arnold and Marigold express their love for each other whilst standing on the roof of the school. They disappear to consummate their love, and return to the roof rather dishevelled, to find a crowd gathering below and pointing at, as you may have guessed, the accused kiddy-fiddler on the roof. After a near lynching, Peter confesses to his falsehood and our lovers are reunited. However, this not before the headmaster, the matriarchal gossip columnist and the newspaper editor meet their untimely end in a rather bizarre episode involving a pig mask and a bag of money.
Aside from the odd stumbled line, the singing and acting were generally very good. Of particular note was the rather sexually explicit and inappropriate headmaster (Sheridan Edward), the overbearing gossip columnist (Tor Lupton) and Moesha, Keisha and Oleshia (OJ Johnson-Sherlock, Illana Lever and Thishani Nadesan) who are fantastic as schoolgirl chavs - though one does wonder if they were simply plucked from the local comprehensive (rather than being the Oxford students the program claims they are). The supporting cast, including the ‘fattie’ (John Bainton), the oaf (Charlie Mallinson), the newspaper editor, his assistant and the parents of the PTA are also excellent.
Overall, this was a highly entertaining and professional student production. It is about two and half hours in length, including an interval. Please note that the show includes language and situations that may offend some.