28 Feb 2024
Deborah Heath joins the Company of Teens at the Abbey Theatre for this wartime classic…
It is an absolute pleasure to review St Albans theatre and this weekend I was lucky enough to be invited to two shows in one day!
Leaving the Gang Show behind, I went hot foot to the Abbey Theatre to be treated to a production of one of my favourite childhood novels – ‘The Machine Gunners’ by Robert Westall. Stories do not get much better than this wartime adventure which has everything you want from excitement, humour to tearjerking moments. I was delighted to find out it would be in the hands of such a fantastic youth company.
In fact, one of the most exciting things about the Abbey Theatre is seeing new talent emerging from Company of Teens to Ten and sometimes in fact the overlap, for instance in ‘She Kills Monsters’, their previous production.
In ‘The Machine Gunners’, the young cast performed with a skill and professionalism that belied their age, lead by director Matt Hughes-Smith who wanted to challenge the audience to consider the role of children in wartime past and present. He certainly succeeded in this intention, leaving me considering children caught up in the current worldwide conflicts.
‘The Machine Gunners’ tells the story of five unlikely school friends, who find a shot-down Nazi plane, complete with machine gun which they steal to man their own hideout, “fortress caporetto”. These five lead actors worked together as a great team and were all at one with their characters.
I got a sense that they had a lot of fun as a group which meant the humour was particularly well timed and intuitive. This group was headed by Henry Gaskin who had been perfectly cast as lead Chas McGill with an impeccable Yorkshire accent and the skill to command every emotion. I loved Darcey Jones’ sassiness and Ethan Kennington-Smith’s anxiety.
If there is one thing that could have elevated the show even higher for me, it would have been for every character who was supposed to have a Yorkshire accent to use one. However, I do understand that sometimes a directorial decision needs to be made to sacrifice this for the good of the play if accents aren’t spot on. Those who attempted it did a great job and I am sure that Matt Hughes-Short made the right decision for his cast.
On this subject, I was blown away by two young performers’ vocal work throughout the show. Benedict Gaskin, having performed with a perfect German and American accent in previous shows, now sported an absolutely convincing Glaswegian accent as strong man Clogger. Wesley Stow-Hazell as German pilot Rudi was utterly convincing in his role. These two actors demonstrated great strength throughout.
One of my very favourite moments in the play was the touching farewell scene between Rudi and Nicky, played with perfect sensitivity by Sam Jones. This was a brilliant partnership thanks to some spot-on casting.
With such a large cast, I cannot mention everyone but there really weren’t any weak links. Even those in smaller roles impressed me, such as Ash Webb as teacher Stan Liddell and Eva Shipley as Chas’ mother, who both showed a great command on the stage and their character.
It is attention to detail that sets a Company of Ten/Teens show apart. Once again, the set and props were beautifully made. The skilfully made double-decker fortress was wheeled on and off the stage with ease. The fight scenes had been extremely well choreographed and were high points of the show. I also appreciated the soundtrack of well-chosen wartime songs.
It is a shame that the run was short because I would love to spread the word to more audience members. This was a thought-provoking play, in which the story was well told, provoking a range of emotions from the audience. Thank you, Company of Teens, for staging a story that is so close to my heart with such aplomb!
All photos by Nick Clarke.
