Steven Slater’s Spring Awakening – a brilliant new production at the Loft Theatre

On 2 April, the latest production at Leamington’s Loft Theatre had its opening night, drawing a substantial audience to its stage to experience a unique, multi-award-winning musical. Directed by Chris Gilbey-Smith with choreography by Becca Shaw, this production of Spring Awakening is sure to have a comedic yet poignant impact on all those who attend this week.

Based on a German play written by Frank Wedekind in 1891, the Spring Awakening musical made its original Broadway debut in 2006 with folk-alternative-rock music by Duncan Sheik and a book and lyrics by Steven Sater. This production, which starred many now well-known actors like Jonathan Groff and Lea Michele, marked just the beginning of this musical’s long-running success and critical acclaim – not only would its debut earn it 8 Tony Awards, but its subsequent run in London won 4 Olivier Awards, including Best Musical.

Though they find beauty and freedom in these feelings, they must also discover the tragic consequences that can accompany the deviation from said societal expectations

The reason for its extreme success is undoubtedly rooted in the timelessness of the story’s themes combined with its rock-style music. Its story follows a group of teenagers growing into adolescence as they begin to discover the world outside of education – a life of uncensored feelings, grappling with sexuality and society’s expectations. Though they find beauty and freedom in these feelings, they must also discover the tragic consequences that can accompany the deviation from said societal expectations. Despite its upbeat music and comedic tone, then, the musical includes themes of suicide, verbal and sexual abuse, depictions of physical aggression, and explicit sexual content.

The Loft Theatre handles all of Spring Awakening’s themes with elegance, using a levelled yet simplistic stage setup to allow its actors to move around the space freely

This non-professional production at the Loft Theatre handles all of Spring Awakening’s themes with elegance, using a levelled yet simplistic stage setup to allow its actors to move around the space freely and the multi-levelled scenes to be executed with clarity. One of my favourite parts of its stage design was the use of projected animation and the actor’s slowly writing all over the previously blank stage with white markers. These made for some impressive and memorable visuals – a blue projected river during a touching scene between Wendla (Annabel Pilcher) and Melchoir (Nathan Dowling) as their relationship begins to develop, and a stage increasingly covered in graffiti to show the gradual overwhelm of the characters.

A huge amount of work and dedication has gone into each actor’s work

Speaking of the characters, it is clear when watching that a huge amount of work and dedication has gone into each actor’s work, and they each bring energy and emotion into their performances. Annabel Pilcher, who plays Wendla, has a touching classical voice, making her perfect for an extremely challenging role that demands the ability to portray difficult emotion in response to very sensitive topics. Aside her is Olivier winner Nathan Dowling as Melchoir, who is equally emotive, especially in a heartbreaking rendition of ‘Those You’ve Known’ towards the end. Luca Catena also makes a standout performance as Moritz, a troubled character who is ultimately brought to a tragic end. His performance of ‘Don’t Do Sadness’ was perhaps one of the most memorable, with a voice that I felt has huge future potential in musical theatre and who I hope to see more from in the future.

The ensemble and other cast members should not go without mention, as they often elevated the powerful soundtrack to one that was more energetic and emotional, especially in the second half, during which they seemed to thrive and become comfortable in the performance. I felt Michael Barker, who played various adult men, including the teacher, gave a continuous comedic and, at appropriate times, very haunting performance with a powerful voice that echoed around the theatre. He was certainly able to make the audience feel the fear that some of the adolescents felt.

In summary, this production is very successful in portraying the importance of education and themes that continue to become more and more relevant in the present day. Performances of Spring Awakening at the Loft Theatre continue until Saturday 12 April, and tickets for 16-25 year olds are free from the box office.