Frying Nemo, billed as a barely credible tale of adventure on the high seas and performed around a rather large shark tank, full of real sharks was always going to be a fishy tale.The beginning was rather shaky as old Nemos voice was almost incoherent due to microphone distortion and although its a small point, but some effort should have been made to make him look more aged, for instance talc in his hair. However, then the action moved to the bottom of the seating area, microphones were dispensed with, cue loud speaking and fun-packed adventures. As the cast, comprising of girls and boys in their late teens romped through the story, three in particular stood out. Of note were, Matteo Zambon as the young and guileless Nemo; Patrick McHugh for his comic delivery of a love-struck mermaid with a scarily deep voice and Maddy Godfrey for her gutsy, no nonsense Princess Leeloo. Their performances were full of energy and they each had an entrancing stage presence.I particularly enjoyed the warrior womens dance sequence and the fight scene where Zambon and McHugh appeared to spar with so much gusto that it looked like one false swipe might do some serious damage, but it was all in the spirit of the piece. Time went very quickly as their good humoured antics made me giggle. Although there was an element of am-dram about it all, its very ingenuousness made up for its lack of sophistication in spades. The ending was a little shaky but the performance and writing had gusto, humour and enthusiasm.
