The youth of Captivate Drama’s front of house staff and their venue at the Edinburgh Academy led me to expect a school play. I was quickly proved wrong as the young cast of Spring Awakening showed consummate professionalism from the start. The actors are strong in dialogue and develop authentic relationships between characters. The true force of the show can be seen in the ensemble numbers, in which the cast gives intense and fearless performances. Rachel Flynn delivers a gentle, unaffected and tragic performance as Wendla while Stacey Mitchell’s Ilse is extremely strong. Her evident emotion and evocative expressions during The Dark I Know Well are truly haunting. The maturity of this cast is impressive in dealing with scenes of a highly sexual nature.
However, the predominantly strong singing voices are worsened by the poor Americanization of accents. It is unclear whether this was a structural decision or an affectation since the use of the accent was inconsistent between cast members and songs. When the accent was used, it was unnatural and forced. At times, the cast also suffers from problems of diction and projection, so that some spoken lines are lost to the audience. Although the costuming is highly effective, juxtaposing modesty with sexuality for the girls and uniformity with freedom for the boys, the set left much to be desired. The purpose of the scaffolding downstage right, for example, was unexplained.
Furthermore, the endurance test of a show over two hours long proved too challenging, and the musical petered out towards the end. The whole production slowed down and began to drag, losing fluency and cohesion. The action became a bit manic and pitching slipped. Despite these inconsistencies, overall Spring Awakening is an entertaining piece with some wonderful moments and great potential.
