Grease, by am dram The Lowestoft Players

So this is the first amateur dramatic (from now on referred to as Am Dram) production I have blogged about. To be fair I do not tend to go see many Am Dram shows (once seeing The Sound of Music by the Lincoln Am Dram society). I was not sure whether to include Am Drams in my blog, but after much deliberation and strict instructions from my nanny, I have decided to include them. So on Friday 11^th of September I went to see the Lowestoft Players preform Grease. Sorry I have not blogged sooner about this visit. It was a very hectic weekend (as you will see from the next post which is yet to be written) and a busy week with various things I do not yet wish to discuss. So The Lowestoft Players are an Am Dram group based in the coastal town of Lowestoft (obviously) in Suffolk near to where I was born and grew up. I was back home visiting family and friends and my Nanny says I will take you to see The Lowestoft Players. I am not sure whether I am just a theatre snob (as I do like my West End performances) but, like I said, I very seldom see amateur productions. I know the Lowestoft Players do many productions each year which I will enjoy seeing in the future (gutted I missed their production of Legally Blonde), as I thought they did a great job as an Am dram. They base themselves at an old Bethel in Lowestoft and converted it into a theatre. They really have done a fantastic job on the Bethel and the lighting, staging and building is really nice to go and see musicals in. I would say though can you apply for a lottery fund and get some new seats they are not the most comfortable.

I went with my Nanny and Cousin Paris and long-term family friend Lorna. I have to say for an Am Dram, it was really good and I very impressed with how they produced and directed Grease. I am a huge fan of Grease and have watched the film countless times from a young age, also seeing a London production some years ago which was immense. I loved the way The Players adapted the show to fit in with their time limit and resources. All the main parts of the story were there, even if a bit jumbled up. As I have never been to The Bethel before to see The Lowestoft Players I was not sure whether they were copying the professional Grease production by having the band above the stage; however it worked really well and this was important for me. The transitions between staging and scenes were flawless and they really looked well despite not having the man and technical power the professional theatres would have. The staging was transforming between each scene and I thought they made excellent use out of what they had. The acting and singing were all very good (apart from one song – which is my absolute favourite – however I will not dwell on this as the overall production was really good and I cannot judge as I am not exactly Sam Smith). My favourite part of the performance was scene 2 of act 2 (Burger scene) with the song ‘Beauty School Dropout’. This is one of my favourite songs from the show (as well as others: ‘There Are worse Things I Could Do’, Look at Me I’m Sandra Dee’, and ‘Hopelessly Devoted to You’). This scene from The Players was really well executed with the ladies having big sparkly roller head dressers (which I want so if they are going after the performance please let me know I will buy one).

All in all it was a very good performance and I do definitely look forward to going back to the Bethel and to see future Lowestoft Players shows. I know the performances are still going ahead (until Saturday 19^th) and I hope that all the performances have gone well and you got the crowds in. Also I do hope the Players have a read of this and make comments or contact me on Facebook. Also I would love to join an Am Dram Society so if any scouts out there give me a ring haha!