Tadcaster Theatre Company is in the mood for dancing in its spring production of Stepping Out at the Riley Smith Theatre in Tadcaster.
“Richard Harris’s play is like a window into any group of people in any town who get together once a week for a vocational class,” says cast member Lesley Jones, from York.
“In this case it’s a tap class and involves the usual group of misfits: 11 women and only one man; all different ages and social groups; all with personal life problems in their home lives; all looking for a small piece of escapism for one night a week.”
Harris’s play features Mavis (played by Catherine Fox, from Wetherby), the never-quite-made-it “star” who runs the classes to make ends meet, alongside grumpy old rehearsal pianist Mrs Fraser (Janet Stoney, from Wetherby). The solitary male is Geoffrey (Paul French, from Bramham), whose wife died of cancer.
Class snob Vera (Lesley Jones’s role) hides a sinister secret, only revealed at the end after she has annoyed the class with her obsession with clean loos and clothes, in particular a designer silver cat suit that might have been “sprayed” on to her.
The loud, raucous Sylvia (Clare Meadley, from Barwick-in-Elmet) has a “lazy husband and lazy feet”; Rose (Joanne Hawkins, from Tadcaster) is big and colourful in clothes and voice; Lynne (Sammy Farr, from Tadcaster), the young trainee nurse, is an excellent dancer who bites her nails; Maxine (Marie Clinker, from Wetherby) is a brassy lady with stepchildren, who paints her nails.
Dorothy (Tamsin Chadwick) has a pushbike and a mother at home; the timid Andy (Alison Davies from Sherburn in Elmet) has a “home secret” that lands her in hospital, but hopefully into the arms of Geoffrey. The name “Andy”, by the way, is “not short for anything – it’s long for Ann”!
Tap dancers Kimberley Nichols and Christine Foster, from Wetherby, complete the cast assembled by director-choreographer Angela Edwards, who is working alongside musical director Jilly-Ann Wilson.
In Stepping Out, the tap group suffers tantrums and traumas over a year, culminating in a charity show routine and then, a year later, a spectacular glitzy finale.
“The difficulty for all the cast, who are on stage virtually the entire show, is learning the script, learning to sing the songs and learning the various tap routines, and for half the cast that has meant learning to tap for the first time,” says Lesley.
“Those that could tap had to learn to dumb down, while the others did a crash course on extensive tap – with varying results.”
The Tadcaster company has had its share of traumas in the lead-up to the opening night. “It could have seen a cancellation, but the old adage of the show must go on really does apply,” says Lesley.
“We damaged a rehearsal-room floor with a loose tap screw, resulting in only one tap rehearsal per week instead of three; Alison Davies pulled her knee ligaments last week; another is getting married the Saturday after the show, after realising the original date clashed.
“Three members had family admitted to hospital and one has to have foot and leg surgery immediately after the show. That’s me by the way, and the pain is excruciating.”
Lesley is playing the role immortalised by Julie Walters. “No pressure there then – and guess who gets to wear the silver cat suit!”
No matter what has befallen the cast, everyone is looking forward to the production run from Wednesday to Saturday. “It’s a riotous show with a bucket-load of fun and emotion. You will leave wanting to join a tap class, I guarantee,” says Lesley.
Tickets for the 7.30pm evening shows and 2.30pm Saturday matinee cost £10 or £12 on 01904 708825 or on the door.
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