By George Dixon
24 Carrot Productions is a vibrant emerging production company that prides itself on bringing inclusive and devised productions. With its first production in 2018, 21 Carrot is already developing a strong supporting fan base.
Around the World in 80 Days – Musical is a wonderful celebration of their diverse ensemble of different nationalities that fits well into the narrative of the various destinations visited.
The musical play is loosely based on Jules Verne’s classic adventure novel of the same name and is a splendid vehicle to celebrate history’s strong women of influence, like Florence Nightingale and others while touching on topics like racism, colonialism, violence and slavery. In some ways, it shows how far we have come while indicating there is still a way to go.
The ensemble of characters of various talents provided an interesting tapestry that helped to provide the diversity of real life. Every character has a solo section as the journey around the world continues.
There are a few highlights, like the exchange of Sion Lee as Mei and Zac Rose as Inspector Fix in Hong Kong. The height difference allows for additional animation to accentuate aspects of racism and stereotypical little people versus symbols of authority based on prejudice.
Also, Rufaro Zimbudzi, as Patience in North America, who expertly poses the question of “Freedom” and what that means.
A special mention to Sian Dowler as Minnie, who conveys the attitude of Colonialism with the idea that all’s well with the world as long as we still have England, then nothing else matters.
In some ways, the creatives and stage direction seem to be lacking, the venue was a bit hard to find, in so much as that it is located within the Richmond Library, and there was no visible external signage.
The stage area is just adequate for the size of the cast. However, the nine-piece live band was located in the wings, with the conductors back to the performing artists. This did present issues in balancing the music to the singer’s voice on a number of occasions.
The backdrop graphics and animation were smart and clever, especially tracking the voyage and modes of transportation.
It would appear that there were two stage directors; in the first case, the background performers were allowed to present silent, animated interaction between themselves, which distracted from the actual singing performance, while in the latter scenes, we have various background performers frozen in time.
Likewise, the placement of various cast members had them square to the stage in such a way that they could not be easily seen.
The play flowed well enough between scenes; having so many blackouts tended to be unnecessary, considering that many open-staged plays simply maintain the same level of standard lighting.
That way, the performers’ entrances are not in darkness, where they are left standing for the lights to come back on. This reduces the shadowing.
While none of the aspects are a major distraction from the overall performance or the powerful message of the play. It is the little things that can lift the level of the production and the overall experience for the audience.
Around the World in 80 Days is performing for a limited time. It’s worth your attention with a story of value.
