The National Youth Music Theatre production of Brass at City Varieties, Leeds
Brass, presented by National Youth Music Theatre, continues at the City Varieties, Leeds until 23 August.
The casualties suffered by the Leeds Pals Battalion on the first day of the Battle of the Somme were appalling. Of the 900 Pals, 750 were killed or wounded. No wonder the National Youth Music Theatre team chose to personalise their narrative when faced with impossible losses like these.
Leeds City Varieties was where many of the Pals joined up in 1914. Watching young people of a similar age to the recruits of a century ago, telling part of the story of the First World War, was an affecting and poignant experience, even before a note was sung.
Benjamin Till (book, music, lyrics) and Sara Kestelman (director) allow no compromise with the youth of their cast. And of course, youth rises to the challenge of professionalism.
The Overture and Prologue set the scene with a soundalike Marie Lloyd and three alluring dancing girls inviting young men to take the King’s Shilling. Immediately the boys are separated off to a training camp and the girls begin working at the Barnbow Munitions Factory. The first two numbers (‘Harry’s Poem’ and ‘Barnbow Lassies’) suggest that girls have much more fun on their own than boys.
The boys are members of a brass band. Their conductor, Alf, is also a spiritual leader and the rest of the boys just feel safe around him. Ben Jones as Alf possesses a fine tenor voice. Indeed, Till and Benjamin Holder (musical director) are fortunate to have found so many competent tenors among those who auditioned.
Matt Flint (choreography) has done an outstanding job with the boys. Their movement is precise, often aggressive (as befits young men) and tribal. As the boots crash down (‘Billy Whistle’), I feared for the condition of the City Varieties stage.
The fourth number (‘On the Shelf’) introduces Eliza (Laura Barnard). Like Jones, her performance grows as the evening progresses. There may have been better singers in the cast (perhaps Ruby Ablett as Lizzie) and more affecting actors (Erika Curbelo as Rosaline), but when you see a star in the making, you just know it. When she is on stage, she demands your attention.
The set design (Erik Rehl) makes efficient and effective use of the rather limited space as the action switches between the factory and the front. This is well supported by the lighting (David Plater) and sound (Andy Graham).
Of course, there are threadbare moments: the figure of the staff officer who leads the charge from a rear observation post has been Black Adder-ed to death; a number of the songs feel as though they have been designed to climax the show, not move action along; and a blackout, moments before the real ending of the play, only serves to confuse the audience.
There are references to West Side Story (‘When You’re a Pal’) and even T.S. Eliot. But the most impressive lyric is one where Eliza and Wilfred (Alex Cardall) quote Nietzsche to each other. Any show which pulls that off gets my vote.
Mike Tilling
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