Stepping Out

Synopsis

This is a warm and very funny play about the lives, laughs and loves of a group of women (and one man) attending a weekly tap-dance class in a dingy North London church hall. The dancing improves to such an extent that, by the time of the grand charity show performance, they have been transformed into triumphant tappers, worthy of any chorus line.

Our Review:

Anne Morley-Priestman - 14 October 2009

It may be 25 years since the original production of Richard Harris's comedy with music Stepping Out, but the show has survived translation into other media to be re-created for this celebratory tour. If anything, the eight aspiring tap-dancers make more dramatic sense in 2009 than in 1984, itself a year with a certain resonance.

Richard Baron keeps the fun going while letting the personal tragedies and everyday boredom of the seven women and solitary widower surface as necessary. He's well served by Ken Harrison's setting; one of those ghastly multi-purpose community halls with too little comfort and far too much interference from passing traffic. It makes a fine contrast with the final scene, where the ill-assorted troupe finally perform for a charity audience.

Each character has her or his own chance to slide into the limelight as they muddle through the routines and try to understand each other's ways of coping. There's a scene-stealing performance by ...

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