That Day We Sang

Synopsis

That Day We Sang is the story of some of the children who sang on the famous recording of 'Nymphs and Shepherds' by the Manchester Children's Choir. The piece takes as its starting point a television documentary being made 45 years after the event, triggering memories of the day itself and the years in between. It's about the joy of singing, the power of music to evoke emotion, and being middle aged. The four people taking part in the documentary re-connect with their child selves as they piece together their memories of that day in the Free Trade Hall in 1929.

Our Review:

7 July 2011

In 1929 the Manchester School Children’s Choir backed by the Halle Orchestra recorded "Nymphs and Shepherds" at the Free Trade Hall. Decades later a handful of those involved made a documentary on the event. From what could be mundane material, writer and director Victoria Wood delivers a brilliant comedy of social embarrassment meets a tender love story - with songs thrown in for good measure.

Timid bachelor Tubby (Vincent Franklin) and shy spinster Enid (Jenna Russell) are forced into uncomfortable meetings with socially pretentious Frank (Gerald Horan) and Dorothy (Lorraine Bruce - whose selfless comic support nearly steals the show).

The play moves back to the events preceding the 1929 recording. Wood is as perceptive a social commentator as Mike Leigh but tells far better jokes. As well as the squirm-inducing scenes between the middle-aged couples we have Alison Pargeter’s strict yet sexy (works for me) choir leader ruthlessly eliminating t...

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Latest User Review

beach1e - 17 July 2011:

I think there were many flaws with this production,the script was a bit empty, not a lot of narrative,no real sense of the era that this was set in. by the second act some of us in the audience were flagging, unfortunately it just got worse and seemed never ending. jenna russell did very well especially in the song Enid, however, Im not sure if she purposely spoke in a stilted accent or was directed in that way which didnt work for me at all. the audience certainly loved it, but it needs a lot of polish to bring it up to a good standard. one of the group i was with thought i may not have "got it" as im not a northerner by birth altho lived in the northwest a very long time. i wanted to like it and there were one or two very funny moments but not enough to make it a hit,as an end of term piece it just about hit the mark....

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