Ordinary People - A New Musical - Hazlitt Theatre, Maidstone

This completed three new shows in three days for me, following Gin Craze and Operation Mincemeat.

It's an interesting concept. The songs and a couple of very moving monologues all referred to people and events in and around Maidstone, from the everyday to the tragic. There are numerous references to pubs, clubs, the local football team, areas of the town etc. The cast included two or three professional actors with talented young people from the Hazlitt Youth Theatre and Dance Company, who always put on a good show. I understand Darren Clarke used local people's own words as far as possible and crafted a varied programme including rousing singalongs and gentle ballads.

To quote the publicity leaflet it was a "co-production between Parkwood Theatres and New UK Musicals supported by the Farnham Maltings Our Town Project". The lyrics could be adapted to fit other towns and cities and maybe that's the plan.

To see young people on stage enjoying themselves as much as their audience for the first time in almost 18 months was quite humbling.