Brighton Theatre Group Youth tackle The Addams Family

Worthing-based director Michael Burnie is once again at the helm as Brighton Theatre Group Youth take to the stage, this time with The Addams Family running from Tuesday, February 18-Sunday, February 23 at The Old Market, Upper Market Street, Hove.
Brighton Theatre Group presents The Addams FamilyBrighton Theatre Group presents The Addams Family
Brighton Theatre Group presents The Addams Family

It’s a show in which all the characters discover something about themselves – and a show that the young company are loving rehearsing for their half-term week run.

Originally a cartoon and then a cult TV series, the show offers a ghoulish, kooky musical comedy based on the characters created by Charles Addams, including the attractive, gothic Morticia Addams, larger-than-life Uncle Fester, the ultimate princess of darkness Wednesday Addams and the unforgettable butler Lurch. Ensemble performers take on the characters of Addams family ancestors, living, dead and undecided…

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“The show has been on the TV for literally many, many years,” Michael says, “and there has been the films as well. And this is a great story. Wednesday is now 18 and she has met a normal boyfriend. He is not Addams family and he is not freaky, and she wants to marry him.

“The story is so funny because the normal family arrive to meet the Addams family, and Wednesday wants the Addams family to appear as normal as possible. It is a real musical theatre comedy.

“A lot of the younger members of the cast don’t know the TV series or the earlier films, but they have really embraced it. The music is great and they are really enjoying it. I loved the TV series many, many years ago, and I remember us all looking forward to it and sitting round watching it and all the different situations in the series. It was great.

“And what is great with this is that we have got lots of ancestors. They are like the ensemble of the piece, and they are all Addams ancestors. You have got cavemen right up to recent characters, and they have all died in different ways.”

All in all, it’s a fun tale.

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“The story is that Morticia doesn’t want Wednesday to get married and have children because she will feel really old. The situation is that they are trying to persuade her that Wednesday is now a young woman.

“Once we got into it, we sat down and we talked about all the characters, and they all find themselves in a way. The Alice character, the mother of the normal boy, finds herself because she is in a marriage and there is not a love of love in the marriage anymore. She is a frustrated wife and wants to be how they used to be with her husband who has become very boring. But she finds herself in the story.

“And Morticia discovers herself as well. She has to realise that Wednesday is 18 now and wants her own family… so the characters all have this moment within the show where they discover something about themselves.”

Michael has been responsible for a long list of shows with Brighton Theatre Group and Brighton Theatre Group Youth including last summer’s Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at the Theatre Royal Brighton: “We are doing Saturday Night Fever later this year with the adults and Shrek next year. We have done a big range of shows. We always look for something that is suitable. For the Youth Group we look for something that will be fun and that they will enjoy. We also have to think about selling the show and about the venue size. These shows cost a lot of money. Going into the Theatre Royal Brighton with Chitty Chitty Bang Bang cost a serious amount of money. You have got to get the right venue. And the Old Market is great. Theatre Royal Brighton is a 900-seater and very expensive in the centre of Brighton. Apart from that there is really only the Old Market, and the Old Market is ideal for this show.”

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Tickets from £14 on 01273 201801 or http://www.theoldmarket.com

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