Last night, The Tithe Barn Theatre here at Shiplake College filled up to capacity to watch the senior production of Teen Master Brain.
The production began at 7.30pm and the audience was in stitches by 7.31pm. Matty Fitzgerald took the lead as Gerald, the flamboyant, exuberant and overbearing father of Horatio, a timid boy played by Josh Williams, who is forced into the Teen Master Brain competition. All the while Rhys Ash took on the role of Andy, the child genius accompanied by his clueless dad, played by Fergus Elrington.
The play began with Gerald unpacking various vegetables and blending them into a smoothie, slyly and seductively glancing at the audience all the while. Without saying anything at all his expressions and mannerisms had the audience in stitches until Darcy Timms’ character, Debbie arrives at the competition with her son Ben, portrayed by Callum Theodorou. Debbie, who is about as relatable as the characters get (in the most hilarious way), squares up to Gerald, who will not give her a minute’s peace. After Ben pulls her away to calm her down, the other parents and child geniuses arrive at the competition. Among them is Tooey Morris and Michael Scanlon, who play the hilarious father-son duo of Walter and Gandalf, Sophie Weldon as Michelle and Fenn Hewitt as her son Harry.
The competition gets underway while gradually but uproariously, the entrants drop out, leaving the more competitive parents to fight among themselves. During this process, young Gandalf cracks under the pressure of the competition (again, in the most hysterical way) by howling and bawling until he is ushered away by his father, Walter who went on to steal the show by munching on the vegetables left by Matty Fitzgerald. Though this may sound commonplace for the farmer-type character, the comic timing was utterly without fault.
Meanwhile, we are introduced to three back-stories; one about business between quiz master Mr Smith, a stern but comically expressive man played by Charlie Bradshaw, and Dom Deakin’s Paul, a slimy TV producer who sees the young geniuses as a money-making opportunity. We also see a romantic back-story blossom between Gerald and Paul, portrayed by Will Bailey. The story between Andy’s mum and dad was probably the most relatable, as Darcy Timms and Morgan Taylor delivered the normality to an otherwise absurd production.
While the play was a true spectacle, special mentions must go to Matty Fitzgerald whose fabulous character was a massive departure from his own personality; to Tooey Morris, whose comic timing transcended his character’s dialog; and finally to Rhys Ash, whose inspired interpretation of Andy made for an animated production. Well done to all who performed in Teen Master Brain, thank you to those of you who came, and Brava to Mrs Jenny Nunes and Mrs Sian Pearson who organised and directed the play. Five stars, ten out of ten, Tony, encore, fabulous!