MUSICAL REVIEW: This Is My Family ★★★★

This Is My Family

The Belgrade Theatre, Coventry

28th October 2014

Winner of Best New Musical at Theatre Awards UK 2013, Sheffield Theatres Production of This Is My Family is now on tour around the UK, and focuses on Nicky and her family, starting the story with Nicky submitting an essay for a competition of Best Family, winning and them getting the winning prize of a family to anywhere around the world, but after May, Steve's mum, has to come to stay in her old age, the holiday starts becoming a struggle to organise.

The Introduction to the whole family is portrayed through the opening song. You have Nicky, a 13 year old girl, Matt, her 17 year old brother, Mum and Dad Yvonne and Steve, Auntie Sian, and Grandmother May. There is a great sense of originality to the song, and the musicians are present on stage is well, which makes it feel fresh.

The set is clever, having a split house shown downstage, where you have hallways and kitchens, bedrooms, and stairs leading up to the higher levels. This makes room downstage to set the back garden, which has a hot tub, made up by having the flats on the floor lifting upright, and also for the holiday, which we find at the end of act one is taking place at Blackrock Lake, the place where Yvonne and Steve met and fell in love, at the age of 16.

The way that everything is portrayed seems very realistic, like the car journeys, which are helped by having projections screened on either side of the stage. During the interval, and just before the second act starts also, we hear the sound of rain from the stage, which not only gets a sense of what the second act has in store, but also gives you a feel like every little detail has been put into making the audience feel like they are as much part of the story then the actors on stage are also.

Act Two suddenly raws onto stage following the interval with a clatter of thunder and lightning, and we see the family try to set up the tent. This is going disastrously wrong, because of the wind and rain, which is shown perfectly and realistically on stage by the actors constantly waving the tent around in the air, really getting a sense from the audience perspective of the weather. Sian also then soon arrives, with Matt is well, who has just been dumped by his girlfriend. We get to see a lot more of Matt in the second act which is brilliant, because we get to see a change in his character, from the emo goth in the first act, to learning more about his family, and there is great interaction between Matt and Steve when it comes to a love poem Steve wrote for Yvonne when he was 16, which was soon buried under the lightning tree with other letters and a dress of Yvonne’s, which Nicky tries on later in the act and really feels all girly.

There are some fantastic laugh out loud moments when all four prominent members of the family are together, and certain re-enactments of Steve and Yvonne’s first encounter is a highlight of the show.  The songs to go along with all these moments Is well is extremely touching and poignant, and really bring out the best in all the family members when it’s their time to sing, which really helps get an insight into the family’s life.

The story of May also continues, and becomes really sad when she can’t recognise her own son, mistaking him for Ralph, her partner who she is also met at Blackrock lake, and even Nicky, not recognising her either. Marjorie Yates plays May beautifully, and really plays with the audiences emotions, and together with the rest of the cast bring a show that is not over-dramatized and unrealistic, but a pitch perfect view on what family life is; Every family may have disagreements and arguments, but they are always there for you, and I think in the play, Matt benefits from learning this the most, and as the play draws to an emotional close, and we see Matt take a different path in his life, we feel like, as an audience, we have travelled with this family through all their faults, and have come out the other side caring for this family, and making sure that when we leave the theatre, we think about and cherish everything there is to a family.

A truly fantastic show that will hopefully stand the test of time, and keep on running through the years and teach audiences what having a family really means to them.