Scrubbers

I wasn’t sure what to expect of Scrubbers, but it sounded like fun and it was. It was an Australian five-hander by Cenarth Fox, who was there to direct and get the best out of his players.

The musical is about five cleaning ladies, all with various disappointments in their lives. Dee has been struggling to become a singer, and when the others join her as an all girl band, they forget their woes and embrace this new goal.

The play is well written with some very funny lines, and the five interacted well. Dee had two very funny songs in the first half: one where she moans about writing songs noone wants to hear, and the other complaining about having to sing covers. The songs in the second half did not maintain that standard.

As this was a drama group, the acting was uniformly strong but the singing not so, though quite acceptable. They sang in tune and there was some harmony. The choreography was tight.

Margaret Rawlinson as the older Mo had lovely comic timing. Helen Wentworth played a strong Dee, but tended to switch off when singing. If she’d been able to play the guitar that would have been a bonus, but she was in sync with the backing. Michelle Tanner, Francesca Ferra-Macri and Theresa Brancatisano completed the strong ensemble as Liz, Helly and Chrissie.

This was a thoroughly enjoyable evening.

Graham Ford