She Loves Me

The Therry Dramatic Society presents a shamelessly old-fashioned musical comedy with She Loves Me. Featuring catchy songs by Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick (of Fiddler On The Roof fame), She Loves Me is set in a small Hungarian parfumerie in the 1930s. The main plot is focused on the antagonism between two employees Georg (James Reed) and Amalia (Lauren Potter). Each of them has a secret pen-pal that they met through a lonely hearts column, with whom they can share their dreams and vent their frustrations with the stress of work. What neither of them knows is that their workplace nemesis is actually the anonymous confidante they have been corresponding with. When they find out, hilarity ensues.

This is one of those romantic comedies where the plot development is both predictable and contrived, that relies on a charming cast to keep it afloat. Fortunately, Reed and Potter both give impassioned performances and have a strong chemistry together, both as adversaries in argument and as romantic partners.

They are ably supported by John Greene, Sarah Nagy, Buddy Dawson, Tim Taylor and Mitchell Smith – all endearingly quirky as Georg & Amalia’s colleagues. Special mention must also go to Andrew Crayford, who steals the show when he appears onstage as a pushy waiter during a disasterous dinner date sequence.

The show is visually marvellous from start to finish, the sets and costumes (courtesy of Patsy Thomas, Norman Caddick and Gilian Cordell) are all finely detailed, brilliantly evocative of the time period. Madeline Edwards’ choreography makes imaginative use of props, and subtly contributes to much of the production’s humour.

She Loves Me is a work that has dated badly in some respects, but thanks to the lively, energetic work of Therry, it never feels like a museum piece – rather, watching this show feels like stepping back in time to another, somewhat more innocent, era.

Benjamin Orchard

Images: (top) SLM Lauren Potter and James Reed, (middle) SLM Lauren Potter, Andrew Crayford and James Reed, & (lower) Lauren Potter, James Reed, John Greene, Tim Taylor and Mitchell Smith.