Holly Dobbing, Year 2
This month was the Leeds Amateur Medics Musical and Performance Society (LAMMPS) production of ‘The Lightning Thief – The Percy Jackson Musical’. If you haven’t already heard of the books or movies—what else were you doing as a child?—the story follows a teenage boy, Percy, who discovers he is the son of a Greek god and is given a quest to find Zeus’ missing lightning bolt. Along the way, he makes friends and encounters various mythological monsters. I was a bit sceptical at first—I mean Percy Jackson? Forgive me, but I did not think Greek gods and fighting teenagers would make a particularly good musical. But I was completely proved wrong.
Firstly, the cast were so very impressive. Cameron Mullin (Percy), Nathalie Hall (Annabeth) and Mya Lane (Grover) made a terrific trio. Not only were their voices incredible, but their comic timing and interactions made their scenes hilarious. At Camp Half-Blood, Percy also meets Luke, played by Zak Muggleton-Gellas, one of our very own Worsley Times writers. I already knew Zak had an incredible voice, but he really shined as the trickster villain. Percy also hears a story about Thalia (Kate Gerrard), Zeus’ daughter who died at Camp Half-blood when Annabeth and Luke were children. Showing the cast could do more than just comedy, this moment felt genuinely sincere and I loved the symbolism of Thalia as the tree rather than an obvious leaf-and-bark costume.
Whilst at Camp Half-Blood, Percy meets Silena (Maisie Wilson), daughter of Aphrodite, and Katie (Nell Halls), daughter of Demeter, who were both hilarious. He later encounters Oracle (Lucy Hanson-Wilcock), who gives him the prophecy for his quest. He also meets Clarisse (CJ Proctor). CJ has such an incredible voice—her performance was utterly unforgettable and gave me chills! The fight scene between Clarisse and Annabeth in ‘Put You in Your Place’ was so entertaining, combining a big combat choreography and both of their powerful voices. The tension between the two groups was highly believable.
Another interesting dynamic was that between Percy, his mother Sally (Leah Greenman), and his stepfather Gabe (Josh Phillips). Although I know that the actors were the same age and not related, I was completely convinced that Sally was Percy’s mother—as Sally, Leah was so maternal, even in subtle ways like how she simply looked at Percy. And as for the hilarious Josh, all I’m going to say is bean… dip.
I have a special appreciation for the actors who played the teachers. Henry Marshall as Mr Brunner was hysterical—his total commitment to being a centaur saw him galloping around the stage at any given opportunity. When chatting about the show with my friends after, we all agreed Cara Staniforth was a total scene-stealer as Mr D, stepping into the role of a fed-up exiled god in a way that was simply incredibly. And not forgetting Katherine Stanton who played Mrs Dodds and really threw herself into the role of creepy, monstrous teacher.
Later in the show, Percy encounters Charon—the entity tasked with transporting souls across the River Styx into the Underworld. Charon was played by Adele Kirby, who sang possibly my favourite song of the entire show ‘Dead on Arrival’. Not only was her voice amazing, but choreographer Niamh Robinson pulled all the stops out to create a huge dance number featuring the entire cast.
There were also a variety of big names from Greek mythology throughout the play including Medusa (Sewa Sangowawa), Hades (Kayleigh Corbin), Kronos (Amy Wilson), Ares (Ciara Devlin) on a motorbike and Poseidon (Abraham Sondhi) in a Hawaiian shirt and flipflops.
Also not forgetting the all-important ensemble made up of Sevval Akkaya, Imogen Blacklidge, Niamh Rose, Eleanor McDevitt, Esther Mekako and Lauren Simmonds. All of them were great throughout the show, although I particularly liked them as fish that bobbed around Poseidon—so funny!
And the music was simply incredible. Not just the cast’s singing, but the entire band and musical directors Alex Boulton and Zara Harris were outstanding. I also felt the lighting really reflected the mood of what was going on onstage. This isn’t something I normally notice when I’m watching shows, but in this performance, it really did stand out. The set itself was relatively simple but brought to life using a projector screen which showed clouds, forests and even Las Vegas. I thought this was a creative way to illustrate such a variety of scenes on one small stage. The production team behind this included Jay Sunley as Production Manager, Olivia Tinker and Shelley Smith as Co-Stage Managers with Beth Warriner as Deputy Stage Manager, Ben Nuttall as Lighting Director, Marta Fiorini as Set Designer, Nick Caddy and Daniel Stelmach as Sound Designer and Assistant Sound Designer respectively, James Bushby as AV Designer and finally Asher Lei as House Manager.
Overall, I was super impressed. I want to offer a huge congratulations to all of the cast, musicians, production team and backstage team for such a fun show, and especially to director Ruth Rusnak and producer Martha Dawson for bringing it all to life!
Photos by @aswainphotography on Instagram
THE WORSLEY TIMES 
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