Northern Light Theatre Company. The Shedley Theatre. 29 Mar 2025
I find staged plays based on movies, as opposed to movies based on plays, intriguing. “Why? Why do they do it” is the question I ask. And I haven’t been out to the Shedley Theatre in the City of Playford for a long time. A very long time!
Northern Light Theatre Company’s staging of Billy Elliot, The Musical proved the adventure into both territories worthwhile! I am so glad I ventured out! This is a long review, and with good reason!
This brilliant musical adaptation with Book and Lyrics by Lee Hall, and Music by none other than Sir Elton John, captures the vibe of the 1984/1985 miners’ strike and Thatchers England so evocatively portrayed by the Universal Pictures/ Studio Canal movie, Billy Elliot made in 2000.
Growing up in the Northern pit village of Easington is challenging for twelve-year-old Billy (Aidan Salmon). Despite tough times and the strike, Billy is to follow in the coal mining footsteps- and probably lung disease prognosis- of his father, Jackie (Andrew Mair) and brother Tony (Liam Phillips). These are fiercely stoic working-class Yorkshiremen with nought but fire in their belly and honour in their hearts. They work hard and are proud of it! They are hard men. Billy is also expected to do what working class lads do - contact sport, in this case, boxing lessons, for 50 pence a week. Nowadays, it’s more likely to be boxing via finger jabs on a keyboard, but that’s not the point! Billy’s life is grim. The realities of growing up, cash strapped, in a small terrace house with his brother, widowed father and Grandma (Wendy Rayner) who slips in and out of dementia, is lightened by Billy’s best friend, Michael (Noah Magourilos).
One evening after a less than half-hearted attempt at boxing, Billy is tasked with giving the ballet teacher, the effervescent realist, Mrs Wilkison (Sarah Hamilton) the key to the community hall. Billy suddenly finds what has been missing in his life- dance. The greyness of a Northern English mining town now has a glimmer of light for Billy, but it’s a glimmer of light boys like Billy must guard from the menfolk for fear of homophobic judgement. What, after all, is the use of ballet to a boy destined to follow his forebears into the bowels of the earth? The Arts is for that lot over there, not the likes of us! For working class boys, it’s an age-old story – unless they form a rock ‘n’ roll band! Michael is the only male Billy can confide in largely because Michael has his own secret, no spoilers here!
With a miner’s strike becoming protracted and violent, Billy’s aspirations become even less relevant until Jackie unexpectedly witnesses his son expressing himself through dance in what, in this production, is a deeply moving scene. Jackie seeks Mrs Wilkinson’s guidance and sacrifices his most sacred thing as a Union man, his honour, to scrape together funds so Billy can audition in London for The Royal Ballet School. Finally, the solidarity of the working people of the age is captured beautifully by Lee Halls dialogue and lyrics and Elton John’s emotive music.
Amateur theatre is holding the line for theatre in Adelaide! While Martha Lott’s Holden Street Theatres straddles the line of pro-am and presents great theatre, and the Eustice brothers’ Red Phoenix does work of similarly excellent standard, it’s the amateur scene that is the so called second tier to State Theatre Company. More on that later. If “amateur” is taken to mean "lover of" or "enthusiast for,” this production on the Shedley Theatre stage overflows with both!
Where does one start with praise for this uniformly strong cast? Sixteen-year-old Aidan Salmon is superb as Billy. Not only can “our lad” dance, sing, and act to perfection-ay but does fair accent, too! Salmon is a stage presence to watch. If he doesn’t audition for WAAPA when he’s the right age, there’s more amiss in the world than MAGA! Similarly, Noah Magourilos possesses the comic timing of a seasoned veteran! Together, these fine young performers create the chemistry of boyhood friendship with sublime finesse- and their dance routine is to die for! This warrants timely mention of choreographer, Sarah Williams. What a talent! A show about an emerging dancer requires exceptional dancers so kudos, too, to the remarkable ensemble of dancers of all ages! And a special mention must be made for Milla Illic as Debbie Wilkinson, another young talent to watch! Sarah Hamilton and Wendy Rayner sparkle as the vibrant realist, Mrs Wilkinson and deeply sad, addled, and likable Grandma respectively. Kate Hodges manifests as Billy’s deceased Mum beautifully throughout.
Andrew Mair perfectly captures the complex inner turmoil of a simple, honest, emotionally inarticulate man, while Liam Phillips as his eldest son balances just the right amount of youthful rage with the resentment of one who, deep down, knows the cards are stacked against him. Very much to Michelle Davey’s credit these are strong leads directed well in a strong, tight, ensemble. One minor quibble lies with some of the blocking around interpersonal moments of conflict- proximity sometimes diminishes intensity.
Highlights? Too many to name! However, I was particularly moved, as were all, by The Letter, rendered with deep sincerity by Salmon, Hamilton, and Hodges, while Rayner’s Grandma’s Song conveyed the frustrations of a generation of working-class women very effectively indeed. But I’m splitting hairs - all the numbers were wonderful! While referring to music, the Musical Director, Billy James St John, clearly assembled an orchestra of superb musicians.
As mentioned earlier, amateur theatre fills a void in this State, the Festival State, the State once renowned for theatre! Premier Peter Malinauskas’ focus on infrastructure and events like the Gather Round is commendable. But let he and Minister for Arts, Andrea Michaels, not forget Winston Churchill’s observation, “The arts are essential to any complete national life. The State owes it to itself to sustain and encourage them!” C’arn! Get behind theatre for all!
In the heartland that is Elizabeth, Northern Light Theatre Company’s production of Billy Elliot, The Musical is doing that at an extraordinary standard!
There’s nothing more to say about Billy Elliot, The Musical than… go, see it!
John Doherty
When: 28 Mar to 12 Apr
Where: Shedley Theatre
Bookings: nltc.sales.ticketsearch.com
