Young Reporter - Diving into Langton’s Joseph! - Jessica Boroh Langton Girls’

While many families, teachers and students attended this amazing production, I was eager to delve deeper into the perspectives of the performers and stage technicians, whose crucial roles facilitated the making of this performance. Performers, Maria and Lucie, alongside stage technician Sayaka, shared their thoughts on the musical and what it was like to be a part of it!

Maria portrayed the main character Joseph, a character that “has a massive character development throughout the show”. She sympathised with how “he goes through a lot of emotional growth” as he navigates himself through the highs and lows of his story. Lucie’s character was one of the twelve brothers, the second youngest Zebulun. She conveyed his inner conflict between staying loyal to his brothers and his desire to connect with Joseph as “he almost wants to like Joseph and be friends with him, but because the others don’t, he follows the crowd.” She also expressed the individuality among the brothers as “all though [the brothers] all act the same on the outside, we are all slightly different.”

Performing as two of the lead roles served as exciting and memorable for both Lucie and Maria. For Lucie, it was amazing, both to be a necessary part of the production and also because “[she] loves having loads to do all the time in a show!” Maria, however, shared her initial feelings of pressure; though “[she] felt so grateful to be able to play such a famed role and to make so many friends in the cast” and it acted as a very enjoyable experience overall!

Alongside the performing aspects, Sayaka offered a technical point of view. She described her responsibilities, which included “turning the house lights up and down with correct timing and coordination,” as well as working the radio system to ensure that everything ran smoothly!

However, despite the laughter and excitement behind the scenes, there were also challenges faced during the experience. Maria discussed her struggles with performance anxiety, sharing how she had to try and keep a cool head before each show, though she found it got better as she settled into her role. Sayaka also noted difficulties faced, particularly in controlling the cast and ensuring instructions were followed.

Amongst this, Sayaka also expressed her love for the rehearsals the week up to the show as “we were all just laughing and acting like one MASSIVE family”. Additionally, Maria shared the many laughs she had backstage during the brothers’ rehearsals of ‘Those Canaan Days’. She voiced how “every rehearsal, we got to know each other better,” and the laughs increased by multitudes each time; her most memorable moment, however, had to be when Vashti’s trousers fell during the second show! Lucie expressed that after gradually adjusting, “you find the joy in being with people like you and making new friends”. Her funniest moments were “the mic checks” as the songs people sang varied from baa-baa black sheep to full-on rock!

Lucie described the musical as “a show full of colour, it is completely hilarious, almost like a pantomime and is just a feel-good show!” Moreover, Maria also echoed this sentiment, describing the show as “fun, entertaining and heart-warming”: she explained that “there are lots of laughs, fun and exciting scenes but at the end of the day, it’s a really sweet story about a family who learns to love each other again and accept each other for who they are.” Sayaka shared her views on the performance, how it was an impressive display with songs still “stuck in [her] head to this day!”

It was evident that these talented individuals amongst the many who contributed to the creation of the performance captured the essence, wonder, and creativity of the story. Additionally, it helped them all to gain confidence in themselves, taught them how to navigate themselves in challenging circumstances and served as a fun-filled, memorable experience, with songs that are likely to get stuck in your head for many weeks to come!