Rewired
Sharnbrook Mill Theatre
30th October 2024
The Sharnbrook Mill Theatre’s third production of the year follows hot on the heels of their excellent ‘Girl On A Train’ at the end of September. Just 4 weeks later, the Bedfordshire-based theatre company are back on stage again, this time with a musical, and an original one at that.
First performed as ‘Wired’ 20 years ago, ‘Rewired’ comes from the minds of SMT-creatives Kaye Vincent and Kaye Tompkins, and tells the story of a house-clearing crew who are called to the home of a solitary man named Albert (played by David Russell) when he passes away. Following the death of his sister from a long-term illness, Albert himself declined, and was looked after by his neighbour Mrs T (Sam McLaughlin), who puts the crew to task to start clearing Albert’s house. As the team sort through the boxes of belongings and memories, they begin to share glimpses into their own lives, from the performing aspirations of young Brains (Kier Mulcahey), the marital problems of Russ (Gordon Ritchie), and a blossoming romance between tomboy Sharon (Bethany Griffiths) and former wayward-youth Mac (Simon Jackson).
We always enjoy seeing an original musical and support them whole-heartedly, being so much more challenging to create than the jukebox creations we see so many of these days, and there’s a lot to like in “Rewired”. Vincent and Tompkins’ score ranges from Vaudevillian “patter” numbers to gently wistful ballads, and while there are a couple of weaker songs that don’t add a great amount to the story, they’re all performed well by both the live band and the cast on stage. The show uses flashbacks to reveal moments from Albert’s life, often transitioning from present day and back again, and these scenes are cleverly thought out and work well.
Where “Rewired” is marginally less successful is in its storytelling. There are two narratives here, Albert’s life and love for his sister, and the lives of the crew, but these don’t parallel and the show feels like it’s telling two stories rather than one, becoming unfocused because of it. Albert’s story is arguably the stronger one, there’s some really lovely ideas raised and genuine emotion created, and it jars when this is sidelined to focus on Russ’ divorce or Mac’s past wrongdoings, particularly in the second act. It feels like either more should be done to thematically link these stories to Albert’s, or to focus solely on him, as that’s where the stronger material and heart of the show really lie.
As always, a talented cast has been assembled at Sharnbrook to tell this story, with some fantastic performances that feel far stronger than amateur level. The women really are the aces here, with Bethany Griffiths demonstrating a professional-quality level voice and sounding terrific, and Sam McLaughlin showing great comic timing and a spirited sassy attitude as Mrs T. That’s not to say the men don’t do well though, with David Russell bringing a hauntingly broken quality to Albert, and Gordon Ritchie hugely likeable as cheeky-chappie Russ. Kier Mulcahey also gets to show off a strong voice and proves a versatile actor, navigating Brains’ playful moments and later heavier scenes with equal skill.
“Rewired” raises some interesting questions around what makes a life and how an outsider can see things in other people’s belongings after they’ve gone. With some reworking to either link the story strands or bring the focus more on Albert, “Rewired” could end up becoming a real gem of a show.
‘Rewired’ runs at the Sharnbrook Mill Theatre until Saturday 2nd November 2024.
Performance runtime 2 hours 30 minutes including interval.
