“A big thank you to everyone at Tinkers Farm Opera for providing an entertaining and fun evening”.

Being invited to amateur theatre productions is always a pleasure as you can be guaranteed of a night with people as passionate about theatre as you.  Tinkers Farm Opera perform Kipps – The New Half a Sixpence at Stourbridge Town Hall until the 20th May, and it is filled with wonderful moments of which the whole cast should be extremely proud.

Now, attending any opening night can of course throw up a few little teething issues, however these will be glossed over as without doubt they will be ironed out as the run continues.

The cast is headed up by the Chairman of Tinkers Farm Opera, Richard Cooper who plays the lead role of Arthur Kipps.  Cooper was able to provide a wonderful version of Kipps, a young chap who is catapulted into high society due to a family bereavement where he was left a lot of money.  This show is filled with songs and Cooper was able to shine during these moments, even providing a tap dance section.  His performance overall was confident and full of charm.

Kipps is torn between two different ladies, Helen Walsingham (Beth Siviter-Coupland) and Ann Pornick (Rebecca Bate) during the show and eventually finds happiness with Ann, an old friend who steals his heart.  Siviter-Coupland as Helen provided some great vocal performances throughout and was able to project her voice with very clear diction.  Bate was equally confident in her performance of Ann and has wonderful onstage chemistry with Cooper as Kipps.

Bringing a comedic performance to the stage was Matthew Morgan as Chitterlow. He is a breath of fresh air, with wonderful comic timing, a very polished performance and great stage presence.  Another performer who clearly has a place on the stage is Megan Smith who played Flo Evans, with wonderful facial expressions and enthusiasm, it was clear she was very much enjoying performing.

The cast as a whole work really hard throughout this musical that runs for around 2 hours 30 minutes, so it really is full on.  There are some stand out numbers peppered throughout, including of course ‘Flash Bang Wallop’ which included some inventive choreography by Emma Harley who also directs the show.  We were treated to a wonderful band under the Musical Direction of Ian Hayward who brought the piece together and made for a great show.

A big thank you to everyone at Tinkers Farm Opera for providing an entertaining and fun evening.  With a few little tweaks, this show will be receiving standing ovations, I’m sure!

Book your tickets here:

Tinkers Farm Opera Presents Kipps - The New Half a Sixpence Musical | Stourbridge Town Hall (boroughhalls.co.uk)