Violet is a musical that doesn’t come along often. I last saw this show in 2019 at the Charing Cross Theatre so I was excited to see a new take on it with Sedos. The musical tells of Violet, a disfigured girl who travels from Spruce Pine, North Carolina to Tulsa Oklahoma in order to meet a faith healer. Along the way she meets 2 soldiers, Flick a black solder who is also dealing with how the world perceives him because of the colour of his skin and Monty, a cocky ladies man and an unlikely friendship is developed between them.

The show is a tender one that switches between the present day and flashbacks to young Violet. The audience learn that she wasn’t born with the scar and you see young Violet struggling to come to terms with her appearance. Playing Violet is Sarah Hunt and she was a wonderful actress. Violet does not tend to be played with any prosthetics to show her disfigurement – instead it is left up to the audiences imagination. Hunt’s physicality as a disfigured young woman is utterly convincing, flinching every time someone tries to touch her or look at her directly and I soon forgot that she did not actually possess any scarring. Her reunion with Flick was painful to watch as you physically saw her dreams crash down around her. Hunt managed to portray Violet as someone both incredibly fragile but with a tough exterior that was hard to break through and her acting choices were a delight to watch.

Flick was played by David Gregory and Monty by George Langdown, they had a lovely rapport between them. Langdown was utterly believable as someone immersed in typical GI culture and Gregory portrayed the impact of segregation and racism towards him beautifully. Threatening to steal the show was Ngozi Onyenmelu who played Lula Buffington, one of the singers in the Preachers choir and boy did she raise the rafters of the Bridewell in her gospel moment.

The music is varied within the show and often uses the location of Greyhound stop as inspiration as to the style. There is a mixture of gospel, soul and country as well as a more modern sound to some of the music. The company had been well drilled by musical director Adrian Hau and the band of 9 sounded note perfect. The sound design by Adam Coppard also did a lovely job of balancing the band with the cast and got it spot on, no easy task when there is such a short amount of time for tech with shows like this.

Director Dan Saunders also staged the show innovatively with a simple back platform being used when necessary but the set being kept to a minimum was a clever choice as it meant the action of the show would be allowed to flow and making it easier to buy into Violet’s story. The set whilst simple was completed to a high standard with the finish ensuring it was in keeping with the show.

Sedos have once again succeeded in putting on a touching show with exceptional acting across the board and one that deals with important themes sensitively. This was a wonderful chance to see a relatively unknown musical in an intimate venue which is perfect for this show and yet another shining example of how wonderful amateur theatre can be when done right!!!

Violet is on at the Bridewell Theatre until 29th March. For more information and to check out what else Sedos have coming up you can visit their website.

If you like this review you might also like my review for You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown, The Color Purple and [Blank].