This strong ensemble boasts several eyecatching talents: …a poised and sassy Caroline Carragher excels as a gorgeously bossy Venetia Trumpington-Hewitt
Charlotte Valori for TheatreCat
But it’s the women who really steal the show – Naomi Kilby, Caroline Carragher, Fae Evelyn and, in a trouser role, Alicia Gurney. Individually they are excellent, but they come into their own in harmonies that really bounce off the bare walls with control and power. And, sung in English without surtitles in an unforgiving space, I’m delighted to report that you can hear every word.
Gary Naylor for Broadway World
…a superb cast, a fast flowing production where energy and farce are rewarded and creating a story rather than a show. A real pity it’s got such a short run, but this first full opera from a young company is a bright jewel in an already glittering season of Grimeborn at the Arcola.
Karl O’Doherty for The Reviews Hub
…the whole thing is triumphantly carried off by the sheer joie-de-vivre of the cast and the audience loved it, as did I.
Owen Davies for PlaysToSee.com
Alegría’s studio production transfers the action to the Second World War and a rural English world of Dig for Victory posters, hairnets and – in the case of Caroline Carragher’s formidably cut-glass Venetia Trumpington-Hewitt – painted-on stocking seams.
Yehuda Shapiro for The Stage
There are some beautifully judged comic moments – above all when Adèle (Naomi Kilby), Venetia and her goddaughter Alice (Fae Evelyn) are peeling carrots. Singing in angelic harmony, they gradually twig that the vegetables are reminding them that they need a man in their lives.
Full of verve, spunk and shameless innuendo the exuberant cast threw themselves into the melee with gay abandon. No stone was left unturned for an easy laugh – and there were plenty. Even Star Wars got a look in. …The trio of Adele, Venetia and Alice at the top of Act 2 was beautiful. …Ending with the irrepressible and climactic final trio and a pulse quickening ensemble, it all came off with a suitable bang. Ooh matron.
Robert Hugill for Planet Hugill
Caroline Carragher 