Review: Home All Alone – Horsforth School

TRANSFERRING a well known film onto stage is always a difficult and unknown task but Horsforth School have done a superb job with this particular production. Christmas is not the same to me without seeing this 1990 Chris Columbus film on TV with Macauley Culkin in the leading role.

This new stage production, parodying the original, has been written by Stephanie Kendal, the school’s head of drama in collaboration with the cast; it took a long time and each scene was workshopped from scratch to give their own twist on a familiar story.

For the production the school invited anyone who wanted to take part to be able to do so and one hundred and thirty different pupils graced the stage in various roles, either as principals or in supporting roles whether these be members of the Polka Band, TV presenters, Policemen, Monks, Prisoners, Air Hostesses, Santas, Shopkeepers, Choir members, Primary School Pupils, Airport Passengers, Girl Scouts, Dancers, or neighbours and friends of the McAllister family. With the ten pupils working backstage this represented over 10 per cent of the school being involved.

Additional scenes have been added to the film hence the inclusion of Monks, Girl Scouts, Prisoners, Primary School Pupils and Santas. But overall, the storyline remained very true to what we know from the Home Alone movie.

The production opened with the jailbreak where Merv, Harry and Franklin the notorious Wet Bandits (and yes there are three in the play as opposed to just Merv and Harry in the film) escape from prison and go on the run. I was impressed with the choreography to this dancing to Queen’s I want to Break Free and Michael Jackson’s Smooth Criminal. The action then moves onto the McAllister household getting ready to fly to Paris the following day for their Christmas vacation. Of course, the inevitable happens, they sleep in and in the rush to get to the airport the following morning, Kevin, the youngest member of the family gets left behind in Chicago whilst the rest of them jet off to Europe.

There were some excellent performances from the principals none more so than Saul Kane in the role of Kevin. For a year eight pupil aged only 12 to play such a demanding role takes a very special talent and Saul appeared to be a natural actor in this role with a great theatrical future in front of him if he continues to use his talents this way. I was also highly impressed with Holly Bisset as Merv, Annie Smith as Harry and Dan Sarkar as Franklin, the three bandits, all Year 12 pupils. Their acting was excellent, particularly in the scene towards the end when they are trying to break into the McAllister home.

There were also good supporting performances from Hannah Bainbridge and Josh Wilkinson as Mr & Mrs McAllister, Matthew Dibb as Buzz, Maisie McMillan, Thomas Sweeny and Erin Rivers as Kevin’s brothers and sisters, Tom Radcliffe and Maddy Haworth as Uncle Frank and Auntie Leslie, Sophie O’Dell and Tom Madley as Kevin’s Grandparents, Gabby Ashford, Rachael Parmenter, Sara Al-Janabi as Kevin’s cousins and Louise Bullock as Fuller, his other bed-wetting cousin. Also a mention must be given to Iain Anderson as Gus Polinski the leader of the ‘Pretty Good Polka Band’, who with his particular hairstyle was definitely a John Candy lookalike. I was also impressed with Izzy Hayward, Liss Kirkman and Eleanor Myers as the Pizza delivery staff, Josh Staves from Year 13 as Old Man Marley and Elizabeth Key as the Pigeon woman. Now I know she should really be in Home Alone 2 but Mrs Kendal had added her to the play and this produced a humorous moment when Kevin pointed this out in the show. There was also humour at this stage from an appearance by a President Elect Donald Trump lookalike. Finally, in the humour stakes, I must mention Ali Abdul Karim, who was excellent as the Yorkshire born Coach Driver taking these “Awful Americans” in the form of the McAllister family to the airport.

Particularly pleasing in the second half was the choir at the church with their renditions of Merry Little Christmas and O Holy Night. Some excellent harmonies in both of these songs by Ellie Harper, Polly Lavelle, Lucy Adams, Elizabeth Key and Alycia Kirkman.

The set of the backdrop of the McAllister’s house by Sammy Parker and his team was very impressive but I thought that perhaps this could have been covered by a black curtain in other scenes which were not at that location such as at the airport etc. as this made it slightly confusing for the audience. This, however, is my only slight criticism of the entire show which overall was excellent and highly appreciated by the capacity audience on the opening night when I attended.

To say this was a self-written production based on the original film, Stephanie Kendal and her team have done a superb job and the production of the show by her was excellent. So too the choreography by Erin Dykes, Georgia Manton, Gabby Ashford, Lucy Adams and Ellie Harper. As well as the jailbreak mentioned earlier there was also a good dance sequence to Sinatra’s Come Fly With Me by the dancing troupe.

To have involved so many youngsters, this was a triumph by the school staff and management and I hope those taking part enjoyed themselves just as much as those of us in the audience did. Well done to all concerned.

by John Burland