Hunting of the Snark

The Bellman himself they all praised to the skies-

Such a carriage, such ease and such grace!

Such solemnity, too! One could see he was wise,

The moment one looked in his face!

from 'The Hunting of the Snark' by Lewis Carroll - 'The Bellman's Speech

---

Music, Lyrics & Book -Mike Batt

Directed & Designed - Mike Batt

Co-directed - Jamie Hayes

Lighting - Andrew Bridge

Choreography - Jo-Anne Robinson

Sound - John Del Nero

Associate Costume Designer - Km Baker

Associate Musical Director - Jae Alexander

The Cast

• The Bellman - PHILIP QUAST
• Lewis Carroll - DAVID McCALLUM
• The Billiard Marker - KENNY EVERETT
• The Bellman - PHILIP QUAST
• The Baker - MARK McGANN
• The Bandmaster - JAE ALEXANDER
• The Banker - DAVID FIRTH
• The Beaver - VERONICA HART
• The Broker - PETER LEDBURY
• The Barrister - ALLAN LOVE
• The Bishop - GARY MARTIN
• The Butcher - JOHN PARTRIDGE

The Ensemble

Richard Brightiff, Billy Burke, Anthony Clegg, Michael Desouter Joanne Farrell, Myles Freeman, Nicola Keen, Madeleine Loftin, Japheth Myers, Melinda O’Connor, Traci Porter, Alexandra Worrall

Synopsis

'The Hunting of the Snark' is a musical on the nonsense poem written by Lewis Carroll of the same name. It tells the tale of several characters, whose names all begin with letter B for no reason, who go searching for the mythical creature called 'the Snark'. The show takes us along on the sea journey to find this mythical creature, what ever it may be for the Snark is many different things to each of the character. Led by the Bellman, but is his over confidence the right approach, "I-see-no-danger-therefore-is-no-danger. The Baker, whose Uncle once told him, "If your Snark be a boojum, you will vanish away". Through this journey relationships develop, tensions rise and the Baker's worst nightmare comes true.

Act One

1. Prologue
2. Opening Titles
3. Children Of The Sky
4. Hymn To The Snark
5. The Storm and Arrival
6. Who’ll Join Me On This Escapade?
7. The Way We Think
8. The Departure
9. The Bellman’s Speech
10. Midnight Smoke
11. The Trouble With You
12. Dancing Towards Disaster

Act Two

1. The Banker’s Fate
2. The Hunting
3. Nursery Pictures
4. Waiting For A Wave
5. The Butchery Waltz
6. Snooker Song
7. The Pig Must Die
8. More Trouble
9. The Dismal and Desolate Valley
10. A Delicate Combination
11. As Long As The Moon Can Shine
12. Yet More Trouble
13. The Vanishing
14. Whatever You Believe

---

'The Hunting of the Snark'

From a review by Mike Gibb

(reprinted with permission from 'Masquerade' magazine)

I honestly wasn't looking forward to it greatly. Okay, I had enjoyed the music of the concept album, but, against my better judement, I had been jaundiced by the comments of the critics. But with my loins well girded I headed in the direction of the Prince Edward and joined a surprisingly large number of other people who were joining the hunt for the snark.

To say I was pleasantly surprised would be a gross understatement. My evening with Mike Batt's controversial show seems likely to be my most enjoyable evening at the West End theatre in 1991.

Sure, it has its faults, but how many musicals can you name that don't have some defect. The Snark does lack a convincing story, but partly recompences by providing everyone in the audience the opportunity to reach their own interpretation of just what is being hunted in the same way that all of the principal characters are seeking something different from the adventure. My only criticism centered around a few moments of somewhat forced humour - the 'bell scene' in the first half and "Nursery Pictures" extract at the start of act two which looked like it had been designed by the Three Stooges with the added disadvantage that the audience laughter partially drowned a good song. But having said that, the fact that there was audience laughter might suggest that my reservations derive from rather over serious approach to musicals and not any fault in the piece.

Whatever. The fact remains that debits are few and far between and difficult to find while the show quite glows with credits. The staging, the cast, the orchestra, the music and so on. But let us look at each facet in it's own right.

The staging is indescribeable. Having said that, I will now try to describe it. The main orchestra - all 50 of them - are situated right there on the stage while the rock group which augments the sound of thier big brother is suspended above in a gantry. Two further gantries, the upper a precarious thirty feet from the stage, together with access staircase, come and go as the action demands. Similarly, numerous screens descend and ascend and move vertically and horizontally and any other way there is providing a melange of backdrops for the 12,000 slides - count them, 12,000 slides - projected from the 156 slide projectors arranged around the theatre. With apparent simplicity the scene is transformed from a church to quayside to the ship on which much of the action takes place to various appealing and eerie places. There are too many remarkable scenes to try to list them, but suffice to say the moving galleon with the flying fishes below, the courtroom scene with the moving legs (you had to be there) and the rainstorm remain clearest in my mind. The production consultants to the show are called Imagination. I wonder why?!

So much attention in the press has been given over to the arrival on the West End stage of Kenny Everett. Kenny is fine. An adequate singer, he carries off his part perfectly well. But it is a minor part and the attention focused on him is detrimental to the real stars. David McCallum is great. He strolls about the stage in his role of Lewis Carroll binding the whole work together and keeping the audience involved in the story through his gentle stage presence. He also sings sweetly although he is hardly taxed in this direction with batt giving the realmeat of the music to the real singers.

And how they relish the task. Led by Philip Quast (Javert in the Symphonic Les Mis) in the central role of the Bellman they are magnificent. Mark McGann as the indecisive Baker brings pathos to the show while Veronica Hart as the Beaver and Peter Ledbury are true finds. On the night that I went Hunting the important part of the Butcher was being played by Myles Freeman, the understudy, and such a situation further emphasized the strength of this company as the young lad was wonderful. (Dear Mr. Lloyd Webber, why didn't you look at this lad when you were looking for a stand in Joseph? I don't think he can giggle to a puppet, but..?) The chorus and the dancers were terrific to a man and woman, and then again there was Philip Quast. He was, quite simply, superb. Larger than life, with a voice to match that echoed round the theatre. The hairs on the back of my neck that he raised with the epitath 'Whatever You Believe' haven't lain back down yet.

© Kate McCullugh & Angela Pollard 2002. No portion of this page may be copied without permission of the author.