{"id":928812,"date":"2026-04-30T15:58:25","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T15:58:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/928812\/"},"modified":"2026-04-30T15:58:25","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T15:58:25","slug":"review-footloose-the-university-of-sheffield-drama-studio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/928812\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Footloose, The University of Sheffield Drama Studio"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#13;<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRating&#13;<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t&#13;\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t&#13;<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\tExcellent&#13;\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>An enjoyable and energetic production created and performed by very talented Sheffield University students.  <\/p>\n<p>\t<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The\u00a0<strong>Sheffield University Performing Arts Society<\/strong>\u00a0<strong>(SUPAS)\u00a0<\/strong>is made up of The University of Sheffield students with a shared love of Musical Theatre. The members come from all disciplines and are not studying musical theatre as the university does not offer that course. And\u00a0that\u2019s\u00a0rather a\u00a0shame with talent like this in the alumni.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>Footloose<\/strong>\u00a0is\u00a0a hit\u00a01984 film which was adapted into a stage musical in 1998. It tells the story of Chicago boy Ren McCormack who moves to a small town where a tragic accident some years earlier resulted in dancing being forbidden. Ren falls for Ariel, the rebellious daughter of Reverend Shaw Moore and together they try to persuade the town that dancing should be\u00a0permitted\u00a0again.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Playing Ren is\u00a0<strong>James Laikin<\/strong>\u00a0who\u00a0convinces as\u00a0the angry new boy with a chip on his shoulder.\u00a0<strong>Lucy Ellinor<\/strong>\u00a0as the defiant Ariel is equally impressive. Both play their roles with confidence and conviction and display strong singing and dancing ability. Bringing plenty of\u00a0humour\u00a0is\u00a0<strong>Euan Jones<\/strong>\u00a0who is perfectly cast as easy-going Willard. He\u00a0maintains\u00a0the American drawl perfectly and is clearly enjoying this role.\u00a0<strong>Izzy Woolcott\u00a0<\/strong>as Rusty has powerhouse vocals and her unstoppable energy make \u2018Let\u2019s Hear it for the Boy\u2019 one of the show\u2019s many highlights.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Playing older characters convincingly is a tough ask for a young performer, but\u00a0<strong>Jude\u00a0Yellop<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0<strong>Ellie Potter<\/strong>\u00a0are excellent as the Reverend Shaw Moore and his wife\u00a0Vi.\u00a0Yellop\u00a0has\u00a0an assured\u00a0delivery and a natural authority in the role. He perfectly captures the conflict he feels between keeping Ariel safe and allowing her to grow. His poignant \u2018Heaven Help Me\u2019 is beautifully sung. Potter is simply superb as Vi, she is completely believable in the\u00a0role\u00a0and her singing voice is pure and clear. She performs \u2018Can You Find It\u00a0in\u00a0Your Heart\u2019 with a depth of emotion beyond her years.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>All the smaller principal roles are well performed and well\u00a0sung,\u00a0there are no weak links in this production. The ensemble singing is strong with excellent harmony work and perfect sound balance.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0a pet hate of mine when the lyrics and harmonies\u00a0can\u2019t\u00a0be heard above the band, which is often an issue with amateur productions, but that never happens here. The harmony lines could always be heard which worked especially well in the energetic \u2018Holding Out\u00a0for\u00a0a\u00a0Hero\u2019, the\u00a0beautifully sung \u2018Learning to\u00a0Be Silent\u2019 and the powerful \u2018I\u2019m Free\u2019. There are some\u00a0very complex\u00a0songs in this show with intricate counter melodies. They are all sung well so top credit to MD\u00a0<strong>Coby Brown<\/strong>\u00a0who must have drilled the cast hard. His seven-piece band is on stage throughout in their cowboy hats and sound fabulous.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The set designed by\u00a0<strong>Neha\u00a0Jakkampudi<\/strong>\u00a0is simple but effective with lockers to\u00a0represent\u00a0the school scenes and a clever kitchen set up for the\u00a0Moores\u2019 house. The choreography devised by\u00a0<strong>Zara Walton<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0<strong>Stan Smith\u00a0<\/strong>is varied and interesting, and the cast\u00a0performs it\u00a0well. The exuberant finale has the expected\u00a0Footloose\u00a0dance,\u00a0and the energy from the stage is palpable. Director\u00a0<strong>Rory Violet<\/strong>\u00a0has created a well-balanced,\u00a0fast-paced\u00a0production which gets\u00a0stronger and stronger\u00a0as it unfolds.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Most amateur companies need to pay professionals for music and technical support, so\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0remarkable that the entire cast and creative team\u00a0has\u00a0come from the student body.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0even more impressive that SUPAS has achieved this level of quality when the membership is constantly changing as existing students\u00a0graduate\u00a0and newcomers arrive. This Society is obviously\u00a0thriving,\u00a0and it will be exciting to see what comes next.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Stage Adaptation by: Dean Pitchford and Walter Bobbie\u00a0<br \/>Based on the original screenplay by: Dean Pitchford\u00a0<br \/>Music by: Tom Snow\u00a0<br \/>Lyrics by: Dean Pitchford\u00a0<br \/>Additional Music by: Eric Carmen, Sammy Hagar, Kenny Loggins and Jim Steinman\u00a0<br \/>Directed by: Rory Violet\u00a0<br \/>Choreographed by: Zara Walton, Stan Smith\u00a0\u00a0<br \/>Musical Direction by: Coby Brown\u00a0<br \/>Production Manager: Grace\u00a0Imonhimi\u00a0<br \/>Assistant Production Manager: Alicia Adeleye\u00a0<br \/>Set Designed by: Neha\u00a0Jakkampudi\u00a0<br \/>Costume,\u00a0Hair and\u00a0Make-up\u00a0Designed by: Phoebe Hill\u00a0<br \/>Lighting Designed by: Aggie Bos and Adam\u00a0Rajczakowski\u00a0<br \/>Sound\u00a0Engineer: Jack Meads\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Footloose\u00a0plays at The University of Sheffield Drama Studio until Saturday 2 May.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"&#13; &#13; Rating&#13; &#13; &#13; &#13; Excellent&#13; An enjoyable and energetic production created and performed by very talented&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":928813,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8817],"tags":[259992,259993,259994,748,259995,259996,259997,393,259998,259999,134527,260000,4884,260001,260002,260003,31410,260004,260005,260006,260007,260008,260009,72022,1620,260010,108300,66673,260011,16,15,260012,260013],"class_list":{"0":"post-928812","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sheffield","8":"tag-adam-rajczakowski","9":"tag-aggie-bos","10":"tag-alicia-adeleye","11":"tag-britain","12":"tag-coby-brown","13":"tag-dean-pitchford","14":"tag-ellie-potter","15":"tag-england","16":"tag-eric-carmen","17":"tag-euan-jones","18":"tag-footloose","19":"tag-grace-imonhimi","20":"tag-great-britain","21":"tag-izzy-woolcott","22":"tag-jack-meads","23":"tag-james-laikin","24":"tag-jim-steinman","25":"tag-jude-yellop","26":"tag-kenny-loggins","27":"tag-lucy-ellinor","28":"tag-neha-jakkampudi","29":"tag-phoebe-hill","30":"tag-rory-violet","31":"tag-sammy-hagar","32":"tag-sheffield","33":"tag-sheffield-university-performing-arts-society","34":"tag-stan-smith","35":"tag-the-university-of-sheffield-drama-studio","36":"tag-tom-snow","37":"tag-uk","38":"tag-united-kingdom","39":"tag-walter-bobbie","40":"tag-zara-walton"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/928812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=928812"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/928812\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/928813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=928812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=928812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=928812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}