Un-convent-ional week leaves opera group playing nun night only in Kelso

Kelso Amateur Operatic Society had to cut short its production of Nunsense: The Musical after just one night, following the UK Government advising against large gatherings during the Covid-19 pandemic.

However, with that in mind, the stellar cast gave it their all, embracing the ‘for one night only’ philosophy and giving the diminished opening (and closing) night audience their all.

Photos here: https://www.thesouthernreporter.co.uk/arts-and-culture/theatre-and-stage/pictures-kelso-operas-nunsense-production-2501881

Written by Dan Goggin, the award-winning musical transports the audience to a local high school auditorium which appears to be set up for a local production of “Grease”.

Here, five nuns from the local Hoboken convent put on a unique variety show to help raise funds to cover burial expenses for 52 recently-deceased sisters who suffered accidental poison at the hands of the order’s cook, Sister Julia, Child of God.

With Mother Superior Mary Regina, played by Sadie Johnstone, having prematurely bought the convent a plasma television before realising there wasn’t enough cash to put four of the sisters into the grass, the nuns came together to raise the remaining funds.

In the ensuing show, the audience meets and learns more about the diverse qualities of the surviving nuns, including Mother Superior slightly sick of playing second fiddle to second-in-command, Sister Mary Hubert, played by Dawn Hunter, the streetwise Brooklyn native clamouring for her shot on the stage, Sister Robert Anne, played by Jennifer Redpath, the aspiring ballerina, Sister Mary Leo, played by Tait Hall stage regular Aimee Ferguson, and finally Sister Mary Amnesia, played by Joanne Ayling, who after a blow to the head from a falling crucifix, spends the show trying to remember who she is and how she got to the convent.

Highlights of the show included Sister Amnesia’s religious quiz with audience members, and her solo ventriloquist number with her puppet nun highlighting all the pros of poverty, celibacy and obedience.

Joanne Ayling’s portrayal of the confused character had the audience rooting for her to remember her identity ... and she came up trumps with the realisation she was a well-off country music star with more than the means to solve the convent’s financial woes.

Sister Mary Regina, Mother Superior, kept everyone in fine spirits, particularly her comedic interlude after inadvertently ingesting a mind-altering substance found in one of the local students’ lockers.

Streetwise Sister Robert Anne had the audience in stitches too with her veil-inspired impressions before wheeking off her robes to dazzle in a red showgirl dress, and finally finding herself under an expertly-pointed spotlight for her rendition of I Just Want to be a Star.

Few opera companies do comedy better than Kelso, and thoughts must go out to all involved, the orchestra, led by Heather Cattanach, director Euan McIver and choreographer Janice Bruce, as well as the entire cast and stage crew, who were unfortunately denied a week of camaraderie and fun.

Innerleithen Amateur Operatic Society has also cancelled its 2020 production of 9 to 5, due to run in the Memorial Hall from Monday, March 30, to Saturday, April 4.