Rope Walk Productions is a Nottingham-based group performing its new musical The Final Act that’s an irreverent look at amateur theatre companies.
When Rory, the president of the university’s theatre group, is told by the vice-chancellor that his loss-making group is threatened with closure and the building demolished and being rebuilt as a sports centre unless he produces a sell-out show and it has to be a musical, panic ensues.
The society’s committee meets to try to resolve the problem but they are not prepared to back the plan so Rory decides to go ahead without their financial support and tries to assemble a production team and cast.
But what is the musical to be? It’s decided to make a musical about making a musical and so the plot of sorts develops.
The characters are fairly stereotypical: the exuberant musical director, the over-the-top theatrical male lead with a back-story about his “whole family being killed by a musical”—well the roof fell down in the theatre they were attending.
Then there is the ambitious choreographer Victoria who is looking for a full ballet troupe and Sarah the female lead who is misunderstood by the group and the long-suffering treasurer Bernie who was promised to be the producer.
It’s all rather lightweight fun, simply-staged with some catchy songs performed by a live band and well received by a capacity audience.