Ovation students take centre stage

STANDING TALL: Ovation's Jamie Harding hopes local students can put on a stellar performance for a strong Mount Gambier audience at tomorrow night's show.
STANDING TALL: Ovation’s Jamie Harding hopes local students can put on a stellar performance for a strong Mount Gambier audience at tomorrow night’s show.

SOUTH East students are expected to captivate a large audience at the Wehl Street Theatre tomorrow night when they take centre stage for Ovation’s Club Neverland.

After a successful premiere in Adelaide last week, the stage show – which is a prequel to the famous story of Peter Pan – is expected to capture the imagination of a South East audience.

Ovation artistic director Jamie Harding said the play was “mad-cap fun” with complicated artistry.

“From an audience’s perspective, it looks quite simple and if that’s the case, it means we are working well because it is actually very complicated,” he said.

Mr Harding said the show used common household items to create much larger objects within the story.

“The directorial premise stems from the fact children have amazing imaginations, like Peter Pan,” he said.

“So we look at what household items can become beautiful imaginative things in this show, such as rope can become a doorway, a boat, all these different things.”

The performance will include young actors of various experience levels.

Some performers will be hitting the stage for the first time, while others have up to eight years of experience with Ovation.

“It takes a lot of hard work and sometimes audiences see the end product and wonder how they learnt their lines, but that’s the easy bit, it’s everything else around it that is very complex,” Mr Harding said.

“Ovation is all about giving students the groundings in the arts and provide them with the foundation to go on and have a career in it.”

Mr Harding said he had confidence in the talent of the South East community.

“I believe if we can harness that talent and give them the skills and opportunities to have the guidance from professional artists, then they will be the future generation in the industry,” he said.

“I am passionate about regional stories and having them told on main stages and I am inspired to give local people the skills to go on and get as much enjoyment out of the arts as I have over the years.”

Tomorrow night’s show begins at 7.30pm and tickets can be purchased with cash at the door.