Musical review: The Pecking Order                                                    

by Paul Kirkwood for The Harrogate Advertiser, November 2018

Amy and her parents have moved out of the city into the country and there is tension in the air. A long-established farming family next door is very unwelcoming and Amy initially struggles to adjust to her new environment. She misses her friends but strikes up a relationship with the farmer’s son, Ben, in the face of resentment from Sam, who also has designs on Ben, and amid tensions between Amy’s and Sam’s friends. The pecking order doesn’t just exist within Amy’s new flock of chickens as she’s about to find out. At times the story is a sort of farmyard Grease – Amy’s friends are the Pink Ladies and Ben’s friends are the T-Birds – perhaps even with a bit of Romeo and Juliet thrown in given the theme of love across the social divide.

All types of relationship are explored between teenagers, families, adults and, yes, chickens in a series of varied, catchy and often complex songs. ‘Moving in’ sets a foreboding tone at the outset while ‘My Inner Violent Streak’ includes intricate, amusing wordplay in the style of Victoria Wood. The first act concludes with a sing-a-long as if The 12 Days of Christmas had been re-written as a sea shanty and ‘All through the Night’, sung by Amy and Ben as they waltz around the farmyard, is achingly poignant.

Rachel Warren provides the pick of the performances as the truly fearsome farmer’s wife, Brenda. She has no interest in Amy keeping chickens declaring that she only likes them “covered in gravy” yet still manages to break our hearts in song as the musical draws to a close. Ben, portrayed by Charlie Dewis as rough and ready but a thoroughly good egg too, also surprises us as his character matures. His only previous love was put to sleep (that was Bessie, the sheepdog). Kiera Bollon perfectly captures Amy’s strength and vulnerability.

The show’s director – or rather mother hen – is Emily Roberts who also wrote, produced and choreographed, all while holding down a job as a music teacher. The schoolgirls’ gossip sounds like it was lifted straight from conversations overheard in the classroom and several of her former pupils appear in the lively, youthful cast. Four other friends and ex-colleagues make up the four-piece strings band with Emily on piano. Not surprisingly, she lives in a village but, apart from references to Leyburn and York, the story is set both nowhere in particular (other than Yorkshire) and everywhere in that the characters and issues portrayed will chime with all villagers.

With as much pathos as homespun charm, this skilfully engineered musical is essentially about overcoming prejudice and the coming together of people, young and old, country dwellers and townies, themes that have never been more topical. This is an outstanding production worthy of a far larger stage. It will put a dosey-doe in your step and feel-good glow in your soul as you set off home however wintery the night. If there was a CD of the soundtrack it would be top of my Christmas list.