I remember seeing Chess – the musical by Tim Rice, Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus, over twenty years ago when it was fresh to the West End and to be honest, apart from a few well-known musical numbers and a lingering impression of a seedy Bangkok nightclub scene, I couldn’t remember much about it. Just over a year ago, I saw Swindon Opera’s impressive production of Carmen which was directed by Maria Jagusz, and when she told me that she was staging Chess as her 2009 MJ-UK project in Cirencester’s Bingham Hall, I was very keen to go and see it. I expected it to bear all of Maria’s hallmarks – fantastic tableaux, imaginative staging, stunning costumary, energy and movement and cleverly interwoven dance sequences. I was not disappointed. MJ-UK’s production of Chess was an overwhelming success that deservedly played to a full house on the Friday evening (14 August) when I saw it.

MJ-UK Productions is Maria Jagusz’s brainchild – a company that works with professionals and runs youth and community performance art projects. In the four years it has been producing shows, it has rapidly established itself as a first-rate primer for young singers who are embarking on musical careers, including some of Maria’s own students. (I feel I should declare an interest here – I am one of Maria’s singing students – but definitely not in the “youth” category, nor (unfortunately) am I likely to embark on a musical career!) The summer project gives many young singers, dancers and actors the opportunity to take part in a professionally produced and directed show, and it is the magical fusion of young talent and superb direction that makes any MJ-UK production well worth seeing. If I have tended to over-use superlatives in my reporting of the production, it is because they are deserved, not because I have any vested interests! I was bowled-over by this show and, in honesty, I never expected to encounter such a vibrant and impressive production outside a mainstream theatre!

With such a large cast, it is impossible to write a comprehensive and concise “review” of the production, so I’ve opted for “concise” (relatively speaking!) which means focussing mainly on the principals. I should start though, by giving credit to the unsung (and presumably non-singing hero of the production) the sound manager, Ian Carling and his team. A poorly set-up sound system can wreck the best endeavours of the performers, but I am pleased to say that in this production it seemed perfectly balanced and well focussed, making it easy for the audience to sit back and enjoy the abundant talents of the singers and musicians. The orchestra too deserve special mention (particularly as they were completely out-of-sight behind the stage backdrop along with the very talented musical director, Christopher Broom.)

The convoluted plot of Chess is set (unsurprisingly) against the backdrop of international chess competitions and the Cold War. In a classic East-West confrontation, love and politics become hopelessly entangled as the main protagonists, brash American Freddie Trumper and his mercurial Russian opponent, Anatoly Sergievski, clash both for the love of Hungarian-born Florence Vassy and for the world chess championship. Egos and passions run high and the American’s surprise defeat sets the scene for the subsequent competition in Bangkok.

Iwan Lewis who played Anatoly (on the Friday night) carried the role with a maturity well beyond his years. Compelling and convincing as Anatoly, he also showed that he can really turn on the power to thrill when he unleashed his voice in the more dramatic passages. Alice Nelson played the angst-ridden Florence very well indeed with superb facial expressions and real emotional depth. Very occasionally in the larger ensemble pieces her voice risked being lost but her solos were beautifully sung. Christopher Jacobsen was Freddie and when I saw him as Don Jose in Carmen just over a year ago, I was not convinced by his portrayal, never truly believing he had the passion to kill Carmen. Whether he has developed since then or whether he is more comfortable in music theatre I don’t know, but the change was extraordinary. In Chess, he was brilliant and delivered a total performance to be proud of, inhabiting his character completely. Sam Clifford (who played the Arbiter) and Michael Dukes (Walter) both performed well in what could be seen as supporting roles. Ashlee Nunn was Sergievski’s abandoned wife, Svetlana, and despite being one of the least experienced among the cast, she was outstandingly good: her diction was better than many professionals I have heard and she poured real emotional despair into her performance delivering it with an authentically Soviet stoicism that was enough to make the heart ache. For me though, the best performance of the evening belonged to Toby Girling who I saw as Dancaire in Carmen last year (I was impressed by him then). He excelled as the shady Russian KGB agent Molokov, and while he was subtly menacing throughout, his characterization never descended into parody. His was a commanding presence on stage and his performance (particularly in his big number) was quite mesmerising – and what a superb, rich tone to his voice.

Choreographer and assistant director Helena Biggs also merits special mention. Choreographing a multitude of young dancers, and achieving the sort of seamless integration with the rest of the production that we saw is a real achievement. From the very authentic looking Cossack-style dancing (energetically performed by two lads whose coordination was excellent and whose energy seemed inexhaustible) to the somewhat more sedate dance of the chess pieces, all of the dance items displayed ingenuity and clever use of space.

In striving for some degree of balance in this critique, I have tried hard to find a few things that I thought could be improved: once or twice, the diction was less than perfect; once or twice the background activity drew focus away from the main characters; and once or twice there were disconnects between singers and orchestra; but overall none of these detracted from a thoroughly enjoyable and engaging production, brimming with vitality.

The driving force and creative talent behind this show and MJ-UK Productions is Director Maria Jagusz, who has achieved a stunning success by fusing the very best elements of music, song, dance, costume, and design. But as well providing first-class entertainment, MJ-UK has also given many young performers a fabulous opportunity to work with a professional production team, thus kindling what for many will become an enduring interest in the arts and providing others with a stepping stone into performing careers. Oh! How I wish I was thirty years younger and talented!