Welcome to the House of Fun!

Bournemouth University and Arts University Bournemouth’s Performing Arts Society, otherwise known as PARTS, are bringing the music of Madness to the stage as they perform the hit musical ‘Our House’ at the Shelley Theatre in Boscombe between the 13^th and 17^th March.

After winning Event of the Year with their musical, ‘American Idiot’ at the SUBU Activities Awards last year, it is with no doubt that their musical ‘Our House’ will be a huge success as they rise to the challenge of this physically demanding show.

The story follows Camden lad Joe Casey who, on the night of his 16th birthday, makes a decision that will change his life. ‘Our House’ follows the two paths that Joe’s life could take after that fateful night; one path follows what happens if he hands himself in to the police (Good Joe) and the other path is if he runs away (Bad Joe). Over a period of seven years and two alternative lives, Joe deals with the consequences of that night. All this is watched over by Joe’s deceased father, who pulls the two stories together and acts like Joe’s Guardian Angel.

The Bournemouth Rock spoke to Josh Jones Jnr, the director of ‘Our House about the process of producing such an iconic show.

Why did you choose ‘Our House’ as your annual musical?

 We picked ‘Our House’ due to the fun loving nature of the show and because it is extremely physically demanding for actors so we felt PARTS could rise to the challenge of performing intense characters and challenging scene work.

 Putting on a show as big as this was a very ambitious project on its own, let alone most of our production team and cast having the additional demand of studying degrees alongside the show. It has been a massive step up for PARTS and it’s been incredible to see the growth of dance talent

What is different about this musical to previous PARTS’ shows?

One of our biggest projects this year was choosing to have the very opening number, “House of Fun” pre-filmed and projected at the start of the show. This was an ambitious task but thanks to the help of one of our cast members Daniel Foley (who plays Callum in Our House), we created a short film that we are all proud of. I hope that adding an element of film to the show and utilising the skills from courses such as film production helped bring PARTS on to a new level and created an additional layer to the show.

 

 What have you and the production team done to retain the nature of the show and Madness?

 When setting out to direct a show like Our House, myself and the production team wanted to ensure we captured the wonderfully British nature of the show, bringing the audience in to a fun, energetic, home-grown musical. The whole team have worked tirelessly on the creative aesthetic of the show for the audience. The show revolves around the music of British band, Madness and we aimed to bring to life the bizarre dance moves created by the band and combine them with the musical theatre world.

 Have you got any final messages?

 We hope the audience enjoys the hard work that was put into the opening of the show and want to thank our members for going above and beyond to collaborate together on this short film. I hope you can appreciate the effort and enthusiasm from everyone who has worked on bringing Our House to the Shelley and that you have a wonderful, fun-filled evening with us here. Enjoy the show!

 

‘Our House’ tickets can be found on the following link with student tickets being only £10!
https://shelleytheatre.admit-one.eu/?p=details&s=CHPSHELLEY&eventCode=36875

Please take a look at the trailer!