‘All we know is that whosoever wields it will make grown men scream and girls throw their panties at him’ – DAODS presents We Will Rock You, Orchard West Theatre, Dartford. 15.04.26
A pleasure as always to be back supporting local talent at the Orchard (West) Theatre, this time with Dartford Amateur Operatic & Dramatic Society (DAODS)’s presentation of We Will Rock You. And before we get into that, it’s exciting to hear that they are on track to re-open the Orchard Theatre this coming December, in time for the 2026 panto season!
The plot:
We Will Rock You the musical is set hundreds of years in the future. Planet Earth is controlled by the Killer Queen, who has banned all non-computer-generated music. She has heard of a prophecy that real instruments have been hidden somewhere on the planet and orders her Chief of Police to get to the bottom of the matter and crush any rebellion. Meanwhile, Galileo, a young outsider, hears lyrics in his dreams and is heralded as the star of the prophecy by the Bohemians, who have been searching for the lost instruments. To fulfil the prophecy, Galileo must evade the clutches of the Killer Queen, bring back the music and find Rock’s Holy Grail.
This happens to be one of my favourite musicals of all time (thanks to my dad and his love of Queen) so I was ready to judge harshly, and yet I was pleasantly surprised.
DAODS put their best feet forward for this one, with a really strong cast and some great singers.
In the lead roles were Ethan Oswald as Galileo and Ella Tipp as Scaramouche. Ethan seemed like a natural from the moment he started singing. Ella’s confidence grew throughout and both her voice and sass levels got stronger as she went through. If I had to find fault, I would have liked to see a bit more chemistry between them as they fell in love, but it’s a minor point.
Josh Jacob as Brit alongside Maisie Clegg as Oz had more of this and really captured their characters’ rebel spirit. Maisie and Gavin Kirrage, who played Buddy, might be ones to watch in future, delivering strong vocals in some of the less high-energy songs.
It wasn’t until the second half that we really got to appreciate the power of our Killer Queen’s (Katy Goodday-George) voice, which was a real shame, because I could see her giving it her all in ‘A Kind of Magic’ in the first Act, but there was too much going on around her to be able to hear her fully.
There were a couple of points where this happened, in part because of some sound issues (mics dropping out, music being a bit loud), which is normal for a first-night run-through. None of the cast let it bother them and kept up strong performances. Killer Queen also had the most fabulous costumes. Richard Cooper made a great evil sidekick as Khashoggi.
There was a big supporting cast of teen queens, bohemians, dancers and ensemble who brought a huge amount of energy to the stage. At times when everyone was on stage together it could feel a little chaotic, but it was great to see everyone giving their all.
All of the cheesy jokes and pop (or rock) culture references that you know and love from the West End are in there. I was pleased there hadn’t been too many attempts to modernise (Britney Spears is 100% my era, long may she reign).
Overall, this was a great production, and DAODS got the audience clapping and stomping along with them at all the right points. The cast and crew have clearly worked incredibly hard to pull this together, and they should be proud of the show they’ve put on.
DAODS presents We Will Rock You is running at Orchard West Theatre until Saturday 18 April 2026. Tickets can be purchased here, so enjoy a fun night out and support your local theatre company!
