Tuesday 16th September 2025 at York Theatre Royal
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The story of the Military Wives choirs is a pretty inspiring one. Driven by a desire to connect and support one another in a distinctly challenging walk of life, the original wives brought the first choir together and found their project blossoming to 71 choirs with 1800 members over a period 13 years. This musical version of the tale, from writer and director Debbie Isitt, delivers on heart, humour and a little carefully planted darkness.
Bobbie Little leads the lassies as choir director Olive – a force of nature with a warm presence, and an unshakeable will to make this choir count. Little also leads the way vocally, with a powerful set of pipes taking on ballads and bouncier numbers with great feeling. And the women she leads offer a brilliantly combined cross-section of life.
There’s the shy contingent, made up of Kayla Carter’s Faith and Sydney Isitt-Ager’s gently comic, anxiety-ridden Sarah; the former a sugar-sweet, decidedly introverted and blessed with a gorgeously rich voice, and the latter giving a brilliant performance spanning comedy and tragedy across the piece.
Then there’s the big personalities: Caroline Sheen’s officious and entitled Susannah (given softer edges as we go, naturally) and the edgy Krissy, played by Rachael Wooding with enjoyable relish, heavy-handedly dropping truth bombs and cracking one liners but not without her own emotional moments. Then there’s are the mums: Emma Crossley’s troubled but playful Bex, Ashleigh Gray’s thoroughly wholesome Terri and Jessica Daley’s hugely entertaining Jenny – mum to 5000 and never standing still, but keeping her head up and rolling with whatever’s thrown her way.
Menfolk are relatively peripheral but the production does a great job of cross-cutting between scenes at the front line and in the rehearsal room without falling into any sense of incongruity or clunkiness – in part thanks to Katie Lias’s designs, made up of non-specific box formations used to conjure everything from a mountainside to a war zone. Rory Beaton’s lighting and Richard Brooke’s sound designs also ensure that such scenes have the dramatic impact required, surprising us with dramatic intrusions into the quieter lives led by the women in the absence of their men.
The men are given room to fulfil some stereotypical territory while they’re away in their male-dominated barracks but there’s also a wealth of sentiment and warmth on display from Billy Roberts (Dale, Simon, Andy), Joe Kelly (Adam) and Adrian Hansel (Luke) as they pore over letters and radio performances from loved ones. Stewart Wright also gives an increasingly hilarious performance as Dave the welfare officer: chronically outnumbered by unimpressed women, the layered gags are a gift that keep giving.
Music (Musical Director: George Dyer) is of course a real emotional cornerstone here, and selections lreflect the emotional core of the women nicely as they long for reassurance that their loved ones are safe and protected – “Time After Time”, “To Make You Feel My Love” and “Just Give Me a Reason” being memorable moments.
Ultimately, Military Wives is a tale of humanity and connection told well, with humour and pathos running smoothly side by side for the duration – definitely one to catch, though if the audible sniffles and sobs around me are anything to go by, you’d do well to pack tissues!
Military Wives is at York Theatre Royal until September 27th 2025 – more information and tickets can be found here.
Always Time For Theatre 
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