Power of Work review

For something to do on a Thursday night, I went and saw the stage production being at Goodwill's London headquarters at 255 Horton St, Power of Work… y’know what I mean? 

Since this is an amateur charity production and I already wrote a review for the professional play at the Grand Theatre's McManus Studio, The Last 15 Seconds, for Theatre In London this week, I'll confine myself to a few thoughts here.


This play is essentially something of a self-promotion about the non-profit community assistance organization as the ghost of its founder, Reverend Edgar J. Helms, comes to visit the London branch to see how his creation is doing. In doing so, Helms tells his story of how he started his organization to give people a hand up in life and the current management tells him about Goodwill's current operations and policies as we see various people getting the help they need.

For an amateur production, this play is an engaging enough introduction to the organization and its history with good humour along the way. In addition, its case examples are entertaining themselves such as a ex-con and a single mother prostitute who find the help they need from Goodwill and turn their lives around. However, the story balances the good news with a loss as the staff come to grips with the fact that they can't save them all. For a play of this kind to have that kind of realism marks it as something better than a mindless promotion and it is better for it.

With enthusiastic acting and engaging and primarily live music making this play work, you'll learn a lot about a non-profit business that has become a cornerstone of communities around the world.

For such a engaging amateur production, it's at least worth the clothing donation admission option to enjoy it for yourself.