Sunday, 22 May 2011
White Men with Weapons - The Ustinov
Sensational performance, entertaining and entrancing; one talented performer plays every soldier's life we could imagine
Friday, 29 April 2011
The Others - The Ustinov
Three girls. A table. A guy behind a keyboard that isn’t allowed to speak. What appears at first as another artsy student play, fresh out of university actually opens up some amazingly potent truths about women from all different walks of life.
The audience are not simply presented with a story of woe, but an original way of showing the process of a play and the feelings that can appear in an actor or actress when presented with a character they feel a bond with. So we therefore see three actresses exploring their own characters and how or even if they can be their case’s ‘Other’.
The audience is forced to explore presumptions about culture in the Middle East, to a woman in prison and even Heather Mills. While the play doesn’t focus so much on the character, it’s about how to do a real person justice on stage as well as whether it should be done.
The skill of the performers is truly formidable, with violent convulsing mimes and high pace comedy sequences. They applied such a naturalistic approach to their actual selves that they were narrating the process at points, which made the characters they’d created far more contrasting and potent. From subtleties in accent and very small gestures, we were truly shown how a character can become another facet of a performer that can be switched on and off.
The moral of the play, which is a rare thing of late, is not that stereotypes are wrong and hurtful. It’s that the individual is truly important. No ideal from an outside party should govern opinions we have over others. I’d encourage any to see this play, simply for the enlightenment it can conjure.
The audience are not simply presented with a story of woe, but an original way of showing the process of a play and the feelings that can appear in an actor or actress when presented with a character they feel a bond with. So we therefore see three actresses exploring their own characters and how or even if they can be their case’s ‘Other’.
The audience is forced to explore presumptions about culture in the Middle East, to a woman in prison and even Heather Mills. While the play doesn’t focus so much on the character, it’s about how to do a real person justice on stage as well as whether it should be done.
The skill of the performers is truly formidable, with violent convulsing mimes and high pace comedy sequences. They applied such a naturalistic approach to their actual selves that they were narrating the process at points, which made the characters they’d created far more contrasting and potent. From subtleties in accent and very small gestures, we were truly shown how a character can become another facet of a performer that can be switched on and off.
The moral of the play, which is a rare thing of late, is not that stereotypes are wrong and hurtful. It’s that the individual is truly important. No ideal from an outside party should govern opinions we have over others. I’d encourage any to see this play, simply for the enlightenment it can conjure.
Tuesday, 4 January 2011
Merry Wives of Windsor - Theatre Royal Bath
Perfectly enjoyable Shakespeare; more of this quality of comedy should be performed. I was hard pressed to find someone that didn't grasp it.
Urashima Taro
Superb Puppetry that creates two seperate performers. Scary and unsettling as well as entertaining and captivating.
The Factory
Overly pretentious - the feeling that several dancers were given a budget and had seen a poster of Andy Warhol. All I was told was that Warhol was assassinated; he wasn't.
Hamlet - Two Gents Productions
One of the most inventive, captivating renditions of Shakespeare. A form of storytelling on a whole new level.
Blythe Spirit
A well disciplined piece, but not for the younger audience. An 'Old School' Comedy that's showing its age.
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