The Nether – #review -Newcastle University Theatre Society - Northern Stage 2

The Nether

Newcastle University Theatre Society

Northern Stage 2

18 Feb 2016

 The Nether Realm is a noun, and it has 3 meanings  the first meaning is “Another world for mythical creatures” the second is “Demon World” and the third and final is “A Dimension of Evil or Imagination”.

 Detective Morris played by the fantastic Charlotte Wood, is thriving to get information about The Hideaway which is a part of the Nether, a dark place she wants to put an end to, where people can log on and fulfill their most depraved fantasies.

Sims played so brilliantly by Christopher Theobald  is the creator of this so called universe.
Doyle played by the  Elliot McClenaghan  is a user of The Hideaway. He is a fairly respected man in 'real' world life, but is trapped in his cyber prison like existence.
Iris (the token youth) who is played amazingly well by Rosie Bonner meets Woodnut played by James Riley
Things though aren't always as they seem!!. People/parallel universes and tales all unfold to lead to an anti upotian ideal

 

Now I am going to say that paedophilia is on the rise !! We see and hear on countless occasions of men doing things to young children and groups (including the new assaults on the young, in Facebook hidden/private groups) finding ways to set them up and publicise them. 
So would a place like the Hideaway be a good place to have, to help people and keep them from doing the crimes?

 

In the show there is a line where Doyle talks about it being a place that he really can be himself…and not who the world thinks he is. So would this be a good thing? I don't know the answer and I don't think we will ever find out.

 The audience like me, weren’t only shocked by the content of this startling play, but also the sci-fi like twists and turns.

 The 5 actors had great chemistry between them and didn’t give too many clues away to what the ending would be, Sims was out on the stage before the  show started which was surprising but I spent that time wondering what he was thinking and trying to work that out!! 

The sound and lighting may have to be looked at as The lights when they first come on are a bit bright and it took my eyes a couple of minutes to adjust and I spent them blinking, and the sound was good but I did feel sometimes the sound effects were a bit overpowering to what the actors were saying (and I'm hard of hearing)
But the show was fantastic with great visuals, costumes and an amazing (minimal) set which stood ou,t but looked great…the whole team need to be praised for this. Directed by Ruaidhri Johnston and produced by Luke Robson who have taken this play, which I think would be a hard play to produce, and have done a commendable job.
So well done everyone and I will be looking out to see more of their productions and you can too, go to www.nuts-theatre.com  to find out more about them. 
Go and see The Nether if you want a quality night with an interesting story.

Reuben Hiles