The Blue Electric Wind - People's Theatre - Review

The Blue Electric Wind

People's Theatre
22nd Feb 2018

The Blue Electric Wind is a new play written by Brad Birch. It was commissioned by the National Theatre's literary department to be a piece specifically aimed at young performers. It is a play "about memory, bravery and growing up."

A group of school children notice strange things happening to people in their town, memories begin to fade people forget little things at first, then bif things, then the people fade away themselves - they become blank. And they don't realise it's happening to them. It's left to a group of teenagers to try to solve the problem before it is too late and everyone fades away.

But these teenagers are not friends - they are from different peer groups and don't really like each other. They'll have to learn to trust each other, forgive each other, and find a way to work together or all will be lost.

Beneath the stark and eerie set of wires and strange flickering lights, this group of young actors recreate the banter and bickering of teenagers, the joking, the bragging, and the awkwardness.

They each hold their own on stage, deliver their lines with confidence and skill. If there are a couple of missed cues or stumbles they are covered with expert ease so barely noticeable. Some adults

lack such skill. There are some long and complicated speeches for some of the characters - there's quite a bit of technical sounding science stuff and some amusing nerdy science fiction stuff. I can't tell you more about that - you'll have to go see it on Saturday to find out.

Assured performances in an interesting and intriguing play.

The Blue Electric Wind plays until Saturday 24th Feb.   

Photo Credit Paula Smart

Denise Sparrowhawk

All Together Like the Folks of Shields - Review - Westovians at the Pier Pavilion

All Together Like the Folks of Shields

Pier Pavillion
17th Oct 2017

Cast
The Charltons
David Beston
Tracy Office
Jack Robert Young
Declan Marshall
The Armstrongs
John Errington
Viv Wiggins
Katie Stubbs

Directed by Jim Barton


Written by David Cooke this is a comedy set in neighbouring flats in South Shields in the 1970. It follows the relationships of two families. The Charltons, and the Armstrongs. They have very different outlooks on life, and very different lifestyles. The Charltons are a dyed in the wool Shields family, Des is a bloke's bloke, the life and soul of the party. They are established in their home which was left to them by Des's mother. The Armstrongs have moved into their flat after a downturn in their fortunes. Alvera has had to give up her big house, full of all the mod-cons the 70s could offer and take a job cleaning other people's big houses. She is not happy in the flat.
The contrasts between the two families provide the opportunity for comedy. Des is constantly drunk, while George Armstrong is straight-laced and serious, disillusioned with life. As the play progresses we learn that all is not as it seems for either of the households. Life in the Charlton's house is not quite the one long party it appears. Pushed to the limit by their husbands' attitudes and behaviours, the two wives take action and creating the bizarre circumstance that finally reveals all the secrets of the two families. Alongside this their sons and daughter watch the developments and play out their own drama.

There is a lot wit in the sparring verbal sparring between the characters, and this is the strength of the play. The dialogue is very funny, and the extreme action the women take to teach their men a lesson leads to humorous situations. But there is a lot going on in this play - it has more twists than a corkscrew. There are several threads - the reason for George Armstrong losing his job, the history behind the dislike between the two men, not to mention what is really going on in Des Charlton's life. Then there is the two sons and the daughter's storylines. The play tackles unemployment, self esteem, relationships, teenage aspiration, family values, sexism and chauvinism, and the value of reputation and principles and finally of friendship and vindication. That's a whole lot for one play to try to deal with. Act One lays the foundations and sets us up for the (many) revelations that are to come. It is the stronger half of the play - because of its simplicity. Act Two has so much to unveil that it loses its way a little - it feels like there are just too many threads to follow. You could make two plays out of it - one with the adult's story and another with the teenager's story. Director Jim Barton does a fair job of pulling it all together.

That said it is very funny and the characters are likeable despite their many flaws. The set is cleverly done with the stage split between the two flats, and the lighting and freeze frame effects work well as the action swaps between the Charlton's and the Armstrong's homes. There are good performances from all the cast. as always we see some excellent drunk acting from all four adults but particularly David Beston.  I think particular mention should go to Declan Marshall who gave an assured performance as Jack Charlton in his stage debut.

All Together Like the Folks of Shields runs until Sat 21st October. It will give you a laugh even if, like me, you come from Sunderland.

Denise Sparrowhawk

Under Milk Wood - People's Theatre - Review

Under Milk Wood

People's Theatre
June 13th 2017


Staged as a radio play within a play, the People's Theatre production reproduces the original recording of the play by the BBC.  On stage we have a set designed as the recording studio, with organ and piano, sound effects crew, and the cast of 12 actors who will voice 45 characters from the imaginary welsh town of Llareggub.

As the audience arrive the cast are already taking their places on stage, as if they too are just arriving for the show. (in fact we saw some arriving in the bar, before we even got to the auditorium). They chat quietly together until a very plummy BBC announcer draws our attention and introduces the play. The lights dim and the recording of Dylan's "play for voices" begins.

And what a tour de force it is. We are instantly drawn in to the sleepy dreamworld of the inhabitants of Llareggub, as First Voice Frank Coles begins to recite Dylan's lyrical words. The town sleeps, dreaming of wild and and wonderful things, strange and mysterious thing, of love and lust and death and life. And gradually the sun rises and we meet the good people of the town.

The play flows through a day in the life of this little town, narrated by Frank Coles and Steve Hewitt, We meet its characters, we see glimpses into their past and their present, and perhaps their future, as heard by blind Captain Cat (Mike Smith). The words flow, beautiful and musical with lilting welsh accents and the images appear in our heads as the loving, and plotting, and gossiping carries on around us.

Photo by Paula Smart

There would not be much action to hold our attention in the reproduction of the recording of a radio play, you might think. But as the actors come forward to deliver their lines, they flounce, and slink, and creep around, casting knowing looks to the other actors, and to the audience, so we know what's going on, both in the town and in the recording studio - there are little rivalries and friendships. Ho ho!

The play is enhanced with sound effects - some recorded - bird song, cows lowing, a cart trundling by, while others are produced on stage by the actors - the rubbing of a brush against a box, the tapping of a pen against a glass.

The small details make the play. Inevitably there are some stumbles over lines - Dylan's words are almost tongue twisters at times, yet even this was skillfully fielded with a wry aside to the audience.
All of the cast do a remarkable job of remembering and delivering this beautiful, sensuous play.

Lyrical words, enhanced by a beautiful musical score, and soulful singing. Come along, lose yourself for a day in Llareggub.
You'll laugh, and love, and maybe cry a little. You may not understand all of it, but you will not forget it.

Under Milk Wood plays until 17th June. Time hurries on. Don't miss it.

Denise Sparrowhawk

It's not the character's problem - Royalty Theatre - Review

It's Not The Character's Problem
Royalty Theatre

2nd June 2017

Written and performed by Jordan Carling

I have seen a fair few one man (and one woman) shows over the last couple of years. It's a form of theatre that I increasingly love. They are invariably performed in small venues, and not necessarily to capacity audiences. Although, it has to be said, depending on the particular venue even a capacity audience can be pretty intimate.

There is something very special about being in a small space, listening to what are essentially very personal experiences. The shows take many forms - some have a lot of props to create atmosphere or context. They tend to follow a similar pattern in terms of theme - the meaning of life - or death - the nature of love, hate, indifference. They deal with some heavy subjects, and they usually do it with a fair amount of humour - often self deprecating - as the protagonist takes us on their journey of discovery. They are conversational, questions are posed, answers are invited, the audience is drawn in.

It's Not The Character's Problem we are told is a hard story tell, and may be a hard story to hear. It's Jordan's story. It is very personal. For this reason, I think, after the initial introduction - with some very sobering statistics about male suicide rates - he switches from first person, to third person. He tells Jordan's story almost like a case study, thereby distancing himself from it, and at the same time illustrating perfectly the isolation he creates for himself. In order to cope with unwelcome, negative feelings, Jordan removes them from his life - he banishes them to the wall of switches and turns them off. He builds a fortress around himself so that he doesn't have to deal with any of them, thinking that this makes him a man. Cold, dispassionate, ruled by his head not his heart. And it works fine (sort of) until a cataclysmic event leads him to finally realise that feelings, even the painful ones, are necessary to be able to fully experience life.

The show deals with a difficult subject and themes. It is a journey of self discovery. It is Jordan's journey, as he explores the way men are conditioned to respond to the emotional demands of life. How are men supposed to react to the events that life throws at them? How, in fact, has Jordan reacted to these? Not too well to begin with, as it turns out.

In this respect, this show is pretty much like others that I have seen. However it is also quite different. This is a very serious piece of story telling. There is humour - but the humour is used sparingly, with pinpoint accuracy it punctuates the narrative, providing a moment of welcome relief and preventing it from becoming too difficult to bear.

The dispassionate, third person narration means that when finally emotion begins to break through, it is all the more telling; the anger is more shocking, the grief more poignant.

"It's not the character's problem" is performed very simply with minimal props, and almost no staging - a chair, some papers, a spotlight and a white screen. Nothing is projected onto the screen, it is just there. Jordan sits throughout, reading from the papers and discarding the pages one at a time, until the story is almost done. The only action is the representation of the heart monitor in the hospital room, he draws the line in the air with his finger and taps out the heartbeat on his chest. This is an incredibly moving moment, followed by a literal thirty second pause, until the realisation that the heart has stopped. I find myself counting off the seconds. On the count of 30 Jordan resumes the story and brings it to slowly to its conclusion.

Finally an image appears on the screen.  A dedication to his father.

This must be a hard story to tell. It is a hard story to hear, but for an hour the audience's attention is held, and we listen and we feel.

"It's not the character's problem"  showed for one night only to an almost capacity crowd in the studio at the Royalty. It has also been staged at Northern Stage and the Customs House. I would hope it gets an airing in other venues, it's a story worth telling and a story worth hearing.

Denise Sparrowhawk 

 

How Did We Get to This Point - Alphabetti Theatre - Review

How did we get to this point / Wrong Place, Wrong Time 
Alphabetti Theatre 
Wednesday 7th December 2016

Alphabetti Theatre’s story is amazing and I got to hear it through different voices. If you don’t know their history, it starts in 2011 and is still going strong!!

I don’t want to spoil it for you but Ali Pritchard’s story of how he created a space for artists and the public alike is astounding, from starting out at The Dog and Parrot to a basement in Newcastle via The Edinburgh Fringe. .

The play is directed by Ben Dickenson and includes stories about homelessness and problems that come from that; the struggles that people face in those environments. Some of these I have personally experienced.

Now Ali hasn’t experienced Homelessness himself but has experience in helping people who have found themselves in that situation (one of them I know quite well). Ali has been working with the charity Crisis who’s details I will put below.

The Actors were awesome Rosie Fox, Dean Logan and Rosie Stancliffe played many different roles and all played the role of Ali at various points in the play.

The show also had Animations by Ben Walden which helped the public understand what was going on as well as Music by Haythem Mohamed which was a fantastic addition to the show and gave it another dimension, Technical Manager was Adam Goodwin who didn’t put a foot wrong.

The play left me with many questions and not many answers. I'll give you my final thoughts later after I have spoken about the second play which was a response to How Did we get to this Point. Wrong Place, Wrong Time Performed was by the brilliant Paula Penman (who reminded me of my sister in law - please don’t kill me) and written and directed by Steve Byron.

It tells the story of a girl born at what people could say was the wrong time, wrong place. Born into a family with an abusive mother and with brothers who don't give a damn, it follows her story as her life spirals out of control.

Both plays were fantastic and a joy to watch but as I mentioned before they left a lot of questions for me and the main one was why in the 21st century do we still have homeless people and why haven’t realised that we can change the world just by being nice to each other and being the change that the world needs - that together we can end the problems in the UK and even the world if we try.

This show is on till Saturday and I definitely think this is not to be missed.

Reuben Hiles

Edit: For me it was like being blasted in the face with a hand grenade! Wrong Time, Wrong Place really made me sit up and take notice. An incredible play. - Michael

How to be a Man - Review - Alphabetti Theatre

How to be a Man
Alphabetti Theatre
2nd Dec 2016

We enter the theatre to the strains of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons' "Walk Like a Man". The falsetto exhortations of a father to his son always struck me as a little ironic as a child (yes, I was a child who got irony) but it is the perfect theme tune for Jon Coleman's exploration of manliness. Jon himself enters the stage clad only in a pair a grey underpants. He begins with an explanation and an apology - he is white, privileged and manly - proud of, and comfortable with, his masculinity and yet, he is not. He is not really sure whether his idea of being a man is correct. The show, he says, will not explain how to be a man. It will not answer the important question. It will explore the ideas of manliness and masculinity, with help from his friends Leo and Manfred (two mannequins) and A Guide to the Art of Manliness (a real book).  Jon chooses clothes from a rack and shrugs himself into a red, sparkly dress. Skin-tight, it shows off his assets, though perhaps not quite his manliness. Or does it?

Why should a man have to wear a suit and tie? Can he not be just as manly in a frock? And this is the crux of the show. Through various stories, scenarios and arguments with Leo and Manfred, Jon illustrates the accepted preconceptions of being a man. From the friendly competitive wrestling to forge friendships, to the inability to express feelings and emotions and the disappointment of learning that your father is not the infallible man you thought him to be, via the correct way to execute a man-hug, and bonding over whiskey and shortbread Jon Coleman raises the question of what it is to be a man. He looks at the traditional roles and the dilemma of the modern man.

This is funny, irreverent, surprising, thought provoking and a little confusing. Leo and Manfred are essentially Jon's conscience - they act like a pair of Jiminy Cricketts, questioning his motives, offering alternate points of view, and generally disagreeing with him. He argues, and fights with them. The confusion comes because they both have pretty much the same voice, so it wasn't always obvious which one was speaking (and yes, I know, I said they are mannequins but they areas much part of the action as Jon himself). Jon mixes conversations, with Leo and Manfred, with the audience, alongside recounting stories and enacting scenes. It is a fast paced presentation - there's a lot to get through in an hour including several costume changes and an exercise regime. Jon's style is open and engaging and he has a good rapport with the audience.

I left the theatre to the sound of Four Non Blondes singing "What's Up?",  feeling good but with a lot to think about. Possibly not least the reason men have such a hard time knowing what their role is these days is because none of us know how we are meant to be; nothing is clear cut, everything is a contradiction and we will almost certainly say or do the wrong thing to someone at some point in our day, week, month, year, life...
In an ideal world a man could walk down the street in a dress and heels, if he wanted.

Denise Sparrowhawk

Sticking - Alphabetti Theatre - Review

Sticking
Alphabetti Theatre
10th Nov 2016

Matt Miller's Sticking is a tale told in music - 12 songs, six people, one term at university. The songs are a hook to hang his experience on. They punctuate the story alongside aposite snippets from his history lectures.

His story takes us from the car journey with his dad, the arrival and claiming of his student room to the end of term. We meet his friends - new people who are firm friends after just 24 hours and we live through those days and weeks of trying to fit in. The uncertainty of being in a place where no-one knows you and realising you can be whoever you want to be, but not knowing quite who that is. He invents and reinvents himself to try to fit into this new world; caught like the sticking point on a vinyl.

He tries everything that is new, some of it he likes, some of it he's not sure about but he tries it any way. One thing that he does like is a girl. She makes his insides bubble. We all know that feeling. And we know the song that goes with it. We also know the song for crossing a line, going too far. Not being able to go back.

This is the story of the start of self discovery - half way through there is the pivot point - when he realises that he wants to be more than he is, more than a person trying to fit in, and that he can be more but that this is not the way for him, he has to get past the sticking point. By the end, he is beginning to know himself, but his journey is just beginning.

This is an emtional, joyful and intense performance. Performed in the small space at Alphabetti, with minimal staging, and bold lighting. It is intimate. Matt talks to the audience, moving forward to be just a foot or two away from the front row, making eye contact with members of the audience. We were in the front row - the intensity of his stare is un-nerving! He is full of energy and emotion, you can feel it pent up and simmering beneath the surface, then bursting out in excitement and anger and confusion.

Twelve songs. Six people (well seven people). One term. Lots of firsts. Some lasts.
We all have a history and we all have songs that evoke the memories and remind us of our journey.
It is a joy to listen and watch as Matt explores this short but pivotal piece of his history.

The last show is on Saturday, followed by an after show party - you're invited to suggest a tune for the playlist https://www.facebook.com/events/1018722578250540/ .

This is a pay what you feel performance but reserve your seat in advance because it is a small venue and you wouldn't want to miss out!
Book tickets here.

Denise Sparrowhawk