Make Better Please -Review- Northern Stage

Make Better Please
Northern Stage
15 June 2012

Writer: Fuel, Uninvited Guests
Director: Paul Clark
Reviewer: Michael Hunter
Rating: 4 Stars

I love the news. Turning on the TV or the radio on the hour and flicking through the papers in the newsagents, to find out what has happened to that corrupt politician, my football team, and events all over the globe, is one of favourite ever things. For me 'no news' is 'bad news'.
At the minute the European Football Championships and the run up to the London Olympics (the Olympic torch/flame is currently in Newcastle) is high on the agenda of every publication, be it broad sheet or red top.
The smaller stories are also making big headlines; a Scottish schoolgirl who has created a school dinner blog, had been told to cease publication because the local authority didn't like it, creating waves etc, but was overturned to maybe save their face.

Once the theatre doors were opened, we were lead to the backstage of Studio 2. I didn't know if this would be as normal, with audience in seats and actors performing for us. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the audience would play a massive part in tonight's proceedings.
Laid out before us were four small coffee tables full of the days newspapers, massive pots of tea, biscuits and writing implements.
We were told to look through the papers and find a story that shocked, or held something strong in our hearts; a story that fuelled enough passion to be able to create further discussion.
The assembled audience picked five stories that were all shocking, or thought provoking to merit inclusion to the next stage of the night. We were also told the pick a story that had a little bit of hope included.
Once the tables had been cleared away we all sat in a circle and after a minutes silence to reflect on our thoughts were asked to relay the stories to the other members of the audience.
This is where it became apparent that our stories would figure highly in whatever happened to the the rest of the night, our thoughts and stories would become theatre itself.
The performing artists of Paul Clark, Richard Dufty and Jessica Hoffman leapt into action as each story was finally told. They became the headline, they became Cameron,or Tesco's chief officer. The audience became judge and jury, we had to ask the headline makers why, when and how much!!.
We were put into a scenario of a war torn village in Homs, some of us were the fighters, some of us were the dead. Again a minute silence was put into place to reflect on what was happening. For myself it was quite emotional, thinking about how I could possibly kill another human being, i am sure the dead amongst the crowd felt similar.
Another scenario of the Leveson inquiry had us thinking what really did go on in the minds of the top brass of the Uk's power leaders.
All of the stories that we had picked were transcribed onto the wall of the theatre by the performers, think of the studio wall in 'Have I Got News For you' with current issues sticking out like sore thumbs.
The god or indeed the devil of bad news was paraded in front of us. Some of us were given mugs of milk to throw over him to, maybe to confirm our hatred of the stories that he loved to make popular.
Atmospheric music and sounds from the likes of cymbals being crashed, a piano being plonked and a mad crazy drummer beating out rhythms led us to Hoffman being the narrator to all of the stories involved, creating a crescendo of swirling words and mayhem.
I must admit that some of the scenes were very contemporary, leaving the audience asking questions that might only come to them in the days that pass. The devil wearing a huge newspaper made penis, certainly one of them, although I did guffaw when he started to bash the bass drum with it.

It was then our turn to highlight the hope that can come from the mass media, we again rose to our feet and reeled off stories that we found, or stories of our own little utopia.
The ending lead us to outside the theatre with the performers burning up our little pieces of paper of headlines, with the hope of 'Make Better Please'.
Make Better Please was a joy to be part of, really made me think that there is more to a story than just the simple headlines. The depth of tonight's performance will be put into full force the next time I buy my newspaper or get a thrill when the clock strikes the hour to tune into the radio news headlines.


Runs until 16th June

Tags: Fuel,Jessica Hoffman,Make Better Please,Newcastle,Northern Stage,Paul Clark,Richard Dufty,Uninvited Guests

Michael Hunter

Annie Jr.

Performers Stage School

Customs House

12 June 2011

After the typical summer weather in the North East of four seasons in one day, it was very apt that the ‘The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow’ would be blaring from the stage of The Customs House.

‘Annie’ performed by The Performers Stage School is the story of an orphanage girl cast aside by her parents in 1930’s New York. Teased by the other children there and ruled by an iron fisted Miss Hannigan; Annie receives some great news when billionaire Mr Warbucks decides to alleviate one of the children and have them stay at his mansion for two weeks over Christmas. Such is the impact of the child on the household; Warbucks decides to press for adoption not before he issues statements putting aside a large amount of money and asking for the birth parents to come forward. Hannigan plots a scheme to defraud Warbucks by inventing a couple to come forward and claiming Annie as their own.

What will happen to the dastardly ways of Hannigan? Will Annie get the love that she deserves?

Director David Ducasse has assembled a brilliant junior cast for this performance of the much loved stage classic; his actors really shone giving superb accounts of themselves. For an opening night in front of a relatively full house the children pulled out all the stops to ensure that the start of the tenth anniversary of the School got off to a wonderful start.

With superb singing and choreography throughout, the audience – no doubt full of very proud parents and friends – responded very well to the end of each piece, this I am sure spurred on the actors even more. ‘Hard- knock life’ and of course ‘Tomorrow’ were the highlights of the vocals but the acting of these talented stars to be took all the plaudits. Molly Waters as the nasty Hannigan, and Joshua Trueman as Warbucks both were solid as their characters explored the highs and lows of ‘love’ but Laura Roberts as Annie totally outshone all on stage, her singing voice and acting will keep me glued to the amateur scene looking out for her.

Production was very good with the sound (Tony Atkinson) and the lighting design (James Henshaw) coming up trumps at every push of their buttons. Musical Director (Stacey Ghent) and Choreographer (Ashley Lamb) added a lot to this play with their craft.

As the rain came crashing down outside, The Performers Stage School made sure that the crowd left with a nice warm glow.

Runs until 13 June

Michael Hunter

The 39 Steps – Review- Customs House

The 39 Steps 

Customs House

Ion Productions

8 June 2011

I have always been a massive fan of Alfred Hitchcock, his directorial work is just breathtaking and as spooky as the films that he makes.

When Gareth Hunter (Director) asked me to review his companies’ humorous take on Hitchcock’s ‘The 39 Steps’, I didn’t think twice about it. I had often reviewed Gareth’s work behind the scenes, but first time as a director.

The 39 steps is a spy\mystery tale of the highest order, but with a huge giggle along the way. Richard Hannay - a rugged, tired of war and strife type of man -  becomes embroiled in a tangled web of lies, conspiracy and murder when he meets Anabella a foreign spy. With the security of the country under her hat, the secrets and blood begin to flow…along with the laughter levels!

Right from the start the production takes us by the throat and half throttles us into an early submission. Lots of dry ice and perfectly formed sound and lighting design propel us into Hannay’s world of confusion and anxiety. The fast paced dialogue coupled with the even faster stage changes made this perfect theatre going. With Hannay running from the law in the best part of this show many scenes were hastily set up, some truly loud out loud frivolity over took the Customs House audience as the four actors on stage took on many multi roles. One very memorable scene had Hannay in true Hitchcock styling climbing out of a train compartment fleeing from the Law; this had the audience lapping up the performance.  Some superb silhouette acting scenes  made it theatre within a theatre.

Alongside the enigmatic Jamie Brown (who was last seen at the Customs House playing South Shields hero John Simpson Kirkpatrick in the fantastic The Man and The Donkey) playing our lead hero Hannay, was Patricia Whale playing Anabella, sexy farmers wife Margaret and Pamela who at first turns Hannay into the police but becoming involved herself on the run, soon softens to his charms. Craig Richardson and Ian Reay performed many a part including one brilliant clothes swapping spot as husband\wife\policeman at the scene of the Bed and Breakfast that Hannay and Pamela escape to.

The standard of acting in The 39 Steps was of a very high calibre, all parts played with top professionalism and deftness. A brilliant casting!

The stage craft on show as I say was of a very high standard; lighting design by James Henshaw and that man again Gareth Hunter with the sound, created brilliant energy on stage that was delightful.

 Hunter has been very imaginative in this play, with such a lot going on, such a lot could have gone wrong. In my eyes it was perfect and thrilling, top class entertainment. He definitely deserved that pint afterwards!

I had never witnessed any of Hitchcock’s work in the theatre before but this was as entertaining on stage as on celluloid. I thoroughly recommend seeing this play it will not only have you laughing you socks off but also marvel at the performances.

Runs until Saturday 11 June.

Michael Hunter

A Walk On Part, The Public Review link

A few months ago I applied to become a reviewer for a national online company.
The The Public Reviews set up in 2006 is a collaboration of dedicated volunteer theatre reviewers.
I got a call a few days ago and was asked if I would like to try out for them.
I jumped at the chance! This of course would be a test review, but if good enough for submission would go onto their website.
The play in question was the superb A Walk On Part, at The Live Theatre in Newcastle. I am glad to say that I received great feedback from the regional editor Steve Burbridge regarding my review. A decision as to whether I join their ranks of brilliant reviewers will come in a few days.
As with the policy of TPR any reviews that a contributor makes cannot be posted to their own personal website, till three days after submission. I will be copying and pasting the review here on Sunday 15th, so please come and have a gander.
If you cannot wait till then please feel free to have a look at my review HERE. The review is currently on the first page of the review section of the website.


Michael Hunter