Risque Zero
Compagnie Galapiat, Gt Yarmouth Hippodrome
part of the Norfolk & Norwich Festival 2013
Review published in the Eastern Daily Press, 27 May 2013
While contemporary, edgy, experimental, zany circus knows no boundaries, the French seem to have cornered the market.
Risque Zero proved the point. In the great Hippodrome arena this young company of six created a moving, never-the-same, never-static piece of surreal madness with a talented virtuosity that was stunning.
This was not traditional circus in any sense, yet it drew on the traditions of commedia dell’Arte, the Circus of Horrors, the Marquis de Sade and a breathtaking agility that chimed perfectly with the needs of pure entertainment. Mouth ping-pong was totally original.
It explored exciting, escalating risk, so we had scenes involving axes, sledgehammers, darts, knives, fire, explosions, teeterboard, Chinese pole and ring juggling from near the ceiling. None of it was for the faint hearted.
It was about child-like games and pain, vicariously felt by the audience, wincing and gasping and laughing in equal measure.
On top of all that versatility, developed to such a height it looked deceptively easy, they each played outstandingly in the rolling band – guitars, accordion, drums, violin, sax and some mean vocals.
Filed under: Reviews
The Voice Project
Ideas of winged flight taking off
The Voice Project at Norwich Cathedral
part of Norfolk and Norwich Festival 2013
Review published in Eastern Daily Press, 13 May 2013
Swirls of ideas and flocks of birds taking flight, soaring to emotional and intellectual delights, came together sublimely in the Voice Project’s work in the great Cathedral arena. As darkness fell outside, the sense of bird above was palpable.
The one hundred-strong choir, the brilliant Trio Zephyr, cool saxophonist Andy Sheppard, tenor Jeremy Aris, sopranos Rebecca Askew and Sianed Jones used ten poems about birds from all manner of poets to interpret the wings of flight.
Music was variously composed by Karen Wimhurst, Orlando Gough and Barbara Thompson, from differing backgrounds and musical streams. The result was eclectic and rivetting, sometimes quirky and humorous, then sombre and dark.
Jonathan Baker, who also composed, sang bass and directed, sharing honours with the amazing conductor Sian Croose, for devising and setting free the dynamic of language partnered with the power of diverse ideas, hopes, fears, symbols. Her hands were a kind of bird-wing ballet, directing, leading, coaxing the voices.
Originally inspired by the RSPB Poetry Project, it all took off and acquired a life of its own, rich in images, memories and possibilities for all animal-kind.
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Oliver Coates
Oliver Coates at Norwich Playhouse
part of the Norfolk and Norwich Festival 2013
Review published in Eastern Daily Press, 13 May 2013
Up and coming cellist Oliver Coates treated the audience in the acoustically apt Playhouse to a stunning masterclass.
His virtuosity and the variety of works complemented each other perfectly. The cello fairly sang in harmony and jangled in disharmony, in turn.
From Britten’s Ciaccona (Suite No.2 Op.80) to a pair of Bach Preludes (in D major, Cello Suite No.6 and in G major Cello Suite No.1), Coates was in flamboyant interpretative form.
He then moved to Block’s ‘Prayer’ from ‘Jewish Life’ and three fragments from Kurtag, including a fascinating two-bow ‘Hommage of John Cage’.
David Fennessy’s ‘The room is the resonator’ grew from one note to 12 to one, a dialogue of pitches in a cavernous Berlin tube station putting an electric cello to work with a recorded harmonium. The result was hypnotic.
‘Industry’ is Michael Gordon’s ‘free of interpretation’ piece exploring relationships between art decaying over time and pure sound, the material to be contemplated. It was about process and Coates delivered a breathtaking wall-of-sound finale to an evening emblematic of music to come in this Festival.
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Love Left Hanging
Stuff of Dreams Theatre Company at St George’s Theatre, Gt Yarmouth
Review published in the Eastern Daily Press, 20 April 2013
The notorious Maria Marten barn murder at Polstead, Suffolk for which William Corder was hanged, still excites controversy, films and melodramas galore.
However, this take by new and upcoming Stuff of Dreams Theatre offers the few facts and looks at the lies, deceptions and other likely culprits to ask the audience who it finds guilty.
Policing was young in the early 19th century, forensics unborn. ‘It’s not what you see or are told, but what is branded in your mind’ persuades people now as then.
Co-writer and Artistic Director Cordelia Spence weaves a clever narrative, moving from jury room to tragic village, with a puppet as a child, some powerful physical theatre and hanging Corder just perfectly.
An impressive cast multi-roles seamlessly, sings and speaks movingly through well-drawn characters. Tina Baston plays the less than innocent victim; Tom Moran the hapless but culpable perpetrator; Alexandra Casey the secret-hiding step-mother; Any Cule the local bad boy who could have done it for love or lust and Lauren Abel plays the gipsy whore with dirty hands.
A compelling tale, told exquisitely. Watch out for this troupe.
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Swimming With Sharks
Swimming With Sharks
Seagull Theatre Rep Company, Lowestoft
The movie business is about illusion and self, ‘money, girls, power.’ This play from the George Huang 1994 film rips the rosy spectacles off Tinseltown, where everybody has a story, everybody pays a price in personal terms. They’re all sharks in that pool.
The young, innocent Guy, (Ricky Reeve), arrives in the office of the mogul (John Hales at his theatrical best, who also directed) and starts learning the realities of Hollywood immediately and painfully.
Milly Finch as the ambitious producer who dares to hope Guy is different gives a well-judged interpretation. Principals are ably supported by Alan Bolton, Richard Boakes, Patrick Pilgrim, Ryan Hammond, Rosie and Lily Vincent – an inspired mix of old hands and new faces.
Rich with comedy and throw away truths, the second half turns decidedly darker. It’s a lesson in how the film business is different, yet so much part of all our lives. ‘All my favourite memories are movies’, says Guy as his devious plans are outmaneuvered by true, cruel masters of power.
A must-see happening, if quite lengthy.
Review written for the Eastern Daily Press following performance on 10 April 2013, but they didn’t carry it, despite commissioning it.
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The Tiger Who Came to Tea
Norwich Playhouse
Review published in the Eastern Daily Press, 4 December 2012
This story was a bedtime favourite in our house when the children were young.
To see it brought to life on stage I took along my three-year old grand-daughter, Bethany, to join other children and adults in being totally captivated by a novel tale done with songs and music, lots of humour and some clever visual tricks.
The actors appeared at the outset to allay children’s fears. The daddy finally got off to work. The milkman and postman called before the tiger arrived at teatime and ate all the food and drank all the water from the taps.
Written and directed by children’s musical theatre master David Wood, this was a faithful representation of the book, but with the added skills and magic of a live performance.
The tiger himself was touching, never frightening, and when he had to leave, nobody of any age wanted him to go. It was wonderful, he had captured the heart of the little girl, Sophie, and the audience too.
It’s certainly encouraging that a new generation of theatre lovers is being fostered.
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From Russia
From Russia
Open Space Theatre, Fisher Theatre, Bungay
Review published in the Eastern Daily Press and East Anglian Daily Times, 1 December 2012
Ever-inventive Open Space are touring comic Chekhov gems and a poignant ‘what if’ study from two tragedies.
High-energy romp, The Proposal, sees man (Grant Filshill) call on father (Alan Bolton) to ask for daughter’s hand (Emma Martin). A land dispute quickly degenerates into a delicious, insult-throwing barney.
The Bear is a bad-tempered stranger (Stephen Picton) calling on a widow (Cathy Gill) to collect her late husband’s debt. His raging turns to instant infatuation. The old retainer (Patrick Quorn) and the attempted pistol duel are hilarious.
The Evils of Tobacco is a monologue in the form of a lecture from a hen-pecked man (Alan Bolton) which is really about his wife and his own disappointing life.
Afterplay is a Brian Friel duet putting Uncle Vanya’s Sonya (Cathy Gill) with The Three Sisters’ Andrei in an imaginary meeting 20 years after their own dramas. Their hesitant relationship on a tide of vodka and wild hopes is dashed on the realities of lives.
David Green directs perceptively, demanding no pre-knowledge of Russian theatre, just a readiness to laugh and feel a lump in the throat.
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Martyn Joseph
Martyn Joseph at St George’s, Great Yarmouth
Review published in the Eastern Daily Press, 30 November 2012
The revamped St George’s Theatre in Great Yarmouth is not only a shiny new additional performance venue for our region, it’s a brilliant space.
Recently opened with a wide variety of events, this one brightened a bleakly wet and windy night with contemporary folk at its best, perfectly suited acoustically to the soaring space.
Talented eighteen year old Luke Jackson opened with his own take on traditional folk narrative in his unique and exciting voice. He’s one to watch for the future.
Headline act was Martyn Joseph, who brought his eclectic mix of mournful tales, self-deprecating humour, clever rhymes and powerful lyrics together with some finger-pointing political commentaries.
Having worked with Billy Bragg to celebrate Woody Guthrie’s life, he brought songs about being blessed, ‘strange days to be an optimist’, US society and elections, the news, money, war, peace along with more philosophical and poignant observations about coming home.
Joseph is a troubadour at the top of his art-form, shaping moods and getting into people’s mindsets that made an entertaining but thought-provoking performance, in an arts centre with a wonderful future.
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The Verdict
Bungay Theatre Group at the Fisher Theatre, Bungay
Review published in the Eastern Daily Press, 23 November 2012
Queen of Crime Agatha Christie wrote Bungay Theatre Group’s latest venture as a play, not novel or story, because its compelling narrative translates well on stage.
Set in a 1950s Bloomsbury flat, it’s a journey through personal tensions, despair and hope. It’s taut, clever writing, described by some as close to melodrama.
It’s a who-dunnit without the who. We know that a spoilt student (lively Jessica Delf) over administers medicine to the wheelchair-bound, cantankerous wife (Janet Wright) of the weak professor (John Sauverin) she is infatuated with.
It’s a thriller-mystery but more about characters and ageing, love and marriage, with side commentary on ‘foreigners’. Directed by Emily Delf and Stephen Went who both take roles, it carefully builds plot twists, allowing characters to reveal their flaws and omissions.
Peter Goodfellow is the well-meaning doctor; Jenny Cooper a formidable ‘household help’; Stephen Doyle is a convincingly suspicious policeman and Bungay Mayor Terry Reeve is the rich girl’s indulgent father.
By chance I saw the dress rehearsal. If you catch this before the run ends tomorrow, you should be in for a treat.
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Whistle Down the Wind
Norfolk Youth Music Theatre at Maddermarket Theatre, Norwich
Reviewed published in the Eastern Daily Press, 3 November 2012
From the opening with the full cast on stage, this show both moves and gladdens the heart, stirs emotions and leaves room for plenty to think about.
There is an escaped convict on the loose just before Christmas. Village children think the stranger in the barn is Jesus.
On that story hangs a variation of the Nativity and parables and events from the Bible, including a Judas character in the boy (George Hunt) who betrays the Man, sympathetically played by John Chitty.
Rough, rural family life is captured perfectly with props and effects handled well. The acting and singing in the children’s chorus/disciples’ commentary is priceless; their parents wonderfully odd. The church nativity scene is hilarious.
The orchestra under Mark Sharp are excellent.
Director Adrian Connell has surpassed himself with this challenging piece of musical theatre. He’s well served by superb young performers and many up and coming ones. Cameos and larger roles work in harmony.
Nicola Myers, Tilly Chitty and Marland Barsby, the children who find and care for the Man, brilliantly convey first innocence, then dawning realisation that he cannot be Jesus. Or can he?
See it. Prepare to wipe a tear.
Filed under: Reviews