REVIEW: Hamlet - The Radio Play by The Melbourne Shakespeare Company in collaboration with The Victorian Theatre Companies

The world has seen and will see countless adaptations of Shakespear's catalogue of timeless plays. From traditional Elizabethan style productions to futuristic, technological or physical theatre interpretations, I am in constant awe of the new ideas artists can extract from the texts. However, the solely auditory experience of Melbourne Shakespeare Company in collaboration with The Victorian Theatre Companies radio production of Hamlet offers something more fundamental than a new interpretation of the play. Like a warm hug, be it one engrossed by blood and tragedy, it is a return to the purity of Shakespeare’s poetry. 

Set in medieval Denmark where the king has died, Hamlet Prince of Denmark is emphatic that his father has been murdered and shall, therefore, be revenged. A tale of paranoia, revenge and man's existence, Hamlet is considered by many to be Shakespeare's most powerful work. Being jam-packed with dark and atmospheric imagery also makes it perfect for a radio play. 

Under the direction of Kurtis Lowden and featuring a robust fabric of Melbourne performers, the entire ensemble understand the clarity, nuance and pacing required for the medium they have chosen to work with and offer a commanding performance. 

REVIEW: Outside, live streamed from The Space, Isle of Dogs, London

At the moment the title ‘Outside’ is in itself enough to catch your eye. But this is not an early entry in what will surely be a wave of Covid-related dramas in the coming months. In this case, it concerns Willa, who hasn’t ever left her house until now. For 30 years, each moment of her life has been controlled, and she’s spent every night locked in her room. Now, she finds herself in a witness questioning suite, searching for evidence of her existence. 

The monologue is both written and performed by Gabrielle MacPherson. We discover her in a room full of books and papers on which she draws in an attempt to make some sort of sense of her existence. She is looking for clues about her here and now as well as her personal history. What has brought her to this room at this time? The visible disorder of its contents leaves little hope that this mess can be sorted out during our brief visit to her world. 

REVIEW: Gorgon: A Horror Story (Online)

We’ve all listened to radio plays before. Sometimes they are seen as being quite old fashioned. Not a great deal of people around my age (26) that I know listen to them. This is the first audio play I’ve heard of and listened to, that has been brought around due to the lockdown restrictions.

Being a massive horror nerd, I was very excited to review this piece. I was not disappointed. Elf Lyons is obviously a fan of horror. You can tell that from the first soundscape of this immersive audio version of her play. Inspired by the infamous Théâtre du Grand-Guignol, taking heavy influences from the Hammer Horror/Slasher Genre and dabbled with incredibly dark humour; Gorgon takes us through the story of a woman called Diana, who seems sweet, innocent and awkward but when she snaps, God help you. A mild-mannered taxidermist, struggling with some hard memories from her childhood, trying to balance her social life, relationship with a not-so-great gent; it all becomes a little bit too much. She finally explodes and the results of her anger are both gruesome and hilarious. I don’t want to go into the story too much as it will give away some of the brilliant thrills, chills, twists and turns of this horrifically exciting piece.

REVIEW: The Secret Society of Leading Ladies at the Barn Theatre (Online)

The Secret Society of Leading Ladies should be anything but a secret! Ryan Carter’s new interactive concert is slick and chock full of talent. 

The mini-concert is... well it's completely up to you! Throughout your concert you have 5 chances to choose which song you’d like to see performed, and with over 150 combinations to choose from, there’s plenty to whet your appetite. A wide variety of shows are featured spanning from old classics like Chicago and The Wizard of Oz to musical theatre nerdy gems like Steel Pier and Bonnie and Clyde.

Stitching the songs together are some very clever scenes as your performers share a short scene together, really elevating the concert from cute gimmick to technically impressive and delightful. Cumulating in a fabulous finale, the show really will put a smile on your face and tide you over for when we can finally be back in theatre’s in person.

REVIEW: West End Musical Drive In starring Shan Ako, Maiya Quansah Breed, Shanay Holmes and Layton Williams

Last Summer, when theatres were closed and audiences were desperate for their fix of musical theatre, households flocked to car parks and fields across the country for a COVID-safe drive-in alternative. Here, West End Musical Brunch presents a concert somewhere between Glastonbury Festival and West End Eurovision.

Founder Shanay Holmes opens the show with Fabulous, Baby from Sister Act, and comperes throughout. Filmed during the height of the Black Lives Matter movement, she references BAME industry representation throughout and proudly welcomes an all-black cast for this particular concert. She encourages the audience to be actively anti-racist whilst singing This Is Me, all the while providing brilliant vocals. Her hosting skills could be honed but she does a great job and is incredibly warm.

Layton Williams is the headliner this time around and delivers material from Everybody’s Talking About Jamie (joined by his West End and UK tour castmates), Rent, Hairspray and Kinky Boots. He definitely feels at home in this environment and is clearly enjoying performing in this kind of setting.

REVIEW: And Breathe… for the Living Record Festival Online

 

It’s wonderful that so many diverse and exciting new pieces of writing have been created for the Living Record Festival, giving theatre and art the chance to be accessed in such a sparse time for the industry. The creativity that has gone into this is wonderful and should be lauded. Mark Conway and Alex Packer’s ‘And Breathe…’ certainly fits in and stands out, being mainly a radio play with added visual guides and movement pieces.

The tag line says a lot about what the theme is – ‘1 trillion plastic bags used every year. 2 million every minute. The average use… just 12 minutes. He’s drowning under the weight of all this. But who will sink first? Him or the rest of us?’ And in this day and age this truly is a relevant theme for us all! There is the increasing worry about our plastic consumption. But without that tag line I would have struggled to piece it all together.

REVIEW: Ain’t No Female Romeo at the Living Record Festival

This is my second review of a show from the amazing Living Record Festival, a celebration of digital art taking place between the 17th January to 22nd February. The festival takes place digitally to provide access to theatre for everyone world-wide, with a platform of over 40 independent artists and theatre companies from across the world streamed for you to enjoy at the click of a button.

Today was ‘Ain’t No Female Romeo’ a digital art journey by Lita Doolan Productions. Through the self-documented video entries, we see that the main character is on a journey via the means of social media (Instagram) to either find or connect with this person called ‘Peter’. The online pursuit takes the leading lady across the world to find some poster in a subversion of the classic tale of Romeo & Juliet.

From the offset, the piece has a frantic like tendency, with the quick changes of self-tape monologues to cryptic text messages. These short burst videos of seemingly random videos demonstrates both the fragility of the main woman and also gives an insight into the sporadic nature she is going through to find this virtual lover. Also, the way that the videos are edited and portrayed gives the impression of someone who is completely new to Instagram, where they post everything and anything, which can be interpreted as a naive beauty but I found after 10 minutes it became slightly irritating.

REVIEW: Alright, Girl? for the Living Record Festival Online

This piece is one of many from the Living Record Festval, a celebraton of digital art taking place between the 17th January to 22nd February. The festval takes place digitally to provide access to theatre for everyone world-wide, with a platform of over 40 independent artsts and theatre companies from across the world streamed for you to enjoy at the click of a button. 

When it comes to expressing Art, for me, personal poetry is the most exposing and raw material you can give to the audience. In this soundscaped binaural recording, Maria Ferguson debuts her poetry collecton of “Alright, Girl ?” Accompanied with a soundscape created by Chris Drohon, this piece is a personal exploraton of class, gender and belonging set in and around the characteristc East End of London.

To begin, before you even press play, get a pair of headphones to listen to this piece as you enter a whole new world with a stunning soundscape that travels with you throughout Maria’s story. Sound designer Chris Drohon has created a naturalistc element that gave me the illusion of going on a walk through a park, which is fittng as that’s been the highlight of these lockdowns?! The binaural experience was completely new for me, and it was thoroughly enjoyable giving the calming podcast feel to the whole performance, apart from the slight jump scare I got from the pigeons.

REVIEW: The Color Purple at the Leicester Curve (Online)

After the success of the Curve's stream of Sunset Boulevard that successfully used the venue as the setting for the Hollywood studios-based story, I was excited to see how they adjusted their 2019 production of the Colour Purple in a socially distanced version for a streamed audience. Indeed, the production hit the headlines for the wrong reasons with an employment tribunal over one cast member which was rejected in the same week as the stream premiered.

Perhaps because I was less familiar with Alice Walker's 1983 book or the musical version of the story with music by Brenda Russell, Allee Willis and Stephen Bray or perhaps because of difficulties getting the stream to run smoothly from the start I found it hard to get into the show. However around two-thirds of the way through the first half, it suddenly burst into life and soared into a powerful uplifting and joyous second half and finale.  

It is a challenging story dealing with domestic violence, incest, racism and sexism in Tennessee over about forty years from 1920 to 1945 and turns the epistolary book into an episodic telling of Celie's life from abused child suffering at the hands of her father Alphonso and her husband Mr Albert to a successful businesswoman. Only one early song "Big Dog" with Mister and his field hands hints at the better songs to come with the rest being generally short snatches of songs that never get going.

REVIEW: Stuck with You online at Graeae

Graeae Theatre Company has been producing accessible theatre for many years and its latest offering is a series of short plays written by D/deaf and disabled writers released weekly over a few weeks and available to engage with online under the banner Crips without constraints part 2.

The new series of short plays released online with subtitles cover subjects such as sibling rivalry, and death by post-it notes, and they’re written by writers who have been part of Graeae’s Write to Play programme.

Stuck with you is a short video call between two sisters on either side of a bathroom door in which they explore the relationship between themselves, with their mother and their sister Emma. The conversation exposes the tensions in the family over their individual abilities and success and in dealing with grief. Abi is the younger sister in her twenties upset that she found out that her older sister Sarah, in her thirties, was getting married through another friend’s Facebook page and therefore not convinced that she was first choice as maid of honour. It is clear that they don’t talk to each other as much as they each think they should. It is written by Jessica Lovett.

REVIEW: Good Day Bad Day By Karen Featherstone online at Graeae

Graeae Theatre Companies Crips Without Constraints: Part Two has been showcasing some of the UK’s finest up and coming disabled writers and directors every Tuesday since January 16. Yesterday, February 10, Good Day Bad Day, was released and marks the end of the series. After the success of the first season of Crips Without Constraints, streamed online in Spring 2020, Part Two has consolidated the concept into a simple yet challenging format of five online short plays all innovative, thought provoking and entertaining in their own right. I can say that I have thoroughly enjoyed the privilege to review the majority of them.

Good day Bad Day written by Karen Featherstone and directed by Alexandra Whiteley is a short n sweet, sophisticated concept that offers an insight into the objectification of a disabled body and the continuous inner battle one has to go through to overcome it. 

Using the device of a split screen, a disabled woman played by Cherylee Houston (Coronation Street) is duplicated and shown conversing with herself. The first version of the woman has an optimistic point of view about ‘everyday’ interactions she has had with people uncomfortable or ignorant about her disability and the other has a pessimistic one. There is no right response presented here, just two extreme reactions debating balance amongst inequality.

REVIEW: The Gift online at Graeae

Trigger warning: Themes of sexual assault 

Graeae, the UK’s leading disabled-led theatre company launched Crips Without Constraints, an online weekly series of new works championing deaf and disabled artists, in Spring 2020. Following its success, Crips Without Constraints: Part Two, a series of five new online plays, graces our screens this winter. Each play is not only written and directed by some of the finest up and coming UK talents, but they also star a selection of UK’s first-class performers including; Dame Harriet Walter, Sharon D. Clarke, Mandy Colleran, Naomi Wirthner, Cherylee Houston and Julie Graham. 

The first two plays presented by Crips Without Constraints: Part Two, How do you make a cup of Tea? and Flowers For The Chateau, have been a pleasure to watch. The latest instalment of the series, The Gift, written by Leanna Benjamin, directed by Cheryl Martin and starring Sharon D.Clarke and Saida Ahmed, is no different. The Gift presents a touching and heartbreaking moment between a mother and daughter as they come to terms with the challenges and reality of a situation no family should ever have to deal with. 

REVIEW: Public Domain at the Southwark Playhouse (Online)

“We came here to find friends, and just like that I felt a little less alone” 

Poignant lyrics from the opening of Public Domain a new musical which looks at online connections. 

Written and performed by Francesca Forristal and Jordan Paul Clarke, this new two-hander musical takes you on a journey through the world of social media following 2 vloggers and featuring some unapologetic Facebook satire. 

The show is written entirely using online content such as tweets, Youtube videos and Instagram posts. Every lyric and line is taken directly from the internet and social media whilst following the two aspiring influencers who feel surprisingly relatable. The teenage characters both contain attributes we probably all encompass in one way or another and give an unfiltered insight into the positives and negatives of the online world. 

REVIEW: Broken Link for the Living Record Festival Online

Broken Link is one of many pieces on offer as part of The Living Record Festival an online showcase of comedy, plays, films, immersive theatre and much more, all available to stream online. 

In a year where relationships went more digital than ever, the show takes us into a live video chat between 4 friends as they catch up on the anniversary of Ellie’s suicide. 

It starts slow and frankly a little awkward as we watch each character join the chat. Before we know it a fifth, anonymous person joins the chat and simply begins messaging via the chat. The friends are obviously rattled and as the drama unfolds the friends test the unknown participate in a bid to identify them. 

Is it Ellie herself or is this someone playing a cruel joke? 

REVIEW: Flowers for the Chateaux online at Graeae

Graeae Theatre Company has been producing accessible theatre for many years and its latest offering is a series of short plays written by deaf and disabled writers released weekly over the coming weeks and available to engage with online under the banner Crips without constraints part 2.

Flowers for the Chateau is a short playlet (just 15 minutes long) written by Rebekah Bowsher and is perhaps the most accessible piece of theatre I have ever experienced. Accessed online with clear bold subtitles for Deaf viewers and voiceovers to describe the setting and look of the characters for blind or partially sighted people it enables anybody with access to the internet to engage with the story and demonstrates that emotionally truthful characters can be created in this virtual world.

The story is of two mothers who are meeting each other for the first time via Zoom prior to the wedding of their two children only to discover they have met before many years earlier. Naomi Wirthner (with bleached platinum hair) is the mother, Lisbeth, of adopted daughter Lily nervously waiting to meet the stepmother of Adam who lives in a French chateau. Julie Graham (dark hair and glasses) is Jules, Adam’s stepmother and having given Lisbeth a tour of the chateau is only recognised when she settles in front of the laptop and takes off her glasses. It sets up a tense Zoom call as the two characters explore their past lives and what they have been doing since they last met. The two actresses create believable characters, and a good sense of the heartache and disappointment created by that last meeting. You’ll have to watch to find out more!

REVIEW: Ram of God for the Living Record Festival Online

Designed in response to the debilitating effects of Covid-19 on the live arts industry, Living Record Productions have created Living Record Festival, a month-long Digital Arts Festival showcasing over 45 original pieces from independent artists and theatre companies across the world. The content of the festival has been purpose-built for a digital platform and includes theatre, dance, circus, comedy, documentary, spoken word, binaural sound and music.

Ram of God is an alternative film and the creation of Theodora van der Beek with Soho Theatre and notably, nominated for Best Comedy and Best Actress at the Alternative Film Fest. Self categorised as comedy/feminist folk horror it follows the story of a "milk-based" cult set in the middle of the countryside. The cults prophet/leader, part man part sheep, goes by the name Ram and claims to be the saviour of all those who follow him when the apocalypse comes in 2028. His most favoured followers, all female, are to commit their lives to him. They are to do this by; drinking only milk as a lubricant to escape sin, by not cutting or washing their hair, not wearing makeup and literally give over their body and soul to Ram.

REVIEW: The Noise Next Door for the Living Record Festival Online

The Noise Next Door Comedy LockIn has been a popular feature of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival at the Pleasance Courtyard and we have been a regular visitors over the last few years so having missed the 2020 edition it was great to see them included in the Living Record Festival. As with all improv, the success of each sketch is as dependent as much on the quality of the suggestions from the audience as the abilities of the comics to interact with each other in the theme. The usual foursome often use technology in their shows including a camera roaming around the bars of the courtyard so it was expected that they would attempt to incorporate it in the online version.  

However the technology of delivery created the first barrier to their success as having waited 10 minutes on the Living Record site link watching a countdown when the start time arrived it proved very hard to get into the zoom call, taking 10 minutes before we eventually accessed the call. Not as bad as one customer who only arrived in the last five minutes of the hour-long show! 

It meant we missed the introduction and an explanation of why the usual four comics were reduced to three on this show, Matt Grant in a green tie, Tom Livingstone in a green jacket and Robin Hatcher in green trousers. It meant that the first sketch was incomprehensible and when it ended up on the Titanic we feared the worse for the show. The second sketch attempted to give Robin all his lines directly from the audience via his phone as his two colleagues played Crazy Golf with him but it just did not work and the result was unfunny and weak despite them congratulating the audience on their wonderful suggestions! 

The show burst into life with the next two sketches with well-practised structures that allowed them to relax and enjoy themselves. Tom was a security guard trying to recognise two passengers seeking to board a plane to Jamaica. This sketch, reminiscent of the Whose Line is it anyway Party sketch, worked very well with excellent visual comedy and parody. The next sketch also worked very well with Robin and Tom playing a Rumanian interpreter with each saying one word each in turn to spell and explain words offered by the audience. Well practised in its delivery and with some good suggestions from the audience including filibuster, Banana-man and Helter Skelter this too worked very well to raise laughs.

As they pointed out, it is very different performing this type of comedy in this way than with a full house late-night audience at Edinburgh as they can only respond to each other's laughs and the last three sketches all seemed to suffer from a lack of shared response. The jokes about various suggestions walking into a bar seemed laboured, the sketch about a Hollywood director making a film about sexy sushi seemed overlong and the improved song to an audience member Sarah would have been funnier if we could have seen her reaction. 

Improv is a unique comedy form and requires quick thinking sharp performers bursting with energy and ideas and we know Robin, Matt and Tom can deliver brilliant routines in front of a live audience at Edinburgh and showed in glimpses what they are capable of in this show. However, the technology and structure of the zoom call seemed to inhibit them and the comedy was more hit and miss than usual. It won't stop us returning to see them at the next Edinburgh Festival but left us disappointed in front of the TV screen.

Review by Nick Wayne

Rating: ★★

Seat: Online | Price of Ticket: £10

REVIEW: This Little World for the Living Record Festival

One of the advantages of being stuck at home is the opportunity to sample new dramatic forms streamed into you home and this production by The Giddy Road Theatre company is a lovely example of a production that you might otherwise not see except is some small venue at the Edinburgh Festival and yet it proves to be an entertaining, imaginative, and accessible dip into Shakespeare.

Taking as inspiration Shakespeare’s 1595 play Richard II loosely based on the historic events from the murder of the Duke of Gloucester to the King’s abdication and death, the play is set in the cell at Pomfret Castle where the king is imprisoned and will shortly die at the hands of his guard. In Shakespeare’s play, Richard compares his prison cell to a world peopled with his thoughts and says, “thus in one person play many persons” and these provide the inspiration for “This Little World”. Richard accepts defeat easily and wallows in self-pity when he gives up the crown.

REVIEW: How do you make a cup of tea? Online at Graeae

In Spring 2020, leading UK disabled-led theatre company, Graeae launched Crips Without Constraints, an online weekly series of new works championing deaf and disabled artists. Following its success, on January 19, Graeae launched Crips Without Constraints: Part Two, a series of five new online plays. Each work will star a selection of UK’s finest performers including; Dame Harriet Walter, Sharon D. Clarke, Mandy Colleran, Naomi Wirthner, Cherylee Houston and Julie Graham.

How Do You Make a Cup Of Tea? written by Kellan Frankland and performed by Dame Harriet Walter and Mandy Colleran is the first of the bunch to launch. Clocking in at just under twenty minutes long, it is a powerful, frank and necessary expose of issues regarding the representation of disabled people by non-disabled actors in film and theatre. It takes the form of a dark comedy masterfully jostling between absurdity and realism. Frankland ultimately serves up a sobering reality experienced by many.

REVIEW: Dick Whittington at the National Theatre (Online)

There are now eighty Pantomimes available online according to the British Theatre Guide website competing for our viewing time at home and targeting the three million ticket buyers who usually see a live pantomime each Christmas. Many charge a fee to watch or request a donation and those funds are so important to these venues for their survival until next year's Pantomime. With the cancellation of so many Pantomimes this year the National Theatre decided to put on its own version which, when London went into Tier 3/4 Lockdown, was forced to close and a captured preview is now available free of charge for a short period. It is prefaced with an appeal to donate or buy tickets in 2021 for the other affected venues but should the significant resources on display at the NT compete against the multitude of online Pantomimes that seek our attention and funds? Indeed should public funds be used at all to create a show competing with them? The answer must be that they need to do something different and raise the bar to justify the competition.

The NT has restaged the Lyric Hammersmith's version of Dick Whittington in the round in a socially distanced way which creates the feel of an expensive circus ring with traps and lights embedded in the floor. It is a modern retelling of the usual rags to riches story with only the occasional double entendre. Indeed in Sheffield venues Damian's PopUp Panto, also available online for a fee, it defines the essence of Pantomime as "pure joy, quirky humour, warm energy, familiarity and nostalgic". The NT version seems devoid of this essence, the characters are overly intense and serious, almost smug and self-satisfied, and the production lacks warmth and was conceived in a London bubble.