As part of their studies, the students of The Arden's Acting course each year present an evening (or afternoon) of short plays written and directed by local industry professionals, thus gaining a hugely valuable insight into the machinations of the industry outside of their scholastic experience.
This is the fourth year (I think) that I have seen Arden's Fringe plays, and the acting quality just gets better year on year.
This time we were treated to 7 short plays, starting with the self-penned 'Lock Down' - a monologue written and performed by CC Hughes (directed by Paul Broughton). A very strong piece to start with, powerfully and truthfully told by Hughes, about a young woman's justified self-defence killing of her abusive step-dad and her subsequent incarceration; superbly realised and set the bar very high right from the off.
In general though this year the selection of pieces were sadly lacking humour. There then followed six pieces which could, potentially have been much swifter and funnier, but all of them had been directed as straight dramas (or tragedy - which one rightly was). Even the final piece - a play which I have seen several times now already: 'Can We Stop It There?' by Trevor Suthers and directed this time by Adam Zane - was treated with an undue reverence. The advantage to this interpretation was that the storyline and characters were more clearly defined and the tensions between them further developed; but losing the pace and the lightness of this piece meant that unfortunately it simply was not funny, and it should have been!
In between these two pieces there were at least 3 pieces which could easily have had the audience in stitches, but once again, the directors sadly seemed to ignore the comic potential of the writing in all cases. Cathy Crabb's 'Twirlies And Girlies' directed by Helen Parry, was a prime example of this. A lightly comedic premise is struck as two nightclub erotic dancers believe they might have accidentally killed one of their punters, whilst on a separate part of the stage we were introduced to two faux-posh actresses chatting in the dressing room, whilst one is annoyed that her husband has failed to turn up to see her act. The obvious punchline as the two stories eventually join came as no surprise but it at least should have been a laugh-line. The four young actresses in this sketch gave their all - from strutting their stuff, pouting, hamming it up, and play-acting; but sadly, somehow, the comedy of the play was left on the page.
The most interesting, but also the most 'arty' was the other tragedy play. Ian Kershaw's 'Sleep' was directed with some flamboyant and imagery-full style by Rupert Hill. It was a rather confusing and convoluted affair both in the writing and directing, and one really needed to watch and concentrate hard - but it paid dividends, as by the end of the play, I was emotionally drained from just watching it.
In the first half we also saw 'Gold' by Tiffany Bowman (director Jack Dean) and 'So What Do You Do?' by Clare O'Flaherty (director Alyx Tole). But it was in the second half that the most 'real' of the pieces was presented. 'Christmas' by Chris Hoyle, and directed by Simon Naylor, was set in the back yard of a second-class restaurant in November - but with works' Christmas parties already in full swing in the unseen restaurant. The pace here was set quite slow, but not too much - but just enough to gain an insight into the characters even when they weren't actually speaking. They were real and rounded, and I felt that I could relate to these characters more than any other the whole evening.
A couple of things did let the evening down a little though, despite the high quality of the acting. First, the sound levels were much too high, making a prison door slamming sound like an apocalyptic earthquake, and the music used for the scene changes far too loud. Indeed the scene changes could have been much smoother in general. Also, I would have liked to have heard / seen the actors diversity when they performed in more than one play. I would have liked to have heard them change their accents, especially the young girl who spoke with a very strong Liverpudlian and the young actor with a Northern Irish brogue.
16 students performed 25 roles between them in the 7 plays showcased, and it would be wrong of me to single any one out as being 'better' or 'worse'. These terms are purely subjective in any case and because they are still in training, they are somewhat meaningless too. What I will say however is that there is a whole bucketful of talent there, some of it latent, but the possibilities and the opportunities to shine will come. All 16 worked extremely hard and gave thoroughly creditworthy performances and it was indeed hugely enjoyable (despite my thirst for a little more comedy!) and an important, nay, essential part of these students' training.
Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 22/11/18
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