As part of Oldham Coliseum's commitment to providing a platform for local emerging theatre companies and new writing, the Main House Takeover event is a one-night only occasion when two local theatre companies have the opportunity of performing their one act fringe productions on the Coliseum's main stage. Having missed both of these plays in the Fringe Festivals this year, and having heard very positive things about both, I was greatly looking forward to seeing them this evening.
CLOUDS by Time And Again Theatre Company.
The stage was superbly lit to start this one-act play. A replica model (not to scale but realistic enough for the purposes) of a period plane, stood alone, seemingly both proud and sad at one and the same time - ( forgive me trying to anthropomorphise at this stage, but that is how it seemed to me... a plane respesenting the sky, which in turn represented the clouds, which were all so important as an allegory throughout the narrative. )
Laura Crow's writing was interesting, as indeed there were some very clever lines in there, but one had to dig quite deep to find the pearls, but the directing was really rather stilted and unimaginative sadly. I actually found this play, the more in went along, quite difficult to watch; not because of the subject matter, but because it didn't really go anywhere or do anything, but for the entire time stayed very much on the same level both emotionally, vocally, and dynamically.
The story is set in 1931 and concerned a young lady who called herself Freddie, and was obviously monied and upper-class (despite her accent betraying her) and her determination to learn to fly this plane and enter a competition open to men only (unless you were a pilot). Sadly this actress's projection let her down and so was struggling to hear some of her speeches. This is set amidst an air of upper-class optimism and a rise in feminism as one young debutante joins the Suffragette Movement because she thinks it would be rather jolly, but gets her come-uppance when hearing the news of Emily Davison's fate and finding herself behind bars for throwing a brick at a window in Whitehall.
Overall, the women and the young pilot tended to slightly overact. There is always that tendency when trying to mimic the upper-classes of the bygone era, especially vocally. Whilst Freddie's brother, gave a truly sterling performance of the retiring but educated young man with a slight speech impediment. A drama - with a little comedy thrown in - of those living through a time of change.
MEN CHASE, WOMEN CHOOSE by People Zoo Productions
An open stage, a large screen taking centre stage with the words 'Men Chase, Women Choose: A Lecture In The Science Behind Our Gender Narratives'.
Enter two young ladies: one the prim, prudish and punctilious scientist, the other a brash, bawdy and bouncing actress. Together they made a wonderful double-act and not only did they give us a lecture on feminism through the ages, but also a masterclass in comedy timing too.
The premise was simple: they were to take us through the history of patriarchy and the rise of feminism from hunter/gatherer to the present day. How they did this though was both excellently researched and incredibly funny. they didn't really need the screen with the images and quotes on them - it was enough to watch and listen to Sophie Giddens and Eve Shotton's banter; but the screen was cleverly used and ameliorated their presentation well.
Starting with the rather open question, 'What is the point of woman?' their lecture came full circle to mention all the five points once again, but from the feminist perspective and say that all these things apply to men too. One gender cannot exist without the other.
The rapid-fire one-liners following some 'Bad Science' information, telling us where we as a race have gone wrong in the past, using Eve Shotton's exhuberant and extrovert energies to balance perfectly with Sophie Giddens' negative introverted energy created a lecture - well, a theatre show actually, but let's not quibble over minutiae! - like no other! And their interpretive dance using Madonna's 'Like A Virgin' simply needs to be seen to be believed!
Excellently thought-out, perfectly presented, informative, clever, and hilarious; performed by two extremely talented young actresses.
Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 27/9/19
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