In extraordinary circumstances, the third year students on the Arden's Theatre And Performance degree course, gave a one-off closed performance in a virus-free and very empty Museum Of Transport, Manchester, which was (and still is) videoed and available to watch on the Arden's Facebook page. I have been reviewing productions at The Arden for several years now, and have seen all of these students in other plays; however it was very strange and sad to think that although a 'public' performance, their only audience for this would be watching it miles away on a computer screen. Theatre is by definition a live medium, and a piece such as this required audience interaction and acknowledgement. Therefore this will not be a conventional review, that would be very unfair, and under the current situation, it was a small miracle that the play ever was performed at all.
We entered the museum and were greeted by the caretaker. We were told that we had to listen out for the second bell. That was important, and would signal the end. Bells rang at various times throughout and once we came back to see the caretaker again to let us out, we were admonished for not coming when the bell rang. A nice idea, and a good way to 'wrap' the production. The one thing that did confuse me a little though was why half way through the presentation, everyone had blood on their faces. Did I miss out on some important dialogue here? Or were they supposed to be zombies. The caretaker made an off-the-cuff remark about us 'seeing a ghost' - was that it? Were these characters shadows of incidents passed, and if so, why blood?
The production took the form of a promenade, site-specific living history performance, which was a lovely idea, and the use of space in general worked very well. - perhaps better on film than in reality in this instance - especially when there was a voice-over about the bombing of a London bus and the videographer panned shots of the bus concerned. The play spanned quite a long period in time, strating with the war years, gliding through the 1960s and 1980s with prerecorded speeches of Prime Ministers' passed, bringing us into the '90s and the 21st century as we exited. One thing I would mention is the costuming and hair styles. I am uncertain as to whether or not a simple 'generic' base was used, but certainly some costumes and hair styles did not befit the periods they were enacting, which was a shame.
The production combined realism with stylistic acting, almost as if some of the cast were zombies / automatons..... could this have been deliberate.. again, did I miss a very important part of the storyline for my understanding of the narrative? Perhaps so; the video did stop a few times and jump in places - another reason why a conventional review would not be appropriate.
I loved the 'In The Mood' sequence. The dancing and energy here was absolutely spot on! A superb location for a literal and metaphorical journey to 'the next stop'. A great idea, and undoubtedly it would have worked so much better live. However, under such trying and difficult circumstances, I take my hat off to you all for continuing with the performance so adroitly. Time now to stay safe and stay well, and hopefully We'll Meet Again [Vera Lynn - a song you could have used perhaps??] when this coronavirus pandemic has left us.
Reportage - Matthew Dougall
on - 20/3/20
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