In the wake of lockdown, theatre has continued to entertain us, but this time from the comfort of our own homes. I have had the privilege throughout lockdown of watching a few pre-recorded theatre performances. After all, how would we cope cooped up inside for this long otherwise? But Up ‘Ere Productions brings us something completely different and more risky, a live theatre performance via Zoom. This is the first performance in a weekly series from Up ‘Ere Productions, entitled #WeeklyWatch, showing every Sunday. The money raised from this new and experimental style of theatre will go towards Oldham Coliseum, helping to keep theatre alive.
As it’s the end of Mental Health Awareness Week, the production began with a spoken word performance by Matt Concannon, a regular collaborator with Up ‘Ere Productions, with his piece entitled ‘Bubbles’. As always, Concannon’s work is poetic and almost mesmerising. One line in particular stood out to me; ‘The bubbles that used to excite me have now become bubbles of anxiety’. A powerful performance.
This was followed by the main feature. ‘Singin’ for England’ is a play from Benjamin Peel, tackling the themes of homelessness and addiction, in which we meet a young, homeless couple at a crossroads in their lives. Considering all four actors rehearsed and performed only via Zoom, never meeting in person, the chemistry between them was strong and their relationships believable. All four actors seemed perfectly cast, with Kyle Rowe as ‘Karl’, Hannah Rose Hughes as ‘Sheree’, Paddy Stafford as ‘Harley’ and Stacey Harcourt as ‘Magda’. Peel’s writing here also aided in this, taking the characters on a journey with his story-telling abilities. Peel’s writing was naturalistic with elements of surrealism and poetry. A well written play that has its viewers invested in the protagonists in the first few minutes.
Directed by John O’Neill and assisted by Jordi Williams, this must not have been an easy task. To successfully direct a new form of theatre in which the actors have a limited playing space and next to no interaction with one another is a feat in itself. However, O’Neill and Williams managed to make it work. The actors’ eye-lines and limited use of props and costume cleverly revealed enough about the characters. We were taken on an emotional journey throughout the performance.
The blending of film and theatre here via the Zoom call took a few minutes to get used to, but was a great new performance platform in which short scenes worked well and quick scene changes were possible. This success is greatly due to O’Neill who worked all of the tech for the live show, muting and unmuting actors where necessary. The attention to detail only added to the performance, such as how each actor’s Zoom name had been changed to their characters’ names. There was a feeling here amongst the viewers of eavesdropping on private and important conversations.
Although there were a few lengthy pauses and some moments of overlapping, the performance as a whole ran incredibly smoothly. This was probably in part due to the ensemble work required to pull off such a feat. I urge you to tune in next week and donate if you can. Let’s help keep theatre alive. After all, when else can you watch live theatre in your pyjamas with a takeaway on your lap?
Reviewer - Megan Relph
on - 24/5/20
The fact that this was a live stream made it so much more engaging as an audience member. There have been many wonderful pre recorded performance pieces available on Facebook, for example, but this was an interesting new approach having something of the 'in the moment' engagement that makes live theatre so compelling. I thoroughly enjoyed the actors performances and I'll be tuning in every Sunday.
ReplyDelete