The Theatre In Isolation Festival was the brainchild of young Manchester-based company 'Two In A Bed Theatre Company', who organised and produced two full days of theatre, interviews, activities, and film all online and all from local Manchester talent and small-scale companies, all of whom are undeniably struggling during the lockdown.
It was a brave and bold statement, which actually morphed into an excellent platform to showcase works-in-progress, new writing, and basically network and support each other under extenuating circumstances.
The programme was vast and varied for the two days, and there were various reviewers watching different things throughout the two days, and so have split the reviews up into four, two each for the two days, and this review will look at six of the performances from Friday 29th May.
1. THE AUDREY DIARIES.
Written and performed by Lindsay Eavis.
The Audrey Diaries consisted of three short and separate (yet not unrelated) monologues. Ostensibly diary entries which were being read out in a very 'Talking Heads' kind of way from a post-menopausal busy-body. The humour and style is very much a cross between the two Alans: Ayckbourn and Bennett, and Audrey is a middle-class snob. However, I wasn't entirely convinced that the chaarcterisation was completely consistent throughout the three. The prudery of 'Audrey's World' didn't seem to fit somehow with the impishness of 'Audrey Clears The Loft'. However, they were very well acted, with bonhomie and made a good start to the festival.
Reviewer - Chris Benchley
2. POETRY.
Written and performed by Alex Haymes
Alex Haymes is a young budding poet, and here she shared a few of her poems with us. Her poetry is characterised by highlighting the normality, the humane or perhaps mundane quotidian things of life. But there is a sadness, a melancholy, perhaps a regret or even foreboding in her writing too. Quite impressive for one so young.
She read five poems. The first was the weakest in my opinion. 'Box Room' written whilst in lockdown. 'Sweeping Insomnia', 'Your Bed' and 'It's Been Two Years' were all poignant and sympathetic, nicely crafted and well spoken.
I was just getting used to her style when with the last poem she served a curved ball, and she proved that she could also write a more light-hearted, jokey styled poem too. 'You Won't Like This Poem'..... I did!
Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
3. FALLING.
Written and performed by Owen Murphy
Here Murphy performed two self-penned pieces. the first a song, which he accompanied himself on the guitar and the second, a poem. Both were written about 'falling'.
The song was very much folk-based and was very easy to listen to. Solid lyrics combined with a memorable and hummable melody.... but just how high can Murphy's voice go??! After this a poem which explored the different meaning to the word 'falling'; not just falling down, but falling in (love). A nice exploration of phrasal verbs.
Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
4. SHAKESPEARE IN SECLUSION.
Talespin Theatre
A collection of some well-known and some not-so-well-known speeches from Shakespeare's plays ably performed by Keziah Lockwood of Talespin Theatre. We were given different costumes, different locations and different characters for each of the short speeches, but for those unfamiliar with the speech or the play, it would have been preferable to have added some context. Even just writing the name of the play and character on the screen would have been better than nothing at all. Perhaps even a little background to each speech too? There seemed to be no thread or correlation between the speeches, and so was unsure why those particular ones had been chosen, and why they were performed in that order.
Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
5. MANCHESTER MINUTES MONOLOGUES
Two In A Bed Theatre Company
The Manchester Minutes Monologues was a 45 minute piece, made up of various new monologues all with one theme drawing them together; Manchester itself. Another theme that seemed to occur throughout most of the monologues was lockdown. This seems fitting as the festival itself was born out of lockdown.
The production began with a strong opening monologue; entitled ‘Grounded’ by Helen Connolly and performed by Leah Gray. The progression of the piece from comedy to sorrow was very smoothly done and naturalistic. Another of the monologues that stood out to me came near the middle of the running order; entitled ‘The Grass Is Always Greener’, written by Sassy Holmes and performed by Beth Nolan. This was another strong duo, in which both the playwright and the performer created a strong, memorable piece. I assume the monologues are directed by the actors themselves, and if this is so then extra praise must go to Nolan for her interesting use of camera angle as we see only her reflection in a mirror and never her face directly.
All pieces were well written, especially those that came from Katherine McDermott, John O’Neill and Loraine Knockton. All a perfect blend of humour and intimacy. And the performances that stood out from the actors included Annie Rogers and Hannah MacDonald. All performers did well, considering they had no-one to play against and therefore no reaction to feed from. A few actors used props to aid them, and this worked well.
It is difficult to retain an audience's attention without the additional use of lights and sound, as well as the performers only having a limited space to perform in when boxed in by a camera, but my attention did not waver throughout the 45 minute production, despite some of the monologues being lengthier than others.
Reviewer - Megan Relph
6. FRANK SINATRA AND MY DAD'S WIG
Written by Phil Pearson and performed by Steve Cain
A sympathetic monologue. A nice picture of a middle-aged man and a fond memory of hisd ad (and his wig!). It's the kind of anecdotal story which gets passed on through generations of a family, and keeps their memories alive. Touching, and sensitively interpreted by Steve Cain.
Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
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