THEATRE REVIEW: Theatre In Isolation Festival: Day 2: SATURDAY - online

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 a 6 of the performances from Saturday 30th May.

1. ACT III MONOLOGUES
    Act III Theatre

Northern voices, Northern stories, and Northern spirit. All of these monologues had the previous in common. It was nice to see older actors contributing to this online festival. Some stories recalled the time of going down the pits and spending your whole week’s wages in the pub at the weekend. There was a nod to the swimming baths and bathing in a tin bath. Another plot was a nostalgic trip back to childhood memories, and reminiscing during lockdown whilst saying: “Back in my day…” Later on, different actresses performed the same monologue, it was nice to see the subtle variations in performance. I think more consideration could have been given to where in the house some monologues were filmed. One performance was played back on a laptop and the camera was filming the laptop screen, not sure what happened there but it stuck out like a sore thumb.

Reviewer - Sam Lowe

2. THE PAINTER AND THE DECORATOR.

    Pevril Productions

Two manual workers (one a painter the other a decorator) chat over a video call. Good natured banter between mates with plenty of innuendos and lad-chat. Then one tells the other that he is leaving and moving to London to follow his dream of becoming an actor. It seems somehow forced, and false. Maybe due to the way it was filmed (in isolation) etc, but the narrative drive was poor and didn't feel real. The idea of acting and following the dream seeming ridiculous to the decorator, and so the chat returns to pubs and how they miss them. Lacking substance and felt a little odd.

Written and performed by Teddy Jones and Sam James.

Reviewer - Chris Benchley

3. CORONATION DAY.
    Talespin Theatre Company

Aimed at young children this was a zoom video chat with various Disney characters (mostly princesses)They chat about being in isolation and decide to thank all the boys and girls for making all the wonderful rainbows in the house windows and for being good for their parents.

Made in collaboration with 'Wish Upon A Star Events', this was a nice idea, and showcased the company and what the company offer well.

Performed by Marissa More and Keziah Lockwood.

Reviewer - Chris Benchley

4. DAISY MAIL.
    Written by Joe Walsh and performed by Janet Lilley

A rather long monologue about a mother who tells the story of a day in her life. The day being one in June 1996, when she took her 4 year old daughter to Manchester with the intention of posting her daughter's letter to Father Christmas [she wanted to make sure he got it early to prepare, since she knew he was so busy!]. Of course, for those that remember, this was the day that mainland UK suffered the worst bombing since the Second World War, when the IRA created a hole in the centre of Manchester. Incredibly no-one was fatally injured that day - I have no idea how.[on a very personal note for a second, my dad was in a bank behind Piccadilly Gardens when it exploded, and I was teaching a drama class in Horwich and we all heard a noise and felt the ground tremble even that far away!]

However, back to the monologue... She talks about the events with a deal of truth and how it was the pillar box - the famous one that withstood the blast on Corporation Street, that her daughter was going to post the letter in just as the blast happened.

There is a further tragic blow to this story too which deals with her daughter growing up with and then dying from leukemia. It is highly pougnant and heartwrenching, and it sympathetically told. However for my money the monologue is overlong and deals with too much in one recital. I would personally shorten the monologue to deal only with the Manchester bombing, and even then look at some judicious editing of that text.

Reviewer - Alastair Zyggu

5. SPOKEN WORD AND STORIES WITH JOE
    Joe Walsh 

“Spoken word and stories with Joe” – specifically Joe Walsh. He performed three pieces: one about homeless people in Manchester, another shining a light on our guilty pleasures, and a final story more personal to him. I really liked the topics he was speaking about, once again he was writing about what he knew and what he had experienced - that’s a really good approach. It got you thinking about the public’s negative preconceptions of homeless people. All the while, these “invisible” people are real people, with dreams of a better life; longing for the things we take for granted. You could tell the last one was personal to Walsh, as his performance style was subtly different. I liked the line in this about putting the kettle on, a cuppa seems to solve pretty much anything. The only thing Walsh needs to work on now is his confidence. It doesn’t do him any favours to constantly say this is probably going to be rubbish, when in actual fact it wasn’t. I hope he keeps up with his writing and gets more creative with the performance of his texts because I’m sure he’s got it in him. I’m putting this down to nerves, but I don’t think he should have said he was too lazy to learn them all either – even if he was joking. I’ve seen performances recently where spoken word artists have freshly written something and performed it with script in hand, so that’s okay to do. I hope he keeps it up, he’s got the potential to write emotive spoken word and stories.

Reviewer - Sam Lowe

6. ROLL A SIX
    Whatstick Theatre

This was a filmed-in-isolation extract from a new play in development by Sass Holmes. Here it was performed by Georgia Brown and Jack D'Arcy.

Two people are playing Scrabble, and their conversation is triggered by the words they put down. The conversation turns a little sour and offbeat as clown is referenced and the piece ends with the man applying a clown make-up. It's a little avant-garde and perhaps needs a couple more watches for it really to make sense to me, but it was convincingly and realistically approached and performed, and cleverly filmed. I'd need to see more of the play though I think - just taking this short episode in isolation left me a little unsure of what to make of it.

Reviewer - Chris Benchley