Prior to the show embarking on a short UK tour, Ben Duke performed his one-man show, 'Paradise Lost (Lies Unopened Beside Me)' at the Place Theatre in London to a live, socially-distanced, mask-wearing audience, whilst being simultaneously filmed and streamed live to a further computer-watching audience, including myself.
The show was conceived, written, directed and performed by Ben Duke, and lasted 80 minutes without interval. I must congratulate Matt Hargreaves and the crew at North South Culture for their filming. The production was visceral and interesting, and the camerawork allowed the viewer to see things from different perspectives and angles that would have been completely missed by a static theatre audience, and this helped enormously in my enjoyment of the production.
A bare stage, save only a chair, and some well chosen music helped Duke create his story. The story of Milton's epic poem, Paradise Lost; but given a modern and unique spin.
Duke's self-effacing humour and stage presence was a delight, and the humour worked excellently pitted against some of the bleaker parts of the narrative. The piece is essentially a dance-piece.. or at least that is how it has been advertised. (he even won a dance award for it!). However I did not see it as such. To me the piece is a one-man play which includes, in some parts, movement. And if I had to be picky, then I would say that it was the periods of "movement" which were the least interesting, going on for too long, and not furthering the narrative drive of the piece in any meaningful way. 'Also Sprach Zarathustra' was very successful but the following sequence using Pachelbel's 'Canon' was not. The production was a 'half-way-house' between a dance piece and an acting piece, and for me the acting was the stronger, more interesting, clearer and more important part, and these movement episodes just got in the way of a good story. Perhaps had the whole piece been danced - ie a ballet - then it would have worked much better too.
I truly enjoyed Duke's stage presence, his voice, his manner, and his acting ability. He was delightful, and his fresh and innovative take on the poem and story was inventive and relatable. His choice of music was interesting and effective, and the costume and SFX changes worked excellently. I just would have preferred more acting and less 'movement'. His use of one effect at the end as a visual metaphor for sin and knowledge was stark and clever. (no spoilers!). Unfortunately there were a couple of times when the music was overloud, and I was struggling to hear Duke above it. I am sure this was not deliberate - maybe a technical hitch in the streaming - but again, a little offputting.
Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 6.6.21
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