ONLINE THEATRE REVIEW: Blast Off! - The Waterside Theatre. Manchester

caTAPult is a new initiative from The Theatre And Performance department at Arden Theatre School in Manchester, giving graduates a platform to perform and test commercially ready productions before taking them 'on the road'. 

'Blast Off!' by Elise Gilbert was one such production, which she performed at Waterside Theatre, part of the Manchester College, on the 16th September, along with two other plays. It ws made available to watch digitally which I did, and so there may be some things that I have missed due to not being able to view it live, and certainly, the online version is diminished in atmosphere; however, I'll do my best...

As the audience were returning after the interval, Gilbert could be seen clearly on stage, she was busying herself with some larger-than-life props, and tearing pages from a glossy fashion magazine, all the time ad-libbing to the audience that the show had not started yet, and not to pay any attention to her - so we paid all the more attention because of it! And then she started - a "blast off" style countdown and a change of lighting brought her centre stage and she spoke directly to the audience. 

'Blast Off!' is a one-woman show, and during the 40 minutes of the performance Gilbert chats affably to her audience. She has an excellent rapport with them, and they feel at ease with her. Her voice is clear and articulate, and her mannersims easy-to-watch. She makes good use of humour throughout, and we have the feeling that although she might be saying certain things which are desperately important (maybe only to her) we can still smile and happily go along with her, such is her ease and oneness with her audience. 

It is a multi-media presentation, and a large screen at the rear of the stage shows images, film, cartoons etc, which I believe had all been created by Gilbert herself, whilst her own on-stage performance included original music and song - including a rather humorous rap. In fact there was so much going on  in this short space of time, that one hardly had time to take it all in, and it felt like there was more than just one person on the stage too. Good use was made of effective lighting throughout.

'Blast Off!' is a personal exploration for Gilbert. She talks about growing up, about jobs and expectations, of what the normal course of life is perceived to be, she talks about body image and beauty, social media and our online personas, and finishes with a more mellow account of stress. This is a part of her story, and she is teling us things which she would like us to know: but never does it become a lecture or a dogma, it's gently infused with familiarity and fun. 

Gilbert is 23 years old and she is standing in front of an audience talking about life and death. Breath, relax, and blast off!

Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 17.10.21