And so, for a change of scenery and a divergence from the norm, Reallife Theatre Company's J B Shorts have handed six plays and the format over to acting students at Arden Theatre School in Manchester, and their the school's own Longmore Theatre these six plays were given a new lease of life.
Sadly without a programme (there were none available, simply a QR code which I am unable to access) I am able only to give a bland overview of the production. I do not know the play titles, the actors/actresses names, nor the names of directors or writers; and since there were six plays in all to keep on top of - writing notes in the blackened theatre, and coming back to said spider scrawl the day after, this is the best I can offer...!
The stage was arranged as a thrust affair with a more intimate setting of just three rows of seats on three sides of a raised dais. Above the stage were hung many household ceiling lights, created a very warm straw effect bathing the stage in a homely glow. This looked pretty, although sadly I did not work as a stage set design for any of the six plays which followed. For each play some set items were brought on and off as required with the minimum of fuss. In general, the idea of performing these six plays on a thrust stage was interesting ( a word with both positive and negative connotations), since some of the plays lent themselves better to this format than others in both terms of writing and directing, and so the end results had varying degrees of success.
All six plays were comedy (only one was semi-serious), and so one must assume that this was a deliberate choice - however, something a little more gritty and hard-hitting would not have gone amiss, and would have heightened the comedy when it came back again. - and two of the plays chosen - I can only assume they were written by the same person - were remarkably similar not only to each other but also to professional touring companies productions of other famous works of literature; I write of course of the lampooning of both 'Wuthering Heights'; and 'War And Peace'. And although both these plays were excellently acted and very funny, there were too similar to include both in an evening of VARIED and DIVERSE new writing. The other four plays were 1) a completely OTT and silly Murder Mystery from the Director Of ITV Drama, 2) A Hen Party in Barcelona 3) A prisoner being escorted to hospital to have a catheter removed, and 4) 'Can We Stop It There?', a play about a director, directing and onstage director, directing a director in the play....!
The lighting design in general was nowhere near as good and as proficient as I have seen at this venue in the past. As I have already stated, the straw colours of the domestic lights above did not work in any play, the strobe seemed unwarranted and did not have the desired effect, and at other times the lighting was a little strange and confusing sadly. Seated as I was on the front row of just three, one would have assumed that I would also have been able to hear every single word uttered from on stage, but again, unfortunately this was not the case; projection(or should I say lack of) from some of the performers on stage this afternoon was a big issue.
I have seen at least two of this afternoon's plays before - at the J B Shorts event at which they were premiered; and so with these I knew what was coming. Although I didn't understand the choice of play (or perhaps casting) when so many male roles were taken by females throughout. It is a large enough task for both actor and audience for the suspension of disbelief to accept that these young performers are playing significantly older characters, which most did with aplomb. For me, the second half three plays were the most coherent and entertaining, but one must not be subjective...! It was obvious that the students put much into this event and their enjoyment of it was obvious at their curtain call; the school has a class of talented and conscientious young actors / actresses but perhaps in this particular production some were not shown to their full potential.
The final play (the 'War And Peace' Mickey-take) gave us a very strong ending (after Russian nationalistic music, The Marseillaise, and The 'Eastenders' theme), and overall it was an enjoyable, but maybe a little long (2.5 hours) time in the company of a strong and skilled group of student performers.
Reviewer - Alastair Zyggu
on - 23.5.25
No comments:
Post a Comment