First of all I must apologise for the such late delivery of this post, I've had so many things on this week, I just have had no time to get round to writing a review for the show last Friday (22nd of October) called 'If That's All There is' by Inspector Sands at the Nuffield Theatre.
The show is about a couple who are teetering on the brink of the happiest day of their lives and about to get married, although the panic is starting to rise and the only problem is, everyone is watching them. As the performance continues we see through the eyes of the couple and a young work experience student and a therapist, just how much effort we go to, to try and make our lives fulfilling.
The show won the 2009 Edinborough International Festival Fringe Prize in 2009 and was the Guardian's Pick of the Festival in the same year. It easy to see why, the show is a very accessible one, full of comedy, serious moments and great performances. I felt really unwell whilst I was watching the performance and so probably didn't look like I was enjoying it, but I loved it. It was certainly very different to the majority of the performances staged at the Nuffield, but never - the - less it was still a hugely enjoyable performance to watch. At just over an hour, it was perfectly timed and kept the audience interested from the very moment you walked in and saw the two performers looking directly at the audience, the sense of involvement between the audience and performers was always on show. This aspect particularly appealed to me, the show seemed to catch the fact that audiences particularly in a theatre space want to feel part of the performance, but are extremely hesitate (except for a few to get up on the stage!.
A well crafted and delivered show, very worthy of its prize winning at the International Fringe!
Here are some interesting links that you may be interested in viewing:
http://www.inspectorsands.com/ - The Company's Website
http://www.lyric.co.uk/ - The Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith (The Commissioner of the Piece)
http://www.artsagenda.co.uk/ - Arts Agenda, The Associate Producers
Marcus
Friday, 29 October 2010
Thursday, 14 October 2010
Back With A Spectular Bang!
A great return to the stage for Forced Entertainment!
I have to be very honest and say that I was not entirely won over by Forced Entertainment's last show 'Spectular' in October 2008 at the Nuffield Theatre, however thats not to say I have lost any admiration or respect for Forced Entertainment because as a stable of experimental theatre in Britain and around the world, for 25 years and on the evidence of their current show 'The Thrill of It' they show how to construct and hold an audience hooked in a full show full of music, dance, performance, stand up and comedy.
The show lasts an hour and 45 minutes, which on paper sounds like a long time but honestly it doesn't feel like that at all. The show does what all great entertainment does takes you away from your day to routine and makes you forget about the world outside the theatre space.
Creating a large ensemble piece is of course hard, but the chemistry between Thomas Conway, Amit Hadari, Phil Hayes, Jerry Killick, Richard Lowdon, Claire Marshall, Cathy Naden, Terry O'Connor and John Rowley holds the performance together. Splitting between exchanges between all females and all males. The Matching outfits held the performers together in white and red, however each performer had there own traits such as not being able to come up with something funny from listing 'funny fruit'. The mixture of direct address and comedy broke up the performance and kept the audience interested.
The only issue I personally had but by no means a reflection of the whole audience nor the piece as a whole was the direct address of being told 'At this point in the evening', I want to have the opportunties to make my mind up about the performance and gather my own thoughts about the performance. As I say this is just a matter of personal opinion and I don't want to be overly critical of this small thing because it is a personal opinion, and each and every opinion is different.
I enjoyed the commical interchanges and the scary moment where people in the audience thought they would be picked out as the love interest of some of the male performers. The vocal treatment of the performers voices (generic deep voices for the male and high pitched for the female performers) was a lovely addition and a chilish like entertainment. As artistic director Tim Etchells remarks "There's a set of binaries you get into around constructed masculinity, constructed feminity. I think tangling with these binaries became one of the organising principles of the work".
My final thought is, Where did the music come from? Because I would really like some of it, Thanks!
Great Show!.
http://www.forcedentertainment.com/page/3009/About+Us+ - Forced Entertainment online.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3d02U0u_1sk - Video Trailer for the Show
I have to be very honest and say that I was not entirely won over by Forced Entertainment's last show 'Spectular' in October 2008 at the Nuffield Theatre, however thats not to say I have lost any admiration or respect for Forced Entertainment because as a stable of experimental theatre in Britain and around the world, for 25 years and on the evidence of their current show 'The Thrill of It' they show how to construct and hold an audience hooked in a full show full of music, dance, performance, stand up and comedy.
The show lasts an hour and 45 minutes, which on paper sounds like a long time but honestly it doesn't feel like that at all. The show does what all great entertainment does takes you away from your day to routine and makes you forget about the world outside the theatre space.
Creating a large ensemble piece is of course hard, but the chemistry between Thomas Conway, Amit Hadari, Phil Hayes, Jerry Killick, Richard Lowdon, Claire Marshall, Cathy Naden, Terry O'Connor and John Rowley holds the performance together. Splitting between exchanges between all females and all males. The Matching outfits held the performers together in white and red, however each performer had there own traits such as not being able to come up with something funny from listing 'funny fruit'. The mixture of direct address and comedy broke up the performance and kept the audience interested.
The only issue I personally had but by no means a reflection of the whole audience nor the piece as a whole was the direct address of being told 'At this point in the evening', I want to have the opportunties to make my mind up about the performance and gather my own thoughts about the performance. As I say this is just a matter of personal opinion and I don't want to be overly critical of this small thing because it is a personal opinion, and each and every opinion is different.
I enjoyed the commical interchanges and the scary moment where people in the audience thought they would be picked out as the love interest of some of the male performers. The vocal treatment of the performers voices (generic deep voices for the male and high pitched for the female performers) was a lovely addition and a chilish like entertainment. As artistic director Tim Etchells remarks "There's a set of binaries you get into around constructed masculinity, constructed feminity. I think tangling with these binaries became one of the organising principles of the work".
My final thought is, Where did the music come from? Because I would really like some of it, Thanks!
Great Show!.
http://www.forcedentertainment.com/page/3009/About+Us+ - Forced Entertainment online.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3d02U0u_1sk - Video Trailer for the Show
Sunday, 7 February 2010
Retina - Antipode and Nic Green's Trilogy process
Hi All,
Firstly, I would like to excuse my 12 year old's username, I made it a long time ago (posts since deleted, emoooo) and I don't know enough about blogging to change it, I'll have a gander later!
Secondly, I must apologise for taking so long to post my thoughts on Retina - Antipode and the Nic Green Trilogy process! I'm a very busy girl at the moment, third year is like a sort of brain-hell.
So, Retina Dance Company's Antipode...4 male dancers plus one male double bass player playing live on stage. We're already excited, yes? And it was exciting, for the most part. However, the wonderful Nigel Stewart has ruined contemporary dance for me a smidge.
Par example, too much unison and repetition for my liking, however, I did have a little dance-gasm at the spacing quite often. Lots of lovely diagonals! The double bass player was also a point of angst for me as I did love him being there and loved the sounds he was making...however, why on earth did the dancers just go over and stand in front of him occasionally? It irritated me because I felt that they weren't making enough of a relationship clear by just standing in front of him that wasn't already being made by his presence on stage.
Another thing that I didn't love was that occasionally the dancers were preempting moves, which is very hard not to do and I know I'm being over critical but I am a grouch.
I did really love: the spacing, the technical execution of movement (for the most part) and the live music, I love anything that uses a loop pedal! That's a guitar effects pedal, which will record and repeat a short phrase of music as you play over it, adding to it as you see fit. Funsies.
And finally, Nic Green's Trilogy!
I have to be careful not to rabbit on here lest I bore you all to death but I took part in Nic Green's Trilogy and it was one of the most amazing experiences of my short life. The process was incredibly sensitive and fun.
At the beginning of each session we did a 'check in' to tell everyone how we were feeling at the start of the session and at the end we did a 'check out' to say how we were feeling after the session. I would advise anyone making work in a group to do this as it helps you to be sensitive to how other people are feeling and act accordingly during rehearsals.
The fact that the part of the performance I was involved in was performed in the nuddy pants was, obviously, an obstacle for me and probably the majority of the women taking part. Everyone has hang ups and making all of them wobble as much as possible in front of lots of people you know is rather scary. However, after doing the performance and making everything wobble with gusto I am the most comfortable with my body that I ever been.
I was very pleased to find that I enjoyed the Trilogy as a whole, as I had been concerned that I didn't know exactly what I was putting my name to. My only criticism of it would be that only women were invited to remove their clothes and sing Jerusalem at the end of Part Three. During part two there was a male performer who removed his clothes and so I found it a bit excluding.
Unfortunately, this was the last time that this show was due to be performed for a while, though I would recommend it to any woman if they ever had the opportunity to take part.
A lot of women who took part are now experiencing what we're calling 'Trilogy come down' as it was such an intense experience and there's an awful lot of confidence and energy floating around that doens't have an outlet anymore!
I shan't rabbit on anymore and I promise that when I've had more sleep I will post something more structured and valid about future shows!
This coming week I am very much looking forward to Vincent Dance Theatre's If We Go On, with whom I am doing a work placement in a month or so and this will be the first of their work that I've seen! I shall report back if I'm not told after this abomination that I am no longer allowed!
Looking forward to seeing lots of you at If We Go On! xxx
Firstly, I would like to excuse my 12 year old's username, I made it a long time ago (posts since deleted, emoooo) and I don't know enough about blogging to change it, I'll have a gander later!
Secondly, I must apologise for taking so long to post my thoughts on Retina - Antipode and the Nic Green Trilogy process! I'm a very busy girl at the moment, third year is like a sort of brain-hell.
So, Retina Dance Company's Antipode...4 male dancers plus one male double bass player playing live on stage. We're already excited, yes? And it was exciting, for the most part. However, the wonderful Nigel Stewart has ruined contemporary dance for me a smidge.
Par example, too much unison and repetition for my liking, however, I did have a little dance-gasm at the spacing quite often. Lots of lovely diagonals! The double bass player was also a point of angst for me as I did love him being there and loved the sounds he was making...however, why on earth did the dancers just go over and stand in front of him occasionally? It irritated me because I felt that they weren't making enough of a relationship clear by just standing in front of him that wasn't already being made by his presence on stage.
Another thing that I didn't love was that occasionally the dancers were preempting moves, which is very hard not to do and I know I'm being over critical but I am a grouch.
I did really love: the spacing, the technical execution of movement (for the most part) and the live music, I love anything that uses a loop pedal! That's a guitar effects pedal, which will record and repeat a short phrase of music as you play over it, adding to it as you see fit. Funsies.
And finally, Nic Green's Trilogy!
I have to be careful not to rabbit on here lest I bore you all to death but I took part in Nic Green's Trilogy and it was one of the most amazing experiences of my short life. The process was incredibly sensitive and fun.
At the beginning of each session we did a 'check in' to tell everyone how we were feeling at the start of the session and at the end we did a 'check out' to say how we were feeling after the session. I would advise anyone making work in a group to do this as it helps you to be sensitive to how other people are feeling and act accordingly during rehearsals.
The fact that the part of the performance I was involved in was performed in the nuddy pants was, obviously, an obstacle for me and probably the majority of the women taking part. Everyone has hang ups and making all of them wobble as much as possible in front of lots of people you know is rather scary. However, after doing the performance and making everything wobble with gusto I am the most comfortable with my body that I ever been.
I was very pleased to find that I enjoyed the Trilogy as a whole, as I had been concerned that I didn't know exactly what I was putting my name to. My only criticism of it would be that only women were invited to remove their clothes and sing Jerusalem at the end of Part Three. During part two there was a male performer who removed his clothes and so I found it a bit excluding.
Unfortunately, this was the last time that this show was due to be performed for a while, though I would recommend it to any woman if they ever had the opportunity to take part.
A lot of women who took part are now experiencing what we're calling 'Trilogy come down' as it was such an intense experience and there's an awful lot of confidence and energy floating around that doens't have an outlet anymore!
I shan't rabbit on anymore and I promise that when I've had more sleep I will post something more structured and valid about future shows!
This coming week I am very much looking forward to Vincent Dance Theatre's If We Go On, with whom I am doing a work placement in a month or so and this will be the first of their work that I've seen! I shall report back if I'm not told after this abomination that I am no longer allowed!
Looking forward to seeing lots of you at If We Go On! xxx
Monday, 1 February 2010
Nic Green
Helloo everyone!
I am really sorry I haven't blogged recently I am currently very busy with essays and shows and the like but I just wanted to blog on Nic Green's Trilogy which I saw on Saturday Night.
It was brilliant!.
The Nuffield was near full capacity and I was amazed at the number of people who had come and supported everyone who was in the show and congratulations to the Nuffield for putting on such a enlightening show which made such an impression on all of us not just the audience but the performers.
I loved the fact the show was a celebration of the female body and as a male spectator I felt happy and upbeat that it was a show about celebrating the female body rather than that of examining it and underlying some of the very upsetting things that people go through for what could be called 'visual pleasure' and I want to congratulate Nic Green for putting such a receptive performance that was very enjoyable, funny and accessible to everyone.
I am seeing Random Acts 1 - 5 tomorrow Night and the Theatre Studies Second Year Show on Friday so I will hopefully see you there!
Marcus x
Thursday, 28 January 2010
3 month Birthday
As the 'Making Time' garden celebrates it's 3 month birthday there is exciting news with the first hints of spring within the garden.
If you haven't seen the garden do make time to pop by, it's located just outside the Box Office on the Lancaster University Campus and now has an impressive shed!
Jonathan and Elizabeth will next be tending to the garden on the 2nd February. So, if you're passing pop by and say hello - they might even invite you into the garden for a cuppa and a biscuit!
If you haven't seen the garden do make time to pop by, it's located just outside the Box Office on the Lancaster University Campus and now has an impressive shed!
Jonathan and Elizabeth will next be tending to the garden on the 2nd February. So, if you're passing pop by and say hello - they might even invite you into the garden for a cuppa and a biscuit!
Background to the Making Time Project
Making Time is a new performance project devised by Nuffield Theatre to explore ideas of time. Artists Jonathan Raisin & Elizabeth Willow have been commissioned to spend a year creating a garden in the grounds of Lancaster University; a place in which to respond to change; to follow the seasons; to mark and be marked by the passing of time.
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