THEGAYUK

Tag: Three Star Play Review

The latest Three Star Play Review from THEGAYUK.

  • THEATRE REVIEW | A Raisin in the Sun, Sheffield Theatres

    With the current controversy around the lack of diversity this year’s Academy Award nominees, it seems somewhat timely for Sheffield Theatres, Eclipse Theatre Company and Belgrade Theatre, Coventry to present “A Raisin In the Sun”, a landmark play in Black theatre and one which explores issues of racial politics and social attitudes through the eyes of the Young Family. ★★★

    Set in 1950’s Chicago, the family await the receipt of a cheque for $10,000, a life insurance payment from the patriarch’s recent death. Each of them harbours their own ideas about how the money can be used to transform the lives of all of them and release them from the crammed apartment they all share. The tensions in the family are exacerbated by Walter’s propensity to drink, Benetha’s desires to go into medicine (despite the duel disadvantage of her sex and skin colour) and the challenges of a family all trying to do right by each other.

    Ashley Zhangazha gives a very strong performance as Walter, bringing across the characters mixture of frustration, enthusiasm, desperation and ultimately his misguided attempts to better himself for his family’s benefit. There is a certain vulnerability within the character which draws the audiences sympathy and whilst his actions are questionable, his motives aren’t. Equally, Angela Wynter’s portrayal of Mama is just as accomplished; with her melodic intonation becoming somewhat mesmerising and softening the matriarchal figure.

    The director, Dawn Walton, steers the production with solid confidence and garners performances from her small cast which allow you to instantly warm to the family, despite their individual flaws, fantasies and motivations.

    The play looks at the issues of change on both a personal level and of the community at large. Written in 1959, Lorraine Hansberry’s script certainly reflects the mood of the time, leading to it being the first play written by a black woman to be produced on Broadway. The family comes across as a metaphor for the civil rights movement and social consciousness of a society on the cusp of change, with a mixture of methods and reasons for wanting to improve their situation for the better in the face of blatant challenge and prejudice.

    The theme of the play remains relevant – motivation, money and moving forward – and steadily builds towards an emotional denouement, despite a handful of somewhat intrusive scene changes and a slightly overlong scene between Beneatha and Joseph Asagai towards the end. The play is a straightforwardly presented production which allows the script and performances to speak for themselves.

    A Raisin In the Sun is currently at Sheffield Theatresuntil 13th February 2016. 0114 249 6000.

     

    by Paul Szabo | @IAmScubamonkey

  • THEATRE REVIEW | Macbeth, Birmingham Rep

    When a story is often told, there is a risk of it getting old, however, with Carrie Cracknell and Lucy Guerin’s Macbeth told the same story but through a completely new lens. It was Stargate meets Resident Evil bent of Macbeth. It had moving chambers and symbols that lit up, just like in the pyramids of the former film, and it had the underground facility feel of Resident Evil, with dim lights, almost appearing like they were trapped in the sewers. ★★★★

    Having watched Macbeth the film starring Michael Fassbender, expectations were always going to be high. With this production, you just didn’t know what you were going to get, which made it so much more exciting, and John Heffernan’s Macbeth was his own, and it was genius.

    The marvel that was the set made the show start before the actors had even walked on, as the tunnel type design, by Lizzie Clachan, let your mind loose imagining what would be happening first. The set is worthy of stealing all awards for a production’s visual masterpiece.

    When the show did start, and through to the end there were no disappointments with the visual of this Macbeth, as every scene was coloured differently with physicality that was otherworldly. Particularly the witches of Macbeth, played by Ana Beatriz Meireles, Jessie Oshodi and Clemmie Sveaas, who stunned the senses with their movement, voice and visual shapes they created as an instrument of telling the story. I was glad to see them throughout the performance.

    John Heffernan owned the show with his careful, precise, yet troubled portrayal of Macbeth, where the transitions of the character were strategic and well thought out. There were no exaggerations or contrivance, and there were plenty of shades of Macbeth oozing out of Heffernan, and I particularly loved the end where his last soliloquy was quiet and understated, giving it more a solid effect, as it drew people in to listen.

    Unfortunately, Anna Maxwell Martin’s Lady Macbeth was not on the same level. The way she spoke was too quick, making it hard to understand what she was saying, and also overly predictable with presenting herself as mad throughout, not showing much depth to the character. The mad scene became expected and obvious.

    Overall, a stunning visual and an outstanding version of Shakespeare’s Macbeth that needs to be seen all over the country and beyond.

    Macbeth plays at The Birmingham Rep until 30th January, 0121 236 4455

     

     

  • THEATRE REVIEW | Alright Bitches, Above The Stag

    THEATRE REVIEW | Alright Bitches, Above The Stag

    ★★★ Alright Bitches | Let’s go on a trip to Gran Canaria via Above the Stag Theatre in their newly-penned play ‘Alright Bitches.’

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  • THEATRE REVIEW: The Snowman, The Birmingham Rep

    The Snowman is a children’s picture book created by Raymond Briggs and was first published in 1978. The Snowman was televised as a 26-minute animated adaptation on the 26th of December 1982, Channel 4, and it conquered many people’s hearts thereon. It is also a production that has graced The Birmingham Repertory Theatre since 1993. ★★★ (more…)

  • THEATRE REVIEW | Botallack O’Clock

    THEATRE REVIEW | Botallack O’Clock

    Dangling for 70 mins in a smoky room, adjacent to a stained mattress with Dessert Island Discs emanating from a Bush radio, alongside tick tock tick tock, Beethoven and the squiffed fantasies from an abstract artist who will drink to your health, insult if you were christened Darius or if you work for Blue Peter, might cause you to fornicate with a portrait and Monster Mash with a bear. ★★★

    Writer and Director Eddie Elks interprets a suspended hour at 3am for artisan Roger Hilton CBE in his Cornwall basement/bedroom/studio, aided with a bottle of Teachers malt, a talking wireless and a paint-water-thirsty feline.

    Attempted gherkin stabbing, a wife-eating crocodile composition, hide and seek with some teddy trouser pulling-down nonsense is enough to keep Hilton awake in the wee hours – will it keep your mince-pies open?

    Turbulent and bonkers with glimmers of merriment as you delve deeper into the whisky-hazed, gifted mind of a boob-admiring canvas-and-oil prize winner.

    Think self-indulgent luvvie in a student’s bedsit.

     

    Botallack O’Clock run until 6th February 2016 at the Old Red Lion Theatre, 0844 412 4307

     

  • THEATRE REVIEW | An Inspector Calls – Sheffield Theatres & National Tour

    THEATRE REVIEW | An Inspector Calls – Sheffield Theatres & National Tour

    As the wealthy Birling family celebrate their daughters engagement, their evening is interrupted by Inspector Goole who arrives unannounced to investigate the events which lead to the suicide of a young working class girl. ★★★ (more…)

  • THEATRE REVIEW: The Dazzle, London

    A play about two brothers who need each other to coexist is the plot of the new play The Dazzle. ★★★

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  • THEATRE REVIEW | The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, The Birmingham Rep

    ★★★ – a delicious journey into Narnia

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  • THEATRE REVIEW | Vincent & Flavia in The Last Tango – Sheffield Theatres & National Tour

    If the return of Saturday Night stalwart ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ has whetted your appetite for some classic crooning, some archetypal moves on the dance floor and all things sequined, then why not swap your sofa for a theatre seat and see the whole thing live? ★★★ (more…)

  • THEATRE REVIEW: Romeo + Juliet – The Crucible Theatre, Sheffield

    For this production starring Freddie Fox, the story of Romeo and Juliet needs very little introduction, being Shakespeare’s classic tale of two young lovers from rival families who see beyond their family’s feud, and secretly marry. ★★★

    But when Romeo kills a member of Juliet’s family, the tragedy looks set to tear them apart.

    Whilst retaining the original text, the events are loosely set in the north of England, with northern accents aplenty and bold characters, some of whom have a slight hint of “Jeremy Kyle fodder” bolshiness about them. The costumes provided an overarching 70’s visual style, made up of a plethora of man-made fibres, bold patterns, skimpy trunks and jumpsuits. An empty set constructed of corrugated steel sheets and pressed wood flooring served to focus the audience on the performances of the cast and the use of only two contrasting materials reflected the two conflicting families of the story.

    But with so little on set, the performances were left to carry the production. There were two performances which stood out from the ensemble cast. Firstly Rachel Lumberg as Nurse, who was the epitome of the northern “salt of the Earth” working class mother figure. Secondly was a quirky, camp and awkward version of Peter, played by Joshua Miles. Skulking around like the lovechild of Alan Bennet and Jarvis Cocker, his scene stealing turn was rewarded with the majority of the audience’s laughter and affection.

    But the draw here is Freddie Fox, last seen by most people in “Cucumber”, “Banana” and “Pride”. Fox made for an interesting choice, with his youthful, almost androgynous and pale features, which worked surprisingly well. Fox’s performance was better than one would perhaps anticipate, demonstrating his versatility. His diction was clear and precise and he did hold a real stage presence, drawing the eye and teasing the audience with frequent flashes of his washboard abs and his toned biceps. You could easily believe that he was a young, somewhat naïve love-struck teenager, and his wide-eyed performance conveyed Romeo’s first realisation of true love over and above his romantic ideations that had come before it. The supporting cast was also filled with a slew of very handsome young men, in particular Scott Arthur, Joshua Miles and Simon Manyonda who all performed as well as they looked.

    Staging a new production of Romeo + Juliet can be tricky. As one of Shakespeare’s best-known plays and given its presence in popular culture, any company has to walk a fine line. If you make the production too modern, it draws the risk of being criticised as a pale imitation of the Baz Lurhman film starring Leonardo Di Caprio; too traditional and it becomes a bland and unimaginative re-tread which has all been seen before. But thankfully Sheffield Theatres manages to walk a line which means that there production doesn’t falls into either category, with a production that put me in mind of a Shane Meadow’s “This Is England 90” chav culture.
    The first act of the play picked out the comedy elements of the piece nicely and was engaging and entertaining, although the second act did seem to lose some of the momentum which had built up in the first act and there were occasions throughout when some of the diction was lost at times by some of the cast members. But that said; it was an interesting take on a classic and one which did just about enough to make it stand apart from versions which has come before it.
    Romeo + Juliet is at The Crucible Theatre, Sheffield until 17th October 2015. Tickets can be bought online at www.sheffieldtheatres.co.uk or by calling the box office on 0114 249 6000.

  • THEATRE REVIEW | F*cking Men

    I was all set in my mind to hate this; I imagined it being hammy, awkward and amateur. It was, after all, a play about gay sex lives to be performed in the back of a pub. I had images in my mind of either uncomfortable soft-core porn or over-pretentious dramatics involving a man in clown makeup reading poetry and eating an apple.

    The play follows the intertwining lives of 10 gay men, tackling the usual gay issues of fidelity, trust and sex. Yes, of course, there’s a character who’s an escort in there. It wouldn’t be gay theatre if there wasn’t.

    The setting was simple, if amateurish, reminding me of the various performances we put on during A-level drama exam week. Although if the boys in my school looked ANYTHING like the cast I would never have left.

    Which brings us on to the most important part, the cast. They were fantastic. Those who weren’t stunningly gorgeous were hilarious and heartfelt. In fact many were gorgeous and heartfelt, a combination you don’t actually see in real life… so maybe a bit of realism lost there. Some of the acting was a little laboured; feeling over the top and out of place for such a small and intimate setting. When there were fight scenes you heard the fake slap, and when there were screaming matches you got wet. And not in a good way.

    The initial intimacy of the play can be a bit overwhelming, but the rhythm of the scene changes is consistently good and you’re easily moved from one character’s story to another. Some of the best characters aren’t introduced until towards the end, by that I mean both the funniest character and then arguably the hottest character. Despite its low budget, the show is still appealing to a wide audience, nothing too gay niche to prevent the characters from being relatable.

    I am forced to wonder, however, if the play would have been as engrossing if the cast weren’t as beautiful as they were. The good thing is you don’t need to find out.

    Entertaining and full of eye-candy. Go and see F*cking Men at the King’s Head Theatre, Islington before the end of it’s run in September (extended for another month due to popular demand).

    Worth it even if you’re just looking for new entries in your spank bank.