Skip to main content

The Flash Festival Review 2014 held at the Looking Glass Theatre and the Royal & Derngate, Northampton

The experience of seeing eleven productions in the 2014 Flash Festival was a delight and something that I am glad I was able to make time for. The quality of the organisation, the quality of the plays and most importantly the quality of the University Of Northampton's young acting students has been something to behold.

The venues themselves have also been a delight, with the Royal & Derngate Underground space familiar to me having attended previous on a few occasions. However the Looking Glass Theatre came as quite a surprise with my first visit early morning on the first day of the festival. Two very helpful staff (ignorantly never asked your names) with tea, chocolate and more often than not coffee at the ready.

 Of the eleven plays that I did manage to see, I can safely say that there was not one that I didn't enjoy. I offer my apologies that I simply was not able to see The Fig Tree, The Homeless Heart, The Weigh In and Don't Look Me In The Eye, but there sadly was just not quite enough time in the week for me.

 So as I said, once again, you were all brilliant but like all awards ceremonies there must be a few winners (try not to look grumpy if you have missed out as the camera might just be on you as you pull that face) and rest assured Olivia Colman actually won't win an award here.

 So here are my personal awards:

Top Male Performers (Top Three Unranked)
  • Joseph Derrington from Marbleglass for Sell By Date
  • Marvin Freeman from Lost Fragments for The Show Must Go On
  • Steven-James Leonard from Rising Persona for Vallence Road
Top Female Performers (Top Three Unranked)
  • Danielle Gorman from Black Jack for Taciturn
  • Zoë Harbour from Between Two Worlds for In Her Reflection
  • Brigette Wellbelove from Between Two Worlds for In Her Reflection
Best Technology Use
  • Marbleglass for Sell By Date
Best Physical Theatre
  • Sell By Date from Marbleglass starring Marcus Churchill, Ashley Cook, Joseph Derrington and Sophie Murray
Best Set
  • Oppossed from ViceVersa starring Lindsey Davis and Reanne Lawrence
Top Theatre Groups (Top Three Unranked)
  • Between Two Worlds featuring Kathryn Belmega, Zoë Harbour, Katherine Hartshorne and Brigette Wellbelove for In Her Reflection
  • Lost Fragments featuring Tré Curran, Marvin Freeman, Liam Harvey and Karis Lewis for The Show Must Go On
  • Marbleglass featuring Marcus Churchill, Ashley Cook, Joseph Derrington and Sophie Murray for Sell By Date
Top Plays (Top Three Unranked)
  • Sell By Date from Marbleglass starring Marcus Churchill, Ashley Cook, Joseph Derrington and Sophie Murray
  • The Show Must Go from Lost Fragments starring Tré Curran, Marvin Freeman, Liam Harvey and Karis Lewis
  • Taciturn from Black Jack starring Danielle Gorman, Oliver Leonard and Matt Thompson


And then it was all over. A final thanks to the staff at Looking Glass, Royal & Derngate, Flash Festival Organisers, Platinum Events: Sophie Bridge, Louise Stidston, Libbie Cooper, Justyna Smugala, Shaunagh Dunlop and Bryony Denison and also thanks to Jim and Lynne Holden. Roll on 2015.



Popular posts from this blog

Review of Of Mice And Men at Royal & Derngate (Royal), Northampton

Other than, randomly, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and The War of the Worlds , John Steinbeck's classic Of Mice and Men is perhaps one of the most familiar of stories to me. I have seen it several times before, and while at school, we studied it, and dissected it like the work of Mr Shakespeare, but with Steinbeck, I got out the other side still liking it. This brand new version from Selladoor Productions, which opened in Canterbury last week, brings a by-the-book presentation of the trials of George and his slow, but incredibly strong friend, Lennie, to the stage. Perhaps, this is its first issue blocking a huge success from this production, in that it rarely does anything brave or different. It's clearly been expertly cast visually, with the hulking form of Matthew Wynn as Lennie, and the diminutive (in comparison) Richard Keightley and Kamran Darabi-Ford as George and Curley respectively. Darabi-Ford especially perfect in his tremendously awkward scenes wit...
Read more

Review of Flash Festival 2016: Red Inquisition by Memoir Theatre at Castle Hill URC

Red Inquisition from Memoir Theatre evolves from a theatre groups creation of a play based on the 1947 Hollywood blacklist and McCarthyism So that I can get it out the way early on and take this review in a more upbeat direction that Red Inquisition deserves, I am going to get a real bugbear done first. There was a huge negative for me from this production and one that I ended up getting negative vibes from. For me there was far too much video and audio footage in this production. Much of it was while excellently researched, surplus to requirements. The were a couple of occasions especially where we saw material repeated on screen that had already been performed. The show did not need this and for me theatre is not about watching a screen in any case, its about seeing performances. This however does need to be taken as a positive as what I am simply saying is that I wanted more acting from the trio of Daniel Hadjivarnava, Ciara Goldsberry and Jaryd Headley as they work excellently ...
Read more

Review of Northern Ballet - The Great Gatsby at Milton Keynes Theatre

This production of The Great Gatsby performed by Northern Ballet was my fifth encounter at the theatre of a full ballet production and as before, I happily share my review of the show with nearly zero knowledge of-the-art form and more of a casual theatre-goer. You could say that this is a poor direction to come in on a review, but I would say that casual audience are the ones to review this for. Over the years, Northern Ballet has set quite a high benchmark for ballet productions, and any audience member who is worth their salt as a ballet fan would no doubt have tickets for this new touring version of the 2013 version of The Great Gatsby , lovingly created by David Nixon OBE. So much is Nixon part of the very fabric of this show, that he not only provides the choreography and direction but also the initial scenario and costume design (assisted by Julie Anderson). So, discounting those ballet fans already sitting in the audience, what does this offer for the more casual theatre-goer ...
Read more