Skip to main content

Flash Festival 2017: Exposure by Imagine That Theatre Company at St Peter's Church, Northampton

The Play That Goes Wrong is undoubtedly one of my favourite plays (I have seen it three times so far as well), and Imagine That's Exposure is a clear homage to that very show (and indeed all its own influences through time). A group of five actors are about to perform a live television performance of The Picture of Dorian Grau, and they are absolutely planning on it going tremendously smoothly.

Lewis Hodson
Lee Hancock
It doesn't of course and for the best part, this little production does much of its buffoonery very well. There's more than a few issues and fluff, and at times it feels a little too wacky for its own good, however, this is slapstick and it is not meant to be clever.

The best part of this show, and one which The Play That Goes Wrong does perfectly as well, is the opening gambit of audience interaction. During the buildup to both shows, things are amiss, in one the set is falling apart and needs help (cue audience member), in this one two of the actors can't find one another and seek the assistance of the audience. This unscripted, reactionary piece featuring Lewis Hodson and Lee Hancock is genuinely and perhaps awkwardly the best part of the show due to an excellently reacting, mostly student audience. It makes you wonder if there might have been tumbleweed moments at the other two performances.

Lauren Scott
Hans Oldham
The rest of the show is hit and miss, when it works, like Lauren Scott being a tremendous bloke, it's great. When it doesn't, repeating the same joke, it annoys rather than thrills.

Exposure's biggest problem lies in being too loving of its influence. At times it is so close to The Play That Goes Wrong, is loses all of its own identity. Characters are largely similar, you have the audience reactionary one (Ben Barton), you have the lady and her relationship with another character, the Chris Bean identikit (Hans Oldham).

Ben Barton
I wanted to love Exposure simply because of its love of that other show, and to be honest I loved it more than I hated it. The opening sequence was magnificently entertaining and Lewis and Lee were a tremendous doubleact and perhaps the strength of that particular sequence that performance was detrimental to the rest of the show. It was however much more fun than glum and at the end of an hour that is absolutely fine.

Performance viewed: Thursday, 25th May 2017

The Flash Festival 2017 ran between Monday 22nd and Saturday 27th May 2017 at three venues across the town.
Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

Review of Eric and Ern at Royal & Derngate (Royal), Northampton

The comedy of Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise is carved into the very essence of Britishness, and while the years may now be distant from their domination of TV comedy, the light still shines bright on their work. This is thanks mostly to generation after generation being introduced to the shows via that near-annual appearance on TV schedules at Christmas. This will perhaps one day pass, but for now, this brilliant little show, Eric & Ern , now at Royal & Derngate, continues to honour that comedy on stage. Created and performed by Ian Ashpitel and Jonty Stephens, Eric & Ern is a show bringing the duo's most famous sketches and jokes back to the stage. Having worked together now for over twenty years, Ashpitel and Stephens have created the comedy act to perfection. Stephens brings Morecambe’s edgy, frantic energy and combines it perfectly with his timing and mannerisms; everything from the flick of the glasses to the wipe of the nose is pure Eric. Ashpital, as Wise has pe...
Read more

Review of The Karate Kid - The Musical at Milton Keynes Theatre

There is no denying that the world of musical theatre is tremendously imaginative, and of all the films that could be adapted, perhaps the eighties teen drama The Karate Kid was not at the top of most people's lists for a musical adaptation. However, as our stage versions of Mr Miyagi and Daniel LaRusso arrive at Milton Keynes Theatre on a UK tour, I am happy to say that this is one of the most sensible film-to-musical decisions. Recently relocated from New Jersey to LA, Daniel becomes the target of a gang of Cobra Kai dojo students. However, unbeknownst to him, a quiet and unassuming maintenance man at his new home, Mr Miyagi, is on hand to offer a little more than some bonsai training. The first thing that ticks the box for a film-to-musical adaptation is having an original soundtrack, not an endless collection of awkwardly shoehorned music classics into the story. Here, alongside book writer Robert Mark Kamen, are some brilliantly crafted tunes by composer and lyricist Drew Gasp...
Read more

Review of Les Misérables at Milton Keynes Theatre, Milton Keynes

The musical version of Victor Hugo's 1862 novel Les Misérables has been thrilling audiences for over 30 years, and in London is has run continuously since October 1985, so, it is safe to say that it comes to Milton Keynes Theatre on it's UK and Ireland tour will some pedigree. I don't need to sell the name to you, and I didn't need to sell it to myself, because despite never having seen the full version, it is still one of my favourite musicals, thanks to seeing two different School Edition productions and the 2012 film. However, how does this version, the 2009 reimagining of the original stage show stand up on this tour production? After 19 years as a prisoner, Jean Valjean, imprisoned for stealing bread, is freed by Javert, the officer in charge of the prison workforce. After Valjean promptly breaks parole, he uses the profit from stolen silver to reinvent himself as a mayor and factory owner, but Javert vows to recapture Valjean and is on his trail across the ye...
Read more