Skip to main content

Camden Fringe Review: Note to Self by Theatreweb at Camden People's Theatre, London

Anyone who has read my reviews for a while will know that I always try to take the best of things from shows more than the worst, I realise that for every show I see, no one sets out to make a bad one, that would just be insane. So Note To Self leaves me therefore in a bit of a quandary as while there were many people lapping it up during the performance, guffawing at every opportunity, it was to be totally honest not very good.

I think it has the feel of being a woman's play, therefore, I suppose I might not be its target audience, however, there was a chance of making this an effective little piece describing as it attempts to the life of a webcam girl balancing work and her normal life. Unfolding rather bizarrely in the room of her sleeping boyfriend (we are encouraged by performer Hanna Winter to be silent on our entry), who is actually either dead in reality or more likely rolled-up sheets as he never plays any part. The charade of our silence it pretty pointless as well as once the show begins, the need for calm is quickly dispersed.

Winter has a likeable delivery and relationship with the audience and manages to form a coherent repartee at times, but the strength is never there to make this lightweight material flow. Taking a mix of puerile sexual humour coupled with some holier than thou dialogue, it really is insubstantial stuff, serving little in the way of making the female point of view and if anything weakening the argument with the casualness it employs.

It wasn't without its moments though, the ice cream scene was mostly entertaining, but even that highlighted that really despite its occasional thoughts of being a grand moral piece, it really never was going to be as clever as it clearly wanted to be.

So, many of the audience loved it, however, I think mostly for the flimsy reasons that almost anyone will laugh at rude sexual jokes or a fart joke for instance to a certain extent, that doesn't make something good though to pretty much rely on them. However I hoped for a little better from this piece, and sadly I left thinking Note To Self had let pretty much everyone down as a missed opportunity to make a valid and very much needed point for all the ladies out there.

⋆⋆

Performance reviewed: Wednesday 9th August at Camden People's Theatre, London

Note To Self was performed during the Camden Fringe at Camden People's Theatre between Tuesday 8th and Wednesday 9th August, 2017.
For further details visit https://www.theatreweb.org/

Details about the Camden Fringe which runs until Sunday 27th August can be found at http://camdenfringe.com/

Popular posts from this blog

Review of Lord of the Dance at Milton Keynes Theatre

On what was so far the hottest day of the year, and the highest in many a record book, it feels a tad evil to watch as a group of extremely talented performers bring to the stage one of the most famous and most energetic dance shows to tour. However, arriving now at Milton Keynes Theatre, as part of what is now the still rather immodestly titled 30 Years of Standing Ovations tour, Lord of the Dance remains full of energy even on the hottest of evenings in Milton Keynes. I last and first saw Lord of the Dance as part of the 25 Years of Standing Ovations tour, four years ago (yes, the sums don’t quite work), and it was every bit as spectacular as you could imagine this world-famous dance show is. Born into the world from Michael Flatley and the Riverdance spectacular that preceded it, Lord of the Dance is a simple but effective battle between good and evil and the resolution of it through dance rather than fighting. The dancing here is, as expected, exceptional, led by the Lord of the...
Read more

Review of DNA by University of Northampton BA Actors at Jacksons Lane Theatre, Highgate, London

The final year performances of BA Actors this year upped sticks and headed away from their Northampton Royal territory and gathered to show their skills in London. The first of the three shows being performed was Dennis Kelly's DNA, a play which I saw performed on the Royal stage itself four years ago. I enjoyed it for its dark mysterious nature and was looking forward to seeing a different interpretation of the show. It tells the tale of a group of youngsters who do something really bad, and proceed to attempt to cover it up, resulting in the real bad, well, getting more bad. It's dark yes, but also, very funny at times. It opens with a looming movement piece of theatre, which I always love and this was no different for me, brooding and sinister. It's quite a long opening, which perhaps, in the end, becomes too long, but it's a fabulous piece of theatre for me. It set's the scene very well for Kelly's dark piece to unfold and in the hands of these, about ...
Read more

Review of A Christmas Carol - A Ghost Story at Birmingham Rep

Charles Dickens's novella A Christmas Carol is a perennial favourite and over the years has been adapted countless times for television, film and here, with this adaptation by Mark Gatiss, subtitled A Ghost Story , a further stage version. Originally performed at the Nottingham Playhouse in 2022 before moving to London at the Alexandra Palace, and the same venues repeated the following year, its past success serves well for a further revival. Therefore for 2024, The Birmingham Rep has taken to staging their own production, with a mostly new cast including Matthew Cottle and Rufus Hound leading an excellent cast. Cottle as Ebenezer Scrooge is excellent, often exhibiting a much more sprightly Scrooge that we would remember, and also, much funnier at times. Despite Gatiss remaining remarkably faithful to the original, the show, directed with excellent pace by Adam Penford mines more comedy than you might expect. Cottle's Scrooge remains without question evil, but in his delivery ...
Read more