Skip to main content

Review of Flash Festival 2019: Nine More Lives by Ellipsis Ensemble at Castle Hill URC

As is so often the case, Flash Festival performances have a strong emotional theme running through them, they are so very rarely lightweight, and Nine More Lives from Ellipsis Ensemble is no different. Here as this plays central point is organ donation, and it's spin here, spin used with political context as well, is an idea by high flying politician Emily of making people only eligible for organs if they themselves are on the organ donation list, known as Give to Get, and the play title coming from the nine lives that each person can potentially save.

Emily, played by Izzy Weaver, is a highly driven politician, and Weaver's performance carefully calculates what her two personas represent. We have the clear, business-like character standing at the podium taking increasingly difficult questions, and then we have the more relaxed Emily, having her diary and biscuit quota handled by her ever-reliable PA Molly (Beth Hâf Jones). The two faces of a politician are extremely well created by Weaver here.

Emily's world is about to be turned on its head though, and in a very relevant way as her brother, taken seriously ill, is all of a sudden in need of a donor himself. Her brother Darren is played with a deft style by Moses Gale, it is low key, and because of this all the more realistic as his character faces a staggeringly difficult decision, it is perfectly pitched. Gale also has a collection of other characters in this, all distinctly different, without question my favourite being as Emily's father, is a fabulous little scene, and benefits from a tiny moment of simple physical theatre.

Beth Hâf Jones's PA is a reassuring presence, all organised and proficient at keeping things in order, and she also plays the doctor charged with giving bad news and advising on solutions with crisp integrity.

The play is well created visually, crisp clever scene changes, some simple, but excellent video, and a very well used table. The whole thing is smooth and professionally created as a piece of theatre.

Nine More Lives is a controlled emotional rollercoaster, it brings you through the wringer and spits you out at the end with a bit of hope. If you are already a donor as you watch this, you feel happy to be prepared to help, if you are not, you just might take home one of Molly's flyers and use it. Who knew that a little bit of theatre might save lives.

Performance viewed: Tuesday 2nd April 2019

The Flash Festival 2019 runs until Sunday 7th April 2019 at venues across the town.
Details here: Flash Festival 2019
Labels:

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 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

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