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

Ahead of seeing Arcadia in this University of Northampton production by the Third Year BA Actors, I had been warned that it wasn't a play for everyone. It makes sense in retrospect, it's a bit clever, making you always feel as if you are not as intelligent as you hope you are (in my case, probably a fair point). However, despite this, the young cast in this production make Tom Stoppard's ever so clever play entertaining from beginning to end.

Arcadia follows two timelines, modern day as oddball poetry professor Bernard comes visiting Sidley Park looking for a Lord Byron trail, while 200 years before, young Thomasina Coverly is being taught by horny tutor Septimus. Intermixed with these timelines are a further assortment of odd characters. It's all a little weird, but oddly still fun.

Thomas Van Langenberg has tremendous fun as Septimus, teaching and flirting with his pupil Thomasina, played to playful perfection by Abi Cameron, demonstrating perfection in playing below your age. Their scenes together are never anything less than hugely entertaining.

Modern day, and Daniel Hubery slots into the role of Bernard perfectly, sparring with his compatriots and being more than a bit creepy at times. Almost typecast again, Hubery has the niche, and I think it will take him far in the future. Kit Wiles is equally excellent as the forthright novelist Hannah Jarvis, while Chris Cutler is suitably impulsive and more than a little wild as mathematician Valentine.

It's actually as ever a brilliant cast, even beyond the main players, and the dynamics that all of the performers get with one another really are excellent, and perhaps maybe makes this play a little bit better and more entertaining as a whole. Taking a little of the perhaps poncy, knowing nature out of it, and making it more fun.

Visually it looks superb, with sharp detail to the set from Meryl Couper, columns quickly becoming creepers, and as well as this, its superbly dressed from costumes through to some fascinating and very nice props.

I really enjoyed some of the bold direction from Tobias Deacon, allowing actors to perform naturally, often in profile centre stage for some time. It's not for everybody like that, but I like it, it's better to have something look more natural at times.

Arcadia is an interesting play, and that's being nice. I can't say I didn't enjoy it, as that would be a lie. I've seen better, but I've seen a lot worse, and here, the main thing is that the cast in their final group performance together did themselves proud, and that's the important thing here.

Performance reviewed: Sunday 2nd June 2019 at Jacksons Lane Theatre, Highgate, London

Red Velvet was one of three shows performed at Jacksons Lane Theatre by the University Of Northampton BA (Hons) Actors from Friday 31st May to Sunday 2nd June 2019.

Details of Jacksons Lane can be found by visiting their website at https://www.jacksonslane.org.uk/

Review of The Strange Tale of Charlie Chaplin and Stan Laurel at Royal & Derngate (Royal), Northampton

The Strange Tale of Charlie Chaplin and Stan Laurel is perhaps the perfect antidote to the troubled times we are in, harking back to when things were perhaps simpler and mass media and the press were less in your face. Not to say that bigshot Charlie Chaplin didn't make a name for himself in more than just the movies he made. This though is a warm show, filled with love. This show is based on the very real tale of the 1910 ship heading course for New York, which aboard were Charlie Chaplin and Stan Laurel, unknown, but part of Fred Karno’s music hall troupe, and destined for different, but very major futures. Told by an Idiot's production with Theatre Royal Plymouth (and Royal & Derngate and Unity Theatre) breaks down the tale of the voyage of the SS Cairnrona with intriguingly created flashbacks of the life, generally of Charlie Chaplin. Therefore along the course of the voyage, we see Laurel's moment as understudy to Chaplin, the birth of Chaplin (brilliantly...

Review of The Pillowman at The Playhouse Theatre, Northampton

The Pillowman sounds such a friendly title, and to be fair, his story is one of the lighter aspects of Martin McDonagh's script. It still involves dead children though, if you want to get a clear vision of how dark this play is. Set in a police state of the future, Katurian (Toby Pugh) is taken in for the content of his often violent stories and a similarity to a spate of recent child killings. Here in detention cell 13, his police captors, Tupolski (Adrian Wyman) and Ariel (Steve While) play good cop, bad cop while holding over the threat of violence against Katurian's mentally disabled brother Michal (Patrick Morgan), being held in another cell. The Pillowman is clearly a very warped story, with the blackest of black comedy, and often also very offensive with it's racial stereotyping and disability. In fact, it is no surprise that a couple left in the interval, as I would happily admit that this play is far from everyone. I like a good black comedy though, and ...

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 ...

A Small Mind At The Theatre

Search This Blog