Skip to main content

Review of Can The Mountains Love The Sea? - A Viking Wedding Saga by Tim Ralphs at Royal & Derngate (Underground), Northampton

I like reviewing the storytelling events (and this is the fourth that I have seen), as I go for the ramble inanely approach (what do you mean that's what I normally do?) rather than the full on critic. So for this one perhaps I might say something silly about sitting for over an hour in the Underground without ending up a pool of water on the floor. I might even say something also about that moment when I took my chair and thought I was about to be interrogated under that most scary spotlight that greeted us.

However I won't on this occasion (but I have) as its time to get serious! Tim Ralphs was our storyteller on the evening and while he wasn't my favourite of the professional tellers I have seen so far (if he was reading this, he will have stopped now), he was darn close. He was also very interesting in the informative Q&A after as well, which was a lovely added bonus for the night.

His story of Can The Mountains Love The Sea? was a Norse influenced tale based on The Marriage of Njord and Skadi and and mainly for an adult audience. Not overly adult though, just a bit of swearing (I have never shouted "bum" with so many people before) and a touch of genitalia tug of war which you either laughed or squirmed through. It was more that the premise of the story was more adult, with a sort of bad marriage situation rather than the happy ever after variety.

It was of course a story I hadn't heard before and was very well told by the bare footed Mr Ralphs. Slightly less physical than a few I have seen, but willing to involve the audience (mainly early on), especially with the honoured guests we had in the front row, who knew Loki was there or that ever so, ever so handsome one.

It was an excellent hour of storytelling and coupled with the lovely Q&A after (which I was glad to see so many came back to. I have seen many fewer for these), an excellent night. I shall look forward to my second viewing of Mr Ralphs at the future Storytelling at the Feast of Fools that he shall be attending. The devil in a supermarket sounds right on my wavelength.

««««


Performance reviewed: Saturday 18th April, 2015 at the Royal & Derngate (Underground), Northampton.

Can The Mountains Love The Sea? was part of a two show day from Tim Ralphs at the Royal & Derngate on Saturday 18th April, 2015.

For further details about Tim Ralphs visit his website at http://www.timralphs.com/

For further details about the Royal & Derngate visit their website at http://www.royalandderngate.co.uk/
Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

Review of Beauty and the Beast at Castle Theatre, Wellingborough

The Castle Theatre Wellingborough this year sees the home of Beauty and the Beast as its seasonal pantomime, and what a fabulously entertaining show it is. Hiding away from the big star names, Parkwood Theatres & Castle Theatre has assembled a talented bunch of performers to bring this tale “as old as time” to the stage. Produced and directed by Martin Cleverley once again, back from previous years' pantos, the show relies very much on characters rather than showy visuals. Taking full advantage of a French setting, the puns flow freely, including to the characters, with names such as Danon and Djon thrown into the mustard pot (very much intended) of puns. Aura Mitchell and Kaysee Craine lead our cast of characters as the title characters of Beauty and the Beast (also known as Prince Pierre). While they do play second fiddle, as is the norm for a panto, to the additional comic characters, they form a charming partnership. Returning to the role of panto dame from last year'...
Read more

Review of Mog's Christmas at Royal & Derngate (Royal), Northampton

Back in 2022, the theatre group The Wardrobe Ensemble created a sweet and adventurous staging of Judith Kerr's classic children's character, Mog - The Forgetful Cat . For this Christmas season at Royal & Derngate, Mog returns with, suitably enough, Mog's Christmas . The show, just a crisp, action-packed hour, retells two past adventures alongside a Christmas vignette. Kerr's Mog first appeared in 1970, and it launched a remarkable run of books over 50 years featuring the puzzled feline, culminating in the final book released in 2020, following Kerr's death at 95 in 2019. Kerr is most famous for one of her other tales, The Tiger Who Came to Tea . However, in Mog's Christmas , the show presents three entertaining little stories featuring her other, slightly lesser-known feline character. Over the course of the hour, we see Mog successfully foil a burglar, survive a trip to the V.E.T., and then, in the brand-new stage story, a Christmas adventure where Mog gets...
Read more

Review of Rambert Dance in Peaky Blinders - The Redemption of Thomas Shelby at Royal & Derngate (Derngate), Northampton

The Rambert Dance Company is the oldest such company in Britain having first performed in 1926. However, despite this, this was my first encounter with the group in my ten years of theatre-going. Coupled with this, it was also my first encounter with Peaky Blinders , having never seen the show, and only knowing a few vague things about it. My companion for the evening however was very familiar with the show, allowing some background behind the show. It turns out though,  Rambert Dance in Peaky Blinders - The Redemption of Thomas Shelby needs a little more than a good bit of knowledge of the show, as despite this production having incredible style, there struggles to be a cohesive structure to the show and the storytelling. Much more than other dance shows as well. The first act does a whistle-stop tour of the first five seasons and while it is a feast on the eye, and on the ear, it gets extremely confusing at times. The second act is freestyle and drifts away from the stories tol...
Read more