Skip to main content

Review of Flash Festival: Blockhead Theatre Company - The Secrets Of Man at the Looking Glass Theatre

Blockhead's production easily became the most talked about following my viewing of it. Mostly it has to be said not for a good reason. It is also the first Flash I am reviewing after first reading Mr Mudbeast's take on it (here).

Four blokes in a room together is probably a dangerous thing and for the best part The Secrets Of Man showcased the danger with a slightly broken show which concentrated mostly on puerile humour and little (no) light and shade. Discussions after highlighted the lack of emotional impact in any scenes which would have taken us away from the mens clowning antics of the show. Having said all this it went down like a bomb with the massed ranks of the student audience. Although I suspect that that is not the target audience of a dissertation, but I am no tutor. I am merely a keen theatre goer.

Having been critical so far, I must say that there were many parts I enjoyed. The birth scene was excellently done (although I suspect difficult for many not in the front row to see the full impact), and yes the revolving broken door antics was fun. Even Joshua Thomas' elderly gent walk on was entertaining, the first, second, maybe third time. After that it really was an obvious time filler.

At the end of the day you get out what you put in to something. Blockhead despite being four members have no Twitter feed, no Facebook group, no website and there was no programme. Although this of course can have no bearing on the production, it can hint that there might also not have been the care taken on that as well.

With the slapstick nature of the show, it was difficult at times to work out whether tech issues were planned or not and although the set was nice to begin with, it frequently became a mess and shear luck that the item they were needing was actually where it was meant to be.

As Mr Mudbeast said in his review, the cast are indeed better than this and I am certain that they all will have excellent days ahead of them, this sadly was not one of them.



The Flash Festival 2015 runs between 18th-23rd May, 2015 at four venues across the town. Details can be found at http://ftfevents.wix.com/flashtheatre2015, while tickets can be booked via the Royal & Derngate. Details at: http://www.royalandderngate.co.uk/whatson/2015-2016/Other/FlashFestival15

Popular posts from this blog

Review of & Juliet at Milton Keynes Theatre

First performed in 2019, & Juliet has become quite a global success, and now, as part of a UK Tour, it has arrived at Milton Keynes Theatre for a two-week run. Featuring a book by David West Read, it tells the what-if story of the survival of Juliet at the end of Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet . Primarily a jukebox musical, it more specifically features the works of Swedish songwriter Max Martin (and friends, as the credits describe). The question is, does & Juliet provide more than the standard of many a jukebox musical before it, and does it honour the tragic tale from which it has sprung? Our story opens with William Shakespeare presenting his latest work, Romeo & Juliet , for the first time. However, when his wife, Anne Hathaway, learns how he intends the tale to end, she is away with his quill and planning on her reworking of the story. At the core of this touring production's success is Geraldine Sacdalan's powerhouse performance as Juliet. Her Juliet ...

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 ...

Review of The Rocky Horror Show at Milton Keynes Theatre

Richard O’Brien’s anarchic, surreal, and often incomprehensible musical, The Rocky Horror Show , has captivated audiences for over fifty years now. With this new tour, it feels as fresh and unpredictable as if it had just emerged from O’Brien's vivid imagination yesterday. While another review might seem unnecessary given the countless dressed-up fans who fill every theatre it visits, let’s go ahead and write one anyway. The Rocky Horror Show follows the adventures of Brad and Janet, a newly engaged couple. On a dark and stormy November evening, they run into car trouble and seek refuge at a mysterious castle reminiscent of Frankenstein’s. There, they encounter the eccentric handyman Riff-Raff, the outrageous scientist Dr. Frank N. Furter, and a host of other bizarre characters. What unfolds is a science fiction B-movie narrative that is at times coherent and at other times bewildering — yet somehow, that doesn’t seem to matter. I first saw The Rocky Horror Show in 2019 and exper...