Skip to main content

Review of Flash Festival 2016: Mortem Artis by Artifex Theatre Group at Hazelrigg House (Basement)

The wonderful Amber Mae was quite an enigma within some of the University shows, portraying often the silent element of proceedings, especially in Orientation where she provided a song for us but little else verbally. However she spoke perhaps like few others with her movement and facial expressions, despite often being silent, she was frequently the centre of the eyeball for the audience, busy flitting around. So for her Flash performance, a solo one was a dream ticket. One to finally get to see her in full swing to do what she chose. It is true that for much of the first few minutes as we sat watching Amber sketch and paint that I thought she was not going to speak again.

We sit in the basement of Hazelrigg House (one of two Flash shows to take place entirely there) and we learn that this is a special confinement location for people to partake in creating art. Something that has been banned in the outside world. They are however not permanently confined, this is a place that they go to by choice to be artistic. This is at its core a very political play, effected and very probably created by the currently troubling arts cuts. No matter what some people may think, art effects everyone and a world where it is not permitted to exist is unquestionably a scary one.

Over the course of this play, we develop a very real connection with this world, a world very reminiscent of that of 1984, indeed we learn that via a camera, a Big Brother type figure is always watching. It sadly does feel very believably though, including the robotic human at the end of the intercom spouting preassigned sentences with no course of thinking for their self. Amber's character exchanges a pointless exchange after being locked in her cell after missing her warning bell, which many will probably feel they have done before with a call centre or two.

It is a carefully constructed piece with unobtrusive but perfect use of tech. It gives us joy from Amber's character dancing and singing to the pirate radios offerings and moves us through to the sadness of the removal of her work. Amber is once again a spark of likability, a visually captivating performer. She also absolutely leaves nothing in the tank from her performances, which is totally evident by the explosion of emotion at the end of the play. She was always fun to watch, but with Mortem Artis, she paves her way for what I think is certain stardom. Superb.


The Flash Festival 2016 runs between Monday 16th and Saturday 21st May, 2016 at four venues across the town. Details can be found at http://ftfevents.wix.com/flashtheatre2016

Popular posts from this blog

Review of Lord Of The Dance at Royal & Derngate (Derngate), Northampton

The stage show Lord of the Dance possibly needs little introduction to most people, as it has become a legend and now, in this touring version, subtitled rather immodestly, 25 Years of Standing Ovations, it reaches a landmark anniversary. Those that do not know of the show would probably well know its spiritual fathers Michael Flatley, and even more likely Riverdance , from which Lord of the Dance sprung with a proper spring in its step. During the interval of the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest, Riverdance hit the world by storm as Michael Flatley and his troop of dancers possibly presented the most famous part of Eurovision ever, certainly of the non-singing variety at least. Here, this touring show brings that same style Flatley created from traditional Irish dancing across the country once again and it is truly something special to see. The concept of the show is simply a battle between good and evil told through dance, and some captivating and stunning songs performed by Celyn Cartw...

Review of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at Milton Keynes Theatre

There have been numerous productions of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's groundbreaking musical since it first appeared in 1968 and opened in the West End in 1973. One might wonder if there is still room for another tour. However, judging by the packed audience in Milton Keynes Theatre for the opening night of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat , much interest remains for this show. Also, with this production first seen at The London Palladium in June 2019, and with a few production elements altered, Joseph still has, after all those years, the room to change and evolve. However, the question is, does this change help or hinder the show's history? For those unfamiliar with Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, it tells the story of Joseph, Jacob's favourite son, in a lighthearted and musical style that jumps between various genres. Joseph's brothers are somewhat envious of him, leading to them selling him into slavery to an Egyptian nobleman. As for ...

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...