Skip to main content

Review of the University Of Northampton BA (Hons) Acting Graduate Showcase 2016 at Tristan Bates Theatre, London

For the second year running, I was honoured to be invited to the Graduate Showcase in the heart of London, at which this years BA Actors made their final appearance together. These were the third group that I have been able to follow to the end, and the group I had spent the longest following, so it was emosh for all of us.

Our venue this year was the Tristan Bates Theatre within The Actors Centre at Covent Garden. I have to admit that personally I wasn't particularly struck on the venue, the studio space was a little dingy and a tad strong on the echo. However venue is second, the talent at it was key, and like previous years this group have been of a tremendous standard.

This year the format of the showcase, under director Simon Cole, had been tweaked a little and the snippets of the actors Flash pieces had been dispensed with in favour of longer pieces from seventeen plays. This year I had actually seen two of the plays featured; Citizenship this year at Connections, and Rainbow Kiss, more interestingly for me (and certainly no one else) the first play I ever saw performed in London, at the Royal Court in 2006.

All of the selections were cleverly picked in their own right, as once again were the pairings. Many that you might not pick yourself, but under wise decisions, tremendously successful. It was once again a frenetic seventy to eighty minute show, full of humour and high drama and performed with relish from the group for that final time in front of an impressively large audience compared to the year before (no Christopher Biggins though)

I am not going into more detail over performances this time, as I have said my opinions over the last two years of this group and no one during this production let the side down. Therefore in order of appearance, my thanks and best wishes for the future got to: Tom Stone, Benjamin Williams, Aoife Smyth, Elizabeth Adejimi, Elliot Holden, Patrick Morgan, Grace Aitken, Annalise Taylor, Penelope May, Stuart Warren, Kathryn McKerrow, Neizan Fernandez Birchwood, Amber Mae, Jake Rivers, Madeleine Hagerty, Danni-Louise Ryan, Cynthia Lebbos, Connor McAvoy, Cîara Goldsberry, Suzannah Cassels, Sharni Tapako-Brown, Jaryd Headley, Daniel Hadjivarnava, Jared Gregory, Kieran Hansell, Sophie Guiver, Rory Sayers, Rhiana Young, Ellen Shersby-Wignall. Stephanie Waugh, Daniel Gray, Vandreas Marc, Lucy Kitson, Sophie-Rose Darby, Charlie Clee, Jack Newhouse. Also those not performing on the day Caroline Avis, Megan Burda, Yolanda Lake, Amy Weaver, Matilda Hunt and George Marlow.

A final thanks to everyone behind the scenes that has helped run the course, teach these stars and make the two years so enjoyable. I hope in the future to see as many of these perform once again and follow their futures with interest. I have said it before, however once again I say to you all, go forward and do what you want to do and continue to be the special that you already are.

Popular posts from this blog

Review of National Theatre Connections 2017 (16 Shows) at Royal & Derngate (Royal & Underground), Northampton

Alongside the University of Northampton BA Actors Flash Festival, the Connections festival at Royal & Derngate is now my joint favourite week of theatre each year. This is my fourth year at the festival and each time I have tried my very best (and succeeded) in seeing more and more of those on offer (four in 2014, ten in 2015 and twelve last year). This year I cracked sixteen shows, including the most interesting, a chance to see two of the plays by three different groups. I was able to see nine of this year's ten plays (a single nagging one, Musical Differences by Robin French was missing from the R&D line-up), and most I either enjoyed or finally understood their merits or reasons for inclusion. The writing of sixteen reviews is a little bit of an daunting prospect, however, I will do my best to review each of the plays and those I saw more than once, and pick around the comparisons. Extremism by Anders Lustgarten Performed by Bedford College Extremism was perfo...

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...

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...