Flash Festival 2017: Erased by Afterlight Theatre at Hazelrigg House, Northampton

My second show of the 2017 Flash Festival was Afterlight Theatre's near future based Erased. The year is 2020 and a Priory-esque institution is with the help of a "dot" removing unsavoury memories from its inmates.

Helena Fenton

Following a high energy physical routine, all bouncing action and repeated movements, we are introduced to the trio of patients, they are a young girl played by Helena Fenton, the dull, matter of fact one played by Joseph Callaghan, and the self-assured one by Luke Mortimore. Of these three patients, Lukes is by far the most interesting, cocky and verbally bold, with a badge of honour of attendance on his arm. He is so much more than the other characters that it can be tricky to relate or enjoy the others despite confident performances from the pair.

Luke Mortimore

Before this introduction, an opening corporate video has already introduced us to the set-up of this establishment and it allows a nicely comical creation to be born by Helena Fenton. She creates some good laughs, more especially from the student audience, with exaggerated glances to the camera in a nicely shot video. This character reoccurs in the same form for a TV show piece, and perhaps as it turns out, better suited for this role. Therefore it did at this point feel a little lazy that perhaps another character was not created for the opening advert piece, Helena is for me among the strongest in this year group with the ability to create strong characters, that I did feel a little cheated that more wasn't made of this chance.

Joseph Callaghan

There was also a moment during the TV show scene where Helena fluffed her lines and rather than recovering promptly as perhaps you might expect, the show sort of stopped with her comment that "it's OK, we're not getting marked". The response was a round of applause from the knowing student crowd (I believe there were just three of us non-students at that performance), and having followed these groups for four years, I got it and wasn't too perturbed by the situation. However there were paying members of the audience there, so technically, professionality as all times would probably be the best. It really was a great moment though.

Erased however is an interesting concept that while never poorly performed doesn't make as much of the idea as you feel it could. There is a nice balance between drama and comedy, and the TV show is the highlight with Callaghan and Mortimore great value as the female contestants. However for all its humour, and it is unquestionably funny at times, it is for the best part quite cheap and obvious material rather than clever. Likewise, the drama is generally uninteresting and often fails to stimulate like you feel it should.

Sadly not one of the best Flash shows for me, but seriously a long way from the worst and certainly not one I want a dot to erase if only to keep the memory of that bewigged character that Helena brings to life in my memory.

Performance viewed: Monday 22nd May 2017

The Flash Festival 2017 runs between Monday 22nd and Saturday 27th May 2017 at three venues across the town. Tickets can be found at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/flash-theatre-festival-2017-tickets-34315017140, with details at https://www.facebook.com/FlashFest2017

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 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...

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