Review of UoN Fringe: Only The Introverted by Set It Straight Theatre at The Platform, Northampton

In the Balm In Gilead, Bethany Williams, the solo performer in Set It Straight Theatre's Only The Introverted, was a quiet force to be reckoned with, creating a delightfully gentle character within an often cruel and violent world. In Only The Introverted, she explores a world, that I personally am very familiar with, as if anyone ever wished to diagnose me, I think I would be declared an introvert.

This whole play from its opening of the emergence out of her shell and to its end is actually just sweetly created. The bursting forth of a million little beeps from a phone is an understandable thing in all of us now, and the response that this introvert character has to this is equally understandable.

Even the daily grind of life, travel to, and travel home, from the eyes of someone who may need to live in this world, but doesn't really wish to, is lovingly created. The arrival of then perhaps the crowning glory in Shelly the tortoise is only going to enforce the loving that an audience could have for this show.

While this is both a theme show and an obviously very personal one, it never looks to preach. It guides us by hand gently through a subject that many would never understand, advising rather than hammering home its case, perhaps very apt considering its subject matter.

Williams is a delight once again, a captivating presence on stage, and without a doubt one of the strongest performers in this group, despite almost the innocence of performance at times. It's nice to get the feeling sometimes that someone is stronger than they think they are, and here, like a few of the best students from previous years, Williams is one of them.

I left Only The Introverted with a happy face, it's a delightful little show, which suitably approaches it's subject gently. Just lovely.

Performance reviewed: Saturday 24th March 2018 at The Platform, Northampton.

The UoN Fringe ran between Friday 23rd and Monday 26th March 2018.

Review of Broken Party at The Benn Hall, Rugby

Broken Party , now on stage at The Benn Hall, is the first production by the new theatre company Nerve Theatre. Written and directed by company founder Mia Ballard, it provides an impressive collection of twists and turns that will please thriller enthusiasts. The story setup sees a gathering of the Lewis family to celebrate the birthday of Abigail. She is the daughter of Ann Lewis and the leading player, James, a high-flying lawyer who sets his stall out in the world as a supporter of the victims of society. However, as events unravel due to a television interview, is he the worthy man many believe him to be? Ballard's script is a perfect smorgasbord of murder mystery aperitifs, a dinner party, and a collection of the most dislikeable individuals, each of whom is the ideal culprit for guilt. The story is told in a single-location living room with little distraction and sees the Lewis family spar against one another following a somewhat awkward viewing of a TV show. The dialogue fr...

Review of The Woman Who Cooked Her Husband at The Playhouse Theatre, Northampton

During the interval of The Woman Who Cooked Her Husband , last weeks production at The Playhouse Theatre Northampton, I got involved in a conversation between a couple sitting next to me. The lady was very much of the opinion that the play was a comedy, while the gentleman, had formed one that it was a tragedy. They were joking of course in the conversation, but it did highlight the differences that Debbie Isitt's dark comedy might have between the sexes. And also now perhaps the passing of time. When this was written in the nineties, Isitt's play was a forthright feminist play, heralding the championing over of the ladies over the man. One the ex-wife plotting to cook him, the other, the new lover, potentially already very tired of him after just three years. The husband, Kenneth (Jem Clack) elopes initially in pursuit of sex with Laura (Diane Wyman), after his nineteen years of marriage with Hilary (Corinna Leeder) has become tired and passionless. Then later, he elopes ...

Review of Kinky Boots (N.M.T.C.) at Royal & Derngate (Derngate), Northampton

The musical Kinky Boots is perhaps the perfect show for the homegrown theatre group Northampton Musical Theatre Company to perform with the very core of the story bred within this very county. The tale of of Charlie Price and his encounter and unlikely partnership with a certain Lola is based on a true story of factory W. G. Brooks Ltd and the owner Steve Pateman. Back in 1999 his story of men and their wearing of shoes for women featured on a BBC documentary and this in turn inspired the 2005 film, Kinky Boots . Finally, in 2012, this musical adaptation of the story hit the stage, with a book by Harvey Fierstein and songs written by Cyndi Lauper. Longtime readers of my blog with good memories may remember that five years ago I reviewed the opening of the UK professional tour of Kinky Boots , also at the Royal & Derngate. While I enjoyed the show, I didn't give it the most favourable review. Five years on, and a second viewing, have I warmed to the charms of Charlie and Lola...

A Small Mind At The Theatre

Search This Blog