Skip to main content

Flash Festival 2018: (His) Sheep by Control Theatre at St Peter's Church, Northampton

Set in a church and performed in a church, (His) Sheep from Control Theatre presents the first site-specific performance of Flash this year. The smart and stylish Pastor Stanley (Mo Samuels), sits clutching the good book, and nodding in recognition as we take our seats. Random jazz slowly fades and Pastor Stanley flys into a Billy Graham-like presentation to us, "his sheep", with his line "God is good" destined to be a force throughout the show.

(His) Sheep is an unusual piece of theatre, the story often challenging to follow, and if indeed you follow it, it has a habit of wrong-footing you with another curious swerve. At the opening, while the Pastor is preaching, a homeless guy, Kevin (Terell Oswald) lurks in a corner, laying amongst an assortment of his precious belongings, his life in a bag. He begs us for a few pieces of coinage to survive on. He also seeks the help of Stanley, who is known for being one to really help the homeless, or does he?

Later, Kevin's sister enters the situation, Victoria (Chloe Hoffmeister) is a journalist, and apparently returns, not looking for Kevin, but in pursuit of Stanley, who she is investigating. When the three worlds collide, an odd, often unsettling story, opens up. This isn't the first time also, that you get the feeling that the material you are watching, isn't truly suitable to be played out in a church.

There was a lot of physical theatre in (His) Sheep as well, which was very well performed. For myself, I did feel a couple of scenes were a tad repetitive, but the intensity of them really helped to create a foreboding atmosphere to the whole piece.

All performances are strong. Samuels cuts a fine figure and deftly manages to sweep between the Godly pastor, and his alter ego, exhibiting a real scary, intimidating performance. I was really surprised how much I enjoyed Oswald's homeless Kevin, he is a performer that hasn't really for me come to the fore previously, but not for the first time, the Flash performance delivers.

Finally, Hoffmeister presents a cold and calculating Victoria, full of inner aggression and mostly not a very nice person, trying to get what she wants. It needs to be strong, and the performance is, but I almost enjoyed the trouble she got in at the end. I apologise for that, I know it's wrong!

The idea behind (His) Sheep is great, it is definitely for me a little long, and a nice bit of pruning would have made it much more fulfilling. However, generally, quality stuff, and a brilliant ending.

Performance viewed: Tuesday 24th April 2018

The Flash Festival 2018 ran between Monday 23rd and Friday 27th April 2018 at three venues across the town.
Photos: Looking Glass Theatre

Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

Review of Barnum at Milton Keynes Theatre

Barnum , with a book by Mark Bramble, lyrics by Michael Stewart, and music by Cy Coleman, premiered on Broadway in 1980 and followed in the West End just a year later. At the helm for these two productions were two huge names in the entertainment business: Jim Dale on Broadway and Michael Crawford in the West End. It needed, of course, big names to fill the shoes of the legendary P. T. Barnum, whose tale is told in this now-fondly remembered musical. Filling these boots in this new production, now pitched at Milton Keynes Theatre, is Matt Rawle, a prolific theatre performer himself, but can he, and this production, live up to the iconic greatest showman? “Step right up and enter the dazzling world of P.T. Barnum, where imagination and ambition know no bounds”, the publicity for the show announces, and this new production of the now-classic Barnum - The Circus Musical mostly ticks these boxes. Rawle is a captivating and strong presence as the lead, bringing an infectious charm to the p...
Read more

Review of Lord of the Dance at Milton Keynes Theatre

On what was so far the hottest day of the year, and the highest in many a record book, it feels a tad evil to watch as a group of extremely talented performers bring to the stage one of the most famous and most energetic dance shows to tour. However, arriving now at Milton Keynes Theatre, as part of what is now the still rather immodestly titled 30 Years of Standing Ovations tour, Lord of the Dance remains full of energy even on the hottest of evenings in Milton Keynes. I last and first saw Lord of the Dance as part of the 25 Years of Standing Ovations tour, four years ago (yes, the sums don’t quite work), and it was every bit as spectacular as you could imagine this world-famous dance show is. Born into the world from Michael Flatley and the Riverdance spectacular that preceded it, Lord of the Dance is a simple but effective battle between good and evil and the resolution of it through dance rather than fighting. The dancing here is, as expected, exceptional, led by the Lord of the...
Read more

Review of making second Kontakt with the R&D Youth Theatre at Royal & Derngate (Underground), Northampton

As I said in my first Kontakt review, I wasn't really sure that I wanted to see this show. However come Sunday and a second opportunity to see it, I was genuinely looking forward to it. With the show now having departed, for my second review I will elaborate a touch more on happenings, which initially I shied away from as spoilers. My actor for my second encounter was 15 year old Michael. He had the enviable task unlike Michael before him of dealing with someone who knew quite a bit of what was coming. As those surgical gloves went on I this time was certain that the R&D were not going to overstep the boundary and do a full medical. I had also learnt that a crisp sandwich was something that should be left in the memory, so cheese was a much more sensible option. I was able to complete the calculation generally unaided and managed to express an exaggerated shock at the latter outcome. The game of Jenga managed to stay stable once again and rather amazingly managed to bring t...
Read more