Skip to main content

Review of Flash Festival 2019: A Minute To Midnight by Ruminate Theatre Company at Castle Hill URC

Connie, Harper and Freya are in a flatshare. One night Freya brings home Imogen, a homeless girl she has befriended. So far, so simple, however, that is if we haven't already seen the rather dramatic opening sequence, a flashforward to what is to happen involving said new person and Freya herself.


A Minute to Midnight works on a few levels and fails on others, the story, that of some sort of miniature cult involving some sort of preparation for some sort of disastrous global event is far too vague at times, to allow its audience in. It leaves us occasionally bored and wanting more information to keep our interest.

Fortunately what is great are the performances, despite us frequently not totally getting their motives, the characters themselves are nicely rounded individuals. Freya is played with a finely developing way by Mia Leonie, initially in control of events with her new introduction, but gradually changing as things over time develop in a way she dislikes from the new girl.

Georgie Morna-Arkle is equally good as this new woman Imogen, the second of the two characters with the full character development through the show, leading from the innocent, but then gaining more confidence as she becomes more vital to events.

Tonia Toseland is confident as the effective group leader Connie, while Amelia Scott is great fun as Harper, the complete opposite end of the group, at the bottom, almost along for the ride, but most definitely bringing most of the humour into the show as a character.

A Minute to Midnight is as a piece of drama a bit of a disappointment, not intriguing enough to keep the interest, with vagueness taken a little too far. However, perhaps the main thing to acknowledge is that all the performances are fine, and while they have maybe done themselves a little disservice with the material, it is far from a total disaster.

Performance viewed: Wednesday 3rd April 2019

The Flash Festival 2019 runs until Sunday 7th April 2019 at venues across the town.
Details here: 
Flash Festival 2019

Popular posts from this blog

Review of Murder She Didn't Write at Royal & Derngate (Royal), Northampton

Murder She Didn't Write , stopping off for a four-day run at Royal & Derngate on a lengthy UK tour, treads the now well-worn path of an improvisational evening of theatre entertainment. Unsurprisingly, from the title, this show from Degrees of Error's takes a murder mystery as its inspiration, with the story influenced by ideas from the audience each evening. Due to this, Murder She Didn't Write and a review are very much an individual affair. What I saw in my evening at the theatre will differ significantly from what the audience will see the following evening; however, the fine performers will remain. The touring cast, in no particular order, is Lizzy Skrzypiec, Rachael Procter-Lane, Peter Baker, Caitlin Campbell, Stephen Clements, Douglas Walker, Harry Allmark, Rosalind Beeson, Sylvia Bishop, Emily Brady, Alice Lamb, Sara Garrard, Peta Maurice and Matthew Whittle. For my performance, Skrzypiec, Procter-Lane, Baker, Walker, Bishop, and Clements were on stage alongsid...

Review of Immune by R&D Youth Theatre at Royal & Derngate (Royal), Northampton

The cover note for the script of Oladipo Agboluaje's Immune describes it as "a challenging science fiction play with a large cast", and the word challenging in this case is not a lie. This is a fast paced, multi-cast changing script which leaves little room for error for its young cast in the performance. If the script isn't enough to handle for the young performers, director Christopher Elmer-Gorry and designer Carl Davies have made the situation even more complex for the actors with the set and stage work. Having to manhandle great panels on wheels and a huge cube, which also splits in two occasionally, during scene changes requires skill, coordination and cooperation of a high level. As if all this is not enough, the actual story is epic enough for the relatively small stage of the Royal. Attempting to form an apocalyptic world (albeit only happening in Plymouth) offers challenges in itself, but Agboluaje's script does that in a sort of apocalypse in the teac...

Review of Bat Out Of Hell - The Musical at Milton Keynes Theatre

Bat Out of Hell - The Musical was first realised as a stage musical back in 2017, opening at the Manchester Opera House. Since then, it has achieved significant international success. Now, as part of a new UK tour, it has returned to Milton Keynes Theatre, which it previously visited in 2022 during its global tour. The storyline of Bat Out of Hell , written by Jim Steinman, draws on the story of Peter Pan as a basis and evolves it within a dystopian world, where a group of teenagers known as The Lost live forever at the age of 18. This plot is both flimsy and initially confusing; however, within the music of Meat Loaf and Jim Steinman, it finds a rough-around-the-edges polish that allows this weakness to shine through and succeed. At the centre of this group of teenagers is Strat, who, following an unexpected encounter, falls under the spell of Raven. Within this, a megalomaniac lurks, as all dystopian worlds require. This maniac is Falco, the father of Raven and Sloane's husband....