Skip to main content

Review of UoN Fringe 2019: Clickbait by Flashdrive Theatre at The Platform Club, Northampton

The opening show of the 2019 Fringe Festival (dissertation performances for (BA) Acting and Creative Practice Students) was everything as bold as its predecessors in 2018. During its first year, the Fringe established an audacity to its shows immediately and with Clickbait it was already very good to be back at the festival.

Clickbait is presented by Flashdrive Theatre, made up of performers Shona Bullas and George Henry, and from the outset of the two performers standing in their underwear, we knew this was going to be bold, brave and indeed painful (for them) theatre.

Henry plays Luke and Bullas is Emma, and both run YouTube channels, Luke-ing Good and Emmazing, and while they have some individual success, they seek, like all in this area, more. After a meeting, they create crossover videos on each other's channels and a partnership is quickly formed into a dual channel, LukeandEmma (it rolls off the tongue better, Luke says).

What surprises with Clickbait is how many morals are managed to be explored within it, and it is very tricky to explain without spoilers. However, suffice to say, this exploration digs deep into how desperate some attempts at fame actually can become as Emma and Luke do increasingly desperate and "clickbait" driven projects, at their own personal detriment, both physically and emotionally.

Bullas and Henry are extremely likeable performers, willing to submit their all into the show. There is a quite brilliant Livestream section which happily epitomises this commitment, going through a series of challenges that might make you cringe and squirm a little just watching. This enthusiasm for the piece makes the whole play stronger as a result.

Unfortunately, on this opening performance, there were a few technical issues, with some video becoming crackly on the actually brilliantly put together video sequences, which was a great shame. Also, the loss of one mobile phone output on the television screens was disappointing.

However, technicals aside, Clickbait was a really clever and interesting exploration of the world of fame today. Running at 50 minutes or so, it was nicely substantial, but never boring as the pace is maintained and was an excellent introduction to the world of the Fringe Festival for anyone paying a visit for the first time (including my reviewing companion The Real Chrisparkle). Clickbait entertains and intrigues throughout. Great stuff, so get clicking on that ticket site now and book-up!

Performance viewed: Monday 29th April 2019

The Fringe Festival 2019 runs until Sunday 5th May 2019 at The Platform Club Northampton, and one show at Hazelrigg House.

Details here: Fringe Festival 2019
Labels:

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...
Read more

Review of Benidorm Live at Milton Keynes Theatre, Milton Keynes

I arrived at Milton Keynes Theatre to see this touring stage version of ITV comedy hit Benidorm with a distinct lack of knowledge. Having never seen the show, my information stretched as far as knowing it was set in a holiday resort in Spain (the title helps there), and that the humour generally resorted to the cruder end of the spectrum. However, having graced the screens for ten years, it was clear that Derren Litten's show had garnered quite a following, and indeed it was clear from the reception of the audience on the night, that this following was pretty much filling the theatre. The plot, such as it is for this stage show, is very much drafted from an episode of Fawlty Towers , and made a great deal more adult with its humour. The hotel manager, Joyce Temple-Savage (a sharp performance by Sherrie Hewson) gets wind that a hotel inspector is in, and the scene is set for seeking them out and all the obvious cases of mistaken identity. It's thin and doesn't fill ...
Read more

Review of Hi-De-Hi at The Deco, Northampton

I was a fan of Hi-De-Hi in the eighties and in actual fact a fan of many of those very much of their time comedies. Hi-De-Hi was a bright and breezy and overly familiar show having ended up at many a holiday in the Maplins equivalent of Butlins, albeit not the fifties setting, but with very little changed in the decades anyway. However, we have moved on a bit since these eighties days, so does Croft and Perry's comedy still cut the mustard now? The answer is yes and no, a lot of the humour is still fun and there are many a chuckle moments, the characters also are still bold and fun enough to provide some great entertainment. However, with these characters lie the first problem with an acting group doing a show like this. Anyone familiar with the show and its nine series run will have the characters so indelibly marked in their head and this offers no freedom for a performer to make that character their own, they are just setting out to copy someone. Yes, a challenge, and w...
Read more