Skip to main content

Review of Bright Places at Birmingham Rep (The Door)

Bright Places, currently running at The Rep, Birmingham, is an at times deeply powerful and at others overtly funny exploration of what it is to be a sufferer of Multiple Sclerosis.

Presented by Carbon Theatre, in association with Birmingham Rep, the show is written by MS sufferer Rae Mainwaring as a totally honest autobiographical story. Performed by three female actors, Lauren Foster, Aimee Berwick and Rebecca Holmes, they each take on the roles of Actor A, B and C respectively.

These "actors" then in turn take the role of sufferer and writer Rae, and all others within her life story from work colleagues, fellow sufferers and doctors. Most of their characterisation is kept simple and is mostly depicted by the use of a costume box or prop rather than in their performance.

All the actors do work extremely well together though, clearly, both well rehearsed and confident in each other's abilities to keep the much-needed pace to the story.

At times, the sketch-like style of the format creates both a disjointed aspect and a lack of direction. However, what does work is the power of both the story Bright Places tells and the education and further recognition of the condition it presents. The audience truly does learn something here.

There is also much to be gained from the simplicity of the production and solid, crisp direction from Tessa Walker. Pace is maintained throughout, and there is also an excellent use of music if often brief in the snippets used. Scenes pass quickly, never allowing one idea to bog down the show for too long.

Overall, Bright Places has more success than failure, but with a little more time, it could have benefited from some tightening of some scenes. What remains though is a totally educational and entertaining 75 minutes of theatre which without question is well worth your support during its stay at The Rep.

A both funny and sad exploration of what Multiple Sclerosis means to sufferers.
⭐⭐⭐

Performance reviewed: Wednesday 30th October 2024 at The Birmingham Rep Theatre (The Door)

Bright Places runs at the Birmingham Rep Theatre until Saturday 2nd November, 2024.

For further details about the Birmingham Rep and to book tickets see their website at https://www.birmingham-rep.co.uk/

Production Photos: Graeme Braidwood


Popular posts from this blog

Review of Lord Of The Dance at Royal & Derngate (Derngate), Northampton

The stage show Lord of the Dance possibly needs little introduction to most people, as it has become a legend and now, in this touring version, subtitled rather immodestly, 25 Years of Standing Ovations, it reaches a landmark anniversary. Those that do not know of the show would probably well know its spiritual fathers Michael Flatley, and even more likely Riverdance , from which Lord of the Dance sprung with a proper spring in its step. During the interval of the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest, Riverdance hit the world by storm as Michael Flatley and his troop of dancers possibly presented the most famous part of Eurovision ever, certainly of the non-singing variety at least. Here, this touring show brings that same style Flatley created from traditional Irish dancing across the country once again and it is truly something special to see. The concept of the show is simply a battle between good and evil told through dance, and some captivating and stunning songs performed by Celyn Cartw...
Read more

Review of Rambert Dance in Peaky Blinders - The Redemption of Thomas Shelby at Royal & Derngate (Derngate), Northampton

The Rambert Dance Company is the oldest such company in Britain having first performed in 1926. However, despite this, this was my first encounter with the group in my ten years of theatre-going. Coupled with this, it was also my first encounter with Peaky Blinders , having never seen the show, and only knowing a few vague things about it. My companion for the evening however was very familiar with the show, allowing some background behind the show. It turns out though,  Rambert Dance in Peaky Blinders - The Redemption of Thomas Shelby needs a little more than a good bit of knowledge of the show, as despite this production having incredible style, there struggles to be a cohesive structure to the show and the storytelling. Much more than other dance shows as well. The first act does a whistle-stop tour of the first five seasons and while it is a feast on the eye, and on the ear, it gets extremely confusing at times. The second act is freestyle and drifts away from the stories tol...
Read more

Review of My Mother's Funeral: The Show at Royal & Derngate (Royal), Northampton

The title My Mother's Funeral: The Show is perhaps not the most attractive title for a theatre show, however, this show had great success at the Edinburgh Fringe and now arriving at Royal & Derngate, one of its co-producing theatres, so, let's look beyond the unusual title and see what lies beneath. Abigail is a theatre dramatist pursuing plays that the theatres no longer want. Her "gay bugs in space" saga falls foul of being fiction for a start, something a theatre director states audiences no longer want stating they want gritty, real experiences, theatre with painful truths. So, after Abigail devastatingly loses her mother and finds no money to pay the funeral fees, she pursues the creation of a very personal theatre show. My Mother's Funeral: The Show is gritty and sad, but, also in many ways very funny, if in a dark way. Writer Kelly Jones digs deep into the world of poverty in Dagenham and countless estates across the country. A world of people born in...
Read more