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 & Juliet at Milton Keynes Theatre

First performed in 2019, & Juliet has become quite a global success, and now, as part of a UK Tour, it has arrived at Milton Keynes Theatre for a two-week run. Featuring a book by David West Read, it tells the what-if story of the survival of Juliet at the end of Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet . Primarily a jukebox musical, it more specifically features the works of Swedish songwriter Max Martin (and friends, as the credits describe). The question is, does & Juliet provide more than the standard of many a jukebox musical before it, and does it honour the tragic tale from which it has sprung? Our story opens with William Shakespeare presenting his latest work, Romeo & Juliet , for the first time. However, when his wife, Anne Hathaway, learns how he intends the tale to end, she is away with his quill and planning on her reworking of the story. At the core of this touring production's success is Geraldine Sacdalan's powerhouse performance as Juliet. Her Juliet ...
Read more

Review of Northern Ballet - The Great Gatsby at Milton Keynes Theatre

This production of The Great Gatsby performed by Northern Ballet was my fifth encounter at the theatre of a full ballet production and as before, I happily share my review of the show with nearly zero knowledge of-the-art form and more of a casual theatre-goer. You could say that this is a poor direction to come in on a review, but I would say that casual audience are the ones to review this for. Over the years, Northern Ballet has set quite a high benchmark for ballet productions, and any audience member who is worth their salt as a ballet fan would no doubt have tickets for this new touring version of the 2013 version of The Great Gatsby , lovingly created by David Nixon OBE. So much is Nixon part of the very fabric of this show, that he not only provides the choreography and direction but also the initial scenario and costume design (assisted by Julie Anderson). So, discounting those ballet fans already sitting in the audience, what does this offer for the more casual theatre-goer ...
Read more

Review of The Rocky Horror Show at Milton Keynes Theatre

Richard O’Brien’s anarchic, surreal, and often incomprehensible musical, The Rocky Horror Show , has captivated audiences for over fifty years now. With this new tour, it feels as fresh and unpredictable as if it had just emerged from O’Brien's vivid imagination yesterday. While another review might seem unnecessary given the countless dressed-up fans who fill every theatre it visits, let’s go ahead and write one anyway. The Rocky Horror Show follows the adventures of Brad and Janet, a newly engaged couple. On a dark and stormy November evening, they run into car trouble and seek refuge at a mysterious castle reminiscent of Frankenstein’s. There, they encounter the eccentric handyman Riff-Raff, the outrageous scientist Dr. Frank N. Furter, and a host of other bizarre characters. What unfolds is a science fiction B-movie narrative that is at times coherent and at other times bewildering — yet somehow, that doesn’t seem to matter. I first saw The Rocky Horror Show in 2019 and exper...
Read more