A Small Mind At The Theatre

Blockhead's production easily became the most talked about following my viewing of it. Mostly it has to be said not for a good reason. It is also the first Flash I am reviewing after first reading Mr Mudbeast's take on it ( here ). Four blokes in a room together is probably a dangerous thing and for the best part The Secrets Of Man showcased the danger with a slightly broken show which concentrated mostly on puerile humour and little (no) light and shade. Discussions after highlighted the lack of emotional impact in any scenes which would have taken us away from the mens clowning antics of the show. Having said all this it went down like a bomb with the massed ranks of the student audience. Although I suspect that that is not the target audience of a dissertation, but I am no tutor. I am merely a keen theatre goer. Having been critical so far, I must say that there were many parts I enjoyed. The birth scene was excellently done (although I suspect difficult for many not in ...

Its safe to say and needs saying from the outset that I am not one of Mr Shakespeare's greatest fans and watching two three hour odd productions in two days would not always fill me with a warm glow. However over the last couple of months, the Northampton University (of all current three years) have shown talent in abundance and I was never going to let my petty opinion deprive me of seeing them again. This year I had seen both Troilus and Cressida (by the Masque Theatre) and King Lear (via NTLive) and its safe to say that I enjoyed Macbeth and Richard III more than both of these (yes even with Mr Shakespeare, Simon Russell Beale in action). The acting was of course not better than Lear (it was Russell Beale, that would be impossible), but the productions for me were both much more enjoyable to watch. The Shakespeare purist would no doubt cry that there was too much gimmickry with these productions, but for me this made them more modern and more acceptable. I listen to Shakespe...