A Small Mind At The Theatre

Watching the BA Actors perform Alan Ayckbourn's Christmas play Season's Greetings had quite a tinge of the very different about it. It all felt very traditional, and dare I say, safe, for the performers of the University of Northampton BA Actors to be offering. Over six years, I have got used to them bringing cutting, sharp, taxing, dynamic, brutal and controversial stuff to the stage, so to see James Bryan as Bernard performing a puppet show in the cosy world of Ayckbourn (admittedly with his trademark modern strife thrown in), it all seemed a little weird. However, over the last couple of years, this cosy, more traditional theatre has become the staple of the Christmas time offering, with the group also tackling pantomimes as well. It all makes a huge amount of sense, as so much of their potential future earnings may well come from this area. Here we have classic Ayckbourn, filled with diverse characters, and varied aged ones, performed by the staple early twenties per...

For modern audiences, The Taming of the Shrew has quite a sting in its tale that in this day and age is somewhat off-putting. However, the journey to that famous final speech is funny and never short of entertaining, so, allowing for the time the play was constructed, let's try to ignore how uncomfortable Katherine's final moment is and look elsewhere. The Taming of the Shrew is one of the most famous plays within a play, and after Sly, later Petruchio is tricked into thinking he is a lord, the play within takes hold and becomes the bulk of what it is to become. A mixture of disguises and comic antics, take us slowly towards "a happy ending". This production of The Taming of the Shrew was performed open space on the brand new Waterside Campus of the University of Northampton by the current Second Year BA Actors, and the space near the river and bridge offers a superb space with loads of opportunity for director Vanessa-Faye Stanley to use, and no question does...