A Small Mind At The Theatre

Following the tough subject nature of I Forget What I've Forgotten, the perfect antidote came with Do Gentlemen Prefer Blondes? from Whiplash Theatre Company. It also highlighted at the end of the first day the huge contrast and therefore delight in the different pieces. From storytelling to children's entertainment, from technologies impact to tough health issues, I proceeded to high humour and a little pathos with this one. I love the fact that an hour after the tenderness of one show I witness two grown men running around a stage pretending to be apes. Only at Flash maybe? Our introduction to the show comes in the form of Ashlee Sopher attempting to wear away a pub bar. For five minutes as we await the start of the show as people take their seats, a glass is polished, but mostly the bar is polished. This is presented with perfect showmanship and heralds the delights that are to come. The aforementioned apes are played by Dale Endacott and John Shelley and complete the male...

A man in twenties Russia wants to kill himself. Let's all laugh hysterically, it seems right? Well it does during Moira Buffini adaption of Nikolai Erdman's satirical black comedy, The Suicide. Our protagonist Semyon Semyonovich (a masterful performance by Matt Larsson) has a double barrelled sausage and wants to have an end to it all. Indeed why wouldn't he want to end it? His failure at playing the Tuba because he doesn't have a piano, his most hideous (but, oh so funny) mother-in-law Serafima (a comic mastery performance from Sophie Poyntz Lloyd) always there giving him aggro. Then his wife Masha (a gentle, and very lovely performance from Sarah Kirk) leaves him. He really might as well top himself. If only there was a cause he could die for. Step forward neighbour Alexander (an effortless performance by Dale Endacott) and his (for a price) revolving door of potential causes for Semyon to die for. So we have through the doors in order Aristarkh (John Shelley provid...