A Small Mind At The Theatre

The Third Year BA Acting & Creative Practice students made their final appearance onstage together in an adaptation of Jekyll & Hyde by Royal & Derngate's Erica Martin, who directs with Trudy A Bell. It offered an inventive, if perhaps overlong, telling of the story, but allowed the diverse range of skills from the students to be fully exploited. This telling of Robert Louis Stevenson's classic, might at times feel a little different to those that know the story well. The piece itself, while in keeping with the Jekyll tale of a scientist exploring a hidden self, also developed a separate story, involving another culprit for Hyde's deadly adventures. This revolved around a local piece of history relating to the 1892 murder of Annie Pritchard (Amy Catherine), and the person convicted of her murder, an Andrew McCrae (Ben Loftus). It's a neat spin on fleshing out the tale, especially to allow more depth for the 23 strong year group to all be part of. So...

One of my favourite films is the 2014 Whiplash , it revolves around drums (one of my favourite and often disregarded instruments) and jazz (one of my guilty pleasures, the Marmite of music indeed). Can't Quite Hit It takes drums as it's theme, and at times has a little of that film about it as well. Maybe it is therefore not a total surprise that it ended up being my favourite show of the Fringe week, and one of the top University shows I have seen over six years. Bias doesn't come into it though, as performer Rosemarie Sheach has created a top-notch show from her Rumble Theatre Company, superbly and endearingly performed, that non-drum fans I am sure would enjoy as well. It's more a chasing your dream story as Leah, an aspiring drummer, seeks out fame and more importantly the ability to do for a career what you love, and not have to be a team leader at KFC instead. You could replace drummer for any number of things to make everyone in the audience feel the passion...