A Small Mind At The Theatre

Last year in my review of the Ghost Walk I made it clear that I wasn't the biggest believer of ghostly apparitions. So I returned for more this year, not to be swayed into a believer, but to experience the best part of last years walk, the historical information. Rather thrillingly (and I take no credit. Or do I?) the ghost walk had not only dispersed of the slightly incongruous theatre performance filler, but also upped the ante on the history lesson. While ghosts were still of course on the menu (poltergeist stew anyone?), this year we also had the chance to learn a great deal more of solid historical information about the main four venues we visited. Our tour began at St Peter's Church, were we learned a little about the history of the place and who was buried there. We also got a chance to explore in the dark for a few moments. The church itself is an amazing building and it is a shame that is has been so rarely used for the last twelve years. Howe...

I first got the opportunity to see these now third year actors at the Holy Sepulchre in March 2014 and even at that time, as first years, their heavily choreographed movement work and delivery of the words of John Donne showed huge potential. Fast forward to June this year and the levels of skill were developing at an exponential rate as before my eyes they made my nemesis Shakespeare very, very watchable with their Winter's Tale and Merry Wives performances. Now a full twenty months after I first saw them they have presented perhaps the very best of the Northampton University shows I have seen to date and there have been many exceptional ones believe me. What Orientation did for me that was a delight that I have not always seen from the University productions is that as a concept it kept it simple. We are in a highly competitive office with a group of workers, basically amounting to a dysfunctional family, who find themselves not only snowbound in the office but also in som...

This year at the Royal & Derngate I have listened to the distant cry of the muffin man in the creepy Gaslight. Dvořák has resonated through my ears in the hands of Natalie Clein. I have seen landmark adaptions of Pinter and Huxley. I had made Kontakt with the talented Youth Company. The lyrical words of Edmond Rostand's Cyrano de Bergerac's have lingered in my thoughts. Now I have seen David "The Hoff" Hasselhoff wheeled around on a sofa surrounded by a devil, a bishop, monstrous beasts and bikini clad women. Theatre is indeed a place of variety and dreams, even if sometimes they can be nightmares. When you almost expect something to be bad you can put up your defences and prepare for the worst, and for Last Night A DJ Saved My Life, defences were set at 101%. Reviews had already been a little negative from it's opening run at Blackpool, however the evening was set to be a whole lot better than feared. Set on Ibiza in the early nineties, Last Night is th...

Unexpectedly and totally unplanned (thank you The Hoff for doing the decent thing), I found myself at the seventh Feast Of Fools and once again it was an absolute delight. I have been fortunate to have made six of the seven to date and have never left disappointed from the evening. Telling number seven's guest was Liz Weir from Northern Ireland (although almost Scotland) and as often happens I knew nothing of this teller, except a little hint before hand that this was going to be a much more traditional storytelling night than some of the more theatrical ones that I have seen before. Yes it was much more clean and standard telling, however it lost absolutely none of the thrill because of this. I also absolutely loved the desire and effort put in by Liz Weir's on creating an evening of variety from her numerous stories to encourage the young fledgling beast that is Feast Of Fools. This suited me fine as I was concerned that we may have had an evening based around a lot of fo...

South Pacific at Royal & Derngate last year set a remarkable benchmark for an "amateur" production, with a large talented cast, superb vocals, sets and a polish up there with a professional production. Sister Act, this years production from the Northampton Musical Theatre Company was more of the same, but perhaps taken up a notch or two. Sister Act is a musical based on the 1992 Whoopi Goldberg comedy and was first performed in 2009. Written by Bill and Cheri Steinkellner, it is a likable and fun musical which genuinely came as a surprise to me. The opening scene at Curtis's Bar and Nightclub is to be honest not the best though and genuinely didn't fill me with much hope. It feels as if it gives nothing to the cast, although it creates the premise of the story coupled with the incident outside the bar. Likewise, I didn't take much to the Police Station scene either, so it didn't bode well. When we reach the Queen Of Angels Cathedral though, this show...

And so the next generation of the Looking Glass Theatre begins, lifted gracefully from its former home and planted into the arms of Hazelrigg House and its performance space the glorious St Peters Church. The move is complete and there is perhaps nothing better than a light, fluffy and fun reinterpretation of oft told Sir Arthur Conan Doyle tale The Hound Of The Baskervilles to begin. Created as some sort of chaotic amateur dramatic performance with a feel of Sherlock Holmes does Pantomime, this is indeed a silly entertaining feast. A cast of just three coping, mostly, with all the roles of the play adds frequently more chaos. Our cast are in no particular order Marvin Freeman, Alex Rex and Katy Corrie. I was sure when I saw the original cast that Freeman would absolutely be Holmes, however this throws a curve ball with Rex as the famous sleuth. It is appropriate though as anyone aware of the story will know that Sherlock is actually quite absent for much of the story of the Baskerv...

It is a rule not to review previews of performances and most recently this has hit the headlines more with naughty media antics of Benedict Cumberbatch's opening night of Hamlet. This weekend I was present to see two previews of Made In Northampton's latest offering, Gaslight. I don't get to see the finished product for a fortnight and by then it will be near the end of its run, so it leaves me in a tricky situation, to review now or wait until its almost over. It is however a simple answer, review now, because although they were were previews, they were both performances of an excellent quality in any case (with just a hint of differences at work between shows) that I have no particular need to criticize. Gaslight is a 1938 play written by Patrick Hamilton and tells the tale of an evening in the life of Jack and Bella Manningham at home in 1880. Telling a tale of part psychological thriller, part mystery and more importantly what amounts to domestic violence, it is a cle...