Audio Review - Frankenstein

LYDEE

What an overwhelmingly emotional peace. The constant pain and strain of the main actress made me hurt a little, but also frustrated me somewhat as the breathing became her script more than her words. A harsh comment but this is levelled out by the true respect I have for her playing such a difficult and demanding part. Her lines seemed to go on for an age and she did not let on that she forgot a single one. Not only this but her and her partner had to perform 3 characters each, disguised only by masks. Who would have thought the same two people went on that stage throughout the production. Very promising acting!

RED RUM

A haunted promenade peace that was not particularly haunting; however there was fantastic effort that went into the set and surrounding. The acting was of a very good quality.

HYPOLITUS

An interesting promenade, that was modern and upbeat. However the contrast between the two sides of the story was so vast that you were lost when it came to the spiritual peace givers. They bored me. The vibrant druggies however, had great costume, great set, great lighting and great music. A very 1 sided battle.

Urashimo Taro after show talk

The after show talk of Urashimo Taro was quite eye opening as the woman who performed the monologue of the puppetry talked to us about how she trained and practiced the movements of the puppets. I never knew it took so much muscle and focus for something that seems so easy. This is clearly not the case and I appreciated being educated on this.

Video Review - Landscape & Monologue

ION

An interesting take on the Greek myth, Ion, son of Apollo. A dark performance performed in a small room, with strong acting and good vocal projection.

The Nutcracker

AWFUL! I tried to understand the "supposed to be" childrens fairy tale, but alas, the brutality and crass performance was not appreciated.

Musical Showcase

A rhapsody of musicals performed by a variety of talent. The good, the bad and the fantastic!

Others, presented by Paper Birds, performed at the Ustinov

This was a play that I would never have expected to have seen. An innovative new way of performing something so real and impacting on society so much, was demonstrated at the Ustinov. The theatre company, Paper Birds, came up with a fantastic idea of speaking to the audience and telling them of the challenge and project they had set up for themselves. It involved reaching out to people who have no voice, and placing their voice on stage. This voice is then heard and their society and culture understood.
3 very different women had their voice performed. An Iranian housewife, a woman convicted of murdering her husband and serving life in prison and the celebrity Heather Mills. They were brought to life in a very stylised manner of physical movement and monologues. The imagination involved showed comedy and tragedy so sensitively that it never insulted the character. There was never a moment of confusion or boredom. The 4 women automatically gripped you from the beginning using their naturalistic and interactive skills that blended in to the acting and story line. There were so many little things that I loved, such as seeing a bird’s eye view of a woman reading the letter on a table and the flowing and spinning movement of another moment of reading a letter. The mimed physical violence was so vicious to a point that was almost too much to bare, as it went on and on and on. You just did not know when it was going to stop. Then there were other times where the actors would come out of character and talk to each other on stage. For example, when the Iraqi woman (Maryam Hamidi) playing the Iranian housewife was trying to justify and identify the difference in her culture to the audience and Shane Durrant, the piano man, would come in with gently mood intensifying music, she would ask him to stop as she felt it was not necessary for that moment. He repeatedly kept doing this, until she became really angry to show the audience how genuine her anger and emotions were. There was so much truth in what they performed, bringing in real life characters such as Heather Mills and it was brilliant the way they used media (which is how most of us see her life through) to show us her story and persona. I would love to see this play again and again. The idea of having missed every little detail on stage horrifies me. I never wanted the performance to end.

PYGMALION by George Bernard Shaw, performed at the Mission Theatre by Bath University

A dominating Henry Higgins, who had very good comic timing and perfectly projected, enunciated speech. A brash but charming Eliza Doolittle, who wavered into her own Scottish accent as she became more gentile. A well performed piece on a small stage but with a wonderful set. A thoroughly enjoyable play ,with wonderfully quick wit and constant change of tempo.

KING LEAR, by William Shakespeare, performed at the University Theatre of Bath Spa

 The oh so hairy King Lear performed this fantastically! Really put his anger and frustration across to the audience. There were some really funny moments with some brilliant comedic actors. However, it took me a while to figure out who the strange, weedy, black haired boy was who was constantly following King Lear everywhere was King Leah’s shadow...? In the end I thought it was an attempt at performing one of Shakespeare’s greatest dramatic masterpieces.

CLOCKWORK ORANGE, By Anthony Burgess, performed by Bath Spa drama studies/media students

I have always loved the story line of this vulgar and improper play. I thought that the boy who played Alex was fantastic and kept a level of insanity in his face that is very difficult to maintain. The set was well used and the use of media was strong, however, sometimes a little over used. Also, I did feel that it was very unrehearsed, with lines being forgotten and lack of energy on stage, particularly by the one female actress. Maybe a few more weeks’ rehearsal? I would love to see it again...with improvements!

AVENUE Q, by Jeff Whitty, performed at the Theatre Royale

Funniest thing I have seen in a long time, touching on the most down to earth, realistic topics of life.

I would see that again and again and again...and again. Jeff Whitty, you are witty!!

Urashima Taro

If you asked me what the story line was, I couldn't tell you. If you asked me who acted in it, I couldn't tell you. If you asked me if I liked it, I would say NO. A bizaar practically silent performance by a crippled puppet that scared you senseless. Uninteresting and unamusing. The only slightly interesting bit was when the puppet started havng sex behind the screen...

Stand-up Comedy Evening with Bath Spa Live

Imagine going out for a casual drink to an indie bar. Then stumbling down the stairs having been fuelled by a few Gin and Tonics and then sitting through an hour and a half of hysteria inducing hilarity. We were provided some stools at the back of the room...near the bar... as the place was pretty full by that point. First up was Mark Aspinall the MC of the evening, who, to be honest, was a little flat line with his comic wit, or lack thereof. He introduced us to the 2nd year students of Bath Spa that were going to be entertaining us for the evening. On came Leo "So and So" who was fantastic straight from the word go. 10 minutes of pure genius oozed out of him as he seductively told women how to entertain a man, in bed, dropping in examples of his own bad experiences with his girlfriend. A rupture of applause was given to him as he finished and then it was time for another drink. Then came the 1 minute slots by 10 more students. All providing an array of real life experiences and bodily malfunctions. I was entertained to the max. I was intrigued by the brilliance and quirkiness of the humour that was being flung around the room. I was also taken aback by the constant mention of vaginas and sex...but when does that ever cease to be amusing?? Then finally, the final 10 minute performer, who in a low husky voice, head tilted down, eyes glaring through her hair at the audience, introduced herself as LEO'S girlfriend... straight off the bat a simple line that overwhelmed the audience with uncontrollable fits of raucous laughter. Then she began to tell the men how to treat a woman in the bed room. This wasn't done with subtle innuendos or anything, this was, well, XXX rated. The detail was really quite impressive. But it was the fact that these students could get up in front of a crowd and say exactly what they wanted to say. They had no limitations, no boundaries and it was brilliant to hear something that a lot of students love to talk about. I certainly hope to see some of the University students up on stage again!
So as a wonderful way to finish the evening a professional comedian took over the stage. An overweight pompous intellect who suffered from a stutter but mastered the art of taking the piss out of himself. He lollopped around the stage mocking his bear gut, talking about stocks and money and technology, but being outrageous with his terminology.