Alcock Improv, What A Crew!

Many improv shows usually have as part of the show sections where there is some degree of audience participation. For some people this is an uncomfortable experience since they hate being called upon. Thus they try to sit somewhere beyond the third row (this is completely fair, given that to some troops nothing is off limits, even that last Botox Cheshire appointment you went to). Well if you have ever seen Alcock Improv one thing you will quickly realize is that, with people who are not too keen on participation in the show, they use their unique charm and warmth to drag them out of their impersonal state to join in the fun.

If you want to have an end to your day that involves grinning then Alcock Improv will provide you with just that. Much of their show involves sheer improv silliness and leans heavily on suggestions from their audiences. So the show will be what you want it to be in a way.

It is not difficult for audiences to become a part of the show and have a grand time with it. The group incorporates a lot of games that makes many feel as if they were back in school on the playground. So just about anything goes when you attend one of their performances.

What you get with this group is improv at its finest. You will not see the same type of show every night since it changes the same way the audience changes. Each member of the group brings their unique improv style to the performance which adds to the group’s uniqueness. None of them try to upstage the other and they work well together each feeding off the other.

Alcock Improv deserves to be seen by all as I certainly would recommend them. If you can get past your own fears of being called upon you will have some serious fun. They are easily one of the best improv groups around.

Cheekish Productions, Union Theatre, London

Cheekish Productions Presents

Shoot/Get Treasure/Repeat By Mark Ravenhill and

Eschara By Phillip Whiteman

At The Union Theatre, London until 24^th April, Tuesday-Saturday 7:30pm

Cheekish Production’s current work at the Union Theatre is a series of six short plays, three by Mark Ravenhill and three by Phillip Whiteman.

This comparatively new company have produced an evening of theatre which succeeds in being both exceptionally moving and highly absorbing. The combination of Mark Ravenhill and Phillip Whiteman’s writing works well and while both playwright’s have their own distinct styles they seem to share the same sense of immediacy and bite. Perhaps it is a brave and somewhat audacious idea to place an established writer’s work alongside that of a younger lesser known writer, but if it is a risk then it is a risk which has paid off and never for a moment did one half feel weaker than the other.

All of the plays are a response to issues surrounding the war in Iraq and specifically the July 7^th terrorist attacks on London so obviously this does not make for a light hearted evening. That being said there are some striking moment of much needed levity and black comedy. In Ravenhill’s Fear and Misery we watch a highly strung couple try to deal with the stifling sense of anxiety bordering on paranoia which they now feel on a daily basis as a result of the attacks. The couple are sharply and satirically drawn by Ravenhill, and while we laughed at their over reactions they were also very recognisable. This is an important slice of post 7/7 London life to parody and to document. The image of the soldier at the end of Fear and Misery was stunning and Ayling is obviously a director with a very clear vision.

The style of both playwrights (in particular Ravenhill) necessitates punchy quick delivery and this was a style which Ayling and the company committed to fully. While it was almost always very effective occasionally lines were lost and the audience could not keep up. The company can afford to let the piece breathe and to play the pauses (short or otherwise) on occasion safe in the knowledge that they have well and truly earnt them. However this is a small matter, and on the whole it was a relentless and brilliantly powerful evening.

Of all of the six short plays the last, Renaissance (by Phillip Whiteman), hit me the hardest. In a way it was the most human scene of the evening and though it was the least bombastic it packed the hardest punch. Lindesay Mace as the mother clearing the room and the luxury bedding of her dead son conveyed the emotional complexities of the character in a detailed and impressively truthful style. Daphne Kouma as the sister struggling to understand and desperate to help gave an equally sensitive portrayal and the tension between the two was palpable.

Cheekish Productions have toured this series of plays around the country but here in London it has more resonance than anywhere and the final image of the play literally made me weep. This is a hard hitting and powerful play by a company with a bright future ahead of them. An audacious piece of modern theatre.

“A Prayer for Wings”

"A Prayer for Wings"written by Sean Mathias, directed by Tania Higgins - this is the first production to come out of Tania’s fledgeling "The Deck Theatre Company".

This play is part of the Oxfirnge festival and opens at The Moser Theatre, Wadham College on 7th April 2010.

The play deals with one of the ever present subjects of this modern world - that of euthanasia. It tells the story of a mother, played by Hester Lott, who suffers from Multiple Sclerosis and daughter (Lucy Hoult) who has to deal with it. We witness the decline of the mother and the problems facing the daughter who has to deal with it - the hope that springs from certain happenings, the undoubted feelings of guilt from both characters - the mother who sometimes feels the pain of adversly affecting her daughter’s young life and from the daughter of course the feeling that at times she should be able to do more. Throughout though there is the overwhelming feeling of current and impending tragedy, it really tends to take ones mind off the luxury kitchen accessories they want to buy and other daily dilemmas.

The director will no doubt bring much of her personal experience into the play and undoubtedly evoke heartfelt performances from her actresses (I have seen Lucy Hoult in several plays and she never fails to give a memorable and thoughtful performance). Tania Higgins lives with a similar problem every day of her life with a mother suffering from Muscular Dystrophy. She spends much of her time travelling between her own home in Oxford and her mother’s in Hertfordshire.

It is with great awareness, understanding and generosity that Tania has decided that 10% of the proceeds will be donated to The Princess Royal’s Trust for Young Carers.

I strongly recommend this production and suspect that it will be one of the stas of the Oxfringe festival

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7th – 10th April 2010
The Moser Theatre
Wadham College
Parks Road
Oxford

Tickets £8 / £6 concessions
Also from: http://www.wegottickets.com and on the door

Soap at Riverside Studios

Riverside Studios and Circle of Eleven Present

Soap

Riverside Studios March 12th - April 25th

Directed by Markus Pabst and Maximillian Rambaek

Soap is a heady mixture of cabaret, circus and comedy which really will leave you all in a lather! Please excuse the terrible pun, this genuinly is a brilliant, sexy and funny show which leaves the audience amazed and wanting more.

The set consists of several large bathtubs and other designer bathroom accessories which the perfomers dance in and around in numerous imaginitive and cheeky ways. The central bath is slightly bigger and more stylised than the others and plays host to a glorious opera singer whose voice accompanies the action, sometimes juxtaposing nicely with what the performers are doing and sometimes adding a playful soundtrack with for instance the various classical takes on the ditty "splish splash I was taking a bath". The ensemble are all incredibly skilled and delight the audience with a huge variety of stunts which includes, the trapeze, acrobatics, dance, juggling, and clowning. Indeed the clown character adds a lovely dimension to the evening, creating a sense of inclusion and a lightness of touch to the whole show. In particular her sketch in a bath with a puppet hand on a lead was hilraious and endearing as was the contortionist skit in another bath. Another highlight for me was the foot juggler, which was as it sounds, someone juggling (hoop and a foam brick) with their feet. While that may sound slightly odd, in the context of Soap it was amazing and actually rather beautiful.

This is a company which is undoubtedly incredibly skilled and each of whom brings a hige amount of energy and slickness to the stage. There may have been times when it was ini danger of becoming a series of stunts but this was never the case largely down to the constant injections of comedy and humanity. In fact a trapeze performance near the very end of the show was beautiful to the point of being very moving. As one artist twisted and turned on the trapeze, rain fell on to the stage and the rest of the company sheltered under various parts of the set watching or looking out. It was a gorgeous image to end a gorgeous, fun filled, water soaked evening.

The Arab, The Jew and The Chicken

The conflict over land that has seen ferocious atrocities between Israel and Palestine for over 60 years is no laughing matter, but conflict relief’s satirical take of the mayhem in The Arab, a Jew and a Chicken is so hilarious you will laugh until you cry.

The four-piece ensemble entwine political propaganda with the confusion and heart-ache of the real people caught up in an absurd war that shows no signs of letting up. With tremendous versatility, the performers switch effortlessly between scenes and characters, spanning the spectrum of age groups and demonstrating their knack for accents, comic timing and spoof song and dance.

The comedy and the detail of information that spills out in the writing is intelligent as much as it is playful and though the seriousness of the subject matter is made light of, it has to be said it should be taken very much tongue in cheek. In my mind the education system would be much better if all applicants for Jobs in secondary education where educated in this type of humor. Not even the British, French and American’s escape the butt of the jokes, egged at with a olden one-liner that claims, “English bad. Bush mad. America stupid.” Even India, who to be fair have little involvement with events in the middle-east, are caught up in the hilarity with one of the most amusing put downs of the piece: “My father said the worst people to know are half Jew and half Indian. Stingy and cheap!”

The Arab, the Jew and the Chicken is an excellently portrayed political comedy, superbly executed without losing sight of the real issues faced by the people in the thick of the catastrophy. It’s one of the funniest comedies I’ve seen in the theatre for a long time and, unlike the real conflict in Gaza Strip, you simply don’t want it to end. Before jetting off for a show in Luxembourg, conflict relief will be playing in London at the Courtyard Theatre on the 11^th and 12^th March.

Never Tell Them - OxFringe March 24th - 27th 2010

In the autumn of 2008 I had the great pleasure of attending the annual production of the Oxford Writers'Group at the Burton Taylor Studio. Of the three one act plays being premiered by far the best was Stuart Lee’s First World War drama "Never Tell Them"directed by Joe Austin.

The play is set soon after the Great War and focuses on returned hero Lt. Simon Jones. Jones is haunted by the memory of his colleagues and men who all died during the conflict. His troubles fall upon his wife, Celia, and their young children.

Celia has called in the assistance of spiritualist Professor Norman Brailey on the recommendation of a friend. Brailey claims that he can communicate with the fallen and that by putting Jones in touch with his now deceased army colleagues he will be able to come to terms with the fact that he was the only survivor.

A seance is held and the audience witnesses how the charlatan Brailey manipulates his "victims". However this does succeed in getting Jones at least talking about the dreadful happenings of the war. Jones however continues with his visions once the seance is completed and there is a dramatic and thought provoking ending. Though this was well acted in 2008 unfortunately the director possibly over extended himself with the special effects which did not work well on the night that I was in!

The Oxford Finge production runs at the New Road Baptist Church, Bonn Square (Wed 24th - Sat 27th March). Sadly only Steve Hay (Lt. Jones) remains from the original cast. I hope that Hannah Morrell, who plays Mrs. Jones can bring the sympathy to her role that was beautifully portrayed previously by Jo Middleton. Whilst Simon Holden-White takes on the role of Professor Brailey which was played with great character in 2008 by the brilliantly smarmy Cymon Snow.

Vaction planning: The proposal to take a caravan to the fringe this year are in the works! Although we do need to look into getting some Caravan insurance, I am appointing this to Linda...

Tower Hamlet at the Courtyard Theatre,London

It’s fair to say that experimental theatre may not be everybody’s tasse de thé-atre, but Admiration Theatre thrive on it - even to the extent they go as far to make it educational as well a entertaining for attending audiences.

In their innovative version of Shakespeare’s epic, ’Hamlet,’Admiration Theatre deliver ’Tower Hamlet’performed using the methods of Traditional British Shakespeare, Stanislavski, Lecoq, Mime and Grotowski. The result was a thought-provoking, comical and energetic display of visual art and dance.

Theatre reviews would generally explain a little about the plot of the play, but unless you are familiar with the story of Hamlet, there is little sense of attending the Courtyard Theatre to watch this production, therefore there is little sense of engaging readers with the plot of Hamlet in this review. For those who are familiar with the story of the Bards Danish Prince - together with an interest in theatre as a pure art form and power of expression - ’Tower Hamlet’is a must.

Played in the round, the scenes alter dramatically from one form of acting to the next and transform Shakespeare’s tragedy into a tragi-comedy. Opening with Traditional British Shakespeare, the actors slip effortlessly between different methods which at times borders on the verge of satire. With each scene the styles contrast between the surrealism of Stanislavski and Grotowski with the energy of mime.

Each theatrical style is played in groups of actors, thereby giving us several Hamlets and several Ophelias, which included Regina Fichter’s convincing mime of Hamlet seeing the ghost of his father and the bearded Giorgio Spieglegefield’s amusing Ophelia dressed in her ballerina’s costume complete with chest hair protruding from beneath the leotard.

Though the script is mostly true to the original, the contemporary take allowed for cultural references such as Hamlet turning up in England seeking asylum under the name of Mr Prince and declaring, "England is good. I can write a book."

Tower Hamlets is full of surprises, thought-provoking, though at times a little baffling. The play runs at the Courtyard Theatre until Sunday 21^st February.

Holiday update: The plans to take a trailer along the south coast are in full swing! Although we do need to look into getting a Touring caravan insurance quote, I am delegating this to Milton...