BHamREP

June 14, 2017July 27, 2017

BPREVIEW: The Play That Goes Wrong @ REP (House stage) 19-24.06.17

Words by Lucy Mounfield / Production pics by Helen Murray

On Monday 19^th June, The Play That Goes Wrong will bring theatrical disaster to Birmingham REP’s House stage – as produced and performed by the Mischief Theatre Company. The Play That Goes Wrong will be running daily (except Sundays) until Saturday 24^th June. Matinee performances will be held on Thursday 22^nd and Saturday 24^th June at 2pm.

Standard tickets start from £15 with matinees from £10. For direct event information, including venue details and online ticket sales, click here.

The Play That Goes Wrong is written by co-authors Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer and Henry Shields, whose first production, Let’s See What Happens, was devised by the former LAMDA students in 2008. The Play That Goes Wrong depicts the very opposite to the multi-award-winning trajectory that Mischief Theatre have taken.

This meta-theatrical experience of a play within a play has been running for five years (on the West End since 2014) and builds upon the tradition of turning amateur performance disaster into comic triumph. The premise is simple: The Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society are putting on a 1920’s murder mystery, but as the title suggests this does not go to plan. Think Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap meets Fawlty Towers, as the wannabe thespians cringingly carry on ‘against all the odds to reach their final curtain call, hilarious results ensue!’

But this well received farce is certainly this is no amateur production; Mischief Theatre are getting it wrong perfectly. This comes in many forms: slapstick, travesty, set malfunctions and miss-communications between the actors of the drama society who really are learning on the job. The Play That Goes Wrong promises physical humor such as planks of wood knocking out actors, but will this get too much for the real audience watching a play that is depicting another play going wrong? Does this kind of farce have to be believable, or is it simply about the hi-jinks?

What springs to mind when thinking about a play within a play genre is the ridiculous Michael Frayn play Noises Off – considered by many the greatest of all backstage farces. Noises Off manages to create nuanced characters and personality conflicts to explain away the comic failings of their play, thereby producing something akin to the believable. The National Theatre’s One Man Two Guvnors (which in my opinion was the funniest play I have ever seen) may not be a backstage based narrative, but utilises the artistic components of slapstick to full effect – by setting up a story and the characters motivation, the chaos that ensued was far funnier and quite often surprising.

The Play That Goes Wrong surely further takes influence from Morecambe and Wise’s Play’s Wot Erne Wrote, in which Morecambe and Wise invite a celebrity guest to star in one of Ernie’s plays (of course, it goes wrong as its badly written, badly acted and no one has a clue what is going on). But the play within a play tradition works well here because of the unsuspecting guest’s attempt to act whilst the others don’t, in turn making them look ever more the fool.

The Play That Goes Wrong has been running solidly in London’s West End and on Broadway, winning a slew of awards including an Olivier for Best New Comedy. So once more we tread the precarious boards of a play within a play, one that promises to push the boundaries of this genre even further and I suspect my laughter even louder.

The Play That Goes Wrong – Mischief Theatre

The Play That Goes Wrong runs at the Birmingham REP from 19^th to 24^th June – on the theatre’s House stage. For direct event info and online tickets sales, click here.

For more on Mischief Theatre, visit www.mischieftheatre.co.uk

For more from the Birmingham REP, including full event listing and online ticket sales, visit www.birmingham-rep.co.uk

May 19, 2017May 19, 2017

BREVIEW: My Country; a work in progress @ REP 16-20.05.17

Words by Charlotte Heap / Production shots by Sarah Lee

My Country; a work in progress – the new play from Poet Laureate, Carol Ann Duffy, and director of the National Theatre, Rufus Norris – was clever from the first scene. The audience is immediately involved as Britannia herself dances to 80’s classic ‘When Two Tribes go to War’, while preparing a village hall set for a meeting with her regional representatives. It was clear that Duffy’s dry humour would feature heavily.

In creating My Country; a work in progress, Duffy and Norris have interwoven real quotes from people across the country, verbatim, with political soundbites and Duffy’s own poetic prose – resulting in a razor sharp script, distilling the emotional, conflicting, and at times extreme range of views currently dividing our understanding of ‘Britishness’. Much focus is given to a young interviewee’s love of his hometown and his hope for happiness: a naive but pure viewpoint which both amused and endeared. Careful editing further delivers a debate which escalates to a seemingly unsolvable disagreement, purposely mirroring where society is now: a country divided by issues such as race and immigration, but united by sarcasm and wit. Duffy’s voice appears at welcome interviews, poignantly delivered by a hopeful Britannia.

Inventive choreography and staging (using just chairs, tables and ballot boxes) complimented the slick dialogue. Deftly reflecting stereotypes so ingrained in British culture with minimal props, music was also used masterfully. From the aforementioned Frankie Goes to Hollywood to a hymn sung hauntingly by the cast, My Country took the audience from amusement to sorrow and back again.

Britannia’s accurate impersonations of the key political characters of the referendum campaign raised some of the biggest laughs of the evening; the authors selected the most ironic quotes from the likes of Boris Johnson and David Cameron, which were savagely brought to life ‘Spitting Image’ style. The actors representing the six regions on stage also delivered their residents’ words with fluidity and comedic timing.

However the cast struggled with a major issue; for a play that seeks to promote listening, discourse and understanding, what this piece benefited from in humour it lacked in balanced representation.

Rufus Norris set out to challenge the ‘liberal echo chamber’ of theatres, identifying society’s reluctance to empathise in a recent interview with The Guardian: ‘With the death in belief of the great them – whether they are politicians, kings and queens or experts – what do we believe in? We believe in ourselves.’

Yet the authors of My Country chose some of the most nonsensical or extreme views held within the transcripts and political posturing: viewpoints which could be amusing, but not necessarily sympathetic to the wider debate. Disappointingly, there was a lack of rational argument represented in the text. An editorial decision which meant that while the play entertained, it perhaps didn’t do enough to persuade either side to listen the other’s reasoning.

More importantly there was a lack of representation on stage. And as talented as the actors in My Country are, when seeking to portray the spectrum of society you need more than a solitary British Asian person surrounded by white faces. Britain is multi-cultural; a fair representation of Britain should be cast to reflect that. Delivering the voices of widespread cultures and ethnicities a tricky thing to navigate respectfully, and something that My Country; a work in progress should re-examine in both casting and rehearsals.

Having set out to capture and challenge the zeitgeist of an important moment in our political history, My Country; a work in progress is theatrically still exactly that – unfinished. Although the most hopeful and uniting moments in the play, provided by Duffy’s powerful poetry, remind us that the British people are linked by many commonalities despite our current rifts.

Politically in Britain, what happens next will remain to be seen. But for My Country; a work in progress to become the complete article, it needs to examine the way it delivers its important message to resonate with all sections of our society.

My Country; a work in progress – full trailer

Audience reaction to My Country; a work in progress

My Country; a work in progress runs at the Birmingham REP from Tuesday 16^th to Saturday 20^th May, as presented by the National Theatre.

Evening performances will be held daily at 7:45pm, with matinees at 2:45pm on Thursday 18^th and Saturday 20^th May. For direct event info – including full venue details, show times and online tickets sales, click here.

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For more on My Country; a work in progress, visit www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/shows/my-country

For more from the National Theatre, visit www.nationaltheatre.org.uk

For more from the Birmingham REP, including a full event programme and online ticket sales, visit www.birmingham-rep.co.uk

March 9, 2017

BPREVIEW: One Love: The Bob Marley Musical @ REP 10.03.17 – 15.04.17

Words by Ed King / Lead pic courtesy of REP, rehearsal pic by Helen Maybanks

On Friday 10^th March, One Love: The Bob Marley Musical opens at the Birmingham REP, running daily (except Sundays) until Saturday 15^th April. Matinee performances will be held on Thursdays and Saturdays at 4pm.

The following assisted shows will also be held: Audio Described on Saturday 1^st April at 4pm, Captioned on Wednesday 5^th April at 7:30pm, British Sign Language Interpreted on Friday 7^th April at 7:30pm.

Standard tickets start from £15, with preview tickets available at £10 for shows from Friday 10^th to Tuesday 14^th March. For direct event information, including venue details and online ticket sales, click here.

One Love: The Bob Marley Musical is written/directed by Kwame Kwei-Armah and produced by the Birmingham Rep – in association with Playful Productions and Stage Play Limited. For a full list of cast and crew, click here.

Originally titled Marley, this is the second stage outing for a Bob Marley musical from Kwame Kwei-Armah – the first being run at the Centre Stage theatre in Boston where Kwei-Armah is the artistic director. Holding its UK première at the Birmingham REP, One Love: The Bob Marley Musical will most likely go on to tour the wider UK – although at the time of writing Birmingham Review can’t confirm any future dates after the REP run.

Taking place ‘across a dramatic period in the music legend’s life’, One Love ‘tells the story of a man propelled from rising reggae star to global icon’. But the name and cast list suggest the narrative will pivot on the One Love Peace concert hosted by Bob Marley in Kingston in 1978, where Marley reportedly joined the hands (literally) of warring Jamaican politicians (literally again) Michael Manley (PNP) and Edward Seaga (JLP) live on stage.

Two years earlier Bob Marley, his wife Rita, and manager Don Taylor had been shot for their involvement in the Smile Jamaica concert, as gunmen attacked the Tuff Gong home and studio on Hope Road. Many believe Bob Marley and the Wailers had become targets for the CIA supported JLP after the date of the election had been moved to coincide with the arguably pro-PNP concert; the north america based intelligence agency has a track record of aggressive electioneering in central and south america.

Then there’s the music…

It’s hard to find an artist who has crossed more boundaries of style, culture, race and class as Bob Marley, bringing an accessible message of peace and unity to a Benetton commercial audience across the world.

Most of us know this, having grown up surrounded by poster-after-badge-after-t-shirt-after-compilation, but the numbers behind the icon give an almost bewildering context: 13 studio albums in 18 years with over 75 million records sold before his death (Bob Marley and the Wailers hit over 21million in one decade of posthumous sales). Bob Marley has received awards from Rolling Stone to the United Nations, with one of most plaque or stars you can get featuring his name. And here’s another number, Bob Marley was only 36 when he died.

Not the be all and end all of reggae by any stretch – with members of The Wailers, Marley’s production team and the Island Record entourage being arguably as, if not more, pioneering – Bob Marley represented a moment in time. And despite his colonial bloodline, with extended self exiles in both America and the UK, Bob Marley was a force of recognition for the struggles of Jamaica, the African Diaspora and people worldwide who were suffering or forgotten.

In both life and death, Bob Marley has stood as an icon for hope and the continued hope of freedom itself. And from redbrick University walls to the back room of an Aston blues party, this message continues to travel. ‘Won’t you help to sing…?’

Check out Kwame Kwei-Armah talking about One Love: The Bob Marley Musical below:

One Love: The Bob Marley Musical opens at Birmingham REP on Friday 10^th March running daily (except Sundays) until Saturday 15^th April. For direct event info and online tickets sales, click here.

For more on Kwame Kwei-Armah, visit www.unitedagents.co.uk/kwame-kwei-armah

For more from Birmingham REP, including full event listing and online ticket sales, visit www.birmingham-rep.co.uk

December 3, 2016

BREVIEW: Treasure Island @ REP – running until 07.01.17

Words by Helen Knott / Pics by Pete Le May

Robert Louis Stevenson described his book Treasure Island as, ‘a story for boys; no need of psychology or fine writing’. It’s an outlook typical of its time, and the resulting story is a lively and charming Victorian coming-of-age adventure.

So how then, to create a production that captures the spirit of the original while appealing to a modern Birmingham REP family audience? This particular adaptation is written by the highly respected playwright Bryony Lavery. Lavery has taken a feminist slant on Treasure Island, with the protagonist Jim and a number of other main characters played by women.

Jim being played by a girl rather than a boy makes less difference than you might think. You just immediately accept it; in fact, the play mentions it more times that it really needs to. As Jim says when continually asked about her gender in the first act: “That be my business”.

Apart from its use of gender, Lavery’s stage adaptation doesn’t stray too far from Stevenson’s book. This isn’t always a good thing. For example, on a number of occasions Jim steps out of a scene to take on the role of narrator, describing the action as if the character is still in the novel. These narrative passages are never insightful or necessary; the audience, even with children in it, should be trusted to understand what’s happening on stage.

Another issue is the pacing. This is a long play – three hours including the interval. Too much time is spent on exposition in the first act, which takes place at Jim’s inn and features a succession of mumbling characters having dull exchanges. Unfortunately it’s symptomatic of the rest of the production; it lacks drama and tension. There are some loud bangs that make you jump and some gruesome injuries that make you recoil, but there are no real moments of wonder.

Directed by Philip Breen, this production of Treasure Island works best when it’s concentrating on being fun – utilising the cast’s musical talents in the songs or using the REP’s floor for some neat visual tricks.

There are some nice comic performances too: Dave Fishley, who plays the sailor Gray, steals all of the scenes he’s in. Gray’s running joke is that he is so dull that he’s continually forgotten by his crewmates, though of course it works to his advantage in the end. And Thomas Pickles’ off-kilter, Gollum-inspired performance as Ben Gunn is the highlight of the second half.

Sometimes, however, the more serious elements of the show, such as the numerous, sometimes quite unpleasant deaths, are played too much for laughs. I’m not expecting a Tarantino-style dark atmosphere to a family Christmas show, but there needs to be some feeling of jeopardy. The parrot, Captain Flint, is probably the scariest character in the production and he’s a puppet.

Emotions too are downplayed and oversimplified. Jim and ‘Long John’ Silver’s ambiguous relationship should be at the heart of the play, but it isn’t given the stage time to develop. Consequently, the inevitable betrayal lacks emotional punch.

Perhaps I’m just not invested enough because I didn’t read the book as a child. The lady sitting next to me did and we discuss the differences between the play and the book in the interval. “I would have liked this new version when I was a girl”, she says.

So if the girls in the audience watch this Treasure Island and feel inspired by an adventurous, outgoing role model then I’ll happily forgive what is a fun, but ultimately unsatisfying, production.

Treasure Island runs at the Birmingham REP from 25^th November 2016 to 7^th January 2017. For direct event information, including performance times and online tickets sales, click here.

For more from the Birmingham REP, including full event listings and online ticket sales, visit www.birmingham-rep.co.uk

November 24, 2016

BPREVIEW: Treasure Island @ REP 24.11.16 – 07.01.17

Words by Helen Knott

On Friday 25^th November, Treasure Island opens at the Birmingham REP – adapted for the stage by Byrony Lavery and directed by Phillip Breen.

Performances run from Monday to Saturday, until 7^th January 2017. Tickets are priced from £10 – £37.50 – for direct event information, including performance times and online tickets sales, click here.

Christmas is a time for traditions: roast dinners, time with the family, festive re-runs on TV. Basking in the comfortingly familiar.

Theatres know this of course, and programme their Christmas seasons accordingly, with pantomimes and adaptations of well-known novels and films. This year the Birmingham REP has plumped for Treasure Island, a book that many of us will have read as children and which is often performed on stage.

This particular adaptation is by renowned playwright Bryony Lavery. Lavery has a long relationship with Birmingham: the REP has produced a number of her plays, including her most famous work, Frozen, in 1998 (later performed on Broadway and nominated for four Tony Awards) and she was a tutor on the University of Birmingham’s MA in Playwriting for a number of years.

In recent times Lavery has become as well known for adapting classic works as for writing her own plays, with Ibsen’s A Doll’s House and Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited both receiving Lavery interpretations. Her version of Treasure Island was first produced at the National Theatre in 2014, with reviewers appreciative of a production largely faithful to the book, with a few exceptions.

Probably the most notable of these exceptions is that Jim, the central character, is female in Lavery’s version, along with a number of other roles. Before finding mainstream success with Frozen, Lavery was mostly known for her work in gay and feminist fringe theatre. It’s hardly surprising then, that she has a feminist take on a traditionally male-centered tale.

The update should not only provide strong female role models for the girls in the audience, but also enough of an air of un-familiarity to keep one the most well known stories in English Literature interesting for the whole family.

Along with the promise of pirates and sword fights, entertaining songs and dance routines, and spectacular set and costumes, Treasure Island at the Birmingham REP promises to be a production that shows that everyone, even girls, can have adventures.

Cast

Pete Ashmore Badger
Greg Coulson Lucky Mickey
Andrea Davy Red Ruth
Anni Domingo Grandma Hawkins
Ru Hamilton Dick the Dandy
Dave Fishley Grey / Billy Bones
Michael Hodgson Long John Silver
Kaitlin Howard Joan The Goat
Sian Howard Dr Livesy
Sarah Middleton Jim

Creatives

Bryony Lavery Writer
Phillip Breen Director
Mark Bailey Designer
Dyfan Jones Composer and Musical Director
Tina MacHugh Lighting Designer
Andrea J Cox Sound Designer
John Ross Movement Director
Renny Krupinski Fight Director
Craig Denstone Puppets
Sophie Paterson Assistant Director

Treasure Island runs at the Birmingham REP from 25^th November 2016 to 7^th January 2017. For direct event information, including performance times and online tickets sales, click here.

For more from the Birmingham REP, including full event listings and online ticket sales, visit www.birmingham-rep.co.uk