Lucy Mounfield

May 22, 2018May 25, 2018

ELEANOR’S PICK: Slam Dunk Festival 2018 (Midlands) @ NEC 28.05.18

Slam Dunk Festival 2018 (Midlands) comes to the NEC in Birmingham on 28^th May. For a direct event information, including venue details and online ticket sales, visit www.gentingarena.co.uk/whats-on/slam-dunk-festival

As one of the most anticipated dates in the UK pop punk calendar, it’s safe to say Slam Dunk Festival are taking no prisoners with this year’s line up. With a bevy of bands and artists descending upon the NEC in just under a week’s time, I took it upon myself to comb through the roster and select a number that I personally love.

Holding Absence / Rock Sound Breakout Stage

Birmingham favourites, Holding Absence, are set to make their Slam Dunk debut this year on the Rock Sound Breakout Stage. Having recently announced the departure of guitarist Feisal El-Khazragi, it will be one of their first performances without him in their line up. But with Holding Absence recently nominated for Best British Breakthrough Band at the 2018 Heavy Metal Awards, plus playing a string of dates supporting Being as an Ocean across Europe in June, they’re certainly not letting El-Khazragi’s departure slow them down.

Represented by Sharptone Records – who bought us the likes of Don Broco, Miss May I and We Came As Romans – the Cardiff based band also recently toured and released a co-EP with Loathe titled This Is As One, which earned them numerous positive reviews from critics for tracks such as ‘Saint Cecilia’.

Holding Absence perform at 3:30pm on the Rock Sound Breakout Stage. For more on Holding Absence, visit www.holdingabsence.com

‘Saint Cecilia’ – Holding Absence

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PVRIS / Jägermeister Main Stage

Having recently performed at Coachella, PVRIS will be returning to Birmingham hot off the heels of the American leg of their All We Know of Heaven, All We Need Of Hell tour – promoting their latest album of the same name.

Lynn Gunn’s dreamy vocals, combined with the band’s heavy rock influences, have earned them a dedicated fanbase and won them Rock Sound’s Artist of the Year Award back in 2017. Here’s hoping PVRIS also perform some tracks from their debut album, White Noise, with songs such as ‘St. Patrick’ and ‘My House’ being on my personal wish list.

PVRIS perform at 8:15 pm on the Jägermeister Main Stage. For more on PVRIS, visit www.pvris.com

‘Anyone Else’ – PVRIS

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Taking Back Sunday / Monster Energy Main Stage

Returning to Slam Dunk for the 3^rd time, Taking Back Sunday were in the first wave of bands to be confirmed to at perform this year’s festival.

Having released their 7^th album, Tidal Waves, in September 2016, and parting ways with their original guitarist Eddie Rayes last month, it will be interesting to see if we get to hear any new material from the group. Although I’m hoping to hear classic tracks such as ‘You’re So Last Summer’ and ‘MakeDamnSure’ as well as songs such as ‘You Can’t Look Back’ from their latest album live.

Taking Back Sunday perform at 8:05pm on the Monster Energy Main Stage. For more on Taking Back Sunday, visit www.takingbacksunday.com

‘You’re So Last Summer’ – Taking Back Sunday

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Astroid Boys / Impericon Stage

The Impericon stage will be hosting hardcore grime band Astroid Boys, who have always delivered impressive shows in Birmingham. Growing steadily since their formation back in 2012, they were bought to my attention after being featured in BBC Radio 4’s documentary Operation Grime, which tailed them on a tour across the UK.

Astroid Boys‘ music is not for the faint hearted – expect brutal lyrics addressing issues such as racism, mashed with hardcore and grime influences to create a sound you probably have never heard before… but will just as probably want to listen to again.

Astroid Boys perform at 2:20 pm on the Impericon Stage. For more on Astroid Boys, visit www.astroid-boys.com

‘Foreigners’ – Astroid Boys

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As It Is / Signature Brew Stage

Announcing the August release of their latest album, The Great Depression, only a few days ago, Brighton based As It Is will be headlining the Signature Brew stage this year.

A band who’ve amassed a dedicated fan base with tracks such as ‘Dial Tones’ and ‘Hey Rachel’, their material is catchy, easy to listen to and fun – however it’s unfair to assume they lack a more serious side. Their latest release, ‘The Wounded World’, delves into a much darker side of their ever-expanding noise, having been cited by the band as a ‘new era’ of their music which expands on ‘the societal romanticisation of depression’ and ‘the disrepair of present-day human connection’.

As ever with this band, though, As It Is approach their subject with the respect and sensitivity it warrants – referencing their new material as a means for them to work to create a positive change for mental health.

As It Is perform at 8:30pm on the Signature Brew Stage. For more from As It Is, visit www.asitisofficial.bandcamp.com

‘The Wounded World’ – As It Is

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Luke Rainsford / The Key Club Acoustic Stage

The Key Club Acoustic Stage is hosting a stellar line up of bands and artists, including Birmingham’s Luke Rainsford – combining upbeat guitar with gut wrenching vocals, making music that is hard hitting but a real treat to listen to.

Having toured the UK extensively since the release of I Feel At Home With You in February 2017, and having recently released his latest EP, I Just Don’t Deserve To Be Loved, in April 2018, Rainsford’s music deals with difficult issues such as loss, bereavement, low self esteem and mental health. Good, honest stuff.

Luke Rainsford performs at 4:15 pm on The Key Club Acoustic Stage. For more on Luke Rainsford, visit www.lukerainsford.bandcamp.com

‘Home Safe’ – Luke Rainsford

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltnvyxgWovs

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Stand Atlantic / Rock Sound Breakout Stage

Australian trio, Stand Atlantic, will also be making their Slam Dunk debut this year, having recently toured with other performers such as ROAM and Knuckle Puck. With their latest EP, Sidewinder, reaching an impressive #10 on Rock Sound’s Top 50 Albums of 2017, and having been cited by Kerrang! as one of the hottest bands of 2018, Stand Atlantic are proving they’re a force to be reckoned with.

Claiming influences from Blink-182 to The 1975, they’re certainly considered a mixed bag musically too – but in the best possible way. Trust me. Go and listen to ‘Coffee at Midnight’. You can thank me later.

Stand Atlantic perform at 6:00 pm on the Rock Sound Breakout Stage. For more on Stand Atlantic, visit www.facebook.com/StandAtlantic

‘Coffee at Midnight’ – Stand Atlantic

Slam Dunk Festival 2018 (Midlands) comes to the NEC in Birmingham on 28^th May. For direct information on Slam Dunk Festival 2018, including details on all the events happening across the UK, visit www.slamdunkmusic.com

For a direct info and online ticket sales for Slam Dunk Festival 2018 (Midlands), visit www.gentingarena.co.uk/whats-on/slam-dunk-festival

For more from the Genting Arena, including full events listing and venue details, visit www.gentingarena.co.uk

April 13, 2018April 12, 2018

BREVIEW: Brighton Rock @ Birmingham REP until 14.04.18

Words by Lucy Mounfield / Production shots by Karl Andre Photography

On reading the tag line for Pilot Theatre’s Brighton Rock on the Birmingham REP’s website I was a little apprehensive:

‘Romeo & Juliet meets Peaky Blinders in this gripping tale of crime and romance.’

Comparing Peaky Blinders with Brighton Rock misses the point somewhat; based on real gang violence that gripped Birmingham during the early 1900s, the BBC series takes real life events and dramatises them for an entertainment-hungry audience. As Greene stated, Brighton Rock started out as a “simple detective story”, but developed into a “discussion, too obvious and open for a novel, of the distinction between good and evil, and right and wrong and the mystery of the ‘appalling strangeness of the mercy of God’”.

For me, Greene’s Brighton Rock is a psychologically-complex and dark musing on the effects of upbringing, social change, violence-as-protection, and how far the belief in damnation can sustain a life of grotesque crime. So, prior to watching Bryony Lavery’s adaptation, I was concerned that the production would lack depth and eschew Greene’s problematic juxtaposition of the ethical and atheistic morality with Catholic dogma.

However, Lavery’s interpretation manages to untangle complex ideas that often bogged down Greene’s work. The themes, all concerning the root causes of evil, are delicately balanced to focus on psychological damage as a product of social conditioning and, most interestingly, the pre-conditioned religious understanding of good versus evil and heaven and hell. Pilot Theatre’s production of Brighton Rock is as multi-layered and complex as I had could have hoped for.

The opening scene brings together all the elements of the piece. We are introduced to Ida (Gloria Onitiri), who lives a hedonistic lifestyle in the pubs of Brighton, as she meets Fred (Marc Graham) who is being pursued by Pinkie’s (Jacob James Bestwick) gang.

The live, percussive, musical accompaniment conveys a sense of terror as the unfortunate Fred is stalked by Pinkie, a mood that is intensified by the jagged flashes of lighting and the choreographed ensemble. Graham slides across the stage in panicked frenzy, the choreography clicking to the rhythm of the drums which create the sound of a scared heartbeat. The live music is electrifying; the synth pulses throughout, suggestive of the frightening tight-rope line between good and evil that Pinkie and his gang are treading. This sets off the main events of the story, as Ida pursues justice for Fred and Pinkie desperately tries to remain in control.

Protruding from the back of the set is the battered and rusted remains of Brighton’s West Pier, which since the 1980s has fallen into disrepair, with most of the structure lost to the sea. The stage is innovatively used throughout, but most effectively during the chase for Fred. It acts as pier, seafront, guest house, the gang’s hideout, and the Cosmopolitan Hotel. Sara Perks has designed a fantastic homage to Brighton and its bawdy seaside past; the set works well as a metaphor for the decaying morals of Pinkie and his gang, as well as being evocatively suggestive of the future that ultimately befalls Pinkie.

Pinkie becomes embroiled in a relationship with Rose (Sarah Middleton), a naive waitress a year younger than him, initially in order to silence her when she witnesses evidence of the night of Fred’s murder. To maintain both her silence and love for him, Pinkie marries Rose in a sham wedding, bribing her parents with money to sign the consent form.

The evening of the wedding is a grotesque depiction of hatred; Rose asks Pinkie for a record of his voice and in a fit of madness he spits out a series of vitriolic statements. The consummation of their marriage shows Pinkie tussling with his emotions – anger, fear of sex, and loathing of the female body – while upholding his duty as gang leader and man. They both balance on a scaffold ladder that is twirled around by demons in black; their fight becomes a dance and they succumb to each other in a whirl of madness.

Pinkie might have a Peaky Blinders buzz cut, but he is far removed from the world of Brummie gangs and international gun running. Having installed himself at the top of his tiny seaside gang through viciousness and cunning, he is constantly struggling to assert his dominance yet haunted by the fragility of his position. He has something to prove, and his escalating attempts to control the fallout from a murder drive the story along.

Pinkie is preoccupied with his eternal damnation, which he avoids through reference to repentance before death; he behaves as if everything is permitted, and it is precisely his belief in damnation (and his disavowal of it) that allows him to do so. This all comes out in his performance, prowling around the stage and crackling with nervous energy. His exaggerated body language and twitchy head movements perfectly hints at his unpredictability and youth. Sara Perks’s costume for Pinkie is tailored and slim fitting, the jacket slightly too small in order to emphasises his sleight and teenage frame.

The cast are fantastic, each character is defined and clearly identifiable. Angela Bain is particularly good as Spicer, the older mob member whose poor memory and silly mistakes provoke Pinkie to have them killed. This moment at the racecourse is chilling and acts effectively as the beginning of Pinkie’s downward psychological spiral.

For me though, Onitiri’s performance as Ida is sublime and steals the limelight away from the brooding and erratic Pinkie. Throughout the play, Onitiri maintains the energy and exuberance that makes Ida so lovable and relatable.

Even during the second half, when the pace dropped considerably and the length of the piece started to bog down the energy of the cast, Onitiri managed to keep my attention fixed. Ida is the perfect foil for both Pinkie and Greene’s religious symbolism; her belief in right and wrong is driven by her admonishment of the Catholic Church’s prioritisation of the afterlife over human existence. Her singing is soulful, and during the last sequence after Pinkie has drowned in the sea, and Rose is left pregnant and forgotten, her final monologue about death is truly heart-breaking.

Bryony Lavery and Pilot Theatre’s adaptation of Brighton Rock is a well-balanced piece, perfectly acted and staged, and one I will go back to watch again and again. If this is Esther Richardson’s first major production for the York based theatre company, then I am excited to see what else she has up her sleeve.

Brighton Rock runs at the Birmingham REP until to Saturday 14^th April. For direct show information, including venue details and online ticket sales, visit www.birmingham-rep.co.uk/whats-on/brighton-rock

For more on Pilot Theatre, visit www.pilot-theatre.com

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

April 9, 2018April 9, 2018

BPREVIEW: Brighton Rock @ Birmingham REP 10-14.04.18

Words by Lucy Mounfield / Production shots by Karl Andre Photography

From Tuesday 10^th to Saturday 14^th April, the REP’s main stage will host Bryony Lavery’s acclaimed adaptation of Graham Greene’s classic novel Brighton Rock.

Co-produced by Pilot Theatre and York Theatre Royal, Lavery’s adaptation is directed by Pilot Theatre’s artistic director Esther Richardson. Hannah Peel has composed music for the new production, with her compositions performed by Laura Groves live on stage during the UK tour.

Evening performances at the REP will be held daily from 7:30pm, except on Tuesday 9^th April when the show is scheduled for 7pm. Matinee performances will also be held from 2pm on Thursday 12^th and Saturday 14^th April. Tickets are priced £15, with seats available at the weekday matinee from £10 – for direct show information, including venue details and online ticket sales, click here.

This new production re-tells Greene’s classic noir thriller; published in 1938, this eighty-year-old novel is being staged for a new audience, many of whom will not remember this period prior to the second world war. However, many more may be familiar with the two film adaptations of Brighton Rock – the 1948 classic starring Richard Attenborough as the main character Pinkie, and the underwhelming 2010 release with Sam Riley as the male lead.

The story revolves around antihero, Pinkie Brown, the sociopathic teenage leader of a Brighton gang. Fellow mob member, Charles Hale, is murdered for his betrayal of the gang and whilst being pursued meets a local woman, Ida Arnold, to whom he confides his fears. After Hale is found dead Ida takes it upon herself to find his murderer, which ultimately leads her into the heart of Brighton’s seedy criminal dark side.

Although ostensibly a noir thriller of the sort so fashionable in the 1930s, Greene’s novel has stood the test of time with its darker and more cerebral themes that deal with the Roman Catholic Church and their doctrine of sin. Having read Brighton Rock a few years ago, I must admit I found it heavy going. However, the visual evocation in the 1948 film was easier to follow and cut through Greene’s dense prose and religious symbolism; it will be interesting to see how Lavery and Pilot Theatre tackle this literary classic when bringing it to the stage.

Prior to debuting Brighton Rock at the York Theatre Royal in March this year, Pilot Theatre have produced numerous applauded productions both in the UK and internationally. They are also active participants in their home community of York, producing insightful and locally inspired productions such as 18 and The Railway Kin – the latter an interactive digital walk with accompanying audio and a map to guide the participant’s journey to the National Railway Museum in York.

Using new technology and innovative staging, it will also be interesting to see how Pilot Theatre immerse the audience into 1930s Brighton – something of a far cry from the vibrant and open atmosphere of the modern-day seaside town.

Brighton Rock – Theatrical Trailer

Brighton Rock runs at the Birmingham REP from Tuesday 9^th to Saturday 14^th April. For direct show information, including venue details and online ticket sales, visit www.birmingham-rep.co.uk/whats-on/brighton-rock

For more on Pilot Theatre, visit www.pilot-theatre.com

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

February 26, 2018February 25, 2018

BREVIEW: The Winslow Boy @ Birmingham REP until 03.03.18

Words by Lucy Mounfield / Production shots by Alastair Muir

Having read Terence Rattigan’s The Winslow Boy during a long summer a few years ago, I have been waiting to see a stage revival ever since. So, I was pleased to see the play on the listings for the Birmingham REP.

Rattigan’s plays rarely require large sets or technical apparatus, it is the story and the way the characters interact that is so appealing about his work. Yet, when I first read The Winslow Boy I struggled to see how the Edwardian period and antebellum tensions could be adapted for a modern audience.

The basic plot – a young naval cadet, Ronnie Winslow (Misha Butler), has been accused of stealing a five-shilling postal order, which he denies – first appears as rather a dull premise for a two and a half hour play. Indeed, Rattigan and his writing style fell out of favour during the 60s, and this has consequently somewhat tarnished the reputation of his plays.

However, there is a striking amount of depth and layering with which Rattigan imbues a situation. Far from being dull, he adds humour; characters are defined and grow with the story. Tension builds throughout The Winslow Boy, as each person loses something in the fight for Ronnie’s innocence.

The Winslow Boy‘s director, Rachel Kavanaugh, has a firm grip on the principles and themes running through Rattigan’s storytelling, as she makes her stage production resonate with a modern audience. The play manages to show us the intimate lives of the Winslow family, whilst projecting the social and political struggles of the early 20^th century and at the same time echoing today’s resurgent feminist movement.

The nuance of Rattigan’s writing is equally matched by the actors on stage. 2018 marks the centenary of voting rights for women and this is something that the play very touchingly points to with the character of Catherine (Dorothea Myer-Bennett), Ronnie’s sister, who is an ardent suffragette. Myer-Bennett’s portrayal takes us through a range of emotional registers, and the story, which takes place over several years, gives the character time to develop. We see her strident determination to confront injustice, the stubbornness she shares with her father, alongside the Catherine’s conflict between seeing the case through and her relationship with her equivocating fiancée (William Belchambers).

For me, Myer- Bennett and Aden Gillett, who portrays her father, Arthur, form the glue that keeps the play together. Their acting exudes confidence of character, driving the pace of the story along while vividly bringing Rattigan’s writing to life. As a loving, yet authoritative, father figure, Arthur seeks to exonerate his son of petty wrongdoing seemingly at any cost – for to him, it is the principle of the thing that matters; no matter that he is bankrupting his family over the theft of five shillings and rapidly succumbing to arthritis. Gillett is superb in displaying the crippling effects of this ailment, developing a stoop, hunch back and bowed legs until finally he takes to a wheelchair.

The mother, Grace Winslow (Tessa Peake-Jones), reminds me of the slightly naive Mrs. Bennet in Pride and Prejudice and is a good foil for the more assertive characters, balancing comedy with pathos. The impassioned speech to her husband at the start of Act Two is a poignant reminder of the impact the play’s events have on the family and their now fractured relationships.This is made more so by the presence of Ronnie Winslow, who is gently sleeping on a chaise longue. His youth is made shockingly apparent, which makes the scenes with the Winslows’ lawyer, Sir Robert Morton (Timothy Watson), all the more uncomfortable to watch. Butler does well to play a 13-15-year-old; his body language ranges from shy and nervous to excitable, which further reinforces his childish innocence.

Timothy Watson gives a commanding portrayal of Morton; the performance is gripping from beginning to end and treads the fine line between caricature and authenticity. His stiff and domineering body language creates a claustrophobic atmosphere in Act Two, ramping up the intensity of the Winslow trial.

The set is a typical, yet detailed, Edwardian living room – comfortable, decorative and decorous. Scene changes are punctuated with a backdrop of architectural columns that hint at the world of labyrinthine government bureaucracy in which the Winslows have found themselves.

At two and a half hours, The Winslow Boy does not feel over long. Rachel Kavanaugh and her cast present an absorbing and thrilling production that I thoroughly enjoyed. I would happily recommend this revival of a classic stage play to anyone, whether a previous fan of Rattigan’s writing or not.

The Winslow Boy runs at the Birmingham REP until Saturday 3^rd March. For full details, including all performance times and prices, visit www.birmingham-rep.co.uk/whats-on/the-winslow-boy

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

February 19, 2018

BPREVIEW: The Winslow Boy @ Birmingham REP 21.02 – 03.03.18

Words by Lucy Mounfield / Pics courtesy of the Birmingham REP

On Wednesday 21^st February, a major new revival of Terence Rattigan’s much loved The Winslow Boy will begin its run at the Birmingham REP – being performed at the theatre until Saturday 3^rd March.

A preview performance will be held on Wednesday 21^st at 7.30pm at a reduced price of £10, as well as a matinee at 2pm on Thursday 22^nd. Further matinee’s will be every Saturday and Thursday at 2pm, whilst evening performances will be from 7.30pm Monday to Saturday.

The standard price will be £15 although ticket prices vary depending on the date and time of performance, as well as seat positioning. For direct show information, including a full breakdown of performances and online ticket sales, click here.

Terence Rattigan is recognised as one of the most eminent dramatists of the twentieth century. His plays are regularly being revived, most notably French Without Tears (1936), Flare Path (1942), The Browning Version (1948) and The Deep Blue Sea (1952) – the latter of which was adapted to film in 2011 by Terence Davies, starring Rachel Weisz and Tom Hiddleston. To further mark the centenary of Rattigan’s birth, Trevor Nunn also revived Flare Path in 2011 for the West End to critical acclaim.

But during the 1950s and 60s, Rattigan fell out of favour with the theatre. His depictions of the upper-middle class were seen as old-fashioned and out of place, whilst dramatists such as John Osborne and Harold Pinter were depicting social change and a Britain both divided by class and fatigued by war. Today’s productions of Rattigan’s work highlight his central themes of English reticence, repression, outsiders, and courageous truth seekers.

The Winslow Boy was first produced at the Lyric Theatre, London, on May 3^rd 1946, with notable names such as Angela Baddeley and Emlyn Williams in the cast. The play is written by Terence Rattigan but is based on a true story of a legal case that erupted during the early nineteen-hundreds. A naval cadet at Osborne Naval College is accused and expelled for stealing a five-shilling postal order. The boy’s family, convinced of his innocence, are persuaded to take the case to court to clear the family name and restore their honour.

Rattigan’s sets The Winslow Boy in London prior to the First World War and opens the family to scrutiny. The cadet, Ronnie Winslow, returns home after his stay at the Naval College with a letter of expulsion for stealing. Without a school inspection or trial, he is sentenced for a crime he denies he committed; the Winslow family must seek the truth to restore the order and balance to their home.

The determination of his father in seeking justice is the crux of the narrative and ultimately the undoing of the family’s happiness. And whilst the play may be ‘old-fashioned’ in the period detail and writing style, in an age where ‘fake news’ reigns it is surely an interesting bridge to an epoch when English values and the notion of familial honour could easily be ripped apart by scandal.

Olivier Award winning Rachel Kavanaugh, the former Birmingham REP Artistic Director, will be directing this new production of The Winslow Boy and overseeing a formidable cast including Tessa Peake-Jones (Only Fools and Horses) as the matriarch Grace Winslow, Aden Gillett (House of Elliot) as the father Arthur Winslow, and Timothy Watson (The Archers) as barrister Sir Robert Morton. Joining this fantastic company of actors, and making his stage debut as Ronnie Winslow, is Misha Butler.

The Winslow Boy – an interview with the director and principal cast

The Winslow Boy runs at the Birmingham REP from Wednesday 21^st February to Saturday 3^rd March. For direct show information, including a full breakdown of performances and online ticket sales, visit www.birmingham-rep.co.uk/whats-on/the-winslow-boy

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