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THE FIRST

★★★★★

VAULT Festival 2020

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The First

Pit – The Vaults

Reviewed – 11th February 2020

★★★★★

 

“one small step at the VAULT Festival, but it must surely be destined for a giant leap to something much bigger”

 

You would hardly expect one of the small venues at the VAULT Festival to host an epic, but Barry McStay’s “The First” offers a space odyssey that deserves a universe of stars.

This 60-minute two-hander features two astronauts on the first crewed space mission to Mars hoping to make history. Back home a war of the words breaks out about the Martian expedition, with two writers battling to produce a speech suitable for the US President to praise its success – and another to deliver should it fail.

The play was inspired by the famous speech given by President Nixon when Apollo 11 saw the first men land on the Moon in 1969 and the alternative version which praised the crew’s sacrifice in the event of a fatality – much in the news over the 50th anniversary of the mission last year.

McStay’s rich and heart-stirring script probes a possible future scenario that feels all too real and credible with its clever parallel dramas of the eager astronauts discovering things starting to go wrong with their vessel only days away from touchdown on the Red Planet and two imaginative writers tussling with words of triumph or remorse.

In just an hour the tightly-written play manages to consider heroism, positivity in the face of danger, a depth of human relationships, coping with tragedy and humanity’s innate desire to explore beyond frontiers.

Playing all four roles are Katrina Allen and Daniel Ward, with barely a heartbeat marking the switch from the space travellers to the writers. Multi-role playing is never easy, but the two actors manage it effortlessly.

Allen is the all-American no-nonsense astronaut Rose, who envisages her face being carved on the side of a mountain to commemorate her fame. She gave up a boyfriend in favour of making the trip and Allen captures this personal sacrifice alongside the excitement the character feels at being a pioneer.

Her colleague on-board is the gay black Englishman Simeon, who Ward plays with authority. His wake-up music on the ship is the theme to “2001” (hers is Europe’s “The Final Countdown”) and he wants a school named after him . There are some fabulous moments where the pair discuss the fact that everything they do on Mars will be “the first…” yet both recognise the emotional effects of knowing that no other human beings have ever been so far apart from other humans.

Ward is also the brash and experienced political hack Marcus, forced to work on the two possible scripts with celebrated screenwriter Alisha (Allen), whose successful TV show has just been cancelled by the network.

Allen and Ward work together splendidly throughout, arguing a liberal vs conservative political agenda while developing a grudging respect for one another as the writers and keeping spaceboots solidly on terra firma as the trailblazing astronauts.

Director Emily Jenkins makes every second count, keeping an energetic pace without losing important moments of silence and reflection. Movement director Mikey Brett manages to make the astronauts look weightless, with adroit use of minimal props and set (Delyth Evans’ two tables and two chairs are skilfully utilised on an appropriately claustrophobic traverse stage with a large red disc on one wall representing Mars).

“The First” is one small step at the VAULT Festival, but it must surely be destined for a giant leap to something much bigger with a potential stage or screen production that will be out of this world.

 

Reviewed by David Guest

Photography by Alessandra Davison

 

VAULT Festival 2020

 

 

Click here to see all our reviews from VAULT Festival 2020

 

First Time

FIRST TIME

★★★★★

VAULT Festival 2020

Reviews, , , , , , , , , ,

First Time

First Time

Studio – The Vaults

Reviewed – 31st January 2020

★★★★★

 

“Hall performs with such affable assurance and courage that he must surely be a name to be reckoned with in theatre beyond five star confessional solo shows”

 

Hope is the beating heart of an incisive and intelligent one-man show telling a personal story about living with HIV/AIDS which encourages everybody to be forward-looking, bold and proud.

“First Time” is an early offering in a ridiculously packed VAULT Festival season but it is already a production that will be hard to better 600 shows down the line.

Written and performed by an instantly likeable Nathaniel Hall “First Time” works on more levels than shows which have twice its running time. It is bravely autobiographical, relating how Hall contracted HIV the first time he had sex at the age of 16; it is tellingly informative, with a light-hearted quiz quickly clearing up misconceptions about HIV; it offers confident optimism to anyone living with any stigma of shame or fear; it never once sugar-coats the reality of a condition that has claimed the lives of 35 million people and has another 37 million living with it; and it is never afraid to treat what could be a harrowing subject with humour.

And those facts are all a surprise, not least the important truth that someone on HIV treatment whose viral load is “undetectable” is also “untransmittable” and cannot pass the virus onto others. Even this information is handled with a naughty glint that suggests Hall might be flirting with likely audience members.

Festival style shows lasting 60-70 minutes are generally simply staged with as few props as possible. Hall makes everything difficult for himself by firing silly string into the audience, popping a streamer cannon, and spilling bowls of pills all over the stage. You can almost hear director Chris Hoyle relishing the task of allowing the show to stay busy and in your face.

For such a small production the set (Irene Jade) is bursting with life, with multi-coloured boxes, a bench, a duvet, a clothes rail, screens, a gin bottle, a mic stand, a heart balloon and clothing among the items strewn around the stage.

Lighting (Joel Clements) is also a crucial part of the performance, with the sort of fast cues and directed spots of which a major West End production would be envious.

Hall allows what must for many in the audience be an unfamiliar journey to be shared frankly. His mantra is “what a mess!” yet it is all too clear that he has made something of it, he has survived and he wants to inform others about it as well as paying tribute to the individuals that have helped him through.

It is not a comfortable journey. Alongside the laugh-out-loud moments (including a female audience member being dragged onto the stage to recreate his Prom Night dance with the head girl) Hall is in earnest as he speaks of the depression, the brushes with death, the homophobic abuse, the self-loathing, the ineffective drugs and above all the pain of trying to tell his family the truth about being HIV +.

In its way “First Time” is every bit as important and well-written and played as gay-themed dramas such as “The Normal Heart,” “Angels in America” and “Rent.” More than that Hall performs with such affable assurance and courage that he must surely be a name to be reckoned with in theatre beyond five star confessional solo shows.

 

Reviewed by David Guest

 

VAULT Festival 2020

 

Click here to see all our reviews from VAULT Festival 2020