Bread and Roses Theatre Archives - Page 6 of 18

★★½

“there is a lot of room for rethinking and adjustments to bring more coherence”

A double-bill presented by student-based Sisu Theatre, ‘The Incursion’ looks inwards at our individual coping mechanism which switches on to protect us when we feel most vulnerable. The first piece brings to light the repercussions of avoiding the painful truth and the second turns a blind, delusional eye to our surrounding reality.

‘Gnawings’, written and directed by Olivia Catchpole, depicts the peculiar behaviour within families. It relates to the singularity of its members who are inextricably tied and the lengths to which they are prepared to go to manage this bond. To start with, the narrative and scenario are obvious and familiar – a typical family get together, everyday small talk. Tensions rise, steam is let off and finally they all settle down again. Through this storyline, there is a fight, the mother disappears (literally eaten away by leaving things unsaid) and the father briefly turns into a rodent, though whether he is victim or culprit or both is inconclusive. Leon Bach as the son, Oliver, begins to draw us in with his opening lines but, as the conversation develops between them, a lack of fusion in the delivery makes the dialogue judder and, with the awkwardness of the cast’s under-defined characters, even its chances for absurd comedy are weakened.

A sunny beach strewn with plastic bags and bottles of alcohol, the set depicts a scene of neglect and bleakness. Madeleine Carter, writer and director, uses ‘Bottleneck’ to illustrate this disturbing situation and how the feeling of impotence can trigger diverse reactions as a survival technique. Sarah Eakin and Leon Bach as Celia and Raymond form an interesting and convincing couple who, blistering in the heat of their sterile existence, look away from the world and find solace in each other. There is fluidity and shape to both their interpretation of the script and use of the small stage area. When Beatrice and Amy (Gemma Ortega and Olivia Catchpole) enter, the play changes gear. Neither gets under the skin of their character, so the meaning of the narrative becomes ambiguous, the energy peters out and we are left puzzled.

The lighting and sound (Sam Lorimer) certainly help the performances – the gnawing background noise creates an irritating unease and the beach is enhanced by atmospheric lighting. Although there is a lot of room for rethinking and adjustments to bring more coherence, especially to the endings, ‘The Incursion’ has a thoughtful basis to build on. Less of a profound comment on the consequences of human action, the ideas behind this new writing are an expression of maturing discovery and making sense of issues which imply a disturbing future for the younger generation.

Reviewed by Joanna Hetherington

The Mind Reading Experiments

Bread & Roses Theatre

Reviewed – 26th May 2019

★★★

“McCabe is a friendly, effervescent and approachable host which certainly helps when garnering audience participation”

The set-up of this show is very similar to many others that focus on psychology and mind reading: clever tricks using body language, infused with humour and historical anecdotes along the way. The difference with this show; an aspect enjoyed by previous audiences, as the creator Tomas McCabe expressed, was that he would proceed to share with us how he achieved these supposed acts of mind reading feats.

With that news came eager anticipation. The production suddenly elevated itself from being simply a ‘fun and entertaining’ show to a, potentially, fascinating journey into the mechanics of ‘mind reading’ and the psychology behind it.

Unfortunately the show didn’t quite fulfil on this promise. McCabe is a friendly, effervescent and approachable host which certainly helps when garnering audience participation (an essential aspect of the show). He is also very observant and his keen skills in reading body language were certainly showcased. And though McCabe, initially, guided us through his tricks with informed narration, it was quite sparse and undetailed. Not the revelatory exploration first expected.

Throughout the show there were many spoken interludes perforated between ‘mind reading’ demonstrations. This was often to provide backstory and context. It can be a bit of a challenge, with this format, to maintain a consistent pace and often the energy began to drag a little. This show is due to head to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe this year, and I am sure it will perform well as most shows like this do. McCabe, being the talented and likeable person that he is, will surely engage the audience and entertain them. This also provides McCabe time between now and the festival, to tweak the show and perfect it for a larger crowd. Hopefully finding that balance between action and speech to create a continuous flow.

Nearing the end of the performance McCabe made an uplifting speech about freedom. Encouraging us to be bold and think independently from media and advertising, as those are often coercing factors that dictate our actions – essentially mind reading us all the time. This positive and rousing address, thought provoking as it was, sadly translated as somewhat incongruent with the show. Sometimes McCabe traversed between superficial entertainment and social reflectiveness; meandering somewhere in the middle. This is essentially where the show fell short. Had he committed, fully, to exploring human psychology with his audience, it could have converted his production from a clever mind reading sketch into a profoundly, socially transforming show. If McCabe wished to encourage his audience to have more freedom of thought, he missed out on an opportunity to facilitate this by holding back on his insight into the way humans communicate with each other and the world around them.

This show has great potential and I am sure that, with time, McCabe will draw that out and develop a thoughtful and enjoyable mind bending show in the near future.

Bread & Roses Theatre

Reviewed – 2nd July 2019

Gnawings

★★

Bottleneck

★★½

“there is a lot of room for rethinking and adjustments to bring more coherence”

Reviewed by Joanna Hetherington

The Incursion

Bread & Roses Theatre until 6th July

Previously reviewed at this venue:

Bread & Roses Theatre

Reviewed – 26th May 2019

★★★

“McCabe is a friendly, effervescent and approachable host which certainly helps when garnering audience participation”

With that news came eager anticipation. The production suddenly elevated itself from being simply a ‘fun and entertaining’ show to a, potentially, fascinating journey into the mechanics of ‘mind reading’ and the psychology behind it.

This show has great potential and I am sure that, with time, McCabe will draw that out and develop a thoughtful and enjoyable mind bending show in the near future.

Reviewed by Pippin

The Mind Reading Experiments

Bread & Roses Theatre

Last ten shows reviewed at this venue:

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