Camden Fringe 2019 Archives - Page 15 of 16

★★★★

“the two actors bring to life the banter of sisters, the directness of the council estate kid, the familiarity of workmates…”

For those unacquainted with this particular style of documentary theatre, what sounds like a distracting stage procedure to convey humdrum small talk turns out to be a very enlightening yet grounding discovery. Verbatim technique – performing the words of interviewees – was created by American actor, Anna Deavere Smith. Taking the genre a step further, Alecky Blythe, in 2003, set up her company Recorded Delivery and, rather than allowing actors to interpret the words, she relayed the transcripts live to them through earphones. They remained faithful to the original delivery of the lines, giving themselves over to the dialogue and retaining every stutter, cough and hesitation, their own egos lost in the effort of concentration. Preserving what journalists would normally discard, we find ourselves listening intently, using the intonation and pauses and half sentences as clues to their train of thought and connecting closely to their openness.

Alyce Louise-Potter began her own exploration of verbatim style in 2014, creating Spur of the Moment. After her one-woman show about mental health, her new production, ‘Class’, in collaboration with Kelsey Short, delves into the minds of the working class with a collection of entertaining and reflective conversations from south east London locals – coincidently, my own neck of the woods. Cleverly edited to illustrate a cross-section of society, the separate tales, reflections and opinions fit together in colourful harmony. Through these intertwining stories, we build an attachment to the various characters and an insight into their views on prejudice, stereotypes, accents, work, money, upbringing and values. On a practically bare set and with just a couple of changes of hat, the two actors bring to life the banter of sisters, the directness of the council estate kid, the familiarity of workmates… The community get on with their lives, coping with situations, proud of who they are and where they are from. There is no bitterness or resentment and no sentimentality. Xander Mars’ direction helps with a fluid yet unhurried pace which draws us into their reality.

This is a refreshing production with a positive message. The technical skill involved is hard to imagine, especially in the dialogues but the personalities portrayed by Alyce and Kelsey are so vivid and captivating that we are barely aware of the method. By its very nature, ‘Class’ is not for dramatic effect but is simply to tell the truth and bring to the theatre the voices of those who would not otherwise have the opportunity. We realise that what people say about everyday things is fascinating and through their honesty, it is also funny, touching and enriching.

Reviewed by Joanna Hetherington

Vice

Etcetera Theatre

Reviewed – 31st July 2019

★★½

“a wide-reaching play that has much to say about the world, but more than can be accomplished within its short length”

Any writer looking for dystopian inspiration can easily cherry-pick examples from the present day, something which can be seen in Vice’s opening film reel of horrors – featuring clips ranging from Tony Blair’s invasion of Iraq to the more recent Grenfell Tower fire. But choosing too many things to rail against is what lets down Vice, an ambitious play that attempts to marry the personal and the political, but which ends up feeling a little lacklustre.

Following its rather powerful cinematic opening, the show leads us into the lives of a band of characters in the year 2023, a “new world” filled with war and old-fashioned air raid sirens. Revolutionaries Patrycja (Clementina Allende Iriarte), Em (Beth Siddall), and Johnny (Dimitris Kafataris) are planning a kidnap. While on the other side of the spectrum, politician Wetherby (Liam Arnold) argues with his daughter Jayne (Georgia Hodgson) about the disappearance of her sister – an incident that tops his litany of rather clichéd scandals. The two storylines intersect against a backdrop of bombings and uncertainty as we uncover the motivations and regrets behind each group.

Written and directed by Matt Rolls, the show has its merits and the cast largely deliver good performances, most notably Siddall, but also Kafataris, whose character adds a small but welcome element of comic relief to otherwise serious scenes. However, a plot that starts out as intriguing cannot sustain itself and ultimately lets down the carefully curated wartime atmosphere of the first half. The ending seeks to neatly wrap up all threads, but in doing so, sadly renders many of the characters and themes introduced earlier on redundant.

The cast and creatives are all graduates and current students of East 15 Acting School and they work well together. There are some well executed group scenes, good costume and design, and some staging that – although it probably changes around more than necessary – sets the scene effectively. But Vice’s other creative elements are undermined by a script that could have been tighter. While the writing has moments of cleverness and there are some promising monologues, these feel badly wedged into the main plot. Many lines simply offer a stand-alone commentary on today’s society and have no need for the context of the play’s murky future. The play also relies too heavily on its headline concept of the “old world” and the “new world”, continuously shoving this down the audience’s throat, with overzealous references to these terms peppered throughout.

In the end, Vice is a wide-reaching play that has much to say about the world, but more than can be accomplished within its short length. The result is a work too bogged down with elevated concepts to deliver a satisfying story.

Tristan Bates Theatre

Reviewed – 31st July 2019

★★★★

“the two actors bring to life the banter of sisters, the directness of the council estate kid, the familiarity of workmates…”

Reviewed by Joanna Hetherington

Class

Tristan Bates Theatre until 3rd August as part of Camden Fringe 2019

Last ten shows reviewed at this venue:

Etcetera Theatre

Reviewed – 31st July 2019

★★½

“a wide-reaching play that has much to say about the world, but more than can be accomplished within its short length”

In the end, Vice is a wide-reaching play that has much to say about the world, but more than can be accomplished within its short length. The result is a work too bogged down with elevated concepts to deliver a satisfying story.

Reviewed by Vicky Richards

Photography by Matt Rolls

When it Happens

Etcetera Theatre until 4th August as part of Camden Fringe 2019

Last ten shows reviewed at this venue: