Hamish MacDougall Archives - Page 2 of 3

Blood Orange

Old Red Lion Theatre

Reviewed – 12th December 2019

★★★★

“This is a play that will move you as well as warm your heart this Christmas”

When you think of theatre during the festive season, a play about a junior doctor’s experiences around this time of year may not be one of the first things that comes to mind. Tania Amsel has written, and is the sole performer in, Blood Orange, which centres around Amy as she works in Swansea A&E on Christmas Eve.

Amy has been out for drinks with her colleagues the night before which ended with her vomiting over the shoes of a surgeon she is clearly in awe of. She then has to deal with the shame of this the next day, whilst seeing to an array of patients including a man dressed as Santa who quite literally got stuck in a chimney. Here, it’s not hard to feel empathy for Amy, whilst laughing at some of the situations she finds herself in.

One patient, a young boy with cancer, strikes a chord with Amy and we see her enter into a mild panic, but it isn’t clear why at this point. With time, we learn that this particular patient has brought back childhood memories, with a trip to London for an interview at Great Ormond Street Hospital only strengthening her flashbacks.

Throughout the piece, lighting (Jamie Platt) and sound (Tingying Dong) prove highly effective. Everything from sounds of the hustle and bustle of a busy Oxford Circus to the intense lighting design when Amy is having flashbacks means we can engage well with the story.

On the subject of engaging well with the story, Tania Amsel’s performance style means we can do this without difficulty. She directly addresses the audience with ease, allowing us to connect with Amy and her experiences. It’s always interesting to see how one man/woman shows are delivered and Amsel’s energy and likability is proof that they can be a success. The fact the set includes only a fold up chair and what resembles the frame of a hospital screen is further testament to Amsel’s ability to consistently engage an audience.

In addition to shining a light on life as a junior doctor in the NHS, Blood Orange highlights what can happen when the pressures of a job become too much and a person’s personal and professional lives collide. Directed by Hamish MacDougall, Amsel has created a likable character and tackles her subject matter with sensitivity, warmth and humour, along with bucket loads of energy. This is a play that will move you as well as warm your heart this Christmas.

Reviewed by Emily K Neal

Blood Orange

Old Red Lion Theatre until 4th January

Last ten shows reviewed at this venue:

In Search Of Applause | ★★ | February 2019

Goodnight Mr Spindrift | ★★ | April 2019

Little Potatoes | ★★★ | April 2019

The Noises | ★★★★ | April 2019

Edred, The Vampyre | ★★★½ | October 2019

Last Orders | ★★★ | October 2019

Click here to see our most recent reviews

★★★★

“deft comedic timing and skilful showmanship”

Upon entering the theatre, we’re greeted by a puppy-like forty-year old man eagerly giving out badges and wearing a ‘Hovis’ bread bag on his head with a little straw poking out like a Britney mic. It’s certainly a confident start, but one can’t help wondering if he’s regretting quite how tight the bread bag is…

We begin with what is either painstakingly rehearsed or completely off-the-cuff rambling, hopping frenetically between subjects, each story or thought almost always followed by the slightly manically delivered parenthesis, ‘Is it worth sharing? I don’t know.’

As he excitedly paces back and forth, William Andrews repeatedly forgets to take the mic with him, and often as he grabs for it, accidentally unplugs it – again, hard to tell if this is an orchestrated laugh, or whether the microphone is actually broken.

Andrews does finally land on a kind of narrative, but whilst the topics remain in orbit of his own quiet family life, his dealings with them combine both the profound and the ridiculous, often in one breath. We follow him on a Dave Gorman-esque single-minded hunt for a late-night tv clip of a dog on a motorway, for example, and along the way we’re considering the struggles of gender dysmorphia; we’re both laughing and staring agape (if it’s possible to do the two simultaneously) as we hear Andrews discuss his first brush with adulthood at eight years old when he attempted (‘attempted’ being the horrifying aspect here) to kill a fish.

What becomes apparent is how deceptively haphazard this show is. Hamish MacDougall’s direction sees Andrews lean in to the idea of a jabbering amateur ‘giving it a go’ whilst actually showcasing deft comedic timing and skilful showmanship. His attempt to bring it all neatly together in the last five minutes, as though he had been telling one hour-long story, doesn’t quite work, but it doesn’t matter. Balancing frivolity and gravity in equal measure, he has created a very funny and artfully executed performance.

Reviewed by Miriam Sallon

Photography by William Andrews

Old Red Lion Theatre

Reviewed – 12th December 2019

★★★★

“This is a play that will move you as well as warm your heart this Christmas”

Throughout the piece, lighting (Jamie Platt) and sound (Tingying Dong) prove highly effective. Everything from sounds of the hustle and bustle of a busy Oxford Circus to the intense lighting design when Amy is having flashbacks means we can engage well with the story.

Reviewed by Emily K Neal

Blood Orange

Old Red Lion Theatre until 4th January

Last ten shows reviewed at this venue:

Soho Theatre

Reviewed – 11th April 2019

★★★★

“deft comedic timing and skilful showmanship”

We begin with what is either painstakingly rehearsed or completely off-the-cuff rambling, hopping frenetically between subjects, each story or thought almost always followed by the slightly manically delivered parenthesis, ‘Is it worth sharing? I don’t know.’

As he excitedly paces back and forth, William Andrews repeatedly forgets to take the mic with him, and often as he grabs for it, accidentally unplugs it – again, hard to tell if this is an orchestrated laugh, or whether the microphone is actually broken.

Reviewed by Miriam Sallon

Photography by William Andrews

William Andrews: Willy

Soho Theatre until 13th April

Last ten shows reviewed at this venue: