Lion and Unicorn Theatre Archives - Page 3 of 14

Julius Caesar

Lion and Unicorn Theatre

Reviewed – 14th January 2020

★★½

“their rendition makes it apparent that you can no more rush the immortal words of Shakespeare than the overthrowing of a tyrannical despot”

Theatre company Mad Wolf aim to make Shakespeare ‘exciting, thrilling… and for everyone’ in their new one-act rendition of the playwright’s historical tragedy Julius Caesar.

Set in Rome in 44 BC, Julius Caesar, produced and directed by Gavin Richards, depicts the moral dilemma of the Roman senator Brutus (Matt Penson) over joining the conspiracy led by Cassius (Alex Bird) to murder Julius Caesar (Aimee Kember) to prevent him becoming dictator of Rome. Supported by Casca (Aimee Pollock) and Cinna (Jasmin Keshavarzi), Cassius and Brutus succeed in their goal before being thrust into civil war against one of Caesar’s greatest supporters Mark Antony (Niall Burns) and Caesar’s adopted son, Octavius (Keshavarzi).

The six actors move confidently between 19 different roles using basic costume changes – a new jacket, a dressing gown etc. – to mark out their new character. Bird is standout in his role as Cassius, adopting an uncomfortably wide stare and hunch that perfectly fit the senator’s shady persona. Kember is thoroughly commanding as Caesar but handles Portia’s sensitive moments with her husband Brutus delicately as well. Frustratingly, some nuances in speech and character are lost by the cast’s over tendency to scream their lines at any moment of heightened emotion.

Mad Wolf’s intentions with their condensed production are noble but there is unfortunately more loss than gain. The performance moves at an incredibly fast pace mainly because the waffling speeches and winding metaphors inherent to Shakespeare’s work have been cut from the script. There is little to no time to pause and reflect on the events that have unfolded, and hugely important moments like Caesar’s death go by in a flash. The omission of such drawn out dialogue certainly makes the play more digestible especially to someone who may not otherwise engage with Shakespeare, but it also makes everything far more confusing due to the lack of exposition. Mad Wolf would have perhaps done better to edit or rewrite the script for clarity rather than simply take out huge chunks of text that are integral to the play’s narrative and rhythm.

The back wall of the theatre is covered in Lord Kitchener-style ‘Caesar Wants You’ posters, many of which are illustrated with graffiti declaring ‘Caesar is King!’ Empty sleeping bags, cardboard rubbish and coats litter the edges of the stage which the cast alternate between using as props and, rather oddly, as something to hide under or appear from when exiting or entering a scene respectively. This direction does make the theatre’s simple space more dynamic by not restricting the cast to the one aisle exit but this oftentimes comes across as comical which is rather jarring considering the overall mood of the play.

The debris also presumably represents the hard times which Caesar was able to capitalise on to gain power, but this is never explicitly explained. The senators’ formal attire resembles that of modern-day politicians which suggests that the audience is to interpret some sort of parallel between this tale and contemporary society, though this is not explored either.

The lighting (Lewis Plumb) is good. Notable moments include flashing overhead lights timed with a thunder sound effect to resemble lightning and the slow fade to black except for a spotlight on one of the Caesar posters at the end of the performance.

Mad Wolf’s production of Julius Caesar sets out on a worthy mission to make the Bard of Avon more accessible. Unfortunately, their rendition makes it apparent that you can no more rush the immortal words of Shakespeare than the overthrowing of a tyrannical despot.

Reviewed by Flora Doble

Julius Caesar

Lion and Unicorn Theatre until 18th January

Previously reviewed at this venue:

BackPAGE | ★★½ | February 2019

Like You Hate Me | ★★★ | April 2019

Mama G’s Story Time Roadshow | ★★★★★ | May 2019

River In The Sky | ★★½ | May 2019

Euan | ★★★★ | July 2019

A Shoddy Detective & The Art Of Deception | ★★ | August 2019

Blue Tights, Red Knickers And An ‘S’ On Her Vest | ★★★ | August 2019

Camp | ★★★ | August 2019

The Death Of Ivan Ilyich | ★★ | August 2019

Up The Bunty! | ★★★ | December 2019

Click here to see our most recent reviews

Up the Bunty!

Lion and Unicorn Theatre

Reviewed – 13th December 2019

★★★

“In worrying and troublesome times, I really can’t think of a better way of spending a Friday night”

Following a successful run in the summer as part of The Camden Fringe, ‘Up The Bunty’, returns to The Lion & Unicorn Theatre for a short seasonal revival. Fitting really, as the plot focuses on a theatrical reunion for a little known 1970’s soap opera, ‘The Soaparetta’s’.

Producer, Harry Hepworth has managed to recall most of the stars of the original cast and with a couple of added newcomers, puts them through a less than successful rehearsal period, before packing them up on a train for a run at a theatre in Southend. On arriving in the town, members of the company start disappearing and it seems we have a psychopath on our hands.

The set consisted of a table dressed with a polka dot cloth and some crockery along with half a dozen stacked chairs. All these were well used to depict various scenes and the uncluttered set gave the actors plenty of room to express themselves and they certainly didn’t hold back.

Lighting was fine, although blackout timings were slightly off a couple of times, projected films showing scenes from past episodes of The Soaparetta’s along with talking heads, were very well made and timing for these was excellent.

Most of the budget for this show must have been blown on wigs. The characters were so far over the top that rather than stepping into caricature, these actors jumped in with both feet. This was obviously a decision made by director Suzy Catliff and why not? The whole show was so frantic and loud, I would love for there to have been a few moments of quiet to balance out the frenetic energy.

The cast clearly had a ball, with Welsh, American, Spanish, luvvie and bimbo characters, it was a little bit like watching that other 1970’s series ‘Mind Your Language’, there was nothing subtle about any of these performances. Michael Stafford Wells was the pompous and overbearing director Harry, Jack Donald amusing as the gay actor Brian with Cameron Butterwick playing the Spaniard Juan-Two, although I enjoyed his performance as PC World a whole lot more. Jess Nesling amused me no end as she tried to find her motivation for being an albatross, Lucie Anne Neale was a little underused as Go-Go but had a lovely singing voice with Olivia Thompson, who wrote the play, loving every minute of playing Annie and was excellent in the final scene. Let’s not forget Bunty The Beaver, oh what trouble a glove puppet can cause, although I doubt Gordon The Gopher and Ed The Duck will be losing too much sleep.

Every character seen as a talking head, had a ridiculous name such as Dickie Ticker and Miss Hope Less, again fitting the style that this company were clearly going for. As much as I admired these video clips, I did find that they caused the action on stage to be a little stop start.

Musical numbers were fairly sparse, although I loved ‘I’d Love To See You Up The Nile’ and ‘Anyone Can Be A Psycho’.

I’m not going to remember this as a theatrical masterpiece, a lot of the publicity describes the play as bonkers and I’m not going to argue with that. It did however make me laugh at its pure silliness. In worrying and troublesome times, I really can’t think of a better way of spending a Friday night. I just wish they’d handed out tacky Bunty keyrings as we left.

Lion and Unicorn Theatre

Reviewed – 14th January 2020

★★½

“their rendition makes it apparent that you can no more rush the immortal words of Shakespeare than the overthrowing of a tyrannical despot”

Theatre company Mad Wolf aim to make Shakespeare ‘exciting, thrilling… and for everyone’ in their new one-act rendition of the playwright’s historical tragedy Julius Caesar.

The lighting (Lewis Plumb) is good. Notable moments include flashing overhead lights timed with a thunder sound effect to resemble lightning and the slow fade to black except for a spotlight on one of the Caesar posters at the end of the performance.

Mad Wolf’s production of Julius Caesar sets out on a worthy mission to make the Bard of Avon more accessible. Unfortunately, their rendition makes it apparent that you can no more rush the immortal words of Shakespeare than the overthrowing of a tyrannical despot.

Reviewed by Flora Doble

Julius Caesar

Lion and Unicorn Theatre until 18th January

Previously reviewed at this venue:

Lion and Unicorn Theatre

Reviewed – 13th December 2019

★★★

“In worrying and troublesome times, I really can’t think of a better way of spending a Friday night”

Following a successful run in the summer as part of The Camden Fringe, ‘Up The Bunty’, returns to The Lion & Unicorn Theatre for a short seasonal revival. Fitting really, as the plot focuses on a theatrical reunion for a little known 1970’s soap opera, ‘The Soaparetta’s’.

The set consisted of a table dressed with a polka dot cloth and some crockery along with half a dozen stacked chairs. All these were well used to depict various scenes and the uncluttered set gave the actors plenty of room to express themselves and they certainly didn’t hold back.

Lighting was fine, although blackout timings were slightly off a couple of times, projected films showing scenes from past episodes of The Soaparetta’s along with talking heads, were very well made and timing for these was excellent.

Every character seen as a talking head, had a ridiculous name such as Dickie Ticker and Miss Hope Less, again fitting the style that this company were clearly going for. As much as I admired these video clips, I did find that they caused the action on stage to be a little stop start.

Musical numbers were fairly sparse, although I loved ‘I’d Love To See You Up The Nile’ and ‘Anyone Can Be A Psycho’.

Reviewed by Chris White

Photography by Jamie Spindlove

Up the Bunty!

Lion and Unicorn Theatre until 15th December

Previously reviewed at this venue: