Pleasance Theatre Archives - Page 2 of 26

★★★

“delightfully theatrical”

This ambitious M R James adaptation uses puppetry and carefully considered staging to build a spooky gothic tale.

It is densely plotted. Edward Dunning, a university lecturer, famously sceptical of the occult, comes afoul of a sinister mystical enthusiast, Mr Karswell. With the help of Rebecca Harrington, whose brother has already fallen prey to Karswell’s ominous wrath, Dunning must attempt to break away from Karswell’s curse.

Performed by Noel Byrne and Antonia Christophers and directed by Adam Lenson, this show is delightfully theatrical. Most of the characters are played by puppets, made by the company, and Karswell as a floating cloaked figure, is definitely sinister. It might’ve worked as well without some of the puppets, and with Christophers just multi-rolling, but the puppets do add a theatrical flavour.

“it is difficult to build the atmosphere needed for a true gothic thriller”

The staging is beautifully thought out. Street lamps are moved about to create different spaces, and switched on and off as the performers move under them. Screens are folded down into chairs and tables, and several trunks become chairs, tables, briefcases. It is a cleverly realised set, which works well for this touring company. It is impressive to build the world as clearly as they do, with as little as they use.

Composer Dan Melrose’s music is in keeping with the tone and themes, and the final piece is surprisingly catchy. The music and sound design which uses scratching and muttering to build tension, also help to create the intricate world of the play.

The problem is with the script, and the plot. There are a lot of characters, and tenuous motives, convenient encounters and it is all a little predictable. One especially credulous student, a puppet, provides wincingly expositional context throughout. I am fond of M R James, and have huge respect for this show for attempting to adapt his work, but it is difficult to build the atmosphere needed for a true gothic thriller, both in a theatre context, and in a modern context where much of it feels familiar and predictable.

This is a brave and theatrical production, and it is exciting to see puppetry for adults so smoothly integrated into the show.

Dirty Corset

Pleasance Theatre

Reviewed – 19th April 2022

★★½

“an exercise in acting of the kind that feels like one long improvisation”

Dirty Corset, produced as part of the 2022 New Work Season at the Pleasance Theatre in Islington, is one of several shows on offer in a venue that has not only survived the pandemic, but seems to be thriving. That’s good news in these difficult times. Dirty Corset, directed by Helen Tennison for the Bang Average Theatre Company, seems like a good choice for this venue, as it is also about making a living in the theatre in difficult times. Dirty Corset is a “re-imagined” take on Restoration Comedy. But this show focuses on the fleas, and not the elegance, of post Civil War theatre. Modern, and even postmodern, playwrights have taken on this trope before. The Bang Average Theatre Company pushes it into new territory. Bad smells, and bad language, are the predominant themes.

To be fair, the actors do warn that Dirty Corset is loaded, if that is the right word, from the outset. The first thing the audience sees, in entering the space downstairs at the Pleasance, are the corsets themselves. These, and the other costume pieces hung from lines draped around the set, are clean, even blindingly white, clean. But no one should relax. It’s all an ironic set up for the grubbiness that follows. The seventy minute show excels in presenting the audience with incongruities throughout. Actors Laurie Coldwell, Chloe Darke and Susannah Scott go from minutes of lying inert on large, white cushioned squares while the audience files in, to exploding into action once the lights go down. The acting style is eye poppingly physical. Raw eggs are featured, and do not have a happy ending.

Is Dirty Corset Restoration Comedy, re-imagined? Audiences will find it a matter of personal taste — still a new idea in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Dirty Corset tells the disjointed, and rather hard to follow, tale of a group of itinerant, flea ridden actors trying their luck in the indifferent North. Aptly named Mary Moralless, Isabinda McLovealot and Neil Hasbeen, Coldwell, Darke and Scott switch between playing their roles on stage, playing the actors off it, and sometimes their modern selves, with bewildering speed. This doesn’t give the audience a lot of time to identify with any of these switcheroos, or even care. Bang Average have done some research, and some of the details of the seventeenth century actors’ lives are undoubtably accurate. But for the most part, Dirty Corset chooses to ignore the fact that Restoration Comedy was an elegant style of theatre — a new theatre for its times, of Reason and Wit, despite its bawdiness.

Ultimately, Dirty Corset is an exercise in acting of the kind that feels like one long improvisation. The Company acknowledges as much in their programme notes. As such, it works quite well. It shows off the actors’ athleticism and versatility to great effect. But the script is deconstructed (much like the costumes) in a way that doesn’t leave much room to focus on anything else but the acting. Dirty Corset is the kind of show that will appeal to festivals, and it is a great showcase for energetic young actors. But for audiences who like a good script as well as good acting and solid production values — this offering by Bang Average is all about the underwear, and may feel a little underdressed.

CASTING THE RUNES at the Pleasance Theatre

★★★

“delightfully theatrical”

“it is difficult to build the atmosphere needed for a true gothic thriller”

CASTING THE RUNES at the Pleasance Theatre

Reviewed on 20th October 2023

by Auriol Reddaway

Photography by theatrical.solutions

Previously reviewed at this venue:

Casting the Runes

Casting the Runes

Pleasance Theatre

Reviewed – 19th April 2022

★★½

“an exercise in acting of the kind that feels like one long improvisation”

Reviewed by Dominica Plummer

Photography by Hannah Sorrell

Dirty Corset

Pleasance Theatre until 24th April

Previously reviewed at this venue: