Rebecca Crankshaw Archives - Page 3 of 33

★★★★

“a well-crafted piece of theatrical storytelling … nourishing, and created with a great deal of heart and soul”

Eating Myself is an autobiographical/confessional monologue, written and performed by Pepa Duarte. Pepa is Peruvian, and the storytelling centres around her preparation of a hearty Peruvian soup. She chops and stirs and adds ingredients, and all the while the big soup tureen sits on the hob bubbling away. It is a visceral and frequently painful piece which, for the most part, examines Pepa’s deeply troubling relationship with food, but also leads to an exploration of her relationship with her female identity and, finally, a deeper understanding and celebration of her Peruvian heritage. In live performance, the slowly-cooking soup would clearly provide a kind of aromatic underscore, which would frequently be in sharp sensual counterpoint to the self-imposed culinary controls and deprivations Pepa re-enacts.

Unlike some other online theatrical experiences which have been available during the pandemic – most notably Jermyn Street Theatre’s 15 Heroines – Eating Myself is clearly a live show filmed, as opposed to a piece created for the small screen. It was ably filmed using more than one camera, meaning that cuts and close-ups enhanced our streaming experience, and Tom Sochas’ composition and sound design also served the experience well, as did the wonderful creative costume elements. Ultimately though, it was impossible not to want more, and to yearn to be breathing the same air and sharing the same smells and space as the performer, especially one as naturally engaging as Pepa, who invites intimacy, and exudes warmth. She is also a very expressive physical artist, and uses her body with grace, power and beauty throughout.

Certain sections of the script could use a bit of an edit – the show would benefit from being 10 minutes shorter – but this was a well-crafted piece of theatrical storytelling, and, like the soup at its centre, nourishing, and created with a great deal of heart and soul.

Reviewed by Rebecca Crankshaw

Photography by Charly Monreal

Living With The Lights On

Golden Goose Theatre

Reviewed – 15th October 2020

★★★★

“His energy is ferocious and we are galloped through the narrative at breakneck speed“

Mark Lockyer’s one-man show is an extended story; one from his own life, told in episodes of ascending dramatic intensity. It is, simply, the story of his descent into severe manic depressive illness. At the show’s beginning, we see him as a successful young actor in the 90s, performing Mercutio for the RSC in Stratford. By the show’s end, he has spent time in Belmarsh Prison. It is, at one and the same time, both an extraordinary story and an ordinary one. Severe mania leads to extraordinarily dramatic behaviour, well beyond the parameters of everyday life, and yet the 2014 UK-wide Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing’s findings gave the figure as 1.3 million bipolar sufferers in the UK. That’s 1 in 50 of us. So not so extraordinary after all.

Lockyer is a brilliant technician, and was clearly shaped as an actor in a different time. He has a rich, clear, sonorous voice, which could reach the far corners of the Olivier with no problem whatsoever, and is a true shape shifter, adjusting his voice, face and physicality on the turn of a dime to embody the numerous characters who people his personal drama: doctors, lawyers, prison guards, travel agents, girlfriends, etc. etc. His energy is ferocious and we are galloped through the narrative at breakneck speed; 75 minutes passes in a flash and there simply isn’t time to be bored. He has us securely in his hands throughout and gives a performance of enormous dexterity and skill. There is plenty of laughter too.

And yet. And yet somehow that consummate performative confidence slightly takes away from the power of his story. It never really penetrates the audience, or moves us in our gut. Perhaps this is how it has to be, when recounting such a profound level of personal trauma; perhaps the artifice of the performance enables it to be told without triggering that trauma all over again. Which is something that must be respected. But this reviewer couldn’t help wanting a bit more intimacy, in keeping with the small space.

That said, it was an enormous pleasure and privilege to see a performance of such quality in a brand-new local theatre. Opening a new theatre in 2020 is a hugely courageous and optimistic act; its opening couldn’t have been better served than by Mark Lockyer’s brave and hopeful personal odyssey.

Reviewed – 24th November 2020

★★★★

“a well-crafted piece of theatrical storytelling … nourishing, and created with a great deal of heart and soul”

Certain sections of the script could use a bit of an edit – the show would benefit from being 10 minutes shorter – but this was a well-crafted piece of theatrical storytelling, and, like the soup at its centre, nourishing, and created with a great deal of heart and soul.

Reviewed by Rebecca Crankshaw

Photography by Charly Monreal

Eating Myself

Online via Applecart Arts until 29th November

Recently reviewed by Rebecca:

Golden Goose Theatre

Reviewed – 15th October 2020

★★★★

“His energy is ferocious and we are galloped through the narrative at breakneck speed“

Reviewed by Rebecca Crankshaw

Living With The Lights On

Golden Goose Theatre

Recently reviewed by Rebecca: