Tag Archives: Sherry Coenen

Frankenstein: How To Make A Monster
★★★★★

Battersea Arts Centre

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Frankenstein: How To Make A Monster

Frankenstein: How To Make A Monster

Battersea Arts Centre

Reviewed – 14th March 2019

★★★★★

 

“it’s the complex musical arrangements, inventive lyrics, slick choreography and brilliant vocals which inspire and lift ‘Frankenstein’ beyond its genre”

 

The expectation of a beatbox show is a great evening of infectious rhythm, but walking into Battersea Arts Centre’s suitably gothic Grand Hall, filled with an audience buzzing with intoxicating anticipation and the scene set with bare, hanging bulbs and smoky lighting, is a suggestion that it is more than just that. Beatbox Academy’s ‘Frankenstein’, fuses singing, rapping and movement with the group’s rhythmic skills in a production worthy of its standing ovation. Entertaining with energy and humour and mesmerising with seemingly limitless voices, Aminita Francis, Nadine Rose Johnson, Tyler Worthington, Nathaniel Forder-Staple, Alex Hackett and Beth Griffin (alias Aminita, Glitch, Wiz-rd, Native, ABH and Grove) move through every vocal possibility imaginable from industrial soundscape to Baroque cover version, each bringing a strong, contrasting personal slant but working in complete harmony.

After two industrious years of teamwork between devoted and enlightening directors, Conrad Murray and David Cumming, and the cast, the reconstruction of Frankenstein’s monster unfolds as a story reflecting on themes in Mary Shelley’s well-worn tale. She warns of the advance of technology and society’s condemnation of physical imperfection; here we are warned of the addiction of social media, smart phones, selfies and the loneliness they bring. Chapter one leads us from peaceful, forest birdsong to the noise of the city and breaks into the first number, introducing us to the ‘Genius’. In the second chapter the monster is compiled of body parts in the form of musical fragments – James Brown, The Prodigy and Pachelbel, to spoil as little as possible. It is followed by ‘growing pains’ and continues to develop its messages in varied numbers and breath-taking changes of mood. The sound (Marcello Coppola) is immaculate and perfectly balanced and Sherry Coenen’s lighting heightens the atmosphere at every turn.

Beatbox Academy is celebrating ten years of teaching, learning and personal development mixed with enjoyment. Enveloping inspiration, creativity and dedication with a powerful community spirit enables young people to discover and express themselves. The brief appearance of the younger members at the beginning and end of the show put into perspective the exciting journey these children are on and how much they can achieve. But it’s the complex musical arrangements, inventive lyrics, slick choreography and brilliant vocals which inspire and lift ‘Frankenstein’ beyond its genre. To those already familiar with the group, it is an hour of excitement and exuberance; to those who aren’t, it is a thrilling and heart-filled revelation.

 

Reviewed by Joanna Hetherington

Photography by Joyce Nicholls

 


Frankenstein: How To Make A Monster

Battersea Arts Centre until 29th March

 

Previously reviewed at this venue:
How to Survive a Post-Truth Apocalypse | ★★★ | May 2018
Rendezvous in Bratislava | ★★★★★ | November 2018
Dressed | ★★★★★ | February 2019

 

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Director's Cut

Director’s Cut
★★★

VAULT Festival

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Directors Cut

Director’s Cut

The Vaults

Reviewed – 31st January 2019

★★★

 

“there is no faulting the sharp, incisive quality of the writing and the performances, there is a sense that they are all working a little too hard”

 

‘Kill the Beast’ have built up a reputation for combining their dark comedy with slick, slapstick physical theatre, creating spoofs that have targeted the likes of 80s sci-fi, detective stories and werewolf mysteries, among others. Now they turn their hand to the horror genre with “Director’s Cut” at the VAULT Festival. Farcical, fast-paced and frightening – even sometimes frighteningly funny – they transport us to the world of a 1970s wobbly film set. The more than slightly stressed director has just one more day to reshoot the final scene following the untimely death of his lead actress; whose ghost, needless to say, seeks to take her revenge from beyond the grave.

So, what can possibly go wrong? Even without the supernatural interference, there is melodrama enough to ensure the film never gets made. It takes real professionalism to portray amateurism well, and these five performers (Clem Garritty, Natasha Hodgson, Zoe Roberts, David Cumming and Oliver Jones) get it spot on with their exaggerated depictions of the prima donnas and the divas who have learned their trade from the ‘Art of Coarse Acting’. Even the props behave badly.

But despite the fast current of the action that sweep the gags along, it is dragged down slightly by the sheer haul of its influences. It’s a real mix of ‘The Goons’, ‘Inside No. 9’, ‘The Play That Goes Wrong’, ‘Noises Off’ and even a bit of ‘Acorn Antiques’. So much so that the horror element feels a bit shoe-horned in. Most of the humour lies in the human story, and while there is no faulting the sharp, incisive quality of the writing and the performances, there is a sense that they are all working a little too hard; as though over-eager to meet their target of punchlines.

“Director’s Cut”, though, is essentially an hour of very silly comedy, full of delightful in-jokes and recognisable characters. In jest there is truth. Even at its most ludicrous and over-the-top, much of the comedy derives from knowing how accurate the observations are. Strip these characters of their technicolour overkill and the anarchic humour would have more room to breathe.

 

Reviewed by Jonathan Evans

Photography courtesy Kill the Beast

 

Vault Festival 2019

Director’s Cut

Part of VAULT Festival 2019

 

 

 

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