Tag Archives: Steph Back

BSL, Subtitled Video review, You’ve Got Dragons by Taking Flight Theatre Company performed at Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff reviewed by Steph Back.

A BSL subtitled video review of You’ve Got Dragons by Taking Flight Theatre Company performed at Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff reviewed by Steph Back.

Production information
“A delightful tale of one child’s journey to come to terms with their dragons, told in Taking Flight’s unique style. With toe-tapping music, this highly visual, sensitive production is a humorous and touching exploration of the ‘dragons’ we all face.
A fully accessible intergenerational show featuring creative captioning, BSL and audio description it is a treat for all the family … and remember ‘no dragon is more powerful than YOU’!”

BSL, Subtitled Video Review, Killology, Sherman Theatre by Steph Back


A BSL subtitled video review of Killology. Written by Gary Owen and directed by Rachel O’Riordan performed at Sherman Theatre, Cardiff reviewed by Steph Back.

The production can be seen at The Royal Court ,Thu 25 May – Sat 24 June.

killology


 
CREATIVE TEAM
By Gary Owen
Director Rachel O’Riordan
Designer Gary McCann
Lighting Designer Kevin Treacy
Composer and Sound Designer Simon Slater
Sound Sam Jones
CAST
Sean Gleeson
SEÁN GLEESON
For the Royal Court: The Weir.
Other theatre includes: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (National/West End); Earthquakes in London (Headlong/National); The Contractor (Oxford Stage Company); In Celebration (Everyman, Chichester); Molly Sweeney (Bristol Old Vic); Aristocrats (Chichester Festival).
Television includes: Midsomer Murders, The Café, Public Enemies, Casualty, Doctors, Dalziel & Pascoe, Burnside, Holby City, Safe House, EastEnders, Underworld.
Film includes: The Last Witness, Cold Mountain, First Knight.
Sean also directs for TV and Film
Richard Mylan
RICHARD MYLAN
Theatre includes: The Believers, Things I Know to be True, Peep Show (Frantic Assembly); Starlight Express (West End); How I Helped Out Communism (Lowry); Crazy Gary’s Mobile Disco (Paines Plough); Badfinger (Donmar).
Television includes: Marked, Byw Celwydd, Agatha Raisin, Waterloo Road, Casualty, Doctors, Grown Ups, My Family, Where the Heart Is, Belonging, No Angels, Coupling, Bad Girls, Wild West, Score, Doctors, A&E, The Bill, Border Café, Silent Witness.
Films include: Don’t Knock Twice, City Rats, Upside of Anger, Love Peace & Pancake, Checkout Girl, Snarl Up, Dead on Time, The Wisdom of Crocodiles.
Radio includes: Look Who’s Back, A Taste of Honey.
Sion Daniel Young
SION DANIEL YOUNG
For Sherman Theatre: Llwyth
Other theatre includes: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (National /West End), Mametz, The Radicalisation of Bradley Manning, House of America (National Theatre Wales); War Horse (National/West End); The Welsh Boy (Theatre Royal, Bath).
Television includes: Hinterland, Our World War, Casualty, Gwaith Cartref.
Film includes: Another Me, Private Peaceful, Daisy Chain.
Radio includes: Hoshiko, Inside Information, Dolls Tea Set, Inside Information, Bisgits a balaclafas.
GARY OWEN (SHERMAN ASSOCIATE ARTIST: WRITER)
For Sherman Theatre: Iphigenia in Splott (& National/ UK Tour/ International Tour), Love Steals Us From Loneliness (& National Theatre Wales), Amgen/Broken, A Christmas Carol
For the Royal Court: Violence & Son.
Other theatre includes: We That Are Left, Mrs Reynolds & the Ruffian, Perfect Match (Watford Palace); Free Folk (Forest Forge); The Shadow of a Boy, Big Hopes (National); Crazy Gary’s Mobile Disco (& Paines Plough), Ghost City (Sgript Cymru); In the Pipeline (& Òran Mór), The Drowned World (Paines Plough); Cancer Time (503); Sk8 (Theatre Royal, Plymouth); Blackthorn (Clywd Theatr Cymru); Mary Twice (Bridgend Youth); Bulletproof (Replay, Belfast); La Ronde, Spring Awakening (Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama).
Television includes: Baker Boys (co-writer).
Awards include:
Meyer Whitworth Award, The Shadow of a Boy;
George Devine Award, The Shadow of a Boy;
Fringe First Award, The Drowned World;
Pearson Best Play Award, The Drowned World;
UK Theatre Award for Best New Play, Iphigenia in Splott;
James Tait Black Prize for Drama, Iphigenia in Splott;
Gary is Associate Artist: Writer at Sherman Theatre and is a Creative Associate at Watford Palace Theatre.
RACHEL O’RIORDAN (DIRECTOR)
Rachel is the Artistic Director of the Sherman Theatre.
For Sherman Theatre: The Weir (& Tobacco Factory Theatres), Bird (& Royal Exchange Theatre), The Lion The Witch & The Wardrobe, A Doll’s House, Iphigenia in Splott (transfer to The National / UK Tour / International tour), Romeo & Juliet, Arabian Nights.
Other Theatre includes: Macbeth (& Tron), The Seafarer (& Lyric, Belfast), The Odd Couple – Female Version, Moonlight & Magnolias, Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me, Twelfth Night (Perth); Unfaithful (Traverse); The Absence of Women (Tricycle); Hurricane (West End/Off-Broadway); Everything Is Illuminated (Hampstead); Miss Julie, Animal Farm (Peter Hall Company/Theatre Royal, Bath); Absolution (Guna Nua/First Irish Festival NY); Much Ado About Nothing, The Glass Menagerie, Merry Christmas Betty Ford (Lyric, Belfast); A Christmas Carol, Gates of Gold, Grimm Tales (Library, Manchester); Over the Bridge (Green Shoot/Waterfront Hall, Belfast); Protestants (Soho); Arguments for Terrorism, Cold Turkey at Nana’s (Òran Mór).
Opera includes: NI5 (Northern Ireland Opera/MAC, Belfast).
Awards include:
Critic’s Award for Theatre in Scotland for Best Director, The Seafarer;
First Irish Theatre Festival Award for Best Director, Absolution;
Rachel was formerly Artistic Director at Perth Theatre.

BSL Video, Why not join Get the Chance? with Steph Back


This video features Get the Chance member Steph Back inviting you to join our team. The BSL transcript is below.
Hi my name is Steph Back.
I am a member of Get the Chance. Get the Chance support members of the public to access sport and cultural events such as gigs, the theatre and performances. The members then review the activity they have attended. All of the reviews are posted on the Get the Chance website getthechance.wales
Get the Chance wants to support new deaf/hearing impaired critics. Get the Chance can run free workshops teaching you about how to be a critic.
If you are interested in getting involved you need to contact Guy O’Donnell, The Director of Get the Chance.
You can email him at odonnell.guy@gmail.com or text him on 07703 729079. Get the Chance also has a Facebook group and you can get in touch there as well.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/GettheChance/
Thank You.

BSL Review (F.E.A.R) A Mr & Mrs Clark production at Chapter Arts Centre by Stephanie Back

Please find below a transcript of the BSL review of (F.E.A.R.) performed by Gareth Clark at Chapter Arts Centre.

Hello my name is Steph. I’m a member of Get The Chance and I am now going to review a performance called (F.E.A.R.) This was performed by an actor called Gareth Clark, focusing on his fears, in society and the differences in this growing up from child to adult.
I arrived at Chapter Arts Centre where the performance was happening. I had been here before so knew what it was like and where I was going so it felt quite relaxed. I went to the desk and asked to pick up my ticket; there was a bit of a communication break down because the lady did not understand me but I wrote it down and it was all okay.
I then went to find the performance space. It looked interesting with big red letters at the back spelling out the word fear. There was a man sat next to this in a crocodile mask, looked good and a bit scary!

I noticed from the start that Alastair,Sill who was audio describing the piece was sat in the audience a couple of seats across from me. I know from previous performances the AD has been hidden in a box behind the scenes and the blind or VIP audience members can access this though headsets. I appreciated that the audio describing was not hidden away and that (apart from the Deaf obviously!) all the audience had access to this.

At the start of the piece Tony Evans who was the BSL interpreter let us know he would be moving. I have been to many performances before where the interpreter is placed to the side of the stage and you have to look back and forth in order to access this. I thought this will be interesting to see how this works. It was really clear. And really easy to follow. It was clear it had been well planned and thought out. There was even a moment where Tony put his hand over Gareth’s mouth and it was nice to see this interaction between the character and the interpreter. This relationship worked really well and benefitted the performance. I felt more part and more included in the performance because of this.

The match between the interpreter and performer also worked really well. The age was similar, look was similar and the portrayal of emotion matched up much better. Because they grew up around the same time this similar experience they had added to the performance. If for example it had been a young woman interpreter the story would have come across much differently.
Seeing both the actor and interpreter on stage also highlighted that (F.E.A.R.) although experienced differently for each person, is the same as a concept overall. Added a sense of uniting it for all.
At the start, I found I didn’t believe the character portrayal of a child as much as I did the different ages shown throughout the rest of the performance. I am not sure why but it was perhaps because I couldn’t emphasise with the facial expressions or they seemed a little fake in reaction to the fear with the over put on smile.. Having said this from teenage upwards I felt like I could well and truly emphasise with this character. It was like there was this barrier that was destroyed in front of us. There was a sudden onslaught of his experiences and an honest, open dialogue that could make him seem vulnerable to the audience. He said that society told him that it was bad to have sex because he will get a person pregnant at 16 and life will be ruined. And then he asked; what do I do then about this aching in his balls with the natural urge to have sex. That felt so honest and open. And being told that by society is something that I was told too. From there I trusted him so much more because it felt like there were no secrets in that room. The fear was exposed.

After the performance I talked to the Interpreter and audio describer about the performance and they mentioned how access had not been an afterthought. It had been planned and budgeted into the performance. This is really rare. A lot of the time they are brought in last minute and told GO! But it was so clear that access had been thought about and it so much more a better performance because of this.
One thought to improve is that it was unclear at the start as to why the scene remained exactly the same with nobody moving for about two minutes. I understood afterwards from asking that this was due to allow time for the AD to set the scene. It would have been good to let the Deaf audience know beforehand that this would happen so it is not so confusing when nothing is happening for a while. I feel there could have also been more audience interaction, I know there was some but a bit more to encourage the audience to think more about their own fears perhaps.
To conclude. I really enjoyed the performance and really appreciate how much the access was thought about. I felt I could connect so much more to the piece because of this.
Thanks you for watching.
http://www.chapter.org/fear