(2 / 5)
 
Unless you have lived under a rock, everyone knows A Clockwork Orange, written by Anthony Burgess and hitting our screens in a feature film in 1971.
The story features violence, rape, theft and a utopian type existence where everyone fears the youth gangs swarming the streets and committing such atrocities. Eventually this becomes too much and ring leader, Alex, is imprisoned for two years until being chosen for an experiment meant to “cure” him.
Not only have I seen the film, but countless stage performances; this story lends itself to easily be customised – a directors heaven in producing their own take on the story.
This time around, the show has been taken on by Exeter University’s Theatre society. They make great headway with staging – with high level stage and props to use, they enable the time period to be stretched and changed, adding to this concept of a utopian world. The costuming is in addition to this; complimenting the time period the story comes from (70’s), again there is creativity with time periods and a huge sense of different empowerment with the use of army uniforms. This story is a fearful one, which we have come close to with societal atrocities spanning across our country, therefore not placing this anywhere specific in time or location makes this relateable to our fears for the future.
The performances themselves were ranging in quality. Thinking of a University Society, it’s understandable and expected that there would be a element of different levels of skill. However you cannot say that no one was not fully in their performance, and all in all showed great professionalism.
My issues with the performance was it felt as if there was a struggle to cut down content and the second half felt rather long. This is a common mistake when starting to bring page to stage and something that can only be enhanced but which most practitioners have fallen to once or twice.
There was an obvious need to try and shock us – rape scenes, nudity, false blood etc. Now I love performances that do this – devised performances that create a sense of surprise and in a taboo fashion is great but difficult with a well renowned story that is known for its taboo content. I only think that to keep the audience, the company should have taken the advice of less is certainly more.
Finally, the performers added a new element to this show – musical numbers. While I commend this bold move, it did not feel as if it worked – a more violent and sweary West Side Story comes to mind. Somehow this did not gel with the production but was a commendable move.
All in all this production of A Clockwork Orange was an interesting take on the original story – paying homage to the main themes of a possible future existence in our society, along with a nod to the original book and film’s time period, the company did well to produce something new yet still recognisable, throwing their all into their characters and doing this with no fear.

Hannah Goslin
 
 

Photo by Llyr Attala 
(5 / 5)
What do you think about when it comes to Christmas? Religion, commercialism,  Santa and his Reindeer, Scrooge?
Christmas sees a lot of theatre come to the stage, but usually it’s the wholesome, profound meaning conclusion for children or we delve into religion. Where is the room for an adult production?
Flossy and Boo have hit the nail on the head. This comical duo has been asked by the almighty man of The Other Room to put on a Christmas production – however, they do not know what Christmas is or a play for that matter.
A hilarious, slapstick and musical production ensues with the idea that we will reach a nativity production but first we must see the concept behind Christmas – the duo’s research.
Purely at random, we the audience are in control of the schedule, picking from a stocking the topic. Flossy and Boo use this technique a lot in their work and I am a big fan – it shows real talent and skill to be able to produce a show where you never know the order.
Music is always a key part of their work and their comical original music always comes as a surprise to the rhyming and the road it will take. A favourite of mine was a American Southern acoustic number where the use of the floor, a tambourine, guitar and beautiful voices were all they needed.  It was strong, powerful and a lovely addition to their more gentle, folk music.
And we cannot leave without a note on the set and props – thought was put into every aspect not only making it homely but complimenting each topic – things became creepy when needed, others warm and fuzzy and each bit was there for a reason.
Great thought is put into each any every part of their work and when things may go awry, these two are amazingly skilled that it becomes part of the production. We feel welcome, we feel like friends and this Christmas, we laughed, tapped our toes and smiled at something very different and totally brilliant.
 

 
(3 / 5)
 
In the brick walled room, the stage is set up with bright vertical solo lights and rostra featuring one white chair and a box of tissues.  Simplistic yet clinical.
The Claim is a story featuring an asylum seeker and two British office staff dealing with his claim to seek sanctuary in the UK.
The play purely faces upon the narrative. The interaction features interaction between the two office staff, their personal lives, their relationship and the participant, Serge; Serge and his broken English with one office staff and Serge and more fluent speech with the other office worker which we understand to be translated French.
This is a sneak peak at the difficulties in understanding communication, how stories can change a little like language Chinese whispers, and how a small misinterpretation can cost someone’s life and safety. In contrast, we see the luxury lives that we take for granted in the interaction of the two office workers but also picking on race and sexism and how even in a stable country as the UK, there is still hardship of some kind ; that makes us question why these two have less sympathy for Serge than they should do.
The conversations are rapid as they interrupt one another with short bursts of involvement. There’s a little Pinter-like technique in this, when some questions are answered and others aren’t, purposeful pauses, all highlighting the miscommunication and the lack of listening from the office workers. These short bursts also make us as frustrated as Serge – why can they not understand him? How are they getting it so wrong? Just help him.
At the beginning of the play we are invited to see an installation outside of interviews with real asylum seekers and this all brought together gives the points being made in the play a face, a personality and leaves you really thinking about the state of immigration and level of help governments give.
The Claim is a sympathetic look into current issues and a very thought provoking performance.

Hannah Goslin