The tale of the Scottsboro Boys is a tough story to believe. Based on true events, this musical looks at the story of the falsely accused southern black young men of a rape on a train. The satirical play shows the injustice and the apartheid in southern America… something that seems strange for a musical, no?
Cleverly, the writers of this performance have hit on a range of events of this era (1930’s onwards) of this appalling discrimination. Setting the group of black performers to perform their story as a minstrel show, we begin to see how mistreated these humans were. There’s an element of comedy but more of a focus on the ridiculous nature of views of this time and with this in mind, these accomplished performers produce a stunning and hard-hitting performance.
Instead of using a range of cast to perform the parts of the ‘white folk’, a handful of the performers used small costume changes and prop additions to highlight the change, but mostly this is shown in their over-acted and almost parody of these characters. Somehow, to see these parodies would sound unfitting for such a tough story, but it fits correctly to humiliate the wrong opinions, the poor reflection of  human nature and the insolence of these characters.
The Scottsboro Boys portrays a sad reality, with no happy ending. The musical numbers pull at the heart-strings and make you hate the white people who were wrong. And somehow, this seems a perfect way to bring this story to the forefront of the public. With a standing ovation and tears swept from the corners of many in the theatre, this performance is not only different but a daring addition to the West End.

In the spacious Duchess theatre, The Play that Goes Wrong is a production exploring more than what it says on the tin!
The narrative created by Mischief Theatre is of an amateur company putting on a murder mystery play, but unknown to them, everything goes wrong. This begins as the theatre’s ushers open the curtains, letting us audience into our seats where two frantic ‘crew’ members are looking for a run away performer – the dog.
Many events go wrong from parts of the set coming apart, missing actors and forgotten scripts, ending in a huge climax of mishaps. This particular performance felt accomplished; with a group of school kids in the theatre, actors managed to easily interact with us with the use of improvisation and while we knew this was a scripted play, there was a great sense of these actors’ abilities to digress from the script and still manage to show professionalism and skill.
These latter attributes also manifested themselves in how well rehearsed the play is in relation to the safety of quite dangerous stunts, performed by the actors. While able to mix with each other and the set without injury, they still manage this and perform with humour and still in their characters.
The Play that Goes wrong at no point goes wrong in achieving their goal. With elements reminiscent of productions I’ve seen by Forced Entertainment, while not trying to Brecht-ify the audience, we are felt included in the humour and clumsiness that is this mishap of a murder mystery.
Following this show, Mischief Theatre will be performing one-off shows at the Duchess with ‘Lights, Camera, Improvise’ where this talented company will perform with a hint of forum theatre, using audience suggestions to influence what they produce. By seeing how well they can improvise, I am especially excited to see more from this talented company.

 
Credit: Pallasca Photography
The Other Room presented Sarah Kane’s blasted with all the brutality and intensity that was to be expected. Even though it was quite a small room they didn’t play down the acting at all which created a wave of uneasiness throughout the audience; especially the people sat in the front row. However how can you play down getting your eyes eaten out? It was definitely not a light hearted theatre trip out on a Friday night, yet if you think you can stomach it, its definitely a performance you don’t want to miss.
Due to the language content and the actions presented in the play, I was apprehensive about watching this performance. However, the talent of the actors and the carefully thought out directing choices by Kate Wasserberg made it hard hitting yet done tastefully presented at the same time.
It was dark comedy at its finest and I doubt I’ll ever see another show like it. The one liners by Christian Patterson playing Ian were perfectly timed,so that the audience couldn’t help but burst out laughing but then feel guilty for doing so after. Christian played the character Ian remarkably well, making us loathe him at the start but then finding ourselves sympathising with him towards the end of the production. Louise Collins, playing Cate, is an incredible actress and the role of Cate showcased that exceptionally. Simon Nehan playing the solider provided a lot of humour as well, especially with his broad Welsh accent. The conversation between the soldier and Ian had a lot of great emotion that provided a lot of hard hitting stories of the soldiers past. The relationships between each character on stage was so strong and powerful all the time that it provided humanity when there was none. The love Ian and Cate had for each other despite the action brought real sadness to the piece, every time they hugged or kissed after a fight it was so believable that it was heart wrenching. All three actors showed bravery to take on these roles where other actors would have turned them down in a heartbeat. What’s more is that they took them on tremendously well providing a real insight to the work of Sarah Kane.
The music, composed by Nick Gill provided not only contextual aspects within this performance but also paralleled with the emotion in the scenes. The use of simplistic tranquil piano scoring against the electronic music worked well with the dysfunction of the play. This created an oxymoronic feel to it which I believe enhanced the sympathy towards the characters in the play even more. The music showed the brutality of being at war and what it can do to people. The album is available to listen to on Nick Gill’s website, www.nickfuckinggill.com.
Overall, Kate Wasserburg should be commended for making Sarah Kane’s ‘Blasted’ work well on stage with the action being in such close proximity with the audience. This is a performance that is integral to go and watch if you call yourself a ‘theatre-goer’ as it’ll provide an experience you wont get with anything else. This play isn’t for everyone but if you think you’re strong enough to handle the content then you need to get down to Porter’s pub and step into the Other Room where you’ll be transported to a whole new wavelength.

The infamous work of Sarah Kane is always uncompromising and unflinching, arresting audiences from start to finish and confronting them with the horrors of the real world. Never could it been more‘in-yer-face’ than in this newly built pub theatre at Porter’s – the Other Room. Seating only around fifty people, one would assume that such an extreme play as Blasted would need somewhere a little bigger. However, the intimate space proved far more effective in challenging audiences with the potent imagery and powerful messages that lie at the dark heart of Sarah Kane’s unforgettable play.
In a lavish hotel room somewhere in Leeds, a mismatched couple enter. The audience may expect a bog-standard two-hander about relationships. From the obscene opening line though, it’s clear that this play eschews all boundaries. Excuse any spoilers. We are introduced to Ian (Christian Patterson), a repulsively crass, middle-aged tabloid journalist, and Cate (Louise Collins), a young woman who, by the end, is raped, abused, gives birth to a baby that dies, then eaten, all the while suffering epileptic fits. Later, we discover the violence and unease exists not only in the hotel room. Escaping from an apocalyptic war outside, a brutally sadistic soldier (Simon Nehan) arrives and inflicts similar pains upon Ian as Cate suffered. The play’s structure fragments, abandoning words and instead showing humans in their most pathetic, vulnerable and despicable states. Within these bleak and sickening closing scenes, here, the moments of pure clarity emerge. In the atrocious acts committed by Ian and the Soldier, a shred of humanity catches the light in a world of darkness. The brilliance of Sarah Kane’s writing is her ability to humanise even the most disgraceful characters.
The accomplished trio of actors demonstrate consistent and impressive performances. Louise Collins’ portrayal of Cate goes through an intriguing development. She begins as mentally unsound and vulnerable with the exuberance of a little girl, before hardening and growing despite her trauma. In the final tableau, Cate’s last act of kindness to Ian is incredibly moving and deftly directed by Kate Wasserberg, whose interpretation of Sarah Kane’s enigmatic writing is pitch-perfect.
Simon Nehan excels as a comically Welsh Soldier, who soon becomes wracked with suffering and malice in equal measure. Not to say the comedy detracted away from the harshness of the play; the comedy was impeccably handled. Indeed, often Kane writes some hilarious one-liners in amongst the suffering. Christian Patterson gives a stellar performance as Ian, switching from brutality to vulnerability within seconds – a fearless actor with a striking presence.
With a cleverly designed set and Nick Gill’s beautifully tragic score, there is very little, if anything, to criticise in this production. Only that, if you have a weak disposition, see it at your own risk. There are moments when the tension is at a heart-stopping level. But that is no flaw, quite the opposite in fact.
In short, a thrilling, deeply affecting revival of an eternally relevant play. Cathartic and exhilarating, this play leaves you in a similar state to the title and is a promising start to The Other Room’s ‘Life in Close Up’ season.
‘Blasted’ is at The Other Room at Porter’s Cardiff until 7th March.

The atmospheric roof space at the Wales Millennium Centre was the perfect choice for director Yvonne Murphy in which to stage this promenade style performance of Richard III.
I must admit, I was a little apprehensive of both the all female cast and the prospect of standing for what is when performed as written a three-hour play. However, when I entered the space and the performance began these thoughts were lost from my mind.
The dark, cold metallic world created the production team was an appropriate setting for this plays themes of greed, power, murder and madness. The plot itself for someone who doesn’t know the play very well can be quite confusing and it cannot be expected of every audience member to understand every scene or speech from the play. However, the plays focus on Richard’s power hunger murderous journey towards power and ultimately death was clearly transferred across to the audience. The promenade style of performance added to this idea of Richards murderous journey, although for shorter audience members (such as myself) the view of the stage in some scenes was quite restricted. However, the clear delivery and energy given to the language still made scenes enjoyable.
The cast of 8 strong female performers made Shakespeare’s words leap off the page, their strong performances giving the language of arguably Shakespeare’s most famous history play new energy and meaning. To avoid confusion, it would have maybe have been a better choice to use a few more female actors to differ between characters, however the performers characterisation of each separate character created interesting interpretations, in particular I enjoyed the performance of Ana-Maria Maskell as Lady Ann and the presentation of the two young princes.
I am currently studying Richard III in university and therefore have been introduced to many of the interpretations of the character from Ian McKellen to Laurence Olivier. Without a doubt however, Mairi Phillips portrayal of charismatic, power-hungry and threatened king was my favourite. The performance did not lack any character because it wasn’t played by a man, Phillips played the character just as well as any man could (and undoubtably better). She demonstrated the charm and the greed of the character perfectly and the emotional climax of the character towards the end of the production showed the incredible range and talent of this actress.
This all female Omidaze production of a play made up of mostly male characters created a brilliant comment on an ancient world ruled by powerful men that in today’s current social climate of worldwide conflict made the play as relevant as it would have been at Shakespeare’s time, as well as demonstrating the need for more female focused plays to be written and produced. This production was incredibly exciting from start to finish and I hope to see more productions such as this coming from the company.

Neville’s Island
The Duke of York’s, London
17/11/2014
What excitement I felt when I knew I was about to see Neville’s Island, staring comedy greats such as Adrian Edmondson, Miles Jupp, Neil Morrissey and Robert Webb.All known for their influence on British culture, I was sure that a comedy performance was in store.
The story of Neville’s Island saw four business men, shipwrecked on a work’s team building exercise. The story embarks on the foursome’s hunger, fears and conflict with one another. We see four very different individuals, and as the show unfolds, different significant stories of each person is revealed.
The main source of comedy was seen in the angst and anger of Edmondson’s character, inflicting insults upon the apparent stupidity of the other character’s in the scenario. This proved many laughs and was helped by the minimal acting of the other’s in retaliation; later building into each burst of madness that they experience as survival begins to be a struggle.
There were times of slapstick comedy, using the very well constructed and realised set of trees, rubble and real water at the front of the stage. Audience members near the front were even given rain macs with the knowledge that this water became a element to some of the comedy gold on stage.
However, I wouldn’t call this production ‘side splitting’. These little moments created hysterical laughter but were far and few between. It felt that more activity was needed on stage to compensate for quiet moments where the comedy did not quite hit the funny bone. While each actor was fantastic in their performance and execution and couldn’t be faulted, the content wasn’t enough for them to truly show their comedic skills and left myself wanting more.