Tag Archives: Hannah Goslin

Review Benighted, The Old Red Lion Theatre by Hannah Goslin

December 18, 2016 Hannah Goslin Leave a comment

(2 / 5)

In yet another one of London’s beautiful Theatre Pubs, I attended the show ‘Benighted’. Based on the 1927 novel by J.B Priestley, this adaptation by Duncan Gates and directed by Stephen Whitson sees a group of travellers lost in a storm in amongst the mountains and valleys of Wales where they stumble upon a lonely house, only to experience one of the most memorable and frightening nights of their lives.

Firstly what struck me as lovely about this production was their stellar use of the space. A compact room, it seemed full but not busy and somehow opened out the story to us; with only a few additions and one change of a door appearance, the use of staging and space is intriguing and does not feel cramped. To add to the scary, dark atmosphere and to give a ‘olden day’ sense to the 1920’s based play, the whole scenery was of a dark wooden look, with hazy lighting to give us some spook.

Unfortunately, this is all that really impressed me. The performers were well rehearsed, giving wonderful performances as much as they could, hitting the speech and mannerisms of persons of the times – exactly what we would expect. And therefore, I cannot fault them. However, it all felt a little stunted. Benighted, known as a comedy/horror, is famous for inspiring Rocky Horror Picture Show and other comic/thriller/horror plays and films, I expected something more. We all know how clever and catchy Rocky Horror […] was and is, and yes, it contains tunes that even the younger generation can now sing word for word which gives it a slight advantage but it had a spark that this production of Benighted just missed. Moments of fear played along with comical moments felt as if the play could not make its mind up of what genre it wanted to be and lacked combining the both fluidly.

Despite this, if you are looking for an easy watch, little giggle and some tense scenes, Benighted is a nice production to pop along to see for something different on a weekday night.

Circus, Theatre

Review Bianco, No Fit State Circus, Southbank Centre by Hannah Goslin

December 16, 2016 Hannah Goslin Leave a comment

(5 / 5)

This being my third time to Bianco over the years, it’s as if I’m visiting an old friend. I know the general basics, I’m sure they still look the same but something is different, something better if better was even possible from the previous.

No Fit State’s Bianco is a vagabond group of circus skilled professionals clambering around a moveable stage in a more traditional tent. The combination of tradition and the modern combines equally in this show – we see trapeze, silks, juggling and so on, but they’ve taken a different take on them. The group of adult children, playing with one another, the audience, dressed in mismatched almost ‘steam punk’ –esque attire, there’s a non-placed era to the production and so ages and time are not a concept; the concept is fun, play and a group to be feared but which is hard to after them being so easy to love.

There is no fear to interact with us; at one point being stared at for a good 5 minutes even for me put me on edge, but also made me laugh. They flirted with us, not just with their charming conversation, the occasional wink and playful nature, but with their tricks – when we thought it would go one was it went another to surprise us. The performances were flawless. And let’s be honest, who does not love a circus performer?

As I have said, returning to Bianco for a third time and being over quite a few years, I saw the original, an update and now a new version. The most poignant scenes are still there, perfected as always, but there are additions, new members of the family, updates and even different music. My only sorrow was to see that in previous productions there was a father figure amongst the family of nomads who is not in the current production who gave a sense of leadership, a feeling that these homeless travellers in their strange collection of clothing and intimacy with one another were lead by this man. Now it’s very much a young man’s game, and these grown children are enjoying life, meeting the boundaries of danger and having the time of their lives – there is nothing better than seeing performers enjoying their jobs. Now we could say this is brilliant acting; their banter with each other and ourselves just creating the playful atmosphere but somehow, I do not think even Olivier himself could fake pure joy of a part.

Bianco is nothing less that phenomenal. Harping back to traditional Circus, they have paid tribute to this but adding some things new and never before seen, with each resurrection of the show they keep even us old hat fans coming back for more.

Run away with the Circus; Run away with Bianco.

Music, Theatre

Review ‘Licensed to Ill’, Southwark Playhouse by Hannah Goslin

December 12, 2016 Hannah Goslin Leave a comment

(4 / 5)

While not being an 80’s baby, but a 90’s one, I grew up listening to many 80’s/90’s prevalent artists thanks to my two older brothers. One that always caught my attention were the Beastie Boys. Perhaps not the most appropriate of music to be listening to, the songs provided a new sound that the Spice Girls and Prodigy (while some of my absolute favourites in their own rights) did not produce.

Licensed to Ill, taken from the album title by the band, see the progression of their influence in music, firstly coming from the first hip hop influences to how three white New Yorkers broke the scene, providing their influence to many stars of the scene today.

Now an almost ‘biographical’ production sounds like it would be a little like a museum talk – while interesting, there’s still a lot of verbal storytelling and not enough action. How wrong that is when it comes to Licensed to Ill. Fast paced, quick witted and using all resources, this production tells the story of these three boys through humour, great use of doubling, tripling characters, but making them a little over the top to not only distinguish them from previous characters but to bring hilarity to the situation of a small cast compacting in a huge number of personas.

What struck me as extraordinary is that the three playing the Beastie Boys themselves were completely on the mark. Their mannerisms, approach to the characters and generally trying to be ‘bad ass’ was so well executed, it was so easy to get lost in the production and feel as if you were meeting the real deal. And this is where the musical talent comes in – if these actors weren’t young for the age of the Beastie Boys today, and you know, were in a play, I could have been convinced that I was watching a gig. The musical interludes with some of their best hits were brilliant – they moved around the stage and conducted themselves just like the band and their singing voices nailed the originals – if you have not listened to the Beastie Boys before now (shame on you!) then check them out because not only was their music unique, but their voices were too. To replicate this is nothing short of incredible.

Licensed to Ill is fun, fast paced and comedic on all levels. From the set to the characters to the execution of 20+ years of band history condensed into over 1 hour with theatrical techniques, a biographical production is turned into some wonderful nostalgia.

Musical, Theatre

Review ‘Her Aching Heart’ The Hope Theatre by Hannah Goslin

December 8, 2016 Hannah Goslin Leave a comment

(3 / 5)

Another transformative space, The Hope Theatre is compact but also a blank canvas. From my last visit, again the stage is completely different. 3 sections of chairs semi-circle the stage which has minimal setting and a large curtain behind.

‘Her Aching Heart’ sees the cross over story from present day to the days of Victorian gothic romance novels. However there is a twist. There are no Mr Rochester’s’ or Colin Firth striding in drenched in pond water – this story has strong female leads and strong romantic love between the two of them.

Picking up on the nonsensical opinions of the time in comparison to now, ‘Her Aching Heart’ is comical in creating 1 dimensional characters and highlighting these with costuming and casting – The Lady of the Manor type character of Harriet (played by Colette Eaton) is all full of pomp and circumstance – beginning rude, obnoxious and playing upon the upper class stereotype, her being dressed in dark colours and casting a brunette is clever with the contrast to the opposing character. Molly (played by Naomi Todd) is a blonde, innocent and by all means perfect peasant girl, who very much like Snow White, attracts creatures and humans alike and revives them with her pure goodness. She is mostly dressed in white and pinks to enhance her innocence. Both actresses do brilliantly well to be humorous and to play to these stereotypes. The costuming and casting choices are also brought into the ‘present day’ scenarios, despite these modern characters being more likeable and naturalistic.

The production in hammed up, over the top and melodramatic – and this is all good. The idea of enhancing these ridiculous aspects makes the musical comical and contrasting to the era change. The play is clever in making it seem amateur and with this, the polished production is anything but. Original music and composition is used which is funny, witty and provides breaks between the scenes. The only negative I could give is that it is notable that one singer is more prominent than the other – Eaton has a more husky, attention grabbing voice and is able to adjust to fill the room but not blast us out the door – reminiscent to me of a character you would find in Chicago. This is not to say that Todd is not good – she has a wonderful musical theatre-esque take to her voice, her songs and approach to these reminding me much of Wicked and tells the tale well; the voices are just so different that in harmonies and song after another, Todd seems to get a little lost in the space and this is unfortunate for such a wonderful performer.

Her Aching Heart is comedic, clever and certainly worth a watch. Pushing the boundaries of what we know about gothic romance novels and the heterosexuality of them – writer Bryony Lavery has certainly taken a great concept and ran with it.

http://www.thehopetheatre.com/productions/her-aching-heart/

Literature, Theatre

Review Testosterone, Rhum and Clay, New Diorama by Hannah Goslin

November 29, 2016 Hannah Goslin Leave a comment

(4 / 5)

Trans/Transexual. A topic that some know much about and others very little. I think it can simply be described as a person who is born one gender but feels like the other. Someone who goes through medical transformation to help become who they truly are.

Kit Redstone, writer and performer of the piece Testosterone uses autobiographical content of his own transformation into a man and what this really means. What is a man? Is the female he once was still there? And all the questions in between and onwards.

The play is based upon his first entrance into a male changing room, spending time to flash back to his life before this moment, his concerns and intrigue of the future and how to blend in as a male.

The performance in mostly as a narration from Kit himself – without prior knowledge of the honesty of the piece, it is wonderful to see something so true and without verging on parody or trying to compliment the LGBT community. Some writers and performers have slight fear at portraying this industry without offending or getting it completely wrong, or even not doing the community justice. The beauty of Testosterone is that it is from Redstone, and him taking the main role gives the sheer honesty of his life without sugar coating it.

And I realise I am making it sound heavy – it is not in the slightest. There are short moments of speech, followed by short hammed up and comical scenes relating to metaphors and nods to popular culture. It’s a little camp and then it’s a little comical by pointing out the fragility of masculinity. These performers are skilled well enough that their movement through different characters, the ability to poke fun at society and yet compliment the true nature of the piece is a triumph.

Testosterone is just a fantastic piece of work – sometimes autobiographical pieces try to be too black and white, but Redstone has taken his life and ensured we laugh at nature, at society and yet still join him for his emotional and interesting ride of life.

http://newdiorama.com/whats-on/testosterone

Dance, Film & TV, Literature, Theatre

Review The Snowman Peacock Theatre / Sadler’s Wells, By Hannah Goslin

November 28, 2016 Hannah Goslin Leave a comment

(4 / 5)

Growing up, I have been watching The Snowman and its cousin Father Christmas, every Christmas, every year. When The Snowman and The Snow dog came out, I think my tear ducts weren’t expecting the initiation of another short film to encourage them further.

With one of my brother’s being of the orange haired persuasion, growing up we always joked that my brother was the boy in the film. We even had the bedsheets with him and the Snowman on. And while this was all in jest, what kid did not want to be the kid in The Snowman?

So as you would expect, I know the story off by heart, backwards, forwards, up and down! And so the inner child in me felt nothing but excitement and apprehension of seeing magic come alive on stage.

Boy did it! For those living under a rock, The Snowman is about a boy who makes this frosty creature who comes to life. They spend a short night on Christmas Eve having adventures in his house where his parents sleep and then flying across the world to meet Father Christmas and a range of other Snow men and women.

Many of you may be thinking, it’s November and a little early for Christmas – but once you are taken a-hold of all the joy, the pomp and circumstance of The Snowman on stage, you soon forgive it.

Staging is beautiful – seamlessly moveable into new scenes, when the Snowman and the boy are exploring, everything is a little oversized and cartoonlike which makes it comical and child friendly. To fill out the two hour show, the original content has been adapted, adding a love interest for the Snowman, a bad guy who is triumphed over and some dancing fruit. All of these additions are welcomed and give a more modern twist to the 1982 classic.

As this is the Peacock Theatre, of course it is full of dance. Animal characters, our new villain and damsel in distress are all dancing editions, with the use of classical ballet and contemporary, they beautifully grace the stage, moving with little sound and much grace. Music provided by a live orchestra, it’s hard to not feel ‘christmassey’ with the instrumental sounds and live singing which accompany the stage presence well. We even get a little drum and bass and mixes of the music to again make the piece more modern.

The Snowman is a feel good family show that appeals to all generations – from the young who are being introduced to the story, to die-hard fans like myself and the parents and grandparents who also know the story like the back of their hand – it’s hard not to enjoy and not to come away elated, your inner child bursting to get out.

http://www.sadlerswells.com/whats-on/2016/the-snowman/

Literature, Theatre

Review The Children The Royal Court by Hannah Goslin

November 27, 2016 Hannah Goslin Leave a comment

(5 / 5)

A simple kitchen – nothing special, nothing lavish, a simple country kitchen, on a slight slant, suspended in the middle of the stage gap. This is the basis for the next two hours, and this is nothing but intriguing and interesting.

Now two hours – or just under as the usher informed me – with no interval seems daunting. It’s only fantastic writing, acting and general execution that could pull this off. The Children has all these attributes and more and is more than successful at achieving our attention and full indulgence in the performance.

Based in said kitchen, we meet three 60-odd year old characters – once all friends, it has been 38 years since they were reunited and we are introduced to their past, present and future, full of emotion, complications, witticisms and intrigue. The three are retired physicists from the local nuclear power station which in the last few years has had a malfunction causing a disaster in their local community.

This brilliant writing by Lucy Kirkwood does not exactly beat around the bush – we are delved into the lives of these people and all their emotions, problems and being forced to acknowledge possibilities of our own future and the likelihood of this situation in our own lives. We are also coaxed into looking at our fragility as human beings and the question of age and responsibility – the ability to be carefree when young and how this slowly boils down to the dependency of others.

The performers are fantastic – with age comes talent and experience and they are at home on the stage. As naturalistic as a play can be, we feel as if we are intruding and watching real life – the actors ability to bounce off one another, make text seem flawless and executed brilliantly along with personal touches to bring to life the characters, their feelings and interactions.

Without harping on about this miniscule fact – those two hours fly by. We do not want to leave these characters, we want to find out more, we want to see more and we want to be with them, through thick and thin. The Children not only tickles you, but it wakes you up to honest facts and leaves you feeling thoughtful but also entertained.

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Review Choosers The Bread and Rose Theatre, Clapham Fringe, By Hannah Goslin

November 23, 2016 Hannah Goslin Leave a comment

(2 / 5)

In the top of this theatre pub, the Clapham Fringe has been conjuring an array of performances. This day, I happened to be seeing the show ‘Choosers’.

Choosers sees the meeting and friendship between two homeless men. Spanning only a few months and based all around one park bench, these two unlikely kindred spirits meet, and we are introduced to their past present and future.

The set it simple – one bench, the younger homeless man with a suitcase of bits and pieces, the other with only what is on his body. There are leaves pinned to the staging and strewn across the rostra to give that ‘park feeling’.

Our younger performer is a university student who has run away from his course, his home and his responsibilities, feeling unloved and unseen in comparison to his marine brother. The older, full of secrets, some of which we never find out, has been homeless for 5 years out of choice.

Both with a different story to tell, yet both choosing this life, our views on the homeless are challenged, from not only why they have chosen to become homeless, but to the way they live – the older actor says that begging isn’t right and that it should not be done. He makes friends to find food and we soon warm to him as he warms to the younger performer. The younger performer is annoyingly young – perhaps slightly stereotyped, he is bouncy and full of naivety. At times it’s hard to keep up with his fast paced approach to the character, and becomes a little exhausting with consistent pacing.

Overall Choosers is a lovely performance, full of friendship and warmth, contradicting the world views on the homeless. Well worth a watch if you are able to keep up with the speed of the university character.

Theatre

Review The Sewing Group, The Royal Court by Hannah Goslin

November 21, 2016 Hannah Goslin Leave a comment

(5 / 5)

After being away for a while, my Royal Court cravings were high, so to be back and excited to what I was about to see was a lovely feeling.

As always, the Royal Court produces performances that make me feel as if I am entering a new theatre. Their spaces are so transformative, even the proscenium arch. However, this time we were upstairs and this space continues to be new, disorientating me in a good way as I try to think back to previous productions and how it was styled. It’s like a completely new place.

The Sewing Group begins exactly as it sounds. We feel intrusive – the staging a simple wooden box with 2/3 women sat on stools sewing. Dressed in Amish style clothing, I begin to feel apprehensive – would this be a really intense piece? It did not seem at first as if this simple set up would be funny or surprising… boy was I wrong.

Directorially – this piece is brilliant and clever. Short scenes – and I mean short, perhaps only a few minutes are stylised with immediate black outs and tingy music. Each time it’s as if we see a snap shot, creating the element of passing time. The two women sat sewing at first, limited speaking or movement, remind me much of the beginnings of a horror film – quiet yet concentrated, not revealing much, the entry of a third woman, an outsider brings home this element as she reacts to their strange ways just as we do. The character’s quickly become more 3 dimensional – revealing more about themselves, their village and with the new arrival, some comedic moments come out.

Without any spoilers, these performers bring such interesting characters and elements to the piece, that you cannot fail be engaged. As the relationships and events progress, the scenes become more intense, more comedic, more emotional and to do this in short scenes is a triumph to the actor’s capabilities.

The Sewing Group is surprising and enjoyable. Something that begins with apprehension to its creativity and a feeling that it may not be liked, soon becomes fantastic, intelligent and makes you wonder why you ever doubted The Royal Court’s brilliance.

The Sewing Group

Theatre

Nora, The Bread and Rose Theatre, Clapham Fringe by Hannah Goslin

November 20, 2016 Hannah Goslin Leave a comment

(1 / 5)

Written and performed by Portuguese artists, Nora is a take on Ibsen’s classic ‘A Doll’s House’. Taking the female character, David Silva has created this piece, highlighting the past and present of the character and her question of who she is. We see Nora when with her husband and family to once she has left them to find herself. This abstract piece crosses the boundaries of both past and future and takes a look at the female’s identity.

This performance is basic with its design in staging, costumes and movement which at first is lovely and exciting. Both performers have studied physical theatre and there is an attempt to bring this into the piece. Heavy footed, the physicality does not seem well executed and at times seems as if it is thrown in to make this piece weird and wonderful when it doesn’t need to be. Trying to blur the lines, there is interaction between the two Nora’s but alleviating to no real event or conclusion.

Both of the performers are very different and perhaps with the time state that each are meant to be in [past and future] it is this way to show the difference between the progression of these characters. However, there needs to be some similarity to the characters and unfortunately there is not, making it feel as if we are just watching two unhinged characters wearing similar clothing – and that being the only similarity.

I really wanted to enjoy this piece – you can see what they are trying to do and where they are trying to go but unfortunately it does not hit the mark and you find yourself either waiting for some big change in the piece or for the production to end.

Creating opportunities for a diverse range of people to experience and respond to sport, arts, culture and live events. / Lleisiau amrywiol o Gymru yn ymateb i'r celfyddydau a digwyddiadau byw