Josh Powell

REVIEW: The Time Machine

Published on December 8, 2023 by Josh PowellLeave a comment

2 hours of nonsense in Finsbury Park with electric energy between the cast members

The Time Machine, a funny and nonsensical adaptation of HG Wells’s sci-fi novel, is showing at Park Theatre until 30th December, starring Michael Dylan, Dave Hearn and Amy Revelle.

During the first act we’re treated to what almost feels like a sketch show. It’s a tremendous amount of fun, but there lacks a narrative arc or a sense of place. It isn’t until the second act that we (kind of) get to see where the show is going and really get to join in on the fun. There are little boundaries between us and them, and it’s great to see the interaction between the audience and the cast.

As we enter the second act whatever remains of the fourth wall is completely eliminated — to the show’s benefit! It really is wonderful to watch, and I’d encourage anyone keen to get front row seats in the stalls, because you might even be able to take part.

The central conceit of the play doesn’t really appear until the second act and, in my opinion, it’s a little late, the huge amount of fun we started to have could have been front-loaded.

The cast have an electric energy between them, and it’s hard not to find that exciting. Almost every other line is a witty quip and it will either hit you now or come back to bite you three scenes later.

The physical comedy is so funny. Dave Hearn in particular is excellent at making you laugh without any lines.

Each of the actors are absolutely deserving of acclaim:
– Dave Hearn has incredible physical performances
– Amy Revelle is absolutely incredible and manages to pull of at least two Cher songs!
– Michael Dylan’s character suffers unfortunately but is one of the best players I’ve seen

To sum up, The Time Machine is absolutely hilarious and worth your time (ha!).

REVIEW: Scratches

Published on November 10, 2023 by Josh PowellLeave a comment

One of the best combinations of upbeat joy and sincere sadness I’ve ever experienced.

SCRATCHES is a two-person show, starring GIRL (Aoife Kennan — who is also the writer) and BEST FRIEND (Zak Ghasti-Torbati). It’s a brutally honest yet brilliantly funny examination of self-harm. One would think this to be a tricky experience to get laughs out of, but these self-harm jokes were some of the hardest jokes I’ve laughed at in a while.

Oh the friendship! Zak and Aoife are friends in real life — this is explicitly mentioned towards the end of the show — and this is so obvious! I think it might be impossible to act as friends so close without being so. The two so naturally bounce off each other that it almost feels like two friends improvising — playing, even — as opposed to a written sketch show and it’s just so heartwarming to watch.

The show is part sketch show, part exploration of something serious and has a couple of songs, the absolute pinnacle of with is the Citalopram song (I really can’t over-emphasise how much I love this song). As someone who’s suffered mental health issues before this was super relatable, and this is a running theme throughout the show. I probably wouldn’t have had such a fun experience if I didn’t have some relatability with the subject issue so perhaps bear that in mind.

Zak’s character of BEST FRIEND was one of the most superb supporting performances I’ve seen off the West End. Wandering around the stage picking up new roles ad-hoc – being the mom or the dad or the doctor as and when it’s suitable. I really think without Zak’s involvement the show wouldn’t have had the energy to keep an audience engaged for the duration: This isn’t to knock on Aoife’s talent, just that for this show two people was definitely the way to go. Plus, arriving in your first costume wearing a cape is just plain fabulous!

Obviously, the show refers to severe and potentially triggering mental and physical health issues, but it only does so in a very responsible way, certain specific events are redacted that might have clashed with the show’s nicely balanced tone. There are also supportive mental health resources provided to the audience on arrival. With all that being said if you suspect that you’d be triggered by some of the issues in the show it might not be the one for you.

Overall, this show is just a brilliant and brutally honest insight into a young woman’s experience with mental health while being just completely hilarious. It was so high-energy I was constantly hoping it wasn’t about to end. I’ve got absolutely no reservations giving it 5 stars. It’s a SCRATCH you really should itch (my apologies for that awful pun).

REVIEW: Racing Tortoise Tempo Slow

Published on November 4, 2023November 6, 2023 by Josh PowellLeave a comment

A brutally honest yet fun insight into a young actress’s experience.

Racing Tortoise Tempo Slow is a one-woman semi-autobiographical show about a young actress’ struggles to get into theatre school, until she is helped by George, a giant tortoise. Yes, Benita as a giant tortoise is as charming and fun as you’d hope for. For a one-woman (and arguably, one-tortoise) show there is an incredibly high amount of energy — Benita C. Lambrechts’s physical performance is fun to watch and really works in the intimate performance space at The Golden Goose Theatre.

The start of the hour-and-a-half-long show is an homage to 2001: A Space Odyssey and introduces us to the show’s central conceit — our talking tortoise — and it’s an absolute delight to the audience. It’s incredible how Benita’s almost frantic energy gets us into the spirit of the show. I really enjoyed watching Benita as the tortoise, if anything, this narrative device might be underused: Why wouldn’t you want to use a giant tortoise as much as humanly (tortoise-ly?) possible.

Benita’s physical acting is truly sublime. There are several scenes where her dancing is captivating to the audience, and in these the sound and lighting design really stands out. The staging is very simple, only featuring a few pieces of trash, underlining the environmentalism theme of the play. Yet these are used in wildly diverse ways, whether we’re seeing a jellyfish or building a time machine.

My biggest reservation with the show was the tone… The tone tended to wildly vary from tongue-in-cheek to sincere. The show even mentions this, varying from the “tragedy of not getting into theatre school” to environmentalism and one of the trickiest issues of our time: “Why keep trying when failure is inevitable?”. I’m afraid to say the ending is a bit underwhelming; it seems that the fun tortoise-y moments fall more towards the start of the show. As we get later in the show the energy may have waned a bit, this could be easily lifted with a few more additions of the tortoise if Benita chooses to relook at the script.

Overall this show is a fun insight into Benita’s life from playing on the seaside of Norway to where we’ve found ourselves now.

REVIEWER: Josh Powell