Tag: bristol

REVIEW: Smalltown Boy

Published on by isabellescerriLeave a comment

Rating: 4 out of 5.

The joyous joining of drag and drama is masterful.

Not often does drag not hit the mark. Not often does a drag performance leave you considering your own experiences of grief. Brenda Callis seeks to deconstruct the reality of a queer body within rural living. On it’s final stretch of its tour, having debuted at Bristol Old Vic, Smalltown Boy takes over The Pleasance Theatre with an immersive, cabaret of song and sorrow. It’s lead, Edie, played by a talented Elliot Ditton, maps a physical and emotional journey to rural Cornwall as she discovers the death of her lover- Leo. This endeavor is not, of course, without its many hurdles. As Edie learns of her lovers family, local community and disapproving looks, we are presented with the bright artistry that is drag and small-town drama.

The amalgamation of form is initially established within the set. Audiences sit and enjoy a drink at the cabaret-esque tables for two, on looking a set reminiscent a classic British sitcom. As Edie encounters Leo’s mother’s (Claire) home, we see the merging of worlds- a basic, family home with the addition of an on-stage-stage, glittering in the middle. Through some audience work and an opening musical number, the play suggests to follow a solo drag performance. Yet this is quickly swayed, as Edie lays down some uncomfortable conversation with the audience, and though confusing at first, we learn to understand this as Edie’s attempts to converse with Leo.

The initial interaction between Claire, played by Kate Milner-Evans, and Edie is certainly awkward. The beautiful costume design of Alice Sales, places footwear as a metaphor of these two worlds colliding- the high-camp heels of Edie, versus the simple practical walking boot of Claire. Claire’s bewilderment at Edie is very noticeable, yet at times it felt somewhat too uptight, and I must note as the performance continued you could feel a relaxation from the actors. Nevertheless, as the characters come together and loosen up, there is a real overwhelm of emotion and discomfort around their situation. We meet Hannah, played by Shiquerra Robertson Harris, who is suggested to be the reason Edie had to come down to cornwall, and her partner Stephen, played by Theo Cowan. I have to point out the excellent characterisation of Stephen and Frazer Meakin’s direction is rather superb. The cabaret moments are hilarious and perfectly comedically timed, as drag is intertwined so neatly into the performance.

The emotional narrative certainly becomes a huge factor at play, and as Edie’s physical costume delayers, as does the layers of the story. As the play enters its climaxing

moments, the key theme of grief is really deconstructed. A back and forth between Edie’s coming and going, and conversations of her place in the spreading of Leo’s ashes takes place. Important discussions are held, as the family are hinted of leo’s real connection to Edie, and we begin to understand their stance on otherness within their community. Though very moving, I found this unfolding to be slightly prolonged and I feel the script would have benefitted from some refinement, to ensure clarity and precision in its message. Regardless, all aspects of this performance, from the sound, through to the costume and props, proved to compose a deep, hilariously-camp portrait of grief and I can’t wait to see where this beautiful show is taken next.

For Listing please visit: https://bristololdvic.org.uk/whats-on/smalltown-boy

Author:Isabelle Scerri

REVIEW: Life Before You

Published on by Noah RobinsonLeave a comment

Rating: 4 out of 5.

A thoughtful and emotionally intelligent portrait of mothers, daughters and the distances between them

“The cord being cut again”. In Life Before You’s opening moments, we glimpse what is yet to come: the painful severing of a mother-daughter bond. Eva Hudson’s two-hander, following daughter Eimear (Georgia Alexander) and mother Gráinee (Hayley-Marie Axe), is a confidently accomplished exploration of womanhood, class and Northern Irish identity. Both characters are realised with nuance and authenticity, under Roisin McCay-Hines’ assured direction, in what is notably Alexander’s professional stage debut.

Gráinee opens the play by addressing the audience directly, offering a fantastically poetic account of her daughter’s birth. From there we move quickly through a montage of Eimear’s early years as Gráinee navigates motherhood and work, guided by McCay-Hines’ tight pacing.  As Eimear prepares to leave home after securing a place at the Ruskin School of Art in Oxford, the play mirrors this departure with Gráinee’s own exit from Northern Ireland years earlier. A chance meeting with Brit Tom in a butcher’s shop promises escape from the confines of domestic life. Yet Jasmine Thompson and Abigail Manard’s well-crafted set design traps Grainne within the box of her own kitchen until the play’s final moments.

That kitchen becomes a dividing line between Ryegate and Oxford as Eimear attempts to reinvent herself. She sheds her birth name, becoming ‘Emma’ to navigate the cultural and class differences of her peers. But despite the distance, Eimear repeatedly returns to portraits of her mother, an intimacy Hudson captures with real tenderness. At times, however, these sequences stall the momentum as the play pauses for extended monologues while the other performer lingers silently on stage.

When Eimear returns to Ryegate, the differences seem irreconcilable. There is sharp humour in her awakening as an eco-feminist and vegetarian, much to Gráinee’s surprise on their traditional steak night. The escalating confrontation carries the reminiscence of Martin McDonagh’s The Beauty Queen of Leenane, as their fury spills out and the kitchen becomes strewn with the contents of Gráinee’s cupboards.  They turn to cynically blame each other, seemingly forgetting the absence of her father Tom on another endless business trip.

The low, ominous rumbles in Louis King’s sound design summon memories of the Troubles, revealing a trauma reaching back generations; Eimear’s dream of a woman stripped and coated in feathers and tar reveals itself as Gráinee’s memory and before that the experience of her own mother during a Loyalist car hijacking decades earlier. Hudson is well-observed in her suggestion that these cycles of violence and departure reverberate across generations, as we come to see how these choices shape both mother and daughter.   

Running alongside this is Gráinee’s experience of going through the menopause, depicted through encounters with ignorant doctors and the frustratingly bewildering Fenella. It’s a sensitive portrayal of medical misogyny though it sits somewhat awkwardly within the play’s broader narrative, leaving the moments towards the play’s conclusion feeling slightly fragmented.

Still the emotional core remains. As Eimear comes to forgive and understand her mother in the play’s closing moments, we too appreciate the complexity of the love that binds them. Life Beyond You is ultimately an emotionally intelligent and deeply assured offering.

Credit: Thomas Duggan

IN CONVERSATION WITH: Holly Bancroft, Alice Bebber and Ella Hakin

Published on by Tabitha JamesLeave a comment

Lady’s Fingers, co-written and performed by Ella Hakin, Alice Bebber and Holly Bancroft, follows three young women navigating the corporate world with a mix of clown, choreography, and comedy. Presented by Penny Drop and produced by Brave Mirror, the show returns after a sold-out run, exploring work-life absurdities with wit and charm. AYP holds this exclusive dialogue with Holly, Alice and Ella.

What inspired the creation of Lady’s Fingers? How did the idea for this come about?

Holly Bancroft: When we got out of university and we were entering the corporate world for the first time, we wanted to make a show about what we were feeling and noticing. It ended up being this! 

    Ella Hakin: I think that the interview processes, the endless job hunt, or what felt endless, was exhausting. We wanted to put a fun spin on that as well I think, we got a lot of inspiration from going to Edinburgh Fringe, from seeing our friends do other shows and things like that. 

    HB: And through studying theatre,

    EH: Yeah through studying theatre!

    HB: We all met on the same course. We really loved studying clowning there – it’s an entertaining way of talking about serious things whilst also making fun of them. 

    The show explores themes of navigating the corporate world as young women. What personal or collective experiences shaped the way these themes are explored in the play?

    EH: As we said before, the seemingly endless job hunt and interviews, but also the constant need to prove ourselves and the expectation of knowing what we wanted to do with our lives! Feeling like having to show off but not really having the confidence to do so.

    HB: When we took a closer look at how people perform in a corporate setting, we became interested in how silly they are. Saying many thanks and kind regards over and over and over again. No one actually believes it! You could write the angriest email and end it ‘kind regards’ and we thought that that was hilarious. 

    EH: The rules of the corporate world – 

    HB: – and the performance –

    EH: Yeah! The performance of all of those structures and then also the things that we’re expected to just know! The quirks of going into the working world when they are actually quite bizarre and how it only suits certain people.

    The show mixes humor and absurdity with deeper reflections on professional and personal relationships. How do you strike the balance between comedy and these more serious, relatable themes?

    Alice Bebber: Leaving university and trying to work out what you want to do can be quite a lonely experience. I think through humour, and creating a show where we can bring everyone together and all laugh at it, means that you’re not feeling like you are the only one in the room that it’s going wrong for. I think that through comedy it allows everyone to go ‘oh no, it’s okay! We’re all feeling like this, it’s a bit s**t.’ We wanted to play on that and bring everyone together and make a show with the audience, to bring them closer into this communal experience, so that it’s not so lonely!

    HB: Mmmhmm (in corporate affectation) ‘create a sense of community’

    HB, AB & EH: (all in corporate voices, clicking) ‘create that community’

    The production has been described as fun and uncanny. How does the use of clowning and choreography enhance the storytelling?

    HB: Clowning is funny but also a lot of people are afraid of it. I think that that encapsulates how we were feeling going into the corporate world, looking at the way it’s structured and thinking that it’s so silly but also terrifying. With these stereotypical ‘finance bro’ characters that we play – we put on a sort of drag-esque performance as little girls in massive suits, pretending to be these men. Once you hold up a magnifying glass to all the rituals that these men perform it’s so ridiculous and absurd – clowning around that subject felt like the right way to approach it. 

    EH: I think whilst looking for jobs we did a lot of laughing at ourselves. It feels so unnatural to go from your normal life, where there is a lot of what feels like authenticity and honesty and chatting to your friends and family and that’s your network. And then going on to your network – a corporate or a job-based thing, was so absurd for all of us and laughing at ourselves as a way to cope. 

    HB: Coupled with the anger of looking at men doing well and feeling like we’re not doing well, partly as women. We wanted to make something fun out of that rather than just scream. 

    AB: On that note, none of us are dancers, and I think that there is something really fun about not knowing what we’re doing but wanting to do it anyway. That’s the choreographed element of it, we all really enjoy it but don’t really know what we’re doing! We don’t have any formal dance training – but it means that we’re having fun with it and that’s what we want people to take away from it, that you can try new things, even while knowing that they can’t be put on a CV. 

    How has it been working with Brave Mirror? Has working with a production company changed any of the way that you work?

    EH: It’s been great working with Brave Mirror! When we did the first iteration of this show it was three of us doing as much as we could – everything – biting off more than we could chew. Whilst it was a really great experience, we needed a bigger team and a bigger community of people to share this show with. To not be so perfectionist about it and not be private about it, to instead share it with as many people as possible as that’s fun! And share the process as well. 

    HB: And also theatre is hard to make. I don’t think many people realize how much work goes into a show and how little payoff there often is. Having Brave Mirror’s help also ties in with the message of the show. You’re allowed to ask for help and not know what to do. 

    AB: I think the nature of doing a devised show is that it can be quite nerve wracking because you’re all in a room together making new things and you don’t have the outside eye. So when devising, actually having the safety net of someone producing it creates a safe space to make something – 

    EH: A structure –

    AB: Yeah a structure to it, which I think really helps with devising. 

    What do you hope audiences take away from Lady’s Fingers?

    HB: We’ve done this show before but this version is a reimagining with a lot of new things in it, while keeping the same fun from before. If people have seen it, there’s a lot more to come back for. It’s a very different show and I’m very interested to see what people think of it, whether they’re a new audience member or if they’ve seen it before – I’m intrigued to see people’s reactions to the changes. 

    EH: I think ultimately we want the audience to have fun, no matter what they take from it, it is going to be, hopefully, an enjoyable experience and as Alice said before, a shared experience. We’re inviting them into our brains and to our little worlds and that’s really exciting to be doing that in two cities, to expand to shows in London and Bristol and to share that with more audiences. 

    AB: Exactly. 

    Lady’s Fingers will run at The Hen & Chickens Theatre on the 23rd & 24th Feb. 

    HIGHLIGHT: Cheeky little brown

    Published on by Tabitha JamesLeave a comment

    BY NKENNA AKUNNA and DIRECTED BY CHINONYEREM ODIMBA

    How do you break up with your best friend?
    When you’ve known someone basically your whole life, since you were five, and you know all the same people, and everyone you know knows you as one special Thing,
    Sister-friends.”

    tiata fahodzi, the UK’s leading British African heritage contemporary theatre company alongside co-producing partners Bristol Old Vic and Belgrade Theatre present cheeky little brown, by Papatango Prize-winning playwright Nkenna Akunna (Some of Us Exist in the Future).

    This solo show stars Tiajna Amayo as Lady and follows her story on a failed night out. Part drama, part musical with a playlist of original and familiar songs, cheeky little brown is a deep and sometimes surreal exploration of friendship, first queer heartbreak, and self-acceptance.

    Akunna says: “cheeky little brown is an ode to your early twenties, a second coming of age, an aesthetically pleasing panic attack. It’s a story about a young woman’s resistance to change in the people and the city she calls home, and ultimately her journey toward a new beginning.”

    cheeky little brown continues tiata fahodzi’s 25th anniversary commitment to investing in the future of African heritage artists and giving voice to their contemporary world. The production marks British Nigerian playwright Akunna’s first play to be staged as a fully realised production. 

    Director Chinonyerem Odimba whose long creative history with Bristol Old Vic includes as writer on attachment and the theatre producing several of her plays (including the critically-acclaimed Princess and the Hustler about the Bristol Bus Boycott) adds: “This beautiful contemporary anti-romcom by Nkenna Akunna brings story and song together in this intimate drama centred around Lady’s life, and how she will survive confronting love and life at a birthday party. How we celebrate the moments of growing into ourselves no matter how painful and funny. This feels like a tiata fahodzi play in its truest sense, and a joy to open our season with. We are also very lucky to be working with exciting theatres such as Belgrade and Bristol Old Vic on this.”

    The play is the first co-production in Bristol Old Vic’s Weston Studio as part of Artistic Director Nancy Medina’s inaugural season and forms part of her commitment to longer runs of new writing in the Studio to help develop their audiences. She comments: “I fell in love with Nkenna’s lead character the first moment I read about her messy, human life with all its beautiful failings, humour and honesty. To platform a Black, Queer female voice at this moment is so exciting. I feel our Weston Studio theatre is a space for supporting and showcasing new writing and new talent from a multitude of voices – a space to tell stories that will connect with you. That we are able to do this with our friends at tiata fahodzi in our first co-production with them is such an honour and privilege.” 

    The Belgrade’s CEO Laura Elliot and Creative Director, Corey Campbell says:

    “We’re thrilled to be co-producing cheeky little brown with tiata fahodzi and Bristol Old Vic. It’s a brilliant new script, with a heartfelt story by Nkenna Akunna, and we are delighted to work with Chinonyerem Odimba again, following our co-production Black Love.”

    Touring from 21 September – 3 November 2023

    HIGHLIGHT: Fuel presents A Dead Body in Taos, a new play by David Farr

    Published on by Tabitha JamesLeave a comment

    Fuel is delighted to announce that David Farr’s new play A Dead Body in Taos will receive its world premiere this autumn at Wilton’s Music Hall following preview performances at Bristol Old Vic. Directed by Rachel Bagshaw the production is part mystery, part sci-fi epic and part love story. Bagshaw is joined by designer Ti Green and Video Designer Sarah Readman. The cast features Gemma Lawrence as Sam and Eve Ponsonby as Kath. Performances at Wilton’s Music Hall are from 26 October – 12 November with a press night on 27 October.

    The body of a 70-year-old woman is found in the New Mexico desert near the town of Taos, a place of pilgrimage for those seeking to embrace alternative forms of living. She is Kath Horvath. On her body the police find a message for her daughter, to whom she has not spoken for many years. The message reads, ‘Sam. Do not grieve. I am not here’. 

    A Dead Body in Taos tells Sam’s story as she travels to New Mexico to bury her estranged mother. Gradually Sam uncovers her mother’s traumatic past, her attempts to break away from her stifling American small-town upbringing, her protest days in the 60s, her experiments with alternative lifestyles and her lifelong, fruitless quest for freedom which eventually left her with nothing (and, as it turns out, everything) to live for. 

    And this leads Sam to discover a shocking secret behind the mysterious message her mother left.  For in Taos, Kath Horvath has secretly exercised the ultimate right as a consumer – the right to defy death. In the most remarkable way possible.

    And it leaves her daughter with a terrible decision to make.

    Set against the backdrop of modern America, A Dead Body in Taos is part mystery, part sci-fi epic and part love story, that leaves the audience wondering whether, in the 21st Century, freedom is something we should run to or escape from.

    A Dead Body in Taos is co-commissioned by Fuel and Warwick Arts Centre with support from Bristol Old Vic. The work is supported by Arts Council England and produced by Fuel.