Please Post Your Review - Even Brief Comments Help!

[duncan]

36 - The Kite Runner - Kings Edinburgh

1970s Kabul, Amir and Hassan are friends (well Hassan is the son of the servant of Amirs father,) and take part in kite flying competitions - when Amir wins the competition one day he inadvertently sets in motion a train of events that will echo down the decades and finally come to a head in Taliban controlled Kabul 30 years later.

Having never read the book or seen the film I went into this one cold and it was an engrossing evening of theatrical entertainment. Amir is our narrator as he takes us through 30 years of personal history as well as the history of Afghanistan over the same period, the other 12 actors are playing multiple parts, and the narration device works for once even though we know from the start that things aren't really going to work out well for the majority of people we meet in Kabul.

A minimalist set which is curved at the sides which allows our kite runners to do a lot of running, particularly in the first act. The only issue I'd have with this is I'm assuming something that is adapted from the original book in that the orphan twist can be seen coming from a mile away and the final Kabul co-incidence is nonsensical.

8/10 - an interesting and enthralling adaptation.

[duncan]

35 - Cockpit - Lyceum

World War 2 is over, in the British zone of Germany sits a theatre - a theatre that is now home to over 1000 displaced people from across Europe. A British army Captain is sent to ensure they are all sent back to their homelands. In the aftermath of war the allies should all be content but Serb hates Croat, Pole hates Russian, Latvians have nowhere to go, the French are fighting each other and everyone hates the Jews.

And then they discover someone in the theatre may have the bubonic plague.

First produced in 1948, where it closed after 60 performances, and having its first ever revival here this is an immersive staging (the whole theatre is used, so we get character monologues from the circle plus the boxes being used as a set and actors sat amongst the audience at some points) of a long forgotten play.

And for something that is 70 years old its a remarkably prescient piece of story writing about the problems facing Europe - but the problem it has is that its so earnest and right on that it sometimes forget to actually be a drama and instead the whole thing comes screeching to a halt whilst we get another missive on how rubbish everything is now that the Serbs and the Croats and so on cant get on when just weeks previously they had been united against a common foe.

The plague subplot seems to last for ever and the Chekov's Gun of the character sat in the audience becomes distracting - we know she is going to have something big to do with the plot or else why is she there but it goes on and on and on and on until her relevance to the plot is explained and whilst the whole scene is essentially superfluous to the plot its actually one of the highlights of the show. And then in the end, Europe falls apart and I guess that's why its been resurrected in 2107 but aside from being a historical curio that actually staggeringly reflects the modern world its not one to hurry to see.

A multi-national cast give it their all and there are some quick costume changes on show to increase the number of DPs but its the second Lyceum show in a row where the attendance has been pitiful - 7 of us in the circle for What Shadows and here I got an upgrade at the Lyceum for the first time ever. I assume they didn't want a small number of people up there when they'd more staff than usual to make sure we weren't in the way when an actor had to appear and do some acting. They need to pull the finger out in selling this years programme, its been underwhelming so far.

Competent but not compelling 7/10

[duncan]

32 - The Ferryman - Gielgud

Ireland, the early 1980s - as the hunger strikers in the Maze Prison approach death a Priest has a meeting with the local head of the IRA.


And that's all you are getting in terms of the story of this one, that's the 2 minute prologue. This is a play best seen without any inclination as to which way its going to go and what's going to happen.

For example

SPOILER: Click to show

one line about 30 minutes in changes your viewpoint on everything you have seen so far - its subtle, brilliant and an indication that nothing may be what it appears to be

And come the end of the 195 minute runtime you'll be drained, emotional and desperately wanting Jez Butterworth and Sam Mendes to produce a Ferryman 2 - Electric Boogaloo.

Mendes and Butterworth have pulled an absolute classic out of the bag here, there isn't a word wasted or a gesture that doesn't add something to the show. A large ensemble give it everything as 3 generations of one family, with veterans such as Dearbhla Molloy knocking it out of the park alongside the current generation of Paddy Considine acting his little cotton socks off whilst the large child/youth cast are also on form.

And make no mistake it is an ensemble piece, I know they made a lot of Considine being the lead in this but he's not, he's one cog of a beautiful collective that all have something to offer in the production - indeed Considine is offscreen for long portions of the run time and indeed the start of the third act rests solely on the shoulders of the youth cast for a good 20 minutes or so and they rise to the challenge magnificently.

I was lucky to see the original cast in their last week and the new cast are in London until January, miss this one and you've really missed out.

It also has real animals, a very alarmed goose the night I was there, and taking their lives in their hands they also have a real honest to goodness baby on stage for around 15 minutes. Apparently the cast have been directed to act to the baby's reactions to being on stage - I saw it decide to throw its arm out to the audience in a sort of baby wave which led to around 1000 people all going "awwww!"

10/10 - beautiful writing and performances make this easily the best thing I've seen this year and indeed its my first 10/10 since 2014. A future classic.

[crowblack]

My Name is Rachel Corrie at the Young Vic - an absolutely stunning solo performance by Erin Doherty as the passionate young activist which had me breathless and shaking at the end. Best performance I've seen this year, I think. It's sold out on the website, with only a few days left of the run, but I managed to get a return by ringing the box office yesterday, having had to reschedule 3 times, and I'm so glad I finally made it!

[duncan]

37 - The Real Thing - Kings Edinburgh

A couples relationship is buckling under the strain of his suspicions of her infidelity but hang on a minute she is married to someone else - a playwrights latest play appears to have undercurrants relating to his real life.

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

I'm just not sure on this one, the script by Tom Stoppard is very witty and does make for an interesting evenings entertainment whilst stoppard also does a bit of showing off by essentially inserting himself as the main character and making use of badinage to progress the plot whilst also layering what we are seeing by using variations of the same scene across the play.

So nice script and great music but now we come to the problem - Laurence Fox is terrible in the lead. A distressingly one note performance that never goes beyond nasal mumbling. By the end of the play I'm supposed to have learnt what he is passionate about (pop music, writing, use of language etc) but the central performance is so one note and uninteresting that he may as well be talking for 100 minutes about what is on his shopping list for Aldi.

And Flora Spencer-Longhurst is also miscast as Annie, in the second act much is made of the fact that Billy is in lust with her as he has a thing for an older woman but FSL looks about 12 so lines of dialogue about this attraction to an older person fall flat - when your programme has a photo of Felicty Kendall in it from the 1982 production then it only serves to highlight that there has been a miscasting here. She's actually very good - flirty and in love and as we discover later in love with more than one person but for different reasons and with different levels of love and FLS manages to convince in her acting but she just looks wrong.

6/10 - a wasted opportunity.

[duncan]

38 - Duet for One - Kings Edinburgh

Stephanie is a world class violinist - or she once was, now with her body unable to cope with playing owing to an MS diagnosis she is suicidal and has nothing to live for. Her husband suggests she has some sessions with Dr Feldman. Over time he'll uncover what drove her to become a violinist and what she wants from her current situation.

Not for me. Dull repetitive and just downright boring - I found myself pondering how he accessed his CDs at one point and that was far more interesting than what was on stage.

Cotton is static, a stoic presence asking the questions that allow Lang to give it her all in response to these questions. And that’s it again and again and again for a torturous 100 minutes. And that's a major part of the problem - I don't believe in Lang for a minute as either someone with a passion for music or with a serious illness, now some of that is in the writing and the direction but the characterisation comes across as shrill and unlikeable and if I cant like someone with a life limiting illness in a play about said character then we have a problem.

3/10 - one too many.

[amadeus]

I know this should be in the plays section but I doubt many of you have seen this...

Has anyone caught this production so far? It runs until the 18th of November. I saw the first performance and I still don't know what to make of it. The production just lacked any sense of vision... It just sort of plodded along... Not terrible, but not great either. I loved the stripping away of the scenery though... Very Pippin-esque. Luckily I was sat on the front row at the right side of the auditorium - half the audience missed all the dancing scenes. Seems a strange thing to do.

I'm thinking of giving it another go considering I was a bit tired and it was the first night.

What did you guys make of it? Hope you're all well x

[duncan]

39- Wind Resistance - Lyceum

Now this is an odd one, Scottish country singer Karine Polwart has written a 100 minute show about the migrating (and in some instances non-migrating) birds that live on the moss next to her home. Up here a moss is an area of rural wetlands, I grew up just down the road from Flanders Moss which caused some confusion when we did WWI at school.

But its not a concert, its clearly not a concert - yes there are songs spread throughout the runtime but its more (also?) a spoken word story about the death of the mother of the old lady who Karine and her son used to live next door to and how over the centuries the area around the moss has seen changes in terms of the people that live there and the roles that they perform in the society they live in and also, and maybe more importantly, how things haven't changed over the centuries.

Throw in a bizarre sidestep in which Karine introduces us to her fetish for former Aberdeen, Man Utd and Scotland goalie Jim Leighton and you have a show that's certainly different from the usual type of show that the Lyceum has been putting on recently.

I have to admit I was expecting more of a concert but what I got was an intriguing night out about love, team work, birds, bandy legged goalies and as the title says Wind Resistance.

[duncan]

40 - The Wipers Times - Theatre Royal Glasgow

Its 1916 and as the British army beds down at Ypres, a company finds a printing press and decides to try and raise morale by printing their own newspaper. Over the course of the next 2 years they'll face off against the Hun, the general staff and the temperance union. Can they keep the presses rolling and survive the war to end all wars?

An apposite choice for this week.

I don't know what to make of this one. On the one hand its a group of soldiers trying to bring some light into their life by working on the newspaper and ergo it should be dramatic BUT its played for laughs.

And the problem I have is that its not funny. Yes there is the odd chucklesome moment but overall its a leaden comedy that works far better as a drama. Its not helped by the general staff having come straight out of Blackadder with the acting to match, it lends an artificial feel to the show that doesn't have to be there.

The end of act I as they prepare to go over the top at the Somme should be a gut wrenching moment, we know (or you should know) what really happened and therefore what is likely to happen to our characters but as they are caricatures its hard to relate to them and feel sympathy for what may (will?) happen to them.

A grudging lower end 6/10 - it doesn't seem to know what it wants to be.

[duncan]

1 - The Merry Widow - Sydney Opera House

The embassy in Paris of the poverty-stricken Balkan principality of Pontevedro is holding a ball. Hanna Glawari, who has inherited twenty million francs from her late husband, is to be a guest at the ball - and the Pontevedrin ambassador, Baron Zeta, is scheming to ensure that she will keep her fortune in the country, saving Pontevedro from bankruptcy. The Baron intends that Count Danilo Danilovitsch, the first secretary of the embassy, should marry the widow. With hilarious consequences.....

First time I've ever been to the Opera, and I'm pretty sure that this production is not really an Opera, sung in English it came across more as a musical but with the singing in a higher range. Apparently this is one of the most popular operas of all time, in terms of productions, and you can see why - its the sort of thing that 70 years later Tim Rice and ALW would have knocked out one weekend and then seen it run in the West End for 30 years - its light, frothy, very entertaining, well acted and had a cruise liner going past the balcony window.

A load of money has also clearly been spent on it - a cast of over 30, including the chorus, and also a full orchestra. Comfy seats as well.

Very enjoyable. 8/10

[duncan]

2 - Strangers on a Train - Theatre Royal - Glasgow

Guy Hailey and Charles Bruno meet by chance on a train and over drinks decide to murder someone in each others lives - no links, no motive - the perfect crime. Bruno murders Guys faithless wife and then exerts pressure on Guy to reciprocate. As Guy starts to lose his mind a private detective starts to piece things together...

The set is very well done, even if its a bit wobbly, with sliding sections on several levels opening to reveal various bits of set and some dry ice and lights at the end makes us think for a second that they may actually have a train. But its a tedious 125 minutes of ripe over acting from one half of the duo, Bruno, and stolid blankness, Guy, from the other half and with neither of the leads being acted particularly well its just so hard to care about anything they plan or do. Bruno descends into a Kenneth Williams impersonation to show his madness whilst the mental breakdown of Guy seems to consist of nothing more than undoing his tie and shining a red light on him - Jack Ashton is a blank canvas in the role, the script is telling us what he is feeling and doing but there is nothing in the performance to bring this to life.

there were a couple of times where the set clearly took longer than anticipated to close, at one point we could clearly see the stage staff coming on to set up the next scene behind a slide that hadn't closed fully and I was wondering at the end as the whole slide came across the stage as to whether or not it was going to take his foot off.

The scene where Charles starts "shouting" at the detective as he's querying him about the flowers was a bizarre mix of Columbo and Carry on Constable - certainly something the Director should have had another run at.

It was surprisingly well attended as well so it seems to be popular or either there are a lot more Call the Midwife and Emmerdale fans in Glasgow than I thought - for a touring show to sell around 90% of the bottom 3 levels and also sell some Balcony tickets at the Theatre Royal is very unusual. There cant have been more than 150 of us in the entire building last year for The Railway Children - haven't seen it that busy since David Suchet was here in 2012.

Also have to say the people around me enjoyed it a lot more, there were some "Oooooooh" and "ahhhhhh" ing at certain plot points and the hubhub on the way out was positive - it was just one of those shows that wasn't for me. I mean Blood Brothers ran in the West End for 20+ years, I still think its the worst musical I've ever seen.

It keeps threatening to catch fire but it never does and even the end just peters out - that the biggest pop of the night was for the first appearance of Ashley from Emmerdale says it all.

Not recommended 4/10

[duncan]

3 - The Lover - Royal Lyceum - Edinburgh

1930, Indochina. A 15 year old French girl begins a sexual affair with an older Chinese man. She is poor, he is rich. The shame could destroy both their lives - she looks back on their relationship from middle age after his death.

DANCE!!!! I have to admit that I've never seen the 90s film version that made Jane March famous for 15 minutes but I'm pretty certain it wasn't a dance film. Here we have the story told via narration from Susan Vidler and a cast of 4 dancers acting out the plot in a languid 80 minute production.

An odd one, it starts with Vidler reminiscing about the affair and then we see the girl and man first meet and its Vidler telling us about it and then the girl speaks. And she and as it transpires everyone are dubbed by recordings of Vidler - which just doesn’t work, it puts a level of artifice onto the actors that isn't required and which makes it hard to feel anything for the barely sketched brothers of the girl who Swan (lake) in and out of the action from time to time. We get one other voice on stage during the production - the final conversation between the girl and the man with him actually speaking his lines and by then its too late - we've become accustomed to the cast miming.

So as I'm sure we recall, if you are a certain age, March became famous for taking her clothes off in the film and here indeed we have some topless nudity during their original sexual coupling but from Row E it was clear that both dancers were wearing exceptionally saggy flesh pants to hide their lower portions and watching their undies was sadly far more interesting than the over choreographed karma sutra dance they were putting on.

Not erotic, not exotic, not very well constructed and really when it comes down to it just not that interesting to be anything more than a slightly diverting time waster-- 5/10

[duncan]

Bold Girls - Citizens Theatre

Belfast 1988, Marie isnt up for a night out with her friend Cassie and Cassies mother Nora - The husband of Marie was killed 4 years ago in the troubles (the insinuation being that he was a member of the IRA who was killed) and Cassies husband is in jail for terrorist related offences but is due out in a year. Cassie is looking to escape her past whilst Marie wants to embrace hers for her two children but then Marie admits she doesn't want to go out as she wants to stay home and see again the ghost in her house. Cassie thinks she needs a drink but as a bomb goes off nearby Cassie admits to also seeing the ghost in the aftermath of the explosion.

Lets make it clear at this point that the ghost is metaphorical, the ghost of the past come to haunt both Marie and Cassie - and I could have hit myself at missing the massive Chekovs gun early on, which has a major impact on the last 10 minutes. Its a plot point that I think those who have gorged on soap operas will probably get very early on but it totally passed me by until it was spelt out. That the ghost should appear on this very day when skeletons come tumbling out of the closet is of course writers choice but it just feels too strained.

This is an early work by the acclaimed Rona Munro (of the hit James trilogy), from 1990 and it doesn't have the same oomph that her later work does - you can see the makings of a writer here but for me its not a polished work - we have clichéd characters, the widow who worships her dead husband and her brassy best friend who is easy with her virtues and who wants to escape her boring working class life. Throw in the mother who cant accept that her daughter isn't as willing to be a loyal wife to a jailed terrorist as she once was and the mysterious ghost who throughout Act 1 is allowed to carry out acts that any person in real life would never accept - and that's a problem, she walks into the house, takes a shower, wears Maries clothes etc etc and yet Marie doesn't bat an eyelid and we learn that they have never spoken. Cassie and Nora both point out that Marie needs to take action but she fails to do so for no other reason than plot expediency.

Its all very well done on stage, a nice set, some nice lighting and a set of adequate performances but it never rises consistently above being average. There is a lovely 15 minute or so scene set in a nightlcub whilst our main characters have their night out but everything that surrounds it just seems lesser quality material. An early calling card from someone with talent but a card that needed more polishing.

[showgirl]

The Winslow Boy - Terence Rattigan - CFT & Tour

This probably deserves a thread of its own in "Plays" but maybe someone else would like to start one if this becomes more popular here.

OH and I went to see Rachel Kavanaugh's revival which started its UK tour at CFT; OH had never seen the play and said it wasn't really his thing but I thought it was an excellent production. I was a little concerned as, though I couldn't remember it in detail, I'd seen such a good production at the Rose Theatre in 2009 that I'd doubted another could match it and hadn't planned to see it again. However, I received a surprise Christmas gift of dinner and theatre tickets, hence our trip.

My fears proved groundless as this version was also so good that I was delighted to have seen it (though I'd much have preferred a matinee and closer to home, as I was struggling to stay awake and didn't get to bed until 1 am due to trains) and am almost tempted to try to catch it again later on its tour. Great casting in all the main roles: Aden Gillett, Tessa Peake-Jones, Dorothea Myer-Bennett - and, rather disconcertingly for "Archers" regulars, Timothy Watson as the barrister.

[crowblack]

A few things -

The Almighty Sometimes, Royal Exchange - saw this a few days ago, with the post show talk. It's a strong, thought-provoking piece staged, though for a short run, in the main space. Great cast, including Julie Hesmondhalgh as the mother and Norah Lopez Holden, who I haven't seen before, as the daughter - she's one to watch for the future, I think!

I saw the first preview of Black Men Walking - it was OK, well played though the play itself was a bit rough around the edges and not always clear, but it was only the £6 first preview so I imagine it'll be in better shape by the time it's toured. It's going to the Royal Court at some point.

I saw A Pacifist's Guide to the War on Cancer with my Mum, who has had cancer, and we both really disliked it. I feel bad saying that but, as the writer/performer makes clear at the start, she was commissioned to pitch something to Complicite and after throwing a lot of ideas at them hit on the idea of cancer, something which, it seems, she has no personal experience of. I don't think 'no experience' should prevent a writer from tackling a subject, but when it's something so many people have experience of, either directly or in their family, it's a bit like a white person writing about the black experience. Mum was particularly p-d off by things like the 'cancer face' routine - "so what does she expect people to do, say, oh, you've got cancer, grin and ask if you want some tea?". Some people were clearly very moved by it, though, so... 

[Deleted]

It's not a review, but it happened in a theatre and some of us are Welsh on here so my recap on an event discussing diversity in Welsh theatre is here: getthechance.wales/2018/02/18/breaking-box-4-wales-diverse-nation-emily-garside/

[crowblack]

Feb 19, 2018 16:52:28 GMT @theatremonkey said:

all the best to your mum

Thank you! It just really wasn't the show for us, apart from the section with the woman who had a rare condition that made her cancer-prone, but there were many there who liked it.

[crowblack]

Annie Baker's Circle Mirror Transformation at Home, Manchester is very good - I enjoyed it far more than John at the NT.

[showgirl]

Good to hear - I was hoping for a weekend trip to Manchester to catch this and another production in the area as OH had an away game to attend, but now he is doing a day trip so I'm going to London instead as usual. Must see if I can still get there as I missed the London production.

[crowblack]

Mar 7, 2018 5:42:05 GMT showgirl said:

hoping for a weekend trip to Manchester

It's a really good play and a strong production (from the director of the Brothers Size YV and Barbershop Chronicles) so worth trying to catch if you can. It was about 1hr45 or 1hr50 straight through last night, and it's a very comfy theatre. I sat centrally, which was great - I'd imagine all the seats here are good, but I think if you sat at the very far sides (eg in the cheap slips) you might possibly lose a bit of the action on the occasions when they sit against the side walls of the stage, but the stage has mirrored walls on two sides so that may counteract it. Press night is tonight - I saw the last preview - though it's only a short run in Manchester. It's so good I wonder if it might transfer?

[Deleted]

The Motherf***er with the Hat- Sherman. I was there in official review capacity so I will share that later. I thought I hadn't seen this play, then I sat down to watch it and two minutes in realised I did see the NT production.

Anyway it's a great play that holds up. I really enjoy the genuinely funny comedy layered on the look at addiction, and relationships. I wasn't that enamoured with the staging and direction- both felt a bit 'flat' to me, but the writing pulls it through anyway so those aspects didn't really matter. Alexandra Riley was, as ever brilliant as were the whole cast. Clearly enjoying the comedy but also getting to the depth of the characters.

I did take issue with the direction of Cousin Julio in this. He should have moments where we see the depth of what is going on with him (gay man in the Puerto Rican community, felt forced into marrying a woman, channels energy into the gym etc) but unfortunatly it's glossed over and played for comedy. I blame bad direction, which seemed to see his scenes as only comic relief rather than some of the cleverest writing in the play which masks the real story with the comedy. It's a shame that 'raging Queen' was the only note the director chose to play with there as I felt like the actor had far more to give.

I also wasn't fussed on the design- literally very flat (and flat-pack it was very Ikea-tastic) and a lot of in and out of doors going on and a fair bit of confusion over the layout of the various apartments- perhaps a practical thing having to move it from the Tron to Sherman, but again felt like it's something that could have been ironed out.

cc @theatremonkey I found it

[theatremadness]

'Banana, Crabtree, Simon' at the Drayton Arms. A 45 minute (if that) one-man play that explores one man's struggle with dementia and the way it effects those around him. Written by snooker commentator David Hendon. Tough subject matter, but written and performed with great sincerity, sensitivity and truth. With just the right amount of humour, too. The one-man is CJ de Mooi off of Eggheads who gives a very, very assured solo performance, even if he does seem to take himself rather seriously. There's some very nice (and very simple) use of music and lighting, but a shame to see it less than half full. Would recommend for a very short but sweet evening about a rather challenging subject matter.

[duncan]

11 - The Case of the Frightened Lady - Kings (Edinburgh) - March 27th

Its 1932 and Lady Lebanon is hosting a fancy dress ball, unfortunately for her someone has the indecent idea of murdering the chauffeur in the dining room. As the police investigate they find a house filled with people hiding secrets and as the body count starts to rise who can you believe?

Well larks abound, I actually managed to work out who the killer was before the reveal - admittedly I had the wrong motive but there you go. Spoilers for whodunit -

SPOILER: Click to show

My guess was that they were all covering up that he wasn't really Lord Lebanon and that an imposter had been brought back from India to ensure that Lady Lebanons obsession for continuing the family line would continue but it turns out he was really was his Lordship but was insane

This was a startlingly bland production, I cant think of anything to really recommend it but then again I cant think of anything to really put you off seeing it. A cast of familiar faces - RULA LENSKA! as Lady Lebanon DENIS LILL! having a ball as the lascivious family Doctor GRAY O'BRIEN! as the strangely accented Superintendent - are playing some stereotyped parts but they are playing them very well. The servants are suitably skulking in corners and overhearing things, her Ladyship appears more worried about trivial matters ahead of the murder in the dining room, Lord Lebanon is trying to avoid getting married and police are typically stolid.

Its all played out in one set with multiple entrances and exits and whilst this does allow for quick time changes the play is directed without any fizz by Roy Marsden and at the end as the villain of the piece holds people off at gunpoint two shots are fired and I have no idea what the first one was supposed to do - from my seat it appeared that the gun was aimed at a certain character but after the shots they appear to be absolutely fine. It seemed odd.

A bang average 5/10

[Deleted]

I caught Split Britches show 'Unexploded Ordinances' last night, review here: www.miromagazine.com/theatre/review-unexploded-ordnances-split-britches/

I really enjoyed it- especially after it became apparent I wasn't going to get picked to participate (they pick the oldest audience members, but there was quite a young crowd in so it looked dicey...) Anyway it felt like a real 'moment' to see this company, who I've read about for many years. And they were brilliantly thought provoking and entertaining. Interesting show, which is more on the performance art end of the spectrum- but equally a nice ease into that world for anyone a bit unsure.

Also excellent 'Big Bopper' gag, which apparently I was the only one amused by. And an excellent skit about a couple living together in a tiny NY apartment (and lesbian relationships) which had me and my companion howling.

[bellboard27]

I’ve been covering my eyes in the theatre recently.

The first was at The White Plague at the Landor. A piece about an infectious plague that makes almost everyone blind, but it is a white blindness. So, after a short introduction you don eye masks that turn everything white and you can see nothing. Being led to another room, you find that the blind have been quarantined into a building and left to fend for themselves. As you sit there, the actors tell a story of organisation, degradation and humanity reaching out. The story and effect are interesting and worth experiencing. The audience’s eyes are covered for about 1 hour 15 minutes. While this might seem long to be simply listening to a story unfold around you without vision, it would be no different to listening to a play on the radio!

The second was Frogman at Shoreditch Town Hall. A piece from Australia about a young girl that went missing over 20 years ago, but with the recent discovery of the sunken boat that she had been on, the investigation is re-opened. In this case, there is live action with the police interviewing one of her friends, but this is punctuated with periods when the audience wears VR headsets to visit the children 20 years ago and also the original investigative dives that took place on the barrier reef. The repeated switch between live action and VR worked for me. Again an interesting story.

I might try covering my eyes in more productions (I’m sure some on this Board may have suggestions where this might improve the experience!).