‘4 minutes’ ….no words..none needed

A group gathers and is led a short walk to an outdoor space……anticipation, speculation ….

Round an unexpected corner two young men sit at adjoining tables, the audience close enough to see their neutral expressions. A burst of energy fills the space..the type of energy somehow unique to young men..a moody mix of cool assurance and edgy intensity. Parkour influenced, they roll, leap, bounce, swagger, rest, bop, lift, spin, point, contort, slide, hide, confront, clamber, flip, despair, stare you out.

No words…..none needed. In a world full of miscommunication and misunderstanding through speech, it’s a relief to be invited to simply absorb the presence of bodies that are moving close to us with a disarmingly easy grace and explosive purpose. In the mix is silence, violin and cajon played live, looped didgeridoo, the soft thud of bodies landing on ground and tables, sliding of feet, fists on chests, the breath. Musician Sebastian Tesouro’s score weaves hauntingly through the piece, skilfully creating a sound pathway integral to the movement.

A part of you that’s lost somewhere wakes up….maybe you’re remembering the courage, inventiveness, exuberance and curiosity that accompanied the sometimes anxious world of your youth. Time, space and encouragement to explore those vital elements is exactly what Porlock based ‘Stacked Wonky’ does. Under the formidable and determined direction of Sarah Shorten, young people get the chance to collaborate, to move, to dance, to express themselves with integrity and depth in a world hooked on the superficial. Check out their Facebook and website pages to learn about the company’s exciting National connections and professional touring achievements. Performers Stuart and Ernie meet with maturity the challenge of yet another new space, yet more up-close adult faces, yet more questions and a vast array of individual interpretations…find your own connections when you go to watch them…today!.

Cathy Richards

‘Silo’ – a job well done

Thoroughly enjoyed the play. The three actors performed extremely well especially the actress playing ‘Silo’ the Robot, who delivered her often humorous lines perfectly.

Well done to the cast and support team on a job well done.

Jonathan & Larraine cox

‘Deep Breaths and Duloxetine’

Communication by emoji will never replace human interaction. This is so clearly demonstrated in this excellent, thought-provoking production from Adytum Theatre company. We are immediately taken into the stress filled lives of two impressive teenage students who find themselves at the mercy of an AI substitute for counselling services.

The audience quickly empathises with their predicament, portrayed with humour by the two protagonists. Their shared frustration at the negative automation experience quickly creates a bond between them and their human connection provides more help than any algorithm-based system can.

Congratulations are due, as this production totally succeeds in its objective of creating theatre from a young person’s perspective and highlighting relevant issues that challenge their generation.

Gilly Wadmore

‘Toby Belch is Unwell’

From the moment he comes lurching down the aisle between the seated audience, bottle in hand, bawling and burping, staggering to the stage in piss-stained pants and a creased shirt bearing the spillages of several dinners you know you are in the company of Sir Toby Belch and he is indeed, unwell. As before, if you know the character from Shakespeare’s ‘Twelfth Night’, you are simultaneously drawn to this licentious free spirit who, routinely, thumbs his nose at authority and ridicules social convention as we all would like to do, if only we had the nerve and repelled by the brutish arrogance and riotous chaos that threatens our ingrained belief in moderation and order.

Belch sprawls onto the stage drunk and raging to recount the events of Shakespeare’s play and, of course, justify his own outrageous behavior within it and blast once more the Steward Malvolio, the self-regarding Puritan and Toby’s nemesis. For all his rage Belch knows – as does the actor playing him – there is, in this play, no winner in the war between order and anarchy. Belch and the Steward, along with all the lighter people, as Malvolio calls them, which is to say everyone except the four characters at the top of the social pyramid will be dismissed from the stage, their stories not concluded, to make way for a gentrified celebration of romantic love, emphatically heterosexual, which is more than can be said for the titled celebrants.

If ‘Toby Belch Is Unwell’ was just a retelling of ‘Twelfth Night’ from the drunkard’s perspective it would be fun but rather a thin play, so once the play summary is complete the actor playing Belch introduces a new character, the actor playing Belch. There follows a kind of discussion about acting and theatre that would be a bit dry and academic but for the fact there’s a great deal of Sir Toby in the actor as there is, I’m sure, a lot of the actor in the knight. The extravagant excess barrels on through the admission that while the actors with household names and six figure bank accounts get to play the plot movers and shakers it’s the army of ‘poor players’, as Shakespeare called them in another play who strut and fret their hour upon the stage until they are heard no more,’ who must fill the hours with comic interludes and meandering sub-plots until the main narrative is finished and the curtain falls. Even a character as exciting as Toby is really no more than a diversion.

Why would any actor want to do this, the actor asks, and by the end an answer is given but I won’t say any more. No spoilers here. It’s enough to say the reason has nothing to do with the ego mania that actors are often accused of having.
Actors, both professional and amateur will have a special interest in this play but anyone with no more than a passing interest in theatre will remember, long after the question of what motivates an actor is forgotten, the barnstorming visceral excess of the unwell Toby Belch.

‘Nonsense and Nonsensibility’

Festivals are magnets for serious theatre. Even when mirth fills the stage there is usually some weightier matter winding through the subtext. Not so with ‘The Steaming Coasters’. They brought a slick little sketch show that from first to last defied the call for seriousness. The word play on the title of a famous Jane Austin novel set the tone for a series of slickly presented quick-fire sketches each finding a nugget of humour in common every day experience. A few sticks of furniture and the odd prop on an otherwise bare stage was sufficient for the cast to present a wide range of characters and caricatures in all sorts of settings and situations. Odd bits of costume suggested character but mostly the actors worked unaided. The enthusiasm and obvious joy radiating from the stage spilled over into the audience who, like me, welcomed ‘The Steaming Coasters’ interlude of good-natured silliness in a sea of serious intent.

Peter Jay Moore

’23 Words’

This is the tale of the maiden from Chaucer’s Wife of bath, the maiden who is given just 23 words and no other mention. The maiden whose rape is merely a 33 syllable descriptive moment in the long narrative of the story of a Knight. The two performers weave the story of what really happened; the Himpathy shown to the Knight, while the maiden’s fate is forgotten.

This is no angry feminist rant, it’s a cleverly told story of the double standards applied to women’s experience of rape; we are not objects.

The Knight was given a quest for his cruel deed and had to discover for himself that what women most desire is choice. The maiden did not have a name nor any description, but she still exists 600 years later in every street, on every bus, in every café.

Jane Elliott

‘Fooligan Is it Serious?’

Eric is a real fool. He is brave man who puts himself in a danger zone of improvised, spontaneous performance. It is a very rare performer who will take to the stage without a script, or a plan; letting the moment take control.

I saw the final show on Sunday afternoon, so perhaps Eric had some masks that had developed over the previous shows. He certainly had a great rapport with the audience; in particular TigerFace who assisted with the card tricks.

The performance was supposed to last 50 minutes, but there was such an energy in the room that it felt like it was over in no time at all. This man’s brain works at high speeds, jumping from mask to mask with great humour and the vulnerability of the true fool.

Jane Elliott

‘Displaced’

Outside St Annes the audience gathered and were surrounded by the young dancers as the story progressed. The performance celebrated the experiences of the Huguenots from France who fled to Barnstaple in 1685. They travel across raging seas, where many lives are lost. Those lucky enough to reach the safety of Barnstaple were given the use of St Annes Chapel as a sanctuary for prayer. The young dancers use of the outside space at St Anne’s made this a particularly poignant performance, with audience members moved to tears as the dancers demonstrated the tragic loss of life. The subsequent welcome given to the survivors brought joy and elation. The ensemble work was splendid; timing was faultless as they moved around the site. The young troupe conveyed powerful empathy with the displaced Huguenots at a time when so many people are fleeing their countries to seek safety.

Jane Elliott

‘Bouncer’ – wise words

Cool names like Zac belong to popular people who make the big time. How can a Robert, with no beard, ever achieve the fame he deserves?

Unperturbed by his working-class poetry shapes, and his friends constantly telling him to write a poem about that, Robert sets out to London to embark on a career changing moment as a contestant on a prime-time TV show. The poems and songs which tell his story are funny and sad and witty and whimsical; wise words for anyone seeking the glare of the celebrity lifestyle.

Robert has experienced the cold rejection of the talentless XXXX and being told he should give up poetry by a TV comedian aka knob. He has walked away with his head held high and he’s funnier than the afore mentioned, alleged comedian.

Jane Elliott

‘A Different Track’ – an absurd, Lynchian delight

A journey on the Underground. Let’s face it, disorienting at the best of times. And Circle of Spears bring a touch of Twin Peaks to subterranean London in this gloriously weird piece, written by Ute Orgassa.

When Brian boards at Kings Cross he’s Not a Happy Bunny. He’s looking forward to a pleasant few minutes of private melancholy in the suspended realm of Public Transport. You really feel for him.

Enter Vivian, a so-called ‘Guardian’ with a habit of gatecrashing Brian’s reality unannounced. Time works differently for Guardians, obviously. Vivian’s as a likely to have just come from 1942 as 2042. And she’s a cross between toxic positivity and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. ‘You’re on the right track, but in the wrong reality’ she helpfully exclaims. Amazingly, Brian’s only rude to her the first time.

Other characters making an appearance include swordfighting instructor Walter, another ‘Guardian’; a caretaker who almost turns Brian into furniture and my personal favourite Casey, a slinky construction worker who doesn’t speak but winds around the stage in hi vis, reggae booming from his portable ghetto blaster.

Are the characters parts of Brian’s psyche? Or travellers from other dimensions? Either way, they diagnose the poor man as a ‘Bumbler’ – someone who isn’t in control of the direction of their life. Which stop should he get off at? And what happens when the train reaches ‘Turnaround’?

An absurd, Lynchian delight.

Claire Gulliver

‘Whirligig of Time’ – beautifully nuanced

Meet Malvolio, perhaps in a way you might not have imagined. Twelfth Night’s fool Feste provides the anchor for this acclaimed production. His phrase “…and thus the whirligig of time brings in his revenges” as Malvolio is duped and humiliated is then adopted by the once cross-gartered secretary.

Here, as we discover the revenge seeking Malvolio, we learn of his upbringing and difficult relationships with his peers. Richard Curnow’s gripping portrayal of the older, reflective Malvolio is beautifully nuanced. The audience has both sympathy and revulsion for Malvolio. But we come away thinking that one of Shakespeare’s most well known (and loved?) characters has been thoroughly portrayed. Next time I see Twelfth Night, I might just hold back on joining in the mockery…

Rightly given five star reviews on so many occasions, this has been one of my favourite Fringe productions.

David Wadmore

‘Escaping Event Horizons’ – hope and joy

A solo survivor of the human race finds himself on a space ship with an assembled crew of unwitting audience members. His reluctance to be the chosen saviour of our species is made apparent as he struggles with his ill-fitting, misgendered uniform.

Captain Gupta engaged her crew in a whirlwind adventure of sexual tension and terror as we hurtled towards a deadly black hole. The narrative is controlled by an invisible spaceship computer; the venue at Junction 27 was an ideal setting. Wonderful facial expressions and physical contortions by our intrepid leader had the audience in stitches. Lots of laughter, lots of fun, lots of audience participation…until the realisation hit us. Destruction and terror may await us. Our planet depends on human intervention for survival. The outcome of the show is hope and joy.

Jane Elliott

‘Silly Squirrel’ – charming and fun

A perfect show for younger audiences, this show is charming and fun. Each child is given their own silk scarf to use as a prop during the show as the story unfolds. Silly Squirrel and his woodland friends explore the woodland environment to see what Squirrel does best. The children are asked to join in with certain actions; to boing or flap to mimic the different creatures they encounter. Makaton is used throughout the show, which helped the children to watch carefully and respond.

I observed both the performance and the audience reactions. The repetition of certain sequences and the use of sounds instead of words gently soothed the children. By the end of the show there was a wonderful sense of having been nurtured and cherished.

Jane Elliott

’23 Words’ – excellent contemporary storytelling

This is a beautifully crafted, uncompromising show that takes a fresh look at the real meaning of a well known medieval story. Ros and Katy’s use of poetry and stage space, together with razor-sharp observation, gives the edge to forty minutes of excellent contemporary storytelling. Bravo.

Lisa Schneidau

‘Dark Places’ – seriously good singing

This was a real vocal treat from this talented group of American musicians. Baritone Travis Sherwood and Mezzo-Soprano Rachel Basescu presented some American songs and both showed great vocal range and interpretation skills. The song cycle of a serial killer being especially memorable!

The main offering was Young Goodman Brown, a short opera based on the novel of the same name. In this piece we are taken on a journey from faith to non-belief as experienced by Brown himself, so cleverly portrayed by Baritone Grant Mech. The story is in the American Puritan tradition of Faith fending off the wiles of the Devil, but Brown succumbs in the end as “sin is but a name”.

Faith is also personified in the character and in the name of his wife, played by soprano Erin Brittain whose mastery of some of the more lyrical sections was a real pleasure. The opera, written by Stephanie Leotsako, brings together various musical styles which makes great demands on the singers and their abilities to move rapidly across their range and to give dramatic urgency to the texts. An almost Britten-like declamatory style would contrast with more thoughtful and lyrical moments, and all the singers achieved this handsomely.

The whole performance was brilliantly accompanied by Patrick Fink on the piano.
This was seriously good singing and playing and is not to be missed by all music lovers.

Richard Prowse

‘Fragments’ – a moving and vulnerable piece

This is a brave, quiet, contemplative piece with the odd emotional gut punch. Based on autobiographical experiences of the performers and director – the actors use their own names – it recalls the loss of a loved one to Alzheimers while reaffirming the importance of stories.

Lightbulbs blink on and off, searching and illuminating the corners of memory. A voiceover reads diary excerpts of a young woman determined to learn how to dance. World War Two newsreel footage projects onto a 1930s-style suitcase. The multimedia enhances the sense of fracturing, presenting different voices and content that together try to make sense of who the loved one was – recognising that it’s probably impossible.

Later diary entries expound the profound loneliness of a cancer diagnosis, first faced by Sarah’s mother as a young parent and again 24 years later as an older woman, who concludes a second time that she wants to continue to live.

Sarah and Hettie go about bagging and boxing, sorting into ‘keep’ or ‘don’t keep’, with an unsympathetic Housing Association looming over the sad process of packing up a life – a process that we must all face in the natural order of things.

While the two friends work, a projected photograph of a smiling young woman in wartime appears to ask: Who are we? When are we most ourselves?

The play feels like a plea to remember that those who now need our care were once articulate and eloquent; creating, thinking, making, caring, brave.

There’s something too about unshared stories. Sarah appears profoundly moved by her mother’s diary entries – they clearly weren’t shared outside of the diary. She herself fears that she has no-one to pass her mother’s stories onto.

‘I’ll listen’, says Hettie.

This is a moving and vulnerable piece of work that might prompt a few tears of human connection.

Claire Gulliver

‘Brains on Toast’ – what a treat!

I had not seen Fergus before, but having personal experience of mild brain trauma, I was intrigued to see this show. What a treat!

Rabbi the Glaswegian stunt rabbit is such a brave and committed performer, returning to the stage even after being subjected to a seizure! His pal Little Ted is a hugely supportive ally, but avoids the dangerous dowsing routine. He guards the guitar until Fergus is ready to sing excerpts of his surgery song.

There’s plenty of audience participation as we built up a positive resonance with our humming names. The psychic raffle was absolutely brilliant; especially as I won a covid mask!

Fergus is very well informed about the power of positive thinking and his thought-provoking response to his survival is refreshing and funny.

Show times Saturday 20.15 Sunday 14.15

Jane Elliott

‘The Infinite Tale of the Roving Nomads’ – a fun show suitable for all the family

This is an action-packed comedy, with lots of lively banter and silliness. The two performers have a great rapport and involved the audience in the stories as we sped along. Together we almost successfully banished monsters from the story with the wonderful okey cokey spell, only to find that monsters are still around but they are getting less scary. A fiery dragon required the kiss of life; a risky moment that didn’t end well for onions.

A fun show suitable for all the family.

The show is on again Saturday Barnstaple Library 12.15 Castle Mound 15.15 and 18.00 Sunday Castle Mound 12.45 and 16.00.

Jane Elliott

‘The Bottom of the Deep Blue Sky’

A beautiful, soft, smiling story of the world beneath, or above. The audience entered the space to the gentle sound of the ukelele and took their places around the outside of the room looking in to the pool of blue. As the tale unfolded, we were gradually emersed in the deep blue vision of drowned sailors and sparkling sail boats. The vast unknown of the deep oceans and the soaring sky blended skilfully into the songs of the sea. Jess has a lovely, pure voice singing to us unaccompanied and encouraging us to join with the mariners’ shanty. This show laps over your heart like the breaking waves on the shore.

The show is on again Saturday 13.00 Sunday 15.30

Jane Elliott

The Tiger Face Show – extremely inventive and funny

What did you want to be when you grew up?

This is the question at the heart of this extremely inventive and funny show, a show that delights with the day-glow spectacle of children’s television, while simultaneously pondering the pressures and struggles that come from getting what you want.

Justin Cliffe is an extremely funny performer, his portrayal of Tiger Face instantly gains the affection of the audience. That affection only grows as he dazzles us with energetic clowning, spectacularly funny set pieces and in quieter moments, reveals the ennui, pulling at the threads of his beloved Tiger suit.

This is not a show for children, it’s a show for the children we were, make sure you take the opportunity to let them revel in the magic of The Tiger Face show, sometimes, dreams can come true.

Mark Ashmore

Whirlygig of Time – fabulous piece of theatre

Moving, funny, brilliant, thought provoking, spellbinding are all words that can be used to describe this fabulous piece of theatre. Richard Curnow’s consummate acting ability applied to a beautifully constructed script entranced the audience at the Baptist hall, Barnstaple this evening. A simple set and sparse use of technical effects allowed the full power of Richard’s performing skill to draw us into Malvolio’s mind that wrought such dreadful revenge on his tormentors. Details of Twelfth Night were so deftly dropped into Malvolio’s thoughts that the inhabitants of Illyria became vibrant beings capable of great hurt to Malvolio. The retelling maintained much comedy present in the original characters as they are parodied cruelly by their onetime victim. However, revenge is a powerful and dangerous bed fellow. A must see, 2.30pm at the Baptist Hall tomorrow

Robert Barber

Bethnal Green – well-constructed and thought provoking

Ushered into our seats along a gloomy corridor into a darkened room, we were immediately assaulted by a chemical smell, and curt commands from two uniformed Air Raid Wardens who wielded torches to light up our sets. When all were safely seated, they told the story of the Bethnal Green disaster, where 173 people died in an underground station in World War II.

Describing the unfinished underground in detail, the mention of chemical toilets on the platforms and bunk beds in the unfinished tunnels explained the odd odour.
The deaths were not caused by enemy action, but by the result of a single falling person on a darkened stairway causing a catastrophic melee of 300 crushed bodies and broken limbs, as people hurried in fear of an air raid.

Our two Air Raid Warden narrators expertly set the scene: one of concerned safety reports and local authority inaction. This verbatim production, although faltering in parts, brought to life the voices of the survivors, the eyewitnesses of the tragic evening.

As if the catastrophe (now some 80 years ago) was not enough, it was shocking to hear how the authorities, including Winston Churchill, sought to cover up the events.

Historic, yes, but also strangely up to date as the modern audience shuffled slowly out, more familiar with images of people sheltering in the Kyev metro and reading reports of Hillsborough and Grenfell cover ups. As the all-clear sounded we reflected on how little things have changed.

Well-constructed and thought provoking, Lucky Dog deserve credit for their succinct impactful production. Using uplights to alternately illuminate their faces, the narrative progressed as each cast member took on the multiplicity of voices. It is important that these voices are still heard.

David Wadmore

‘Basement Flat’ – superb

Basement Flat – Benny&Kate, written by Rona Munro

Apprehension is a good place to start an encounter with this play, but not for the reasons you might expect.

Something is dripping. Hands in fingerless gloves tap away on a calculator. A woman in a chair adjusts her blanket. A radio from a hard-to-place decade plays what sound at first like 1980s public information warnings – or is it 1970s? When is this scene exactly?

Benny&Kate are always a must-see for me. They stare down contemporary and adult themes while bringing emotional truth to their characters. So when I read on social media that Basement Flat was unlike anything else they’d done I admit I was apprehensive.

At first we’re on recognisable ground. A scathing attack on Britain’s overblown property market: Fiona and Stephen have been forced or duped (or both) into selling their home to a property prospector who now bestrides the upper floors wielding an oligarchical power over his one-time co-habitees, now tenants. They might have to let out their daughter’s bedroom to meet his rising rent demands.

It’s tense, it’s claustrophobic. There’s something simmering. It’s not a comfortable place to be. And it’s about to get less comfortable.

As order unravels, protagonists and audience grab for the familiar things of safety: a Cath Kidston apron, a cup of herbal tea. But these anchors aren’t strong enough to hold when things have gone this feral. Superb.

Claire Gulliver

‘Silo’

Silo was an entertaining, engaging, informative and contemporary play. However, it challenged historical issues of family relationships and family issues that were emotive honest and real, a truly masterpiece of reflective writing.

David Parks

‘Women what dance’ …don’t miss it!

What’s the collective noun for a group of dancers who decide to create a performance by rehearsing around busy work, parenting, pregnancy and degree course schedules? A ‘madness’ of dancers perhaps? More appropriate for this years ‘Raconteur’ piece would be a ‘delight’ of dancers.

This collaboration between highly experienced local dance teachers and recently qualified dance graduates is, by turns; joyful, captivating, amusing and poignant. Gently woven together by carefully crafted on-stage transitions, each ‘scene’ allows us to visit a dance ‘experience’ inspired by a written paragraph that Raconteur’s Artistic Director, Clare China collected from each dancer about their dancing lives.

Sensitively and skillfully choregraphed by each dancer, the piece cleverly encompasses gentle ballet; tap that riffs with the rise and fall of a trumpet; humerous, gestural physical theatre depicting marriage, pregnancy and motherhood; competition for the limelight with a nod to Fosse; the cruelty of ‘body fascism’ and self doubt; exhuberant fusions of contemporary, street, Afro Caribbean and release-based movement. All this is shared with truly gorgeous music, including Flash Mob Jazz and Max Richter’s recomposition of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons.

The mutual support between the performers brings a warmth to the stage that naturally filters across to the audience..so how did they feel at the end of the first show?

..like dancing of course…after the standing ovation!
Cathy Richards

Gerrard Harris: Wank in progress

Irreverent, edgy, excellent delivery and timing. Laughed a lot. Great way to spend an hour.

Penny Kidwell

Maybe Dick

Great show last night. How he transformed his body to show the characters was superb. The jokes came thick and fast and think I must have missed lots but enjoyed it nevertheless and left with a smile on my face. Well done!

Penny Kidwell

‘Duck Variations’ – an exquisite 60 minutes

Benchmark Theatre’s ‘Duck Variations’ by David Mamet – Gallery @QT

If you want to spend an exquisite 60 minutes in the company of two actors and a director who all really know their craft, then this is for you.

It’s quirky for sure – you’ll leave knowing more about ducks than you ever expected. But the vulnerable, abrasive, endearing characters of George and Emil will stay with you long after you leave. Two lonely men who have a lot to say and no-one to say it to. Who are in turns furious at the world and yet protective of it. Who long for company but are also irritated and defensive. The play has real comic moments and also profoundly touching ones. This is intelligent theatre and requires the audience to answer the questions it raises – I am sure it resonates differently with each audience member but I guarantee it will make you think. Highly recommended!

Laurie Tarling

‘Day Trippers’ – an absolute joy

Stagedore Theatre Company’s ‘Day Trippers’ by Jean McConnell – Gallery@QT

A play written, directed and performed by women – what’s not to love?? Actors Sara Pruce and Carol Carey and director Rosamund Smith are all local professional creatives with a wealth of performing experience between them. This show is an absolute joy. The characters of Doris and Beryl are instantly recognisable and there is something delicious about watching two female colleagues who can’t quite work out if they want to be friends or if actually they can’t stand each other!! There are strong overtones of Victoria Wood in both the writing and the performances – how wonderful to watch something that is just really, really funny. The audience enjoyment and gleeful recognition of some very well-observed moments of visual comedy was palpable.

Go and see this – or, as Doris might say, ‘Oh go on, loosen up and live a little – have a bit of fun’.

Laurie Tarling

The Laurel and Hardy Cabaret – marvellous hilarity

How funny is it? My face still hurt from laughing 40 minutes after the show, which brilliantly captures the mannerisms and slapstick comedy of this legendary duo. A perfect tribute.

This is 50 minutes of pure, beautiful fun and laughter. The jokes flow fast, both verbal and visual. The attention to detail in the portrayal of Stan and Ollie is faultless. The comedy timing between these guys is a joy to behold. The audience was in uproars of laughter during the train station physical comedy piece, and the actors must be commended for this marvellous hilarity.

There’s plenty of song and dance included and yes! The classic “Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia” is the showstopping finale!

The show is on again at the Baptist Hall Sat 18.00 Sun 19.00

A Voice to Tell Our Story – stunning and poignant

This show is Beaford at its very best; giving a voice to local school children to allow them to tell their own stories.

I saw the show at 16.30, the third show of the day. The audience, a mix of public and parents/siblings of the young performers, was treated to the most imaginative, magical journey I have encountered in many years.

The performance itself was a fusion of the 3-year collective work carried out by the core artists across 10 school. The results are stunning and poignant. Themes of fiery dragons, witches, kings and queens and brave nurses and heroic rescues recurred through the dreamlike performance. The young storytellers were confident and enthusiastic in the delivery of their work both on stage and in technical support. Magic is everywhere.

The exhibition can be viewed Saturday 11.00 -14.00 at Bridge Chambers

Elliott Grant

Arrivals and Departures

It is abundantly clear from the first second that Nathan Rodney-Jones’steps onstage, that he has a love of words, if you love words too, then this is the show for you.

Nathan’s lyrical and performative dexterity are impressive enough, but the images and emotions he conjures from colliding ideas, syntax and rythm are at times so intoxicating, I found myself completely caught up imagining one description, with just moments to spare before the next.

Nathan guides us on a journey home, along the way we are treated to an exploration of how the changing landscapes and locations enroute, mirror, intertwine and amplify the changes in the life of the passenger.

The vocal dexterity on display here can only be admired and with a completely bare stage, everything is created for you by Nathan’s words, there are a lot of them, but each one matters.

Buy a ticket, take a seat, go on this journey and see where it takes you.

Mark Ashmore

‘Jane Eyre’ – an absolute pleasure

Tanya Landman’s adaptation of ‘Jane Eyre’ is a joyous retelling of the story. Reframed with Jane looking back on the events of her life and guiding us through them, as she relives her journey for us and with us.

You may think you know the story, you probably do, but this performance shows just how many surprises there are still to be found. Jane’s perspective on her experiences, her sense of humour and her wry descriptions of the people in her life, are more than enough to sweep up the audience and guide them through the tale from beginning to end and beyond.

All the characters are brought to life through Jane’s descriptions of them and their idiosyncracies. The dialogue throughout the play is filled with love, empathy and is appropriately sardonic when called for, most importantly she treats her younger self with the same emotional kindness and a wry raised eyebrow.

Tanya’s performance brings new life to the character, as the lights rose at the beginning of the show, there was Jane, it was an absolute pleasure to hear her story and to understand not just what happened to her but how it shaped her.

Mark Ashmore

‘Silo’ – as beguiling as it is chilling

The Plough Arts Centre, Torrington – Thursday 15th June 2023.

Silo is set in a dystopian future that feels all too familiar; another lockdown, invisible emotional barriers between family members suddenly becoming tangible obstacles that are hard to ignore and even harder to negotiate. Jody Medland’s play will make you laugh, it will make you gasp, it will make you wince and it will definitely make you think.

The three characters are played by local actors and they are perfectly cast in their roles. Samual Turner is endearing as Jarod – the believability of his earnest good intentions is essential for the audience to retain their sympathy for him throughout this intense 60-minute one-act play. Wayne Murphy-Jerrett as Noah remains roguish and charming even when some of his more brash and vulgar sentiments could have lessened our pity for him. And Emma Berridge as Silo is remarkable; her ‘roboticness’ is subtle and perfectly poised. Her character development as Silo attempts to learn what it is to be human is as beguiling as it is chilling.

The subject of Artificial Intelligence and whether it would aid or destroy us is a popular subject for films and novels; maybe less so for plays. But the medium allows Medland to explore the human questions that are raised by the arguments for and against. As well as this, Wayne Murphy-Jerrett and Samual Turner also sensitively portray the complexity of emotions raised by an estranged father and son trying to communicate directly through indirect means.

Laurie Tarling

Nearly there

Fringe TheatreFest 23 is about to errupt in the centre of Barnstaple. 200 performances of 60 shows in 22 venues. Already we have three sell-out performances and a loud buzz of excitement on the street and in social media.

This is where to read and swap views and reviews of what’s on offer.

’45 minutes with Danny’ – a heartfelt and dedicated performer

If I could only use one word to describe this show, it would be ‘heart’.

Danny Cashmore has it in spades and it absolutely shines through when he is performing. Even with a small but appreciative crowd, Danny still gave a show worthy of a full house and rightly so.

There was a great range of musical theatre classics sung throughout the evening, with many of them suiting Danny’s voice beautifully (Hushabye Mountain a particular highlight). As Danny himself mentioned in the show, he completely embodies the characters whose songs he is performing. I would have liked Danny to showcase ‘himself’ a little more as he is a tenacious and dedicated performer with so much to offer.

As the evening came to a close, I feel we all got to know Danny a little better and he relaxed into the performance even more. I left the theatre rooting for him as he regaled us with his hopes, fears and ambitions for the future. Danny is a star in the making and I really hope he always keeps his heart.

Billy Buckingham

‘Breeding Grounds’ – a witty and relevant outlook on domestic life and world issues

‘Breeding Grounds’ tackles major world issues of climate change, immigration, overpopulation and the role of carers from the domestic setting of a marriage between two seemingly contrasting characters. Years after hoping to change the world for the better together, Ingrid and Stewart debate the capacity for politics to solve the issues facing our society with Steward discussing how his hands are tied politically, limiting the capacity for change in his role as an MP.

A witty perspective on domestic life, ‘Breeding Grounds’ is able to tread the line between the small domestic sphere of the two characters and their marriage with the broadness of the political decisions that will shape our planet’s future. Through a realistic look on British politics and a glimpse into village life familiar for many of us the piece challenges audiences to reconsider not only what we understand, but rather the truths that we don’t want to understand as we move forward.

Nathan Rodney-Jones.

‘One Man King Arthur’ – an audience spell bound by a story that will never die

Sam Gibbs can make me laugh just by standing still, stone faced, rolling his eyes, giving that look. In One Man King Arthur add a black cloak and a slight stoop and voila, there stands Merlin, our narrator of the tale.

This performer knows his craft, as with a battalion of varying voices, minimal nuances, gentle gestures or enormous sweeps of his arms he creates characters who carry his spell bound audience effortlessly, and always with humour, through a story that will never die: the tale of the first King of Britain, his fight for justice and the search for the Holy Grail.

But don’t take my word for it. Go and see it for yourself! You will not be disappointed.

Annie M

The Corpus – a storyteller’s perspective on stories

A living testimony to the timeless power of stories, ‘The Corpus’ is an exploration of the stories that surround us everyday and the process of story creation and telling. Mark Ashford, discusses the role of truth in stories, tackling the issues with the plethora of fantasies that masquerade as the truth on social media that forms an increasingly large part of our lives. This he mixes with stories he has collected from himself and others adding a personal dimension to the piece that moved us all.

A highly relevant and powerful show – ‘The Corpus’ will be performed again at 1.45 on Sunday in the room at the top in the Queen’s.

Nathan Rodney-Jones.

‘Out of Words’ – surely the most joyous show on the fringe this weekend

A beautiful blend of sound and movement, telling the story of a man’s life and work with grace and compassion.

Rudyard Kipling stands alone upon a pile of books while three dancers enter one by one, pick up a book and read out loud a line of “If”.

Accompanied by a gorgeous score, these four dancers bring the writer’s story to life.

The tranquillity of the writing process is beautifully punctuated by playful creatures literally plucking their stories from Kipling’s head. The characters from The Jungle Book are brought to life before our eyes as they weave around Kipling in sensuous, flowing movements.

In turns both playful and poignant, the performance is enhanced by pinpoint precision from the production crew.

To paraphrase Kipling, these young dancers truly “walk with Kings”. A triumph.

‘Out of Words’ will be performed once more on Sunday at 7.15 on the main stage of the Queen’s.

Claudia Richardson