Manchester University – 3rd Year Directors Showcase

The Public Reviews have over the last three years focused on reviewing Professional Theatre, whether that be Fringe, Commercial or Subsidised. We were recently Invited by the University of Manchester to attend and review their closed Third Year Directors showcase. Giving the students the opportunity to experience real reviewers and put them through the reviewing mill. So we kindly obliged, sending along a different reviewer to each night. All performances were performed in the small intimate John Thaw Studio Theatre using a cast of 2nd year Drama students.

Monday 7th December – Reviewer: Stephen Moyott

Not I by Samuel Beckett – Director: Alice Caddy

Notoriously difficult, for actors, director and audiences alike, ‘Not I’ by the iconic absurdist writer Samuel Beckett is a 20 minute monologue. On entering the theatre Welsh language could be heard punctuating the silence usually filled with the anticipated chatter of the audience. The haunting soundtrack immediately silenced us and the director cleverly invited us into the world of speech and language, heightening our senses and intrigue.

‘Not I’ is an intense theatrical experience where we are faced with a disembodied female mouth, delivered as quickly as possible at the speed of thought. The director’s decision to use the actor’s Welsh Identity to heighten the themes in the work was an inspired one. In staging ‘Not I’ you are only limited to a few options, due to the requirements of Becketts strict stage directions. The use of the camera was obvious, but used to good effect. My only criticism of the staging decisions was the distracting element of the mirror. I can understand the intent of this but it was extraneous and showed a lack of confidence within the director herself.

Ceri Ash, rose to this challenge with gutsiness, spontaneity and pulled off a highly experiential performance. The detail of the vocal performance and direction tipped the balance between simply enlisting us in the fascinating spectacle of the human mouth engaged in speech to a greater depth of character, meaning and commenting on the human condition. A brave, intelligent and highly successful portrayal of this difficult classic. Both the director and actor are ones to be looked out for in the future.

Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams – Director: Eoin Hara

‘Streetcar’ deals with the cultural clash between the ‘old south’ (Blanche DuBoic) and the urban working classes (Stanley Kowalski). The aging, but attractive Blanche arrives at her, self defacing and deferential sister Stella’s where we meet Stanley, the primal, sensual and brutish husband.

The first stage picture we were presented with showed the directors heightening of the poetics of the text, with an atmospheric soundtrack and the image of the sisters in an embrace. Unfortunately this was short lived. The use of the theatrical trick of a silhouette continued this stylistic decision, but was exhausted to the point of meaninglessness.

The actors seemed lost on stage at times where simple stagecraft was disregarded. Suzie Broadbent committed to the role of Blanche and gained confidence as the piece progressed. Todd Heppenstall showed a natural ability as a performer with an instinct for inhabiting the stage. Zara McGregor played a subtle supportive role, perhaps too supportive at times, not allowing herself to shine in the role. This was a lost opportunity for all involved and showed potential that was not fully realised in performance.

The Birthday Party by Harold Pinter – Director: Dominic Hodson

revolving around the boarding house of Meg and her husband Petey. The first character we meet is Stanley, the dishevelled and exhausted tenant. Dominic Hodson showed utter intelligence and attention to detail in his staging of this piece with use of colour, both in the lighting, set and costumes, complimenting each other, the writing and style of the work.

It could be presumed that he is an actor’s director managing to draw out mesmerising performances from both the actors, where it is clear the blocking and staging made complete sense to the performers. The director made sense of the outwardly nonsensical lives of the characters and utterly captured the dichotomy of the futility of life whilst also creating a life affirming and uplifting experience. The only criticism I have about this piece is due to the film footage. Whist being an excellent addition to the live performance, it was perhaps a little too long. Having said that, if the director had decided to light the character of Stanley on stage whist we watched the footage, this may not have been an issue.

Will Close is clearly a talent as is Emily Bairstow. This duo was a clear example of utter professionalism with both actors complimenting and supporting each other. Their performances were captivating and enthralling. The standard of this piece proves that this highly intelligent threesome are truly talented and committed, making the experience a truly joyous one. Hodson, Close and Bairstow are to earmarked and watched with close attention in the future.

Tuesday 8th December – Reviewer: Katherine Kirwin

The Maids by Jean Genet – Director: Abbie Willcox

I was looking forward to The Maids because it is a wonderfully theatrical text which allows plenty of scope for exploration and I was interested to see what the students would do with it. The interactions between Claire (Anna Hargreaves) and Solange (Zena Carswell) had pace and the sexual undertones of their relationship were much focused upon in moments of silence and the slight inappropriateness of their kisses and touches.

Charlotte Campbell was a strong performer and I enjoyed her brief time on stage, I just wish we had seen a scene involving both her and the others. The directors descision to use stylised, performative techniques (particularly Claire’s repeated gestures of running a tear down her face)is however testament to the fact that this mini-production didn’t quite click, the performance was a bit too cerebral, a bit too conscious of it’s performance choices to embrace the true passion and violence of Genet’s text.

Confusions by Alan Ayckbourn – Drector: Will Close

Was the highlight of the afternoon in my opinion. Director Close had used extras to great effect in order to create the atmosphere of a hotel bar including jazz pianist, anonymous drinkers and a smoke-filled ambience. Dom Hodson, playing Harry, and Emily Bairstow, playing Paula had brilliant comedic timing and expressive features necessary to make the comedy flourish. Their awkward ‘date’ interaction was wonderfully imagined, milking ever ounce of opportunity which the script offered.

The clever use of the piano served to parallel the stage action, when falling quiet on the awkward moments was enough to make my skin crawl with embarrassment. What made this piece stand out was not only the brilliant performances (including Naomi Staunton-Downey as Bernice) but the attention to detail which took it to the next level; from the pianist to the synchronised movements of the girls as they spritzed their perfume or smoked their cigarettes. In fact, it was so good, I want to see the whole production now!

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolfe‘ by Edward Albee – Director: Amy Stratton

This was the most naturalistic of the productions and a nicely done piece, polished and mostly well-acted. Amy Stratton had successfully created a tension between Martha and George (played by Emily, and David Brown) which served to electrify everything around it.

Emily delivered a wonderfully vicious performance as Martha, the anger and pain emanating from such a small build made her moments of hysteria all the more powerful. Equally strong was Bethan Macevay as Honey who provided the light relief to the unfolding drama, capturing giggly drunkenness without veering into caricature. However, her husband played by Tim Hutch appeared to have chosen a character physicality involving poor posture and a gaping mouth, if this was a performance choice then it felt exaggerated alongside the more powerful naturalistic performances of the rest of the cast, and something which the director should have picked on early in the rehearsal process.

Wednesday 9th December – Reviewer: John Roberts

The Steamie by Toby Roper – Director: Susie Broadbent

Set in 1953 during Hogmany in a Glaswegian wash house, we are invited to share in the highs and lows of four women as they share their stories over a wash tub. The choice of text was inspired,  exploring the lives of the women with a lightness of touch having an almost poetic resonance, perhaps due to the natural rhythms’ of the Glaswegian accent, but the text is littered with great jokes and real human empathy.

It is a shame then that overall this production just didn’t live up to the strength of the text, there has been a clear lack of awareness by director Susie Broadbent in the basics of stage craft. Most of the time her cast were in profile or having to upstage themselves due to the straight line formation of the wash tubs, this meant we as an audience miss out on some of the intricacies of the characters expressions. Many of the more quieter and touching moments of the piece because of the set were also pushed out to the far edges of the performance space alienating the audience from really connecting to the piece.

There was a real divide between the talents of the cast, with an almost weak and superfluous performance by Sarah Emery as the older Mrs Culfeathers who’s projection almost blinkered on inaudible (Probably due to her thinking the audience were at her feet!) Emily Day as Magrit was gave a reasonably acute performance but it was the natural chemistry between Rebecca Broadhurst (Dolly) and Emma Boddey (Doreen) who stole the show, with excellent comic timing and a real energy that kept pounding away.

Pornography by Simon Stephens – Director: Phoebe Cape

Set in London during the time of the 7/7 bombings and the winning Olympic Bid, Stephen’s play takes a look at some of the peoples lives that inhabit the city of London. Stephen’s text is multi-layered and on first reading is hard to grasp, but within his powerful words lies real beauty in language, real pain in the voices that inhabit its pages, a sense of angst at the constant loss of our cultural Identity but all this production by Phoebe Cape managed to produce was a real loss of direction and directorial observation.

Finding twenty minutes to take and show from Pornography is no easy task and that should be taken into account, but the sections that were chosen, seemed to be the most controversial of them all, and because of this we lose out on the more human elements of Stephen’s text. Capes direction is littered with many great ideas – The Physical Theatre, The moody lighting changes, The small uniformed ensemble, but it felt that she had far too many ideas (jack of all trades?) I keep harping on about the text but a director needs to realise that sometimes there is real power in allowing your actors to just story tell and not get lost in a whirlwind of ideas.

The performances again lacked any real attention – the delivery of the text was rushed, actors struggling to find their lines, a highly irritating constant buzz of white noise which at times drowned out her actors, but it was the Performance of David Brown which stood out the most and although spending most of his time delivering the text so closely to the audience that he was usually not lit, vocally he managed to find a finesse in the language that the other actors just couldn’t find. Overall Pornography was a huge disappointment and the weakest of the three productions.

Trumpet based on the book by Jackie Kay – Adaptor/Director: India Maclennan

Trumpet tells the story of Jazz Trumpeter Joss Moody, during the days and months after his death many shocking revelations about who he was comes to the forefront and threatens to tear apart his family apart and change who he really was to the people most close to him.

Director India Maclennan who also adapted the novel for performance has managed to create the most accomplished of performances, one with which I would of happily paid money to have seen and one which wouldn’t look out of place in the professional fringe scene. Maclennan has written a script that is beautifully constructed and her decisions on the staging are simple yet wonderfully observed, and through this she manages to weave strong performances from her cast of three which are uniformly excellent.

Ruby Thompson as the dishevelled and emotion widow Millie Moody plays the part with real angst and emotion, and always stays firmly rooted in the believable, with her song ant the end of the piece really touching a nerve and sending shivers down this reviewers back. Todd Heppenstall as the son Colman brings a much needed sharper edge to the cast with a tone that is not only powerful but also graspingly tender and Emily Day as reporter Sophie Stones is captivating as the bitchy and glamorous reporter.

The only critisicm is the programme promised an underscore of Jazz melodies by Dizzie Gullespie but that never really appeared until the end, a pity as when it was used it added another dimension to what otherwise was the highlight of the day.

Directors Showcase - University of Manchester, 4.8 out of 5 based on 5 ratings

Tags: Abbie Wilcox, Alan Ayckbourn, Alice Caddy, Amy Stratton, Directors, Dominic Hodson, Edward Albee, Eoin Hara, Harold Pinter, India Maclennan, Jackie Kay, Jean Genet, John Roberts, John Thaw, Katherine Kirwin, Manchester, Phoebe Cape, Samuel Beckett, Showcase, Simon Stephens, Stephen Moyott, Studio, Susie Broadbent, Tenesse Williams, Third, Tony Roper, University, Will Close