Tag Archives: drama

Wonderland – Shakespearian experience?

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Wonderland, presented by Vanishing Point and conceived and directed by Matthew Lenton was a challenging watch for most of us. Those of us who try to write plays maybe found it more challenging than others.

I want a writer. The absence of a central voice grates. My expectations now change when I see that ominous phrase ‘in the rehearsal room’ or the other improvised by the company. There’s nothing wrong with being a writer/director. It has a respectable track record. As companies like Vanishing Point demonstrate there’s lots to be gained by listening to the cast and designers, but I think the end result doesn’t represent the truth of the vision if everyone has had a hand in diluting it.

The subject matter – on-line pornography, the lure of fame, sexual bullying, difficult teen parent relations – didn’t make comfortable viewing and on Thursday night when I saw Wonderland, several people walked out. The young man next to me hung on after his party had left (drama in the aisles as well as on the stage), until the heroine died. “I can go now,” he said. Writing a thesis? Defying his hosts? Proving a point? Who knows. Whatever, it wasn’t the end.

I do think the audience needs to stick with a play through the ending and Vanishing Point’s Wonderland is a good example of that.

Some of the text was brilliant. I loved the line delivered by Flavia Gusmao to her on-line punter: “So – sue me!” Some lacked clarity. I thought the home background was undeveloped and couldn’t understand why a mother was cutting off her clearly distressed child. In places the set got in the way. Yes, it was a window. Did it have to be a window with a line down the middle?

It had only the most tenuous link to Alice in Wonderland which I found disappointing. Was that simply a device to provide a suitable blurb for the Festival brochure? I am pleased I didn’t let early reviews put me off, though. Wonderland was thought provoking. The young cast were extremely brave. I found the level of violence portrayed about equivalent to a Shakespeare play, but the level of violence and coercion hinted at in the hidden worlds of pornography, terrifying to contemplate.

Viewing on-line pornography is a vile addiction because, unlike alcohol for example, it’s not likely to be the addicted person who is destroyed. It’s likely to be the vulnerable lured into participation who bear the scars – if they survive.

Edinburgh Fringe and Festival 2012

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TOE DIPPING TIME

Don’t you just love eating standing up – waiting for a bus that’s already late/lost/re-directed – finding box offices – finding venues – queuing in the rain?

It’s August. It’s Edinburgh.

First up was Ronan O’Donnell’s ANGELS starring, indeed he’s the only cast,             Iain Robertson at Traverse 2

Wonderful performance from Iain playing the wrongly accused security guard who writes porn in the library, the DI who sees the porn as corroborating evidence (of murder?), the Brief, the Irish ma, the drug addict shop-lifter and Scarlett Johanson. All on a bare stage with music and lighting changes.

The story is told by the accused acting it out. I wanted a little more of why the shop-lifter was obsessed with the guard and a little less stereotyping of the DI and Brief.

Powerful work. Worth your time.

 

Next I saw BLINK by Phil Porter, a two hander. Harry McEntire and Rosie Wyatt gave lovely performances of two very strange young persons.

Again the cast were called upon to act several other characters and move the props and furniture around the stage. Not bare this time, but rather oddly provided with two office desks, two cardboard boxes and a lawn.

A thoughtful piece that lingers…

 

Hi-Kick at the Main Hall, Assembly Hall was a play/dance/match for three generations. Performed by Seol and Company and choreographed by Lee Lanyoung, the high energy performance showed off breath taking football and acrobatic skills as well as wonderful dancing.

There’s a plot of sorts and audience participation – Dads beware – or at least brush up your keepie-uppie skills before going.

Great fun.

TOSCA IS NOT A PANTO

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Puccini wrote sublime music for unsavoury stories.

As last night’s performance of Tosca progressed in Edinburgh’s Festival Theatre, I began to be uncomfortable with the dramatic rendition of Scarpia. He is an evil, manipulative, sexually predatory individual of the kind that absolute power creates all too easily. It did no one any favours to have the acting lean towards pantomime.

At the curtain calls, which deservedly for everyone’s singing went on for ages, the performer was booed as the villain is at the end of popular panto.

The storyline of Tosca is stripped back to make it one of the clearest opera plots; a drama of the purest kind. This audience member doesn’t need gimmicky renditions to keep her buying the ticket.

What’s With Drama?

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Children love performing their little dramas, sketches and puppet shows for the family. They enjoy the chance to show off to the most important people in their lives and the most important people in their lives love watching.

When does that change? Maybe when the cute factor stops overriding bad theatre. Maybe when only some of the cast have their heart in it. Maybe when the performers stop being performers and begin to be audience.

In my own case, it was when I realised I wanted to create the words for others to use. I wanted to see what movement they inspired in the actors, what subtext they suggested to the director and what questions they aroused in the audience member.

When anyone asks why do you write plays, (as opposed to novels, short stories etc) I used to find it difficult to answer. I still do because creating a play has so many more imponderables than a piece that will become hard copy. In the end, I think it has to be drama because I think mainly in conversations. Over and over they turn as I edit and trim till the right words are spoken by the right person.