Jen Henry –
Cheshire Rural Touring Arts
Reviews
Show – A Midsummer Night’s Dream,
Company - Custom/Practice, Assembly, TEG
Productions in association with the Almeida Theatre
Venue - Assembly
Review: Starting off set in a high school detention, the
story quickly moves on to telling the traditional version of the story. A young
and energetic cast take on multiple roles. The performance is fast paced and
physical and gives an edited version of the play.
Is the work suitable/ready for rural touring? Yes, however
its fairly traditional, so more of a safe option. Would be good for schools or
young persons performance as an introduction to Shakespeare.
Would you book it for rural touring? Possibly if there was a
young peoples venue interested but it would be to short and traditional for the
main network.
Show – Love Letters to the Public Transport System
Venue – Assembly Rooms
Company – National Theatre of Scotland/ Molly Taylor
Review – If you liked last years Me ,Myself and Miss Gibbs,
this is very much in the same style. Molly recounts her recent life stories
involving travels on buses or trains and her quest to find the drivers
responsible for important journeys she has made. Along the way she tells of the
stories of other people who have used or driven public transport vehicles. The
threads of hers and others lives and stories are nicely weaved together and
told simply and movingly. An engaging and relaxed storyteller.
We booked Miss Gibbs show last year and extended the evening with a post show q
and a with the artist and with the local history and archives services. For
this show I will suggest to the artist if she tours , that a similar post show
q and A may be good and also perhaps an element of asking audience members to
add their own public transport tales for a 2nd half to the show.
Is the work suitable/ready for rural touring? Yes, simply
done, well told and engaging.
Would you book it for rural touring? Yes. I will be
approaching the company
Show - Captain Ko and
the Planet of Rice
Venue – Underbelly, Cowgate
Company - Dancing Brick /Escalator East
Review – The premise of this piece was to explore ageing,
memory loss through humour and pathos via 1950’s style science fiction and . The
piece was in 3 parts, a 1950’s style sci fi serial, a lone elderly lady making
tea and the Russian Cosmonaut who stayed on board the space station 3 months
longer than panned at the fall of the USSR. Each part was, I
guess, deliberately slow and uneventful, I suppose to show the passage of time,
but as a whole it came across as laborious and unengaging. The 3 parts didn’t
connect and the message they were trying to tell was never apparent and was
just a frustrating experience to watch.
Is the work suitable/ready for rural touring? I wouldn’t
book it. It also has a lots of technical
requirements (that had a number of problems the performance I saw)
Would you book it for rural touring? No, just not a good
piece.
Show – Thin Ice
Venue- Pleasance Courtyard
Company - Shams / Time Won't Wait /
Escalator East to Edinburgh
Review – Synopsis - May 1940. Greenland. Cut off from civilisation and surrounded by ice,
Daniel sits frozen to death in a tiny hut. As Richard and Laura arrive too late
to rescue him, the body thaws and secrets surface - threatening their marriage,
beliefs and ultimately their survival. A wartime thriller and polar love story
A very
well told and put together piece, which uses physical performances and clever
conventions to tell the story over a number of years. Very strong performances
from all 3 characters with an engaging story. Well worth seeing. Defiantly the
best things I saw at the festival.
Is the work suitable/ready for rural touring? Yes a very
good piece of drama. It has some technical requirements (2 projectors) which
may need to be looked at for smaller venues.
Running time of 1hr 30.
Would you book it for rural touring? Yes, will be contacting
the company.
Show – And The Girls in their Sunday Dresses.
Venue – Assembly
Company - The Market Theatre and Assembly
Review – Part of the South African season of shows, this 2
hander is set in the queue of a rice warehouse, where 2 ladies have been
waiting to buy rice for 4 days. The two ladies, a retiring prostitute and a
domestic worker, share little in common but share a space in the queue, and
soon share their stories and struggles. Funny, political, and touching. Well
performed and simply staged.
Is the work suitable/ready for rural touring? Yes. A bit
short at only an hour, but a good piece of new writing and performances. Not
sure if the company will be touring anytime soon
Would you book it for rural touring? Yes, I will look into
if the company are touring
Show- The Letters of Jane Austen
Venue – Surgeons Hall
Company – Uncontained Arts
Review – I went to see this with a view to programming it as
part of our joint projects with Chester Literature Festival. Unfortunately it
didn’t hit the mark for me. The premise was an insight into Jane Austen’s life
via the letters she had written to friends and family. It was just that though,
2 ladies in Austen style dress, sitting down, reading out letters, which very
quickly gets boring, and the people and events listed in the letters are quite
disjointed so there is little to engage in. Interspersed in between the letter readings
was some songs, which were not particular good or relevant.
Is the work suitable/ready for rural touring? Its tour ready
but not suitable quality.
Would you book it for rural touring? No
Show - Thread
Venue – Assembly St Marks
Company - Nutshell
Review – From the company who created Allotment, they are
adept at creating intimate spaces for storytelling. This piece is set at a
village hall Beetle Drive, where the audience take part in the beetle drive to
start the show off. The Beetle Drive is run by Izzy , William and Joan, 3
friends who have known each other since school. William and Joan are married
and Izzy has always been part of their life. The play travels back to their
early school memoires, making their own dresses, trips to the seaside and into
adult life and into the difficult times of senior dementia. Its delicately
played and done with great care and sensitivity to the subject matter. The
subject matter isn’t over played or too sentimentalised, which gives it a very
honest feel.
The piece was created with a group of pensioners in Fife who
shared their memories and its been carefully and lovingly built from those
experiences. Highly recommended.
Is the work suitable/ready for rural touring? Yes, would fit
perfectly into a village hall setting, though would need to add more seating
space to what they had in Edinburgh.
Would you book it for rural
touring? Yes, will be contacting
the company
Show –The 3 Muskateers
Venue – Pleasance Courtyard
Company - Barbershopera
Review - Rollicking
silliness in 4 accapella harmony as the
well known tale of the 3 musketeers is given the Barbershopera treatment.
Multiple character are played by the 4 cast members, the premise is that, the
female D’Artanyan , has to go and enlist the help of the Musketeers to help
save her village, and has to disguise herself as a boy in order to do it. Lots
of Pythonesque accents and silliness, but held together with a good paced story
and top notch singing so it doesn’t get too carried away with the humour. Would
be a great crowd pleasing entertainment show.
Is the work suitable/ready for rural touring? Yes, they have
rural toured before and ready to tour in 2013.
Would you book it for rural touring? Yes have already spoken
to them about spring 13 tour.
Venue – Traverse
Company – Shona Reppe
Review – A beautiful show for children and families. A one
woman show which involves ‘Scrappology’ the study of old scrapbooks. A gentle but thoroughly engaging ‘study’ of
an old Victorian scrapbook, you
follow the clues in the book to try and work out who it belonged to and
what their life was like, with surprises along the way. Unlike some other children’s
theatre, Shona never patronises her audience and provides enough levels for the
adults to also be totally engaged.
Delightful show, highly recommended.
Is the work suitable/ready for rural touring? Has some
technical requirements (projector) but nothing too complicated. Would be
perfect for family audiences (6+).
Would you book it for rural touring? Absolutely, will be
contacting company. The show has had some great reviews, so will probably be
much in demand.
Few more reviews to follow
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