Fun Home - 07/07/18

This is a show I had been obsessing with for a over a year. I was so excited when it was announced in London. The way the tickets work at The Young Vic is you pick a band and you get your seats assigned at a later date. I don't remember what band I picked but they had student tickets at £10 so we choose the ones in that band. I expected kind of horrible seats, but no, we were in Row G. which was very close considering when we saw The Lion King at £22 we were in the heavens.

We saw the show in previews, meaning they could have adjusted things since then. Not that much needed adjusting, the only mildly concerning thing was Medium Alison's college bed. It was on wheels which I understand is to make it easier to bring onstage but it kept moving whenever somebody would get on or off it. This resulted in it coming off the turntable and the stage manager having to come out to push it back on. This didn't detract from the performance though, it was just one thing I noticed in and otherwise perfect show.

The standout performers were definitely Jenna Russell as Helen, Harriet Turnbull as Small Alison, Archie Smith as Christian and Eddie Martin as John. The children's entire number 'Come To The Fun Home' got the longest applause I have ever witnessed in a theatre. I am half surprised there wasn't a mid-show standing ovation. It was such a fun number with astounding choreography to match the brilliant vocals. Russell's performance of 'Days and Days' almost had me in tears. The only other musical that has had me that close to crying is Falsettos. If I could see this show again, I would. Lets hope it does a UK tour so I can!

5/5 

Legally Blonde - Beverley Musical Theatre @ Hull New Theatre 20/06/18

So I have loved Legally Blonde since I saw the version MTV filmed! It was the gateway musical to a lot of my current favourites, yet I had never seen it live.

The theatre company we saw is an amateur dramatics company, so I wasn't expecting much. (Due to my own experience in amateur dramatics elsewhere. It was not a pre-conceived conception of this company). After watching the show, this company showed me how amateur theatre should be done: professionally. I loved it so much. I did keep having the debate in my mind of did I love it because I love this show so much or did I genuinely love it? It was the latter.

The standout performer was definitely Joshua Archibald as Emmett, this was his debut with the company. He made the role entirely his own. It was so different to any other version of Emmett I have seen whilst scouring the internet. He made his Emmett dorky and lovable but in such a unique way that you really can't name it.

All of the songs sounded amazing! I highly praise their musical director for creating such perfectly unique sounding harmonies with such a range of voices.

4/5

The Phantom Of The Opera - West End - 18/06/18

I will start this by saying that both the alternate for Christine and the standby for Phantom were on when we went to see it, in terms of the Phantom, this was something I only discovered after the show when I compared the cast board to my programme. They were both amazing, and I definitely was not disappointed that I didn't see the 'usual' cast.

I love the film version of this show. So I was excited to get to see the live version! It definitely did not disappoint. Amy Manford was a stunning Christine. I was lucky enough to see both Christine's due to Kelly Mathieson performing for West End Live. They were both equally as brilliant and you really can't compare them.

My favourite character has always been Meg, and seeing the show live just confirmed my love for this character. The ballet choreography was beautiful and all the dancers make it look so effortless.

4/5

The Mousetrap - West End - 16/06/18

This was the only show I went into knowing very little about the plot. All I knew is one of my favourite actors was in a previous production of it and it was a murder mystery. I have watched a lot of murder mystery TV shows, films and have read a lot of murder mystery books. I was intrigued as to how one would play out on stage.

As the only none musical we saw in London, despite going there to see musicals, I hoped I would enjoy it. It ended up being my favourite show of the three that we saw! It's a murder mystery so you'd assume the charm is lost after knowing who the murderer is, but I would definitely go see this show again if given the opportunity. To know who it is, looking for the little clues placed throughout is the fun of seeing a murder mystery with knowledge of the murderer.

I won't reveal who the murderer is, the cast make you promise to keep it a secret but I will say that I was shocked. I had my theories throughout, my friends spent the interval discussing who it could be but when the murderer was revealed as well as the motive we were all stunned.

The cast were amazing, the particular stand outs for me were Phoebe Fildes as Mollie Ralston and Rhys Warrington as Christopher Wren.

5/5

The Lion King - West End - 15/06/18

I will confess, The Lion King is one of my least favourite movies. But my friends and I agreed to pick a show each, one of them wanted to see this so we did. I enjoyed it so much more than I expected to.

One thing I was excited to see is the puppeteering, it's not something you see on this scale very often. It was amazing, the way each performer had control over the puppets they used was brilliant.

The standout performers were definitely the two children playing young Simba and Nala, I wish I knew which of the young actors were playing these roles because they're definitely people to look our for in the future. They had both the energy and the feisty-ness to portray the lion cubs. Another standout was the actor playing Zazu (Gary Jordan). He was very funny and though I found the character annoying at first, he really did grow on me.

4/5

Prague Fringe Festival 2018: We Are Ian

The rave atmosphere of the performance was clear even when waiting to go in. You could hear the pounding music inside. This was my idea of a nightmare. However, ignoring my personal hatred of rave music, the performance was spectacular.

It was such an interesting concept to explore and a unique way of exploring it. The use of a light bulb as the titular character of 'Ian' was also an innovative idea. We were introduced to history of illegal 80's raves by Ian transporting us through time.

One thing I have to commend the performers on is their energy, how they could still breathe at the end of the performance I will never know. They kept that energy up the entire time and you never saw it falter, except when it was supposed to.

The performance as a whole was interactive, ending in a mass rave on the stage, which was completely optional. Deciding not to join in, it was really fun to watch the audience and performers enjoying themselves. It was a great way to end my first fringe journey, even if I hate raves.

5/5

Prague Fringe Festival 2018: Hamlet (An Experience)

I did not think much of this performance. I expected a lot more. The idea and concept were good, and the performer brought in audience members as her fellow actors, something that did happen with the smaller roles in Shakespeare's days.

The problem with this, is most of the volunteer actors, outshone her. There were points were I zoned in because I heard a new voice, a scene was made more comedic or just the simple fact of scene being more interesting with more than one character.

Her performance was good, it just lacked a little flair, I found my concentration wavering. I enjoy Shakespeare. I like listening to it and watching it but during this performance, I was not able to focus on the performer. With the performance being in the round and only having one actor, it was much easier to lose focus when their back was to you. I think the performance would play better with thrust staging, but that is just one person's opinion.

I think my experience may have been different had I volunteered to participate as you would have been in the world, listening for you're next cue. Whereas when you're simply an onlooker, you don't have to listen for this, you can simply pick and choose what to watch and what to listen to.

2.5/5

Prague Fringe Festival 2018: The Stuntman

My expectations for this show were very high. I was excited to see dangerous, or semi-dangerous stunts. There were clear thoughts and ideas to the piece, but nothing seemed to link, it seemed to jump from one idea to the next with no clear throughline.

It felt like I was watching a children's show apart from the occasional bit of x-rated humour.

One thing I do admire was his ability to improvise. There were two occasions of people coming to the performance late. The first group were much quieter and had little affect on the performance. At this point he was 'swimming' and looking for freedom, so he used the opening of the door as a chance at escape. The second group were much louder. He then improvised part of the performance around this, by interacting with the latecomers in character.

1/5

Prague Fringe Festival 2018: Songs of Gays

I loved Songs of Gays! I am one of the biggest musical nerds going, so I was excited about this the minute I saw it listed. Structured like a church service, you felt like you were travelling through a whole new world with this wonderful ensemble.

There was not one stand out, good or bad, they were clearly a cohesive team, everyone getting their time to shine.

The show even received a standing ovation (the only one I witnessed at the festival), in the middle of the performance. If that doesn't determine good quality theatre, I don't know what does!

Not only were there voices great, the choreography, though simple, was something to behold as well. It is something I could see again and again, it'll light a smile on even the grumpiest of faces.

With songs, references to LGBT icons (Cher, Liza Minelli, and Barbra Streisand) and a whole lot of camp, it was the most entertaining show I saw.
5/5

Prague Fringe Festival 2018: Comedy of Errors

It truly was a show of errors....comedy, not so much.

You could see where the company were trying to go with this show, but it just felt amateur.

With it being Shakespeare's shortest, it is definitely the ideal play for a fringe, and from the poster and knowing it is the bard's work, I expected so much more.

The clown get up for the two brothers, both by the name of Antipholus, seemed to be amplifying that this is indeed a farce and there is a lot of physical comedy. But the costumes of the other characters did not make sense, why were the sisters in tutu's and full face paint? The show left me with many questions, why did a man dressed as a woman appear half way through and do a lip sync? Why did they stylise the piece this way? Why was this the director's vision?

1/5

Prague Fringe Festival: And The Rope Still Tugging Her Feet

The concept of this show, exploring the murder of two children by their mother intrigued me. It sounded very much like a drama, which is much more my thing than a comedy.

The performer was extremely professional, and the overall performance was amazing! I would have paid a lot more than 150 Czech Koruna (just over £5) for it.

The actress took on multiple persona's in this one woman show, my favourites being Leanne, the mother the story centred around and Kate, the drunk commentating on the story. The show had so much variation within it. There was comedy, drama, a breakdown and even some mick-take Irish dancing in case anybody came because of the poster.

It was a very politically relevant show, addressing issues such as 'Repeal the 8th'. Though we saw this after it had been repealed, it still had an impact. A lot of the humour in the piece was Ireland specific, so as someone with very little knowledge of Ireland, some of it went over my head. However, you definitely did not need to know about Ireland to understand the play and enjoy it.

She was not afraid to interact with the audience, choosing people to deliver lines to with full eye-contact. I had a first hand experience of this. When as a detective character, the actress told you that you killed a child. It really made you believe you were in the world of the play and not just performer and spectator.

5/5 If I could give it more I would!

Prague Fringe Festival 2018: Trygve Wakenshaw: Clown Work In Progress

I was very skeptical about this performance. As I said before, I have a very specific type of humour, and clowning does not fall under that. However, Trygve's performance may have changed my mind, at least a little bit.

I actually found myself enjoying it. The crowd participation was enjoyable to listen to and watch, with audience members creating the sound of pianos and drums, miming a game of Frisbee, then there being varying levels of success when a physical Frisbee was introduced to the performance. The spontaneity of this left the performance up for a lot of laughter.

A particular sketch in his work I enjoyed was the Rapunzel one, the way he switched between Rapunzel and the prince and mimed their characters was hilarious.

Though, there was a hiccup which required a musical interlude, it was handled professionally by both Trygve and the person controlling his tech.

3/5

Prague Fringe Festival 2018: Babel

Theatre and libraries. My two favourite things! Imagine how excited I was for an immersive performance about libraries. However, the performance was too complex. I think the cast achieved the idea they were going for, but there were too many complicated words and no definitions. There was a seemingly irrelevant audio coming in at intervals with subtitles going too quick for it.

The gymnastics done by the performers were amazing. They were definitely the saving grace of the performance. If they found a way to incorporate more gymnastics into the piece, I think the performance as a whole would have been more intriguing.

I also like how the person on tech was integrated into the piece, I never thought of him as tech, not until the end when I realised all he had done was sat at the computer. He was just part of the library scene for me, as whatever library you go into, someone will be on a computer.

I do believe that there was a really interesting concept at play, it just wasn't executed as well as it could have been. The performance whilst advertised as immersive, was not immersive at all. Had we been in a physical library, there may have been a stronger feel of immersion and it could definitely have been advertised as site specific artwork. With a few more tweaks and simplification, or at least definitions, it could become something amazing.

Especially with the decline of libraries at the moment, we need pieces celebrating libraries like this more than ever.

2/5

Prague Fringe Festival 2018: Stuck

How do I begin to describe Stuck? Quite simply, it was weird. I read the synopsis prior to the show and was really excited to see it tackle the issues of climate change, something that is affecting us at this very moment. However, I don't think the concept was shown as clearly as the description suggested.

I do have to commend the acting, as much as the narrative was strange, and I was left unsure as to what the 'breaking' actually is, the acting was one part of the show that was not a let down. Each actress was fully immersed into their role. Whether that was becoming more and more trapped by what I can only presume is pollution created by humans or by 'giving birth' and not necessarily to a child.

I do think it is a show everybody should experience, but would I go again? Quite frankly, no. Though, it lends itself as a show that you can very much discuss afterwards. Whether that discussion is a political interpretation of the show or taking it at face value is entirely dependant on how you see the show.

3/5 Stars

Prague Fringe Festival 2018: Scotland!

Scotland! was an incredible way to start my fringe journey. As the first fringe show I ever saw, it was brilliant and set a very high standard for the shows that followed. I'm always unsure going into a comedy as I have a very specific taste in humour, meaning a lot of comedies don't appeal to me. Scotland! was not one of these. The show was hilarious. The way they got the audience to participate and every time you thank the lord it wasn't you because you would most definitely have dropped the actor.

The show wasn't just humorous though, it was heartfelt. The end of the show, which I won't spoil as these guys will hopefully go far and wide with this show, was entrancing. You had followed these character's journeys, laughed with them and were truly a part of their world, now you were on the verge of tears with them.

The way the actor's used their voices to create sounds and their bodies to create physical comedy was very interesting. With every new segment they moved onto, they left you wanting to see more. Also, I have to commend all three actors on their Scottish accents, because that is not an easy feat by any means.

5/5