Notes on Nothing in Particular

The Mammary Monologue is a tiny part of Collie Poole’s larger ambition to create a musical cancer comedy (don’t cringe, this is a fantastic concept) aptly titled Tumour Humour. This wordplay stems from a saying Collie Poole shared with her mother and all of the content within the monologue contains real jokes from her mother, a long term cancer sufferer. Collie has been working on this idea for a very long time, and without making this review too much of a personal story of her life, for one reason or another she was unable to fulfil her ambition last year. But rather than being deterred by this set back, she returned to Newcastle with even more confidence and drive to complete her unfinished business.

The Mammary Monologue opens with a hilarious film showing ‘Daughter’ Robyn Docherty running through the streets of Newcastle dressed as a giant breast, the reaction of the regular folk is so funny to watch and when Robyn finally bursts in to the venue worn out and sweaty from her jog (she still wears the costume by the way) she needs a few moments to compose herself before she removes the breast (costume, not hers) to reveal a T-Shirt emblazoned with the words “FUCK CANCER” it’s a brilliant opening and an audience made up of a small group of people who had obviously in some way been effected by the illness (sufferers included) all shared a moment of laughter as we witnessed this interesting way of dealing with something.

In a sense, that’s what this play is about, how we deal with things. In her writing Collie has opened up our hearts and minds to something that is often said but rarely acted upon; “Laughter is the greatest form of medicine”

Over the twenty minute Monologue, Robyn recalls her experiences with her cancer suffering mum, telling jokes and letting us in to this very personal piece. There are moments of genuine hurt where the action seems to stop and we’re left on the verge of tears, just before that first drop forms in the corner of our eyes we’re treated to another moment of hilarity. Robyn’s character is superb, ditzy yet smart, confident yet hurting, she delivers lines precisely and with a great comedic timing, more praise must be heaped on both her and Collie for their professional relationship together, they’ve worked hard and it shows.

The writing and content is similar to that created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone (Book of Mormon, Team America, South Park) and once developed I think it could be up there with the types of show the controversial duo create, and should be accepted.

A post show discussion brought moral dilemma and plenty of things for Collie to think about in developing the show, there were mutual agreements on the progress and even some admission to initial distaste for the content before being converted, all of which show that there’s a place in the world for this sort of Tumour Humour. A wonderful yet short piece of theatre which needs a considerable amount of development, but has a fantastic platform to start off with, and one hell of a girl at the helm.

Rating: 4/5

The first thing I would like to point out about this show is that it is a pure piece of theatre, in a sense that if you have no interest in any aspect of theatre, do not see it because you will not understand its blend of physical metaphor with dramatic dialogue, the story isn’t laid out in front of you, you have to think about it and process the delivery of lines and situations in a theatrical way. In a sense, this is a double edged sword for director Samantha Alloway who surely deserves praise for taking the risk with such a complicated piece for a directorial debut. Drama theorists will surely be licking their lips at the prospect of analysing the Fellini-esque depictions of sex that hark back to his version of Casanova, but at the same time, I’m sure a few people were wondering what they were witnessing.

The story on the whole is very well written and for the most part is delivered with precision by a mature and very willing cast who clearly bought into the vision of the director, without revealing too much of the plot it is, in short a soap opera style situation involving the death of the daughter of a multi-millionaire, all of the suspects? The two brothers and their girlfriends, who all have their own deadly secrets. The sticking point of the script was how obvious it was that two writers worked on it and this made the drama inconsistent, not acting-wise but writing-wise, something performers could do nothing about.

Katey Chesson gives a committed performance as the deceased, breaking the fourth wall with a series of monologues delivered directly to the audience, sometimes the delivery lacked an emotional clarity and it was difficult to see a connection between character and text, however I couldn’t pin point if that was the writing or the understanding of the text (I must make it clear though, that I doubt Katey has experienced being dead and walking around as a ghostly visage while she tries  to find out how she ended up like that in the first place so if you’re a Stanislavski/Adler buff I think you’d better sit down now). Her physicalisation and interactions with other characters were very well performed and the few scenes she did have with the others (as a living being) really brought the drama of the situation to life.

Daniel Middlewood and Conor Lawson look like brothers and play their parts with a rawness that is rarely seen from young actors, but if we hadn’t been told that they were brothers in the script I would have thought they were just close friends, their accents were unclear, if they were all from the same family background and brought up in the same way, surely their accents would be similar? Needless to say, Lawson excels in his relationship with Mel Hodgetts who is a standout performer in this cast, she commands the stage in physical and theatrical delivery and plays everyone against each other at just the right time until it all falls apart and she’s left a grovelling mess, my only bug bite about her character was the ending, it seemed unfinished, and in this case, I consider it to be a bad thing, I wanted closure for her. Final congratulations must go to Chelsea Braithwaite who forms a sisterly bond with Chesson’s character, despite the fact that *spoiler* by the end, something which was a shock to me, she was a professional on stage and coped incredibly well with the burden she carried throughout the play.

The final thing to mention, the physical theatre aspect of the show, which covered all aspects of sexual attraction and physical violence, they were delivered very well and really helped emphasise the struggles faced by the characters within the piece, however, the recurring use of Rob Dougan was slightly irritating and I thought music could have changed as the show progressed, Dougan is superb don’t get me wrong, but overused in pieces such as this and many of the tracks sound similar. The set was very well designed and minimalist, I also approved of the use of ropes that harked back to Shirley Lewis and Gavin Huscrofts methods during ‘Beth’ a very nice way to pay homage to some original concepts and ideas born at the College, and although at times the blending of physical and standard performance jarred the momentum of the piece, it was still an enjoyable show with a highly dramatic script and serves as a great experiment for others.

Score: 3/5

If Marilyn Manson and Sarah Kane spent an entire evening watching HBOs Carnivale then decided to have a child, you’d probably end up with this show. It most certainly doesn’t disappoint. Before the show even started Jobeth Maddison was stood stand outside on stilts guiding the audience into the theatre, this was but a taste of the unique show I was about to see. The show was performed in the round, above us multicoloured baubles gave off an eerie glow and a repetitive circus style tune played over and over and over again, this did eventually become a problem and I thought the audience could have been let in later or the show started sooner, however that’s nitpicking. I loved being immersed in the environment created by the wonderfully designed set, it didn’t need anything other than the atmosphere they’d already created, my eye was drawn to Rebecca Thompson, innocently cuddling her teddybear, a face which gave way to a mix of amazement and fear as Kate Williams (Writer and Director) makes her explosive appearance to begin the show.

Over the next 45 minutes we are given an all round showcase of physical theatre, acting, singing, street performance and dance in what is quite possibly the most impressive piece of theatre I’ve seen at the college, the circus characters having apprehended (or so it seems) Limbo (Thompson) and are telling her the story of why she “doesn’t want” to leave. The creativity and ambition stemming from the cast spills out into the audience and you can make an instant comparison between the former musical theatre students and the purists, this doesn’t make one group better than the other, it just makes for a completely different set of strengths and skills. One of the problems Kate had as writer was having to cut dialogue from Laura Davitt, Stephanie Dale, Charlotte Jeffery and Shanice Francis (something that more acting based students may have avoided) but, this is by no means a criticism as those cast members without a written story communicated one through superb characterisation and interaction within the ensemble.

Jamie Howse has grown into a very mature actor and his performance was a joy to behold, the partnership he’d built with Matty Pople as the tweedle-dum/dee like Philippe and Julian was fantastic, the raw energy in their movement and the shrill laughter was both frightening and awesome to watch, they were ably backed up by Milo/Pipsqueak (Tammy Sharpe) a schizophrenic clown who provided a lighter touch to the surrealism of the performance, retelling tales of her past and how she ended up at the circus, her humour is awkward and dry, she plays the kind of character that has a mad twitch in her eye to a T and her talent is unquestionable.

The story moves from crazy nightmare to story of companionship and platonic love midway through the first half as Sophie Nicholls is introduced, this creates a stark contrast as her ‘Human Bird’ moves elegantly through the crowd, she delivers a precise and flowing dance which brings calm to the madness of the piece, something I feel was needed to prevent the show falling into a typical horror sideshow and it is a writing and directing masterstroke from Williams who clearly has put so much effort into the piece.

The cast show their strength as an ensemble as the begin destroying the dance, scared that the Human Bird will almost steal Limbo away, they begin attacking her, tearing her feathers out, leaving her motionless on the floor. A wash of sadness swept over me as I stared at the defenceless creature whom I’d just fallen for, but before I had time to mourn we were treated to a bigger revelation from arguably the shows shining star.

Last year I met Heather Jordan while working on Sweet Charity, then she seemed to lack confidence, this hindered her ability and made her look worse than she actually was, but what a difference a few months make, Like Jamie she has grown into a mature actress, brimming with confidence and desire, she’s hungry and you can tell in this performance, her commitment to the Ringleader (Voodoo) character is amazing. She controls the stage and at times the audience with a professional ease which is difficult to find in some of the world’s most highly rated actors. She has found her voice and with it opened up a world of opportunity, her madness is combined with witty dialogue and a little bit too much pride in the torture that has just ensued, but even she is reduced to crying and terror as reality takes a chunk out of the dream.

Suddenly the real story is thrust upon the audience like a bullet leaving a chamber at close range, no escape. Matty Pople enters as a masked-overcoat wearing man, shouting inaudibly and abusing Sophie Nicholls, he continuously beats Limbo back, the scene is no more than a minute long, but it is by far the most memorable minute, Pople is superb in the most mature and difficult to play role in this piece and he pulls it off admirably.

Here’s where my few criticisms come in, by the end of the show we are moved from dream to asylum as the story is gradually worked out (Not spoon fed to us like a lot of college and degree devised pieces, this in itself should be praised). The only problem is, the asylum scenes take place on a thrust stage and no matter where the audience is sat we are only treated to a restricted view, the transition from round to thrust just isn’t good and it should have been kept in the round, however I do see the intention behind it, and it may have been better to sacrifice a few seats to achieve the desired effect and give the audience a full view of the action. It also seemed like a slightly deflated performance towards the end, as if more time had been invested in the madness and circus dream than the reality. However there are plenty of nice touches. The circus freaks return as mental patients or doctors and they each pay an interesting homage to their dream characters, for example Charlotte Jeffrey (Ribbons) returns with a bright pink ribbon hanging off her, she doesn’t even seem to notice this fact, other character return with various signatures harking back to the events we have just witnessed. It is here that we are reminded of Sophie Nicholls who is actually Limbo’s mother, pleading for her safe return which never happens.

A touching finale to a fantastic play. My final thoughts? More time could have been spent rehearsing in the round as projection seemed to fluctuate, the last scene wasn’t as tight as the rest of the show and if it wasn’t for the high quality of the play in general I would have considered it a major anti-climax and the tagline “It’s like living a dream and not feeling the real world” is a little too wordy, and although it was nice to hear it mentioned throughout if it was something a bit more catchy that would have been an improvement. Obviously you can tell I’m nitpicking. This show was amazing, well devised, well designed and well delivered. The cast has captured the definition of ensemble and created something which is quite frankly worthy of a slot at the Edinburgh fringe and further. I drew comparisons to Dumbshow Theatre’s ‘Roar’(http://www.dumbshow.org/shows/roar) and these are well deserved. The show can be developed further and even expanded but at the moment, I want to see it again, at another venue (possibly Northern Stage’s first in three or time in two)

If you didn’t see this, you missed out.

Rating: 5/5

(Source: vimeo.com)

Impossible, I’m not even going to sum up the remainder, the diary/blog was impossible to keep up with. You won’t be able to visualise the experience I had there anyway, I can attempt to sum it up for you and document the remainder of my time there but you need to see it yourself, there isn’t an atmosphere like it.

I saw 65 shows in one month, I directed a show which came away with three 3 star reviews and one 4 star. We had mixed audiences, met new friends, lived with more energy than I’ve ever lived in all my life, didn’t want to come home.

GO TO THE FRINGE.

If you’ve got a show planned for next year and need a director, take me the fuck with you.

End.

Stephan Jenkins (Third Eye Blind - How’s it gonna be)

The Double Act Diary: Day 7, 8, 9, 10.

These days will be labelled ‘Routine’ 

They have mainly consisted of flyering and working double act, a few drinks have been demolished post show and the atmosphere around Surgeons Hall is brilliant and we’re meeting lots of new people from other companies, definitely one of the highlights of the trip. The banter and conversation is just fantastic.

Monday (Day 8) was by far the most responsive audience we’ve ever had, and with it a superb level of performance from my actors and I was immensely proud of it, the kind gentlemen from ‘Flyermen’ were in the building and had a lot of great things to say about the show, they’ve been really nice to us since we first met them and I’m pleased they’re about for the whole month. I don’t know what it was about Monday, maybe the night out beforehand, or maybe the fantastic audience, whatever it was…it was oscar night atmosphere and we left feeling incredible. To the Black Bull of course, to sink some drinks and listen to some good music.

Tuesday (Day 9) brought an afternoon flyering shift, Sean and I managed to put some more Double Act flyers in other venues before being invited to some free comedy in the form of Simon Lilley’s Asparagus Wee and other World Issues which despite a tough crowd, did supply a few laughs, the warm up acts seemed more suited to an audience with kids and it was a shame that they didn’t get more of a response, nonetheless I thoroughly appreciated their comedy, Lilley on the other hand was very funny, his changing of subjects and quick paced interaction was great, he looked comfortable and he seemed approachable, I am also still waiting for him to play us a bloody song on his guitar.

We had another successful night with Double Act and waited around to see another fellow Space Venue group in a performance of Rom Com Wrong, brilliant, tongue in cheek musical about sex and relationships which does a lovely job of capturing the essence of ‘university dating’ too! I thoroughly enjoyed the show and loved the writing, they’re also an absolutely wonderful group of people.

Oh by the way, I want the duck jumper in my picture, this has nothing to do with black duck, it’s just an awesome fucking jumper. We also went for chinese, it was awesome, worth waiting half an hour longer than the lads who had all finished theirs by the time I got mine…what did kill me was the fact that I had five minutes to eat it otherwise we’d miss the start of rom com wrong. Wonderful. Shut up Duck.

Wednesday (Day 10) We’ve been talking to the two man comedy act Flyerman since we arrived at the fringe and they’re a fantastic pair, they’ve been really welcoming and have provided hours of banter so we were happy to finally see their show, it was so much fun and actually very relative to everyone in the Double Act teams experiences of life on the royal mile! This was followed by Everything but an Astronaut, they’re an absolutely wonderful group of people who have been with us since we arrived, we met them at the meet and greet and hit it off immediately and it was great to finally see their show. It was a fun, cheeky comedy about sex, space and everything in between. It deserves praise and I hope they get further dates (As I have heard they might be). We then did another (duh!) Double Act performance, a very good one at that! (on a roll here) Martyn’s dad was in attendance tonight too.

These blogs are seeming less and less interesting, that isn’t to say I’m not having fun, I am, it’s just eating me alive up here and all I seem to do is live, sweat and bleed Double Act, edfringe and spaceUK. We’ve done a fair bit of socialising too! The drinks and alcohol started flowing again on Tuesday (Day 9) when we went to the Guilded Balloon til 3am, lovely library venue, I came out with some corkers such as “I’m happier than the fair trade man” and “First the fork, then my hat, this is the worst day ever” (upon finding a fork and a pink cowboy hat…then losing them both) Sean and I also created black duck, a small negro-like duck who lives in our coat pockets and will never shut the duck up. (Yes…my witty satire has descended into childish giggling…don’t mention the poop).

The Double Act Diary: Day 7

We woke fresh, happy that an entire day off awaited us, Steven and I watched West Ham V Cardiff, a complete waste of 90 minutes with a very entertaining 3 at the end. I can’t remember where Martyn was, but Sean had gone into the city to meet some friends.

There’s not a lot to report on this day really, other than our attendance at the Space venue meet and greet, a chance to meet other space performers and plug the show. We met some lovely people and really enjoyed ourselves. I should also point out that this was Nick’s last evening with us, eventually we had to leave the meet and greet and ended up in our new local, The Black Bull, I received a text from my old schoolmate Thomas (pictured) and he came to join us, it was great to see him again.

We also brought Sophie and Lauren along, they’re doing tech on another show, later on we were joined by Jamie from Rom Com Wrong, he’s a top bloke, it was a brilliant night out.

Unfortunately I spilled a good bit of whiskey on Sean and managed to lose a part of my pocket watch. But nothing could spoil the night, and the Kebab was superb.

First truly drunk night. Yessah!

The Double Act Diary: Day 6

Press day/Rationing flyers.

We realised that in the short time we’d been in Edinburgh over 1/5th of our flyers had been handed out…oops. Of course you’re probably thinking “Just buy more” but it’s a miracle that we got here financially and paying for another 5000 flyers is out of the question. Steven came up with the brilliant idea of rationing them to about 400 per day and setting up flyering teams, a fantastic set up which gives everyone a day off from it all. With that in place it meant Martyn and I could attend the meet the media meeting, knowing that someone was on the flyering mission.

We had to print off some press releases, which meant going to fringe central extra early, good job, because people had started queuing already, at 10am for an event that didn’t start until 2pm…blimey! We did, however meet some lovely people in the queue, the guys from Recursion who we’d been following on twitter, and a male burlesque actor called Spencer. 

The wait seemed to fly by once people had started talking, and I nipped away for a coffee and a cookie for myself and Martyn, I forgot to put milk in Martyn’s though…oh well!

The press meet started off with a relative amount of success, we pitched the show quickly and to a number of seemingly interested parties, but you can never tell with journalists! The stopping block came when I decided to queue for ‘The Scotsman’ while Martyn queued for ‘The List’. It seemed as though my queue was never ending (despite the fact that we’d been told to pitch in 2-3 minutes and Martyn was having even less luck, he’d got to the front of the queue but they reviewer had to leave, pending a five minute shift swap which turned into a half hour wait.

By the end we gave up, had some free beer (Cheers Deuchars) and bitterly discussed the people on the balcony who had clearly come to watch others queue like some sort of farmers market meets big brother shite. Why?

Anyway, the walk back was rain soaked and nasty, the worst of the rain so far I think, my hands were purple and I was not in the best of moods, I also only had ten minutes to turn myself around and get up to Surgeons for the show, which incidentially was better (audience and performance-wise) that the last one. The cast have a great sense of the pace of the show and the characters are coming through stronger every day. I was very very happy.

We chatted to a few audience members then went back to the flat, ordered pizza, wine, beer and chilled out. The lads camped in the living room and watched Limitless, nice way to end the night and prep for a Sunday lie in.

The Double Act Diary: Day 5

First preview day, squeaky bum time! 

“To begin, begin” (Wordsworth)

We awoke with that lovely little muzzy feeling you get when you’ve had just over the alcohol limit…well I did anyway. Luckily I rarely have a problem dealing with a hangover or other such post alcohol related misadventures, so I quickly shook it off and felt very fresh after my night of celebrating our arrival.

In no time we were trudging up and down the mile doing the dreaded flyering task. A lot of people just have that gift of gab and do a great job of it, they also don’t mind doing it. I personally hate it, I mean, I think I stopped acting because I’m not a very good person when it comes to networking, I become this shy mess that struggles to form sentences of a general nature, let alone to plug my career (unless I’ve had a bit of alcohol)

Anywyay, that aside, I managed to shift all of my flyers by capitalising on a crowd that had been observing a street performer, a very good one at that! I decided to be slightly selfish and listen to Frank Turner in a relatively deserted courtyard. I closed my eyes for a moment and just enjoyed the music and detachment. I like that sometimes, Frank Turner is incredibly uplifting and in no time I was halfway through Love Ire and Song, I decided to get back on the trail and find the cast.

Quick food and a briefing, then we were off to Surgeons Hall for our first show, I thought my initial nerves would be gone after the tech…but because we didn’t actually get a run through I was MORE nervous. 

But there was nothing more I could do, I was there to keep face, like I’ve always been told, as a director you can’t show nerves or any sort of distress as it has a direct link to however large your cast is, and I don’t fancy having five people look at me and think “shit he’s bricking this” five minutes before curtain up. So I flashed a cheeky smile and a couple of shit jokes in that usual loud and mental way I do to combat nerves.

The show was fucking ace. One person said it was “The smoothest first preview I’ve ever seen” The cast felt good to have one under their belt and I’d vanquished my technical demons. We all knew it could be better, but we were far too buzzing to care. Beers were had and we just enjoyed ourselves. It was finally sinking in that we were here and I was in love with the place.

Sean, Robyn, Katie and I had comp tickets to Roar, we headed there, got slightly lost, overshot the venue (this time I can only blame myself, not google maps). Still, we made it to the show on time, and what a fucking show! It was like the restoration theatre movement on crack, completely mental comedy with a little bit of drama splashed in for good measure, in all it was just brilliant storytelling with some completely diverse and out there characters, I laughed all the way through and felt a twinge of sadness at the end. It was a brilliantly well put together show with some nice little bits of audience reaction too.

We ended the night by sitting in the Urban Garden (Center of the ‘Just The Tonic’ venues) and having drinks, me and Sean had capped our bottles of Grolsch and taken them on the road, a pro of those wonderful bottles. They’re also ludicrously tasty. Nom.

Bed called and I answered.