Past Productions Visiting Productions
Fear And Misery Of The Third Reich
Despite its rather ominous title this proved to be one of the most successful visiting productions that Blundell’s has seen. The four-person cast succeeded in offering the best demonstration of Brechtian theatre that we have seen for some time. It was in turn challenging, funny and thought-provoking: we laughed at the caricature of a naïve, old woman accepting the Nazi’s dubious gifts and shivered at the brutal treatment of prisoners. The performance ticked the box of every Brechtian technique going and simultaneously synthesised them into a meaningful and entertaining piece of theatre. The audience was given an insight into the fear and paranoia that existed in pre-war Germany, where families were divided and the Nazi’s most powerful tools were the brainwashing of the young and the persecution of minorities. On the day that the world witnessed the opening of an archive of files 16 miles long (cataloguing, with detailed and chilling precision, the killing of thousands of people in the concentration camps) “Fear and Misery of the Third Reich” proved a timely reminder of the Nazi’s rise to power.
Guy Masterson presents Under Milk Wood, by Dylan Thomas
I first met Guy Masterson some years ago at a conference for Drama teachers. It was here that I first caught a glimpse of his mesmerising Under Milk Wood; a production that had won acclaim in the West End and at the Edinburgh Fringe. How could one person bring to life the 69 different characters that fill Thomas’s lyrical masterpiece? Was it really possible to bring to life each distinctive voice in a one man show? Guy Masteron’s mesmerising performance proved that it was indeed possible.
I sat enthralled as he transformed body and voice to become, Captain Cat, skipping school girl, gossiping neighbours, vain Lily Small, hen-pecked and bitter Mr Pugh, nagging Mrs Ogmore-Pritchard and love-lorn Mr Edwards; to name but a few. Not only did he capture each individual character but Masterson’s lilting, Welsh voice also transported us to a different world; part 1950’s Welsh sea-side town, part lyrical landscape. Masterson made me feel his performance was just for me and only my eyes “could see the black and folded town fast, and slow, asleep”. It was this wonderful sense of intimacy that, for me, gave this one man show its uniqueness and its magic. This wasn’t drama but poetry in performance; language that lived, breathed and took hold of my imagination until the last, lovely syllable tripped off the tongue and the house lights brought me back to a less vivid reality.
RUST
Deep below the stagnant brine of the North Sea lies a rusting submarine and even deeper within its hull lies the hub of the most incredible pirate radio station the British coastline has ever heard. Hosted by the conjoined Fabulous Freak Brothers, Bristol based Green Ginger brought us a show like no other.
Having worked with Aardman Animation, the Jim Henson creature workshop and the devious minds behind Spitting Image, Green Ginger certainly know their stuff. An entire review could be dedicated to the incredible set they performed with, that seemed to be a giant Rubik’s cube of theatrical design.
The story of a young man thrust beneath the waves of the North Sea to fight for freedom of expression against the captain of an oppressive seafood factory and oil tanker pushed visuals and comic timing to their limits. Miniatures, projected images and incredible foam rubber and latex puppets came to life, in a bizarre but extremely entertaining fashion.
Pushing aside the old conventions of puppet theatre, Green Ginger at no point tried to hide themselves from the audience. Instead the actors remained visible and in doing so let us see what versatile performers the cast were. Multiple characters as well as environments were wielded and manipulated expertly by the company giving us memorable set pieces by the greasy bucket load: A submarine was attacked by a vengeful Reverent with a pneumatic drill; a stranded character was rescued from a buckling steel mast by the power of telekinesis, and I won’t even go into the involvement of the two headed fish.
When ‘What’s on?’ magazine voted ‘Rust’ the best show of the season they did so with good cause not every show leaves the audience crying out for more. But as the house lights came up in Ondaatje Hall at Blundell’s School, and the applause rang out, I could feel the draw from the icy waters of quality entertainment, dragging me below the surface for more.
Artaud in Wonderland
From the moment the play started it was certainly clear that absolutely nothing was going to be clear. The lights went down, and they stayed down. Then in the shroud of darkness sounds began to appear... Was that a heartbeat? The scratch of vinyl? A stifled scream? Slowly an eerie light appeared and in the silhouette the form of a giant hand appeared wrenched in pain, and then... a shoe.
Antonio Artaud died alone at the foot of his bed with a shoe in his hand after years of struggling to change the world of performance with his self-styled 'Theatre of Cruelty'. Just as I began to wonder why anybody would wish to create such a horrible concept, the life of the mad Frenchman was resurrected by Damian Wright. Creeping around the stage he darted in and out of the shadows' taking the audience into the strange and disturbed life of Artaud. And what a life it was; hereditary syphilis, imagined confrontations with Hitler, drug addiction, electro-convulsive therapy. All the deepest, darkest aspects of this tortured soul were brought to life in stark comedic fashion. Wright twisted his tongue through endless convulsive wordplay, setting alight imagery from a tortured soul. His performance made enjoyable yet unsettling viewing. The body of Artaud seemed racked with pain and yet was able to spin and jump about the stage, never letting go of an audience unsure of where he would spring from next.
In a final gesture, to indelibly mark the performance onto the psyche of the audience, Artaud walked through them and into a cupboard, only to re-emerge and take his bow. For everyone watching in Ondaatje Hall at Blundell's School the life of Antonio Artaud was made, not completely unclear by the company Periplum; which I suspect is as close to understanding Artaud as we are likely to become. Artaud did make it clear, however, that he never wanted anything to be the same on stage, and after seeing Artaud in Wonderland, for this viewer at least, nothing will ever be the same again.
A Day with Private Peaceful
An infinitely touching, intensely acted account of a young First World War Soldiers final day. Sunday Express *****
As moving as the poetry or Wilfred Owen and as painfully memorable as white-hot shrapnel. Sunday Herald *****
Played by Alexander Campbell, Private Tommo Peaceful amazed and affected all who attended Ondaatje Hall on Monday 3rd October, and showed for once that the reviews got it right.
Reliving the life of Private Peaceful in flashback, as he awaits a firing squad at dawn this remarkable piece of theatre came straight from Bristol Old Vic after two sell out sessions, before touring the country and moving to London for a West End run.
Students from Blundell’s were involved with the technical set up for the show which involved the rigging of lights and the setting up of sound equipment. With a “get in” of only three hours, the set had to be constructed and the lights had to be focused to fit in with their new surroundings. A tricky effect involving a rather bleak icy sunrise took some time to get right, but with the technical crew swinging into action everything was ready on time.
As the life of Private Peaceful unfolded before our eyes we were treated to glimpses of his early childhood, adolescence and into the adult world of his induction into the First World War. All was told with incredible skill by Alexander Campbell who not only played the role of Tommo from the age of seven but every other character in the play as well, manipulating his body, face and voice to devastating effect.
One student involved in the setting up of the performance summed up the show perfectly afterwards by saying, “That was bloody amazing.” Another critic gets it right.