Reviews by Alan Fitter

I’ve seen Showstopper The improvised Musical in a theatre a couple of times and always thoroughly enjoyed it. So, I was intrigued to see what they would do in Showstopper (The Socially Distanced) Improvised Musical – an on-line version of the show and I wasn’t disappointed.

Firstly, I was delighted to see that they weren’t using Zoom which in my experience can be a bit hit and miss but YouTube which turned out to be the perfect platform. A behind-the-scenes video during the interval showed all the hard work that went into putting on the show where the performers along with two musicians were all in the same room at the same time. The four main members of the cast were socially distanced and behind large, Perspex screens and the two musicians, Musical Director Duncan Walsh Atkins on keyboards and Alex Atty on percussion wore masks. There were also a number of remote-controlled cameras and the whole production was very professional – you could see that a lot of time and effort had been put into the presentation which was superb.

The live Showstoppers The Improvised Musical does exactly what it says on the tin. The performers come along with a completely clean slate and ask for suggestions from the audience about a place, a time and the style of songs. The on-line version did the same although the suggestions weren’t shouted out but sent via the chatbox on the YouTube page. Then the host, Andrew Pugsley along with the cast, Pippa Evans, Ruth Bratt, Adam Megiddo and Justin Brett chose the place, in this case in a hot air balloon in New York City and the show got started. Along the way, we got eleven superb songs amongst which, suggested by the audience, were songs in the style of “The Boyfriend”, “Jesus Christ Superstar”, “Hamilton” and “The Muppets”. All the songs were superb, both music and lyrics and there was hardly a misstep throughout the ninety or so minutes (including an interval). All four performers were in synch with each other which isn’t really a surprise as they’re all veterans of the genre. Obviously having worked closely together before improvising songs, there are building blocks that they use to write the songs on the hoof but if you didn’t know the premise of the show, you would think that the songs were already written and they were just performing them – it’s an extraordinary and highly entertaining skill.

“The Balloon Where It Happened” (a title suggested by the audience) had over four hundred live “views”, which meant that at least double that number of people were looking in and as I write this it’s had over eleven hundred “views”, so at least two thousand people have seen it so far and it’s still on for another day. So, it looks as if over three thousand people or so would have seen the show before it stops being available. As one of the places I’ve seen it is at the King’s Head in Islington which has a capacity of one hundred and forty people, the company would have had to perform the show twenty-two times to match the number who have seen it this one-off performance on-line. There are not a lot of good things that have come out of the current pandemic but when it’s all over, it could be a mixture of live and on-line productions is the future of theatre. Not everyone can get to the theatre because of where they live or through illness or disability so if more shows are shown on-line, the audience for them would be a lot bigger and that can only be a good thing.

It’s fantastic value at just over £10 per household and you don’t have to get on a crowded tube to go see it. Whilst we’re starved of live theatre, what can be better than that?

Review by Alan Fitter

With over 600 tickets sold, 1,911 suggestions for musical theatre styles, songs and settings, and a total of 1,184 views for their first-ever socially distanced livestream, Olivier Award winners and Fringe favourites The Showstoppers are back with another socially distanced and completely improvised smash hit musical.

Using state-of-the-art technology and rigorous social distancing, the company will take live suggestions from the audience watching at home to create a full-length brand new musical, while socially distanced from each other behind a clear screen.

So whether you fancy ‘Hamilton’ on Hampstead Heath or some Sondheim set in a castle, you say it and – as always – The Showstoppers will make it happen!

Twitter: @TheShowstoppers
Facebook: theshowstoppers
Instagram: @showstoppermusical
www.showstopperthemusical.com

A few months ago, I’d never heard of Zoom and I suspect that neither did the theatre companies who have been putting on their productions through what was basically video conferencing software since the lockdown began back in March.

In the past four months or so, I’ve now seen several productions using Zoom and frankly they’re all becoming a bit samey. As I said a few weeks ago in my review for Ovo’s production of Twelfth Night, in a very short time Zoom productions already have their own tropes and clichés and are becoming a bit repetitive and I’m afraid that goes for Buglight Theatre’s on-line production of Jack And The Beanstalk.

Adapted from a 2019 stage panto production, it tells the well-known story of Jack, his Mum, the Giant and other assorted characters but with a contemporary spin. There are the usual panto cast with a dame, a villain and of course someone dressed as a cow. All the actors give their all although at times that leads to shouting – quite a lot of shouting – and over the top but acting but as this is basically a panto, some leeway is allowable. It must be very difficult putting on a production where the actors are in places such as Leeds, Manchester, Glasgow and Belfast. Add to that the complicated technical aspect of putting on a production via Zoom and Buglight should be congratulated on their considerable efforts.

Aimed mainly at young children, the graphics are bright and cheery, and they’ve added their own spin to the visuals with the use of Snapchat like overlays which were a lot of fun and gave the images an extra layer. As usual, there’s a lot of audience participation and the kids seemed to be having a great time, dancing singing and booing – as were a number of older groups who joined in with the fun and frolics.

As with all these Zoom shows, the production companies, the actors and the technicians should be lauded in their efforts to keep working during these turbulent times. I think on-line productions will be with us for some time before live theatre returns and may even be around after that as part of the creative mix – I just hope there’s some evolution in the productions and they don’t become too clichéd and turn audiences off.

Review by Alan Fitter

buglight-theatre.com
cre8theatre.co.uk

 

In just three months, theatrical productions on Zoom have become the norm as producers and actors look for a way to keep working and entertain people who can’t get to see live theatre. Zoom theatre productions now even have their own tropes such as the passing of an object be it a prop or piece of clothing from one actor to another even though they may be hundreds of miles apart, the use of wobbly greenscreen backgrounds and audience participation where attendees are asked to shake something or get up and dance. At that point, an audience member (or often members) is selected and shown full-screen looking suitably sheepish like a government minister who has been asked a question about Covid 19 that they don’t know the answer to. I’ve now seen several Zoom productions and unfortunately, they’re following a pattern that if it’s not done well, it doesn’t always come off.

I’m afraid that was what happened with Ovo’s Zoom production of “Twelfth Night”. There were a few technical glitches where audience members were seen on-screen when they shouldn’t be, the wrong character was shown and a number of times the screen went dark and there were significant pauses between scenes. This was a great shame as Ovo’s take on one of Shakespeare’s wittiest comedies is superb. Set in the 20s, twins Sebastian and Viola are a vaudeville act “The Dancin’ Twins” who get separated when the ship SS Elysium, on which they’re performing sinks and Viola is picked up by the SS Illyria believing Sebastian has drowned. There follows mayhem and confusion as Olivia (in this production a famous Hollywood actress) falls in love with Cesario (Viola in disguise). The play’s two comedy characters Sir Toby Belch (in this production there’s a gender swap turning him into Lady Toby Belch) and Sir Andrew Augecheek are played by two actors who are living together so are able to perform within the same Zoom frame giving them a chance to fully interact with each other – an advantage the other actors don’t have.

What makes this production stand-out is the extensive use of modern songs such as “Material Girl”, “Oops I Did It Again” and “Livin’ La Vida Loca” played and sung by a small jazz band whose members double-up as characters in the play.

Whilst the audience who could be seen either when highlighted or in Zoom’s “gallery view”, seemed to be having a great time and a number had even dressed up in 20s clothing to make an evening of it (instructions on what to wear, what to have at hand etc.) were sent out a day or two before the performance.

However, I just felt that the technical glitches and the use of Fabien as a narrator who sounded neither from the 1620s or from the 1920s but very 2020, was a bit jarring at times. Another problem I had was that I had seen this production at The Rose Playhouse last year and thoroughly enjoyed it and seeing it on a screen doesn’t just compare with seeing it live.

As I wrote in my introduction, theatrical productions on Zoom are becoming a little bit samey if you’ve seen more than one and after just three months, they may need a re-think to make them stand out from the crowd. I’m sure if you’ve just seen one production on Zoom, you’ll marvel about how it’s done but after two or three, I’m a little bit concerned that audiences will start to dwindle. As we may not be going back to live theatre anytime soon, it might mean that on-line productions need a makeover and a bit more thought before they become clichéd and repetitive.

Review by Alan Fitter

LISTINGS:
Maltings Theatre presents Shakespeare’s TWELFTH NIGHT- LIVE!
Venue: Zoom
Dates: June 12th – 14th at 8.15pm
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/MaltingsTheatre
Twitter @maltingstheatre
Running time: 75 minutes

CAST & CREATIVES:
Director Adam Nichols
Feste/Band Hannah Baker
Orsino/Band Will Forrester
Lady Toby Belch Anna Franklin
Sir Andrew Aguecheek Will Franklin
Maria/Band Rosa Lennox
Dancer Elena Ollett
Fabian Will Pattle
Viola Flora Squires
Malvolia Faith Turner
Olivia Emma Watson
Antonio David Widdowson

Shakespeare: Twelfth Night (Globe on Screen) [DVD] [2013]

A few months ago all the word Zoom meant to me was the title of two songs, one by The Commodores and one by Fat Larry’s Band but I was soon to find out it was also the name of a video-conferencing application that allowed people from all over the world to communicate with each other with both sound and vision. After having a Zoom meeting with a charity I was involved with, I was hooked and have been using it ever since at least three times a week to meet up with family, old workmates, friends I haven’t seen for years – there was even one for my fellow reviewers for London Theatre1. But obviously I wasn’t alone in discovering Zoom and many theatre companies and performance groups have been using it to perform Shakespeare, Chekov and other pieces that have been specially written for the medium.

The first one I saw was Big Telly’s Theatre production of Operation Elsewhere which I reviewed here and really enjoyed it. Now just a few short weeks later, they’ve produced a new piece, The Machine Stops based on a short story by E M Forster written in 1928. It tells of a world where humanity lives underground and relies on a machine for all its needs and people are banned from going up to the surface of the planet.

Like Operation Elsewhere, it’s inventive and creative and the visuals are a step up from the company’s previous production. There are some excellent backgrounds using greenscreen and the transitions between the characters (all of who are separately at home in isolation) are excellent. There’s a large cast some of who play more than one character although the quick changes didn’t always work but that added to the fun of it. It touched upon several issues including euthanasia, the rights of the individual and the right to reproduce. There was also a resonance with our current situation with everyone locked down and having to conform to rules laid down by a government – in this case, the machine itself.

Along the journey we meet various larger than life characters including a bearded lady, a singer, a hypnotist and the authoritarian committee who run the machine – or does it run them? There’s also a trip on an airship, a journey along an underground tunnel, a clever card trick and someone plays the didgeridoo!

Like Operation Elsewhere, there’s also audience participation. We’re asked to hold up a book, a piece of paper to denote our egression papers and make various other gestures. As we were acting out the things we’re asked to do, audience members were randomly selected and highlighted on-screen so we could see it wasn’t just us making fools of themselves sitting in front of our computers, tablets and phones!

Whilst The Machine Stops was very enjoyable, it wasn’t quite as good as its predecessor. At times the narrative was a bit flabby and wandered off-course – there was a whole sequence in the middle that didn’t quite work. Also, there seemed to be less audience participation this time which made Operation Elsewhere so much fun and added another dimension for the audience – almost a replacement for the missing out on the live theatre-going experience.

The future of conventional live theatre is still a complete unknown and it will be a while until we step into a theatre to see live actors on stage with less than two meters between them. In the meantime, we can enjoy the innovative, creative initiatives from companies like Big Telly to give us our theatrical fix.

Review by Alan Fitter

A short story written by E. M. Forster in 1909 about people living in isolation has become an eerily relevant tale for our times. The Victorian writer could never have imagined that we would be adapting the work for lockdown in 2020.

Big Telly Theatre Company will partner with the Riverside Theatre, Coleraine and Ulster University present their adaptation of E. M. Forster’s ‘The Machine Stops’ on June 6th & 7th.

Recent Zoom productions were a huge success – ‘The Tempest’ and ‘Operation Elsewhere’ were watched by over 5,000 people in 14 countries so far and featured by the UK national press and media, and The New York Times and CNN in the USA.

Big Telly’s adaptation of ‘The Machine Stops’ is a live, interactive and creative illustration of Victorian culture and psyche, and beautifully illustrates the era’s culture, thinking and fears just as the western world was beginning its accelerated journey into modernity, just as we consider our new normality after lockdown.

https://www.riversidetheatre.org.uk/

Earlier this year my life was transformed as was everyone’s on the planet when Covid-19 started its deadly sweep across the world. Everything really changed for me on Monday March 16th when the Prime Minister “advised” people to stay away from restaurants, bars, cinemas and theatres and since that speech, my life hasn’t been the same. My days didn’t change that much as I’m retired but within minutes of the lock-down, my busy diary was decimated and went from being full of visits to the theatre to completely empty. As I deleted those proposed visits to theatres across London to review a production, assess for the Off West End awards (The Offies) or just for pure enjoyment, my schedule went from being out three or four nights a week on average to being in every night – there was literally nothing, nada, nil, zip, zilch – my theatre cupboard was as bare as the NHS’s pre-virus PPE stockpile.

What was I going to do with myself to fill my days – and nights? Then I discovered Zoom meetups and decided that would be my project whilst in lock-down. I start organising them with my close family, friends from around the world, old work colleagues I hadn’t seen for over thirty years and even other London Theatre 1 reviewers! I even attended a Zoom funeral and tonight I’m helping organise a close friends’ 50th anniversary “virtual” celebration which should be a lot of chaotic fun.

So, I was delighted when asked to review Big Telly’s Theatre’s Zoom production of Operation Elsewhere subtitled: “An Irish Adventure To A Mythical Other World” – at last some live theatre – even if it was on a screen!

After logging onto Zoom in the usual way, we were informed of what to do and what screen to be looking at. We were then met by an Irish border guard who checked us in for the journey but not before we had our temperatures taken, a retina scan and the removal of our footwear! We were then transported to Elsewhere – a mythical Irish kingdom where we met a cast of characters including The Groom, The Bride, Mad Sweeney The Birdman, The Changeling, Scatha and The Pooka. If you don’t know what a pooka is, just have a look at “Harvey” the James Stewart movie – Harvey is one!

Using green screen, Zoom backgrounds, shadow puppets, video, music and live-action, the audience (I think there were about fifty of us) were transported to this mythical world of portals, changelings, brides, grooms and strange relatives, guided through our mystical journey by The Pooka.

However, what really made this strange, at times, unfocused tale taken from Irish mythology work, was the excellent use of the Zoom platform and the interaction between the actors and the audience. We were asked to do various things such as disguise ourselves as a forest, roar, do the Haka, freeze, turn out the lights, dance and sing! As we were doing this, audience members were highlighted full screen, so we knew it wasn’t just us making fools of ourselves sitting in front of our computers and tablets! This gave it the feeling of a proper event and you could see by the smiles and laugher of the audience of all ages, what fun they were having.

With the future of conventional live theatre, a complete unknown, it will probably take even longer before theatre companies and audiences brave a live immersive, interactive production and it may be that there will be more innovative, creative initiatives like Operation Elsewhere to solve that problem.

In the meantime, bravo to everyone involved in Operation Elsewhere especially Big Telly’s founder and artistic director Zoe Seaton who appeared right at the end to say a big thank you. My theatre withdrawal symptoms are still there but this was a superb, short-term fix that I would certainly do again.

Review by Alan Fitter

“There is more to this world than meets the eye. What you take for real is an illusion. What you take for an illusion is real. At any one time, in any one place, you are inches from Elsewhere, the land of fable, foe and faerie.”

Directed by Big Telly’s founder and artistic director Zoe Seaton (THE LYRIC THEATRE, BELFAST, HULL TRUCK THEATRE COMPANY, TINDERBOX THEATRE COMPANY), Operation Elsewhere brings alive Irish myths and takes audiences on a virtual trip to the beautiful Emerald island for an adventure into another dimension, where somewhere is Elsewhere. Once admitted to the journey, they weave their path and meet strange and wonderful characters, faeries and changelings, together with mysterious quests, intrigue and game mechanics. It culminates in one extraordinary hour of theatrical entertainment, comedy and joy.

Cast
Keith Singleton The Groom
Rosie McClelland The Bride
Michael Johnston Mad Sweeney, The Birdman
Rhodri Lewis The Changeling
Nicky Harley Scatha
Cillian Lenahan Head of Border Security
Chris Grant The Pooka

Creative Team
Writer of original production Jane Talbot
Director and adaptor Zoe Seaton
Stage Manager and Zoom Magician Sinead Owens
Composer Garth McConaghie
Recommended for adults, families and children 7+

Listings: 2 – 4 May, 3pm and 7pm daily
£20 per device
https://www.big-telly.com/
#OperationElsewhere @BigTellyNI