Review of Year 12 Exam Plays and Performers
Free, professional standard plays are hard to come by. Yet, the year twelve students at The Moorlands College provided two evenings of free entertainment. The years twelve students embarked upon their final performance which contributed towards their A-level grade. The quality of the four plays however, made it clear that all the performers were in it for more than just a grade, all of the performers were dedicated to producing theatre which would engage and stimulate their admiring audience. “Blood Wedding”, “Improbable Fiction”, “Abigail’s Party” and “Two” formed an interesting College showcase.
The tragic piece of the quartet, Lorca’s “Blood Wedding”, made for a deep piece of drama which one had to study and think about in order to be understood. The low-key symbolic staging emphasised the characters’ turmoil, and gave the actors a brilliant space in which to play. The leads, Lydia Jervis and Calen Frost-Ierly, gave energy to each line and movement, driving what is a very spoken play forward with lightning pace. Richeldis Malkin and Callum McGuire mirrored each other well, each of their characters experiencing similar emotions of rejection, jealousy and anger. These two brought a pathetic touchingness to the piece. The four “lovers” made for some interesting inter-play and left the audience in confusion with who to side with: the righteous wife (Malkin) or the sexual dare-devil (Jervis)? “Death”, Rebecca Potts, and the “Moon”, Katie Eliot, drew the themes of the play together by showing two sides of love – sexuality and dark reality. Eliot’s “Moon” was a lusty figure, illustrated through dance, contrasting nicely with Pott’s earthy portrayal of “Death”. Another brilliant character performance in Freddy Scragg’s “Blind Man”, in many ways showed us a different style of acting all together, and brought diversity to the extreme naturalism of the other performers. Scragg, showed us a very convincing blind-man, complete with hunch, weary voice and dying eyes which managed to send chills through the audience. I would call “Blood Wedding” more of an “artistic exploration” than a play, and the artists on stage did it more then justice.
The second piece, Improbable Fiction, a light comedy by Alan Ayckbourne, played out with quick-paced hilarity, each actor giving a laugh-a-minute performance. The play begins in the midst of writing group’s weekly meeting. We are introduced to the second rate work of the group ranging from teenage detective fantasy to an unconvincing children’s story, “Doblin the Goblin.” The protagonist, Arnold, played brilliantly by Scott Allcock, immerses himself into the role of a boring, middle-aged instruction-booklet writer with worrying ease. Allcock manages to anchor the hour production nicely and allows the zany caricatures of the second act to bounce off him which is great fun for the audience! The supporting cast were nothing short of outstanding. Emily Milward, Leah Derrem, Katie Seaton gave full performances of various characters from sexy 30’s women to deviant Victorian house servants. King of Comedy, David Goodwin left a huge mark on the production, bringing his over-powering stage presence and acute characterisation to various characters. “Recks Van X”, a bubbly American alien hunter was hilariously played by Goodwin, and was only outdone by Doctor Thomas Goodpiece, a droning victorian physician. His “papier mache” declaration continues to be the highlight of a very energetic production.
Mike Leigh’s satirical comedy, Abigail’s Party, was just as successful in stirring the audience up into a salvo of cheers and laughter. We hated Emily Milward’s cackling Beverly and yet loved her at the same time. The walk, the dancing, the snide remarks at her husbands expense were all traits that made for a hysterical show. Geeky husband Laurence, played by Jake Geoffs, had echoes of Basil Faulty – the somewhat over-the-top performance only adding to the farce and interplay between a middle-class dysfunctional marriage. Poppy Matthews and Rebecca Thompson competently played two female neighbors, dominated and bullied by viscous Beverly, they captured the core of “eccentric normality” and brought a familiarity to the play which all could enjoy.
Jim Cartwright’s “Two” gave a startlingly accurate observation of the dying pub culture in Britain today. Actors Ben Cope, Sam Cox, Rebecca Potts and Hannah Robinson played the familiar working class caricatures we see on TV and all around us in bars and pubs today. The “big men” scene was played hilariously; Cox’s and Potts’ timing was impeccable, with great use of pause and physicalisation to precisely orchestrate where and when the audience should laugh. Equally the two played the Elvis fans to a T, making the fat-gags unavoidably funny. Hannah Robinson gave her all in the more tragic scenes of the play, her scream was spine-tingling and made me choke back my tears in several moments. Finally, Ben Cope gave an astounding performance, taking on various roles. He is completely natural in his delivery and physical characterisation, using raw, untampered talent to work through the play rather than a fake “technique.” When watching Cope act, one ceases to see the actor but only sees the character – an apt definition for acting at its finest. He played the audience with ease and was confident enough to adapt his performance style to squeeze every last laugh from the crowd (who were like putty in Cope’s capable hands). Effortlessly, Ben Cope succeeded not only on an obvious A grade performance, but on a serious professional level – watch out RADA!
Of course, all four shows would be nothing without the steady hand of director and Drama teacher, Kate Doughty who has guided, moulded and sometimes hacked the plays into their final form. The four plays are a tribute to her commitment, and the level of talent shown in the A-Level performances are a credit to the Moorlands… and a bitter reminder that I will be leaving it all behind.
Tags: 12, A-Level, Acting, Actor, Drama, Exam, Performance, Performer, Piece, Plays, Review, Show, Theatre, Twelve, Year 12
This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 13th, 2009 at 6:41 pm and is filed under Acting. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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