My thoughts on Susan Fletcher's novel, The Silver Dark Sea

My review of A Moveable Feast by Earnest Hemingway.

Footsbarn’s Christmas Cracker takes the audience back to pagan England and the mid-winter celebrations which brought frivolity to the freezing cold, when the world is turned upside down and the Lord of Misrule rules over the proceedings. Footsbarn’s Christmas Cracker was the first play to be performed at the Globe in the winter. As such it needed to cater to the weather more than anything else. When I saw the play there were icicles hanging by the wall and despite looking forward to the performance, I was not looking forward to standing in the cold for the duration. However, Footsbarn took into account both the weather and the groundlings. The play was short, at just one hour long, with an interval halfway through and mulled wine on sale outside. And whilst I was cold, this helped with the authenticity of the piece. The play was marketed as a “party” to call back the summer to the world, and with the cabaret styles episodes, there was little time to focus on the weather or indeed anything other than the piece. The use of episodes was perfect for keeping the audience entertained. If one episode is not to your taste, the...

Last Friday, I began a very busy weekend with a trip to the theatre. Taking advantage of the A Night Less Ordinary scheme (possibly for the last time now the government has eliminated it) I managed to acquire a free ticket for The Factory’s Round 2 at The Rose Theatre, Kingston. In all honesty, I nearly didn’t go: I had lots of research to do for uni; I started a new job on Saturday morning; the performance did not start until 10pm and I was going alone as I only managed to get the one ticket. A Night of Ordinary seemed like the better option. But the concept of Round 2 intrigued me enough to know I would regret not going. Round 2 was described in the Rose’s press release as “a collection of short plays written by Factory writers. With over thirty new plays the audience get to choose which six plays they’d like to see each night and which actors they’d like to perform them. The results are more like a music gig than a night of new writing.” The evening was certainly more relaxed than watching a regular scripted play at the Rose. As I walked...

As I walked into the auditorium, I saw an immediate difference between this set and the sets of previous shows I had seen at The Rose: This one came out into the audience. The cushion pit had been put to good use by placing a number of (thankfully very soft) carpets on the floor, which gave the area the feeling of a plush Victorian home. This immediately involves the audience, adding a sense of fun to the proceedings. This trend was continued when the actors entered and started to use the entire pit area as a canvas, speaking to members of the audience to involve them further. This mingling was done with the actors out of character, which I initially thought was unnecessarily Brechtian for this type of family play. However, I was later placated when I saw that the speaking ensemble were acting as the story-tellers and put on their characters on stage. At one point near the beginning, one of the storytellers asks the rest if they want to play “Bob Cratchit, anyone?” This was the cue for one of the first cases of notable acting within the piece. Daniel Goode, who played Cratchit along with other...