'The Lovely Bones'- Bryony Lavery

-

A subtle experiment with physical theatre retells Alice Seabold’s much loved novel with a unique and imaginative flare.
Lavery had a big task on her hands to portray this particularly sensitive story, which follows the perspective of young Sophie Salmon as she watches over her family, following her rape and murder. This performance was strangely heart-warming considering the subject matter, while also leaving not a dry eye in the house, and this was very much down to director Melly Still’s creative eye, which drew heavily from physical theatre. She still however managed to maintain an essence of that traditional theatre style audiences are comfortable with, and this was a clever approach, so as to not scare traditionalists away. That being said, as a lover of contemporary performance I feel she could have pushed those elements further and produced a real dazzling spectacle.

Designer Ana Inés Jabares-Pita did a fascinating job with her vast angled mirror, which sat at the back of the stage providing a duel perspective of the scenes. Particularly effective for this storyline was its ability to become transparent, and place what would appear as a ghost figure in the scene without the addition of an actor on the stage itself and Jabares-Pita worked extremely well with lighting designer Matt Haskins to create some really beautiful moments up there.

There were some exciting experiments with prop work, particularly in the other child victims of Mr Harvey, where puppetry allowed a mature presentation, and I also enjoyed the visual constraint that a box drawn from salt presented; a heavenly boundary.

This is a delicately explorative production with some commendable creativity. It is in line with the novel and maintains a real honesty, providing humour, anguish and empathy. Its asset lies in that it  remains very human and very relatable and I believe it is a huge success.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

'The Animals and Children Took to the Streets'- 1927

-
Founded in 2005, ‘1927 Theatre Company’ are well-renowned for merging projected animation with live performance to create beautifully polished performances, gaining them numerous awards since their establishment. Their quirky style is reminiscent of a Tim Burton movie, combining comedy with a pinch of dark humour – a cabaret show with a live soundtrack played by the performers themselves. On the 8 th February, ‘1927’ performed their well-loved piece, ‘The Animals and Children Took to the Streets’, at the HOME Theatre, Manchester. There’s a place in the city called Red Herring Street. An unloved, dingy and dank thoroughfare, where shops sell stolen goods, and prostitutes, paedophiles and murderers live in the flats upstairs. One day, Agnes Eaves and her daughter Evie movie in to the Bayou mansions. Armed with pasta bows and PVA glue, she aims to save the children from a life where “when you’re born in the Bayou, you die in the Bayou”. Riots break out, as the children of Red Herri...
Read more

'Talking Heads'- Mel Brimfield

-
Image
Commissioned by Attenborough Arts Centre, visual artist Mel Brimfield created the ‘Talking Heads’ exhibition, which draws predominantely from themes of mental health. The work displays an array of multi-media instillations, film, and comic style images, depicting the experiences of those living from and recovering from psychosis. It draws from Brimfield’s own research at the Department of Psychosis Studies at Kings College Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, and the National Psychosis Unit at Bethlem Hospital, London. ‘I cannot shake the idea that I am an imposter’ ‘My father refuses to accept my brothers’ diagnosis of schizophrenia’ ‘As the sands pass through the hourglass, I am conscious of a sense of increasing regret with no fixed palpable source’ Just a few of the phrases from Brimfield’s ‘NUTS: The Remembrance of Things Past’, where the peanuts character Lucy is used as a psychiatrist to the artist, who’s speech bubbles of therapy sessions fill the ...
Read more