Catherine Bennett resumes the weekly look at the performing arts world, with the sad end of Jerusalem, the luck of a cabbie, and French revolt. Do you hear the people sing?
Adam Alcock reviews Nigel Kennedy playing Vivaldi's Four Seasons and his own Four Elements at York Opera House.
Catherine Bennett highlights the trends in the performing arts world today.
Jonathan Cridford reviews 'Ghosts', one of the Freshers' plays for this year.
Written on the cover of the production’s handout, this line explains an underlying theme running less than subtly beneath the surface of this play. Encapsulating the many differing yet associated facets of a society hungry for sex, money and power, Mary Luckhurst- head of Modern Drama here at York- seemingly wrote this play to provide a multidimensional view of a superficial society which is simultaneously condemned and revered.
The title Celebrity allows you to anticipate the sort of production this will inevitably be: a reflective society-based satire providing an over-arching view of the superficial and power-hungry nature of an era tainted by immorality. This production does not hold back in presenting this to full effect; some may say that this is to the detriment of the play. However, the unabashed clichéd nature of Celebrity highlighted one aspect it seemed to be trying to represent: modern society is unashamedly shallow yet it still endeavours to enforce a marketable profundity upon itself.
This seemingly served to represent the theme of over-payed and overly revered celebrities. Are they worth such wealth and adoration?
In a case of (campus) life imitating art, the production included its own campus ‘celebrities’ - of the Drama Soc variety. Showcasing what they do best, Dominic Allen, Matt Springett, Jamie Wilkes and Ian McCluskey included the audience in their portrayal of a variety of over-indulgent wannabes and ‘successes’.
Springett was particularly successful, using his talent for presentational theatre to hound various audience members for portrayals that challenged the natural passivity of the viewing public. McClusky belted out some intentionally transparent, emotionally-wrought numbers that sang of wealth, adoration and at one point said the line that connected each somewhat disjointed scene: “Somebody Watch Me”.
The use of familiar York backdrops in video sections, portrayals of long-gone celebrities and audience inclusion made for some light entertainment. The scenes were contrasting, with each one bringing a new aspect of power manipulation to the table.
However, this inevitably became a bit tedious; you could almost hear the thoughts of the audience: For God’s sake, give us a plot. People like a good storyline and this, perhaps intentionally, didn’t deliver in that respect. Perhaps this is to represent the fleeting and fickle nature of contemporary society. Whether this is the case or not, the production needed a little more connectivity than a few obvious themes.
Regardless of this, the play was very funny with numerous witty gags and talented acting. The sounds could have been vamped up along with the frustrating non-plot but ultimately this entertaining play is well worth a watch if you want to brighten a gloomy March day.
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