On the 1st March St Cuthbert Mayne English Literature students went to the Princess theatre to watch The Woman in Black. It had reviews of being very scary and was said to be extremely good. We all looked forward to it and had high hopes.
After the kerfuffle of sitting in the wrong space and finally finding out places, the show began. A slow opening indeed, we first were intrigued by its strange introduction. Unsure, we watched on and were surprised by another character joining us from behind the seats out of nowhere. The interest went from intrigued to bored. A few people in the audience were audibly uninterested. It took a while for things to get going, but when it did the audience was impressed. There were jump scares that were scattered through the performance and kept people on their toes. I think everyone would agree that it was only until two thirds in that everyone enjoyed themselves. Smoke machines covering the audience added to the atmosphere. Screams and gasps when the unexpected caught the audience off guard. While the play was enjoyable, it did not live up to it’s reputation for being petrifying. Yes its jumpscares did make you jump but that was less of you being and scared and more because you heard a loud noise when you were losing interest. The script was very particular in the way it was written, it was unusual and made a statement compared to other plays. The play had several character but was only depicted by two men and one woman (whom of which only appeared a couple times). Actors The actors were able to shift into their roles very well. If you couldn’t tell from the title of this review, the woman actor is the Woman in Black. The older male actor portrayed several characters but still made it clear who he was. The script was stretched out in the opening. But when it did manage to capture the audience’s eye it was interesting. The ending had a twist which was clever as it made the audience think about after they left the theatre. The setting The setting was very simplistic and the actors made a good use of their props. The invisible dog was our personal favourite character and we had real empathy for this small pet… even though you couldn’t see it. Imagination was a big part of this play and let the audience see what they wanted. Conclusion Overall, this play didn’t live up to his overwhelming reviews. It made a statement with its simplistic setting and actor number. So the play does deserve some credit. We would personally not watch this again, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t. And if you don’t like plays, just watch the movie... it’s on Netflix. By Amy Barber and Katie McCall
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Hairspray is an upbeat musical for all the family, and this was delivered by the cast on the Friday night that we watched the performance. As families filled up every seat in the hall, we anticipated the night to come.
Needless to say, we weren’t disappointed. Only a few seconds into, “Good Morning Baltimore” was what it took to convince us that this was going to be a good show, and that’s what it was. From the optimistic nature of Tracy, to the xenophobic opinions of Velma, every character was portrayed very well. Amber was perfectly spoilt, and the contrast of her on screen versus off screen was amusing to see. Although we loved all of the songs, there were a select few that became our favourites. “Miss Baltimore Crabs” was sung by none other than the perfect and, unfortunately, racist Velma. Velma, much to our amusement, ‘screwed’ the judges to win a beauty pageant. Other than that the song itself was delivered amazingly. However, the song that earned the loudest cheers without a doubt was, “I Know Where I’ve Been”, performed by Motormouth Maybelle. Spotlight on her, she was nothing short of powerful in her solo, and the emotion behind the song was clearly felt by the vocalist herself. Goosebumps were left on our skin and the crowd was mesmerised by the performance. But a show is not only about the main cast being good at their roles, extras and those who worked behind the scenes worked really hard to deliver a lively and vibrant show for everyone. The main actors were cast well and shone in their given roles. The extras bought ‘bounce’ to the stage and the costumes were specific to the characters which bought the magic to life. The music was fantastic and the songs were executed with precision; aside from the few moments of technical difficulties that were painful on the ears if you were sat beside a speaker, the show went off without a hitch. You could easily see there was a lot of effort put into every aspect of the production of the musical, and that all the hard weeks and free time everyone had spent and sacrificed for practising for the show was not all for nought. So, should you watch the musical? If it was still being performed, we would absolutely recommend you see it, but unfortunately that’s not the case. An alternative for the unfortunates who didn’t see the show would be to watch the DVD, but the magic that made the school performance what it was wouldn’t be present. We can’t wait to see what the drama students of 2018 have in store for us! |
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