Month: May 2017

Review – ‘The North! The North!’ – Chris Harrisson

~ emilyholyoake

This piece by Emily Holyoake was originally published at Exeunt Magazine on 9 May 2017.

THE NORTH! THE NORTH!
Written and performed by Chris Harrisson
Saturday 6 May 2017, The Bike Shed Theatre, Exeter

Chris Harrisson describes The North! The North! as ‘Extra-Live’, and in the aftermath I’m still getting to grips with what this means. He writes that extra-live is a continuation of the thought process behind staging relaxed performances, which are designed to be accessible to everyone. But although it’s definitely accessible, ‘relaxed’ isn’t the right word to describe the experience of watching The North! The North! – it feels anything but safe.

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Review – ‘All The Little Lights’ – Fifth Word

~ emilyholyoake

This piece by Emily Holyoake was originally published at The F-Word on 3 May 2017.

ALL THE LITTLE LIGHTS by Jane Upton
Presented by Fifth Word and Nottingham Playhouse
Saturday 22 April 2017, Theatre Royal Plymouth

Performed by: Esther-Grace Button, Sarah Hoare, Tessie Orange-Turner
Directed by: Laura Ford

It is a relatively quiet final night of Fifth Word and Nottingham Playhouse’s All The Little Lights tour. The Drum, Theatre Royal Plymouth’s black box space, is just over half full and there is an atmosphere of caution among the audience. Jane Upton’s play about “young lives lived under the radar” is brightly, brilliantly funny in parts. But it’s very easy to laugh a split-second too late. This is a birthday party on a knife-edge.

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