Black Watch at The Barbican

Black Watch was recommended to me by a friend at work, who swore it was the best piece of theatre she had ever seen. After that bold statement I couldn’t resist going to experience it for myself.

The Black Watch is an esteemed army infantry battalion from the Royal Regiment of Scotland. Their obscure name allegedly came from the dark tartan they used to wear to watch over the Highlands. This regiment has an important history which is explored within the action of the play, a truly fascinating timeline. I particularly enjoyed the sequence in which we watched one soldier being dressed and undressed continually by all the other men to display the regiment’s changing uniform over time. It was quite beautiful demonstrated in this way.

The music that occurs intermittently throughout the show is haunting and moving: various clips of Snow Patrol and Michael Nyman as well as authentic regimental songs are cleverly used. And then of course there are the constant sounds of mortars, IEDs and C-bombs. Often the men sing enthusiastically along to the tunes, with an endearing pride. The language is crude even filthy throughout, and yet it soon feels natural to hear the men speaking in this way. There is an element of dance in this production too, although it is more like atmospheric abstract movement. Violence is shown through stylised miming that is quite balletic, a dramatic juxtaposition with the hard army demeanour.

The narrative focuses on the Black Watch’s involvement in Iraq. Jack Lowden is superb as Cammy, he is devoted and yet understandably bitter. Jamie Quinn is sweet playing Fraz, a strangely evocative performance as a less fortunate soldier. The rest of the all male cast are similarly commendable, and as a whole create a powerful and intense piece of theatre.

I forgot these men are actors, I completely believed, for the 110 minutes that Black Watch runs that the men were soldiers. The Black Watch is known for its exceptionally strong sense of identity and camaraderie, a mindset that is portrayed immaculately by the boys on stage.

Many nights are already sold out, so be quick about getting your tickets for Black Watch, this is a play not to miss.

Black Watch, at the Barbican Arts Centre, until 22^nd January. Tickets £35/40

The Fantasticks

The Fantasticks is a simple romantic tale of a boy and a girl and their fathers who scheme to make them fall in love. It is based on the play The Romancers by Edmond Rostand. It is a universal story that should appeal to all, though unfortunately I can't see how this production would.

The show has been a long-running hit on Broadway, and now a new Japanese production brings it to London's West End. The Fantasticks suits the dinky Duchess theatre in Covent Garden. It is an intimate space that serves well for smaller scale musicals, and has a certain charm about it that makes the show more intimate. Thank god because if it was any bigger the audience wouldn't be able to hear the voices of the two young leads: Lorna Want (Luisa) and Luke Brady (Matt) who certainly benefitted from the limited space. Carl Au who played The Mute moved fluently across the stage, but was rather a pointless additional character with little necessity in the story.

The more mature actors in the show, Paul Hunter (Mortimer) and Edward Petherbridge (Henry) were much more convincing and managed to squeeze an occasional laugh from the audience. Clive Rowe and David Burt, as the two fathers were full of energy and worked well together onstage, the only chemistry of the night. Hadley Fraser had charm and charisma as the narrator and held the whole show together. Unfortunately these actors had little to work with, as the music is pretty average, the song 'Try to Remember' is definitely the musical high point. The narrative is poor too, with most of the action over by the interval leaving little anticipation for the second act.

The Fantasticks has many West End wonders to contend with at the moment, and unfortunately by comparison is not too fantastic a show.

http://www.duchesstheatre.co.uk/

The Noise Next Door

The Noise Next Door are a five piece improvised comedy group (Tom Houghton, Charlie Granville, Matt Grant, Tom Livingstone and Sam Pacelli), who have been performing together since 2005. They use audience suggestions to create sharp witted brilliant improvised performances, that show great intelligence and a real understanding of their genre of theatre. On Saturday night I was lucky enough to see them perform at The King's Head Theatre in Islington.

Usually I find stand-up comedy difficult to enjoy, and feel as an audience member a real pressure to be at ease with the act in order to find their material amusing. And so went into The King's Head prepared to be cynical. The theatre is a cosy space and worked well with boy's interaction style of performance.

I really loved every second of it. All five guys were hilarious and seemed to have their own strengths. Tom Houghton would sometimes pick up the guitar to provide the accompaniment for short improvised songs that were genius in their creation and projection. A particularly hilarious song of the night was the umpa-lumpa dance song that used the theme of murder mystery.

With The Noise Next Door the audience are crucial, anything goes, and it is that uncertainty and element of surprise that made their show so exciting to watch. The onstage dialogue between the five guys indicated the obvious chemistry, and their ability to laugh at themselves made their humour even more infectious.

Check out The Noise Next Door's website http://www.thenoisenextdoor.co.uk/

or find them on Facebook.

Splish Splash!

Last night I ventured to the Riverside Studios in Hammersmith to see 'Soap - The Show'. We were warned that during the performance we may get wet but aside from that information I had no idea what to expect. We opted to sit a few rows back ( I was wearing my favourite PPQ silk shirt - and was not keen on getting it soaked!)

The show was half cabaret, half circus, but on a smaller more eccentric scale than most, with the theme of bathtubs and water joining all the acts and ideas together. The style of production felt similar to cirque du soleil, but primarily advertises itself as a Cabaret show. The superb direction came from Markus Pabst, who directed La Clique, a similar extravaganza that won critical acclaim at Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2006. The cast of eight took it in turns to display their talents, sometimes working together, sometimes as soloists.

Patricia Holtzmann took centre stage for regular musical interludes, adapting some of the great classics (Mozart, Handel and even Rimsky-Korsakov) to the words of Bobby Darin's 'Splish Splash' - a song that cropped up throughout the show. I found some of her singing slightly unnerving and occasionally flat, possibly because her talent seemed unimpressive next to the acrobatics. There were six acrobatic acts - each performer has a different skill, the most exciting performances for me came from Francois Gravel with Dance Trapeze and Michael Lanphear with Straps. Both men drew audible gasps from the audience as they swung and threw themselves across the stage, often performing in water, always acting around the white bathtubs positioned on the stage. The theatre space is pretty snug at Riverside, and unfortunately I was sitting next to a very enthusiastic clapper, who felt the need to clap (very loudly), every 5-10 seconds, it was mildly distracting.

Nata Galkina (an antipode - foot juggler) also gave an awe-inspiring performance. Her astonishing talent is a rare art, and was definitely something I had never seen before. Her legs emerged from a bathtub, but her body was entirely hidden, and as she juggled and balanced more and more objects the experience became increasingly surreal. Like any circus, there was, of course the comedy factor. Marie-Andree Lemaire was a lovable clown figure. Usually I find the clowns quite irritating but I allowed myself to enjoy some of Lemaire's material.

Much of 'Soap' was non-sensical, but in the best way. It was quite unlike anything I have ever encountered before and was a unique and exciting production. The show caters for all ages and all interests. It is on until April 25th, tickets £20/£25.

WATCH 'SOAP' TRAILER HERE:

http://www.riversidestudios.co.uk/cgi-bin/page.pl?l=1264697914