3 Minute review on Avenue Q

Urishima Taro

This was a strange play but very cleverly done. The story was about a boy who met a girl, unfortunately she lived under the sea. The boy Urishima Taro, lived with his mother, one day he went to sea in his boat and there was a storm where he met the turtle he had saved days previous, the turtle led him down to the depths of the sea towards safety. It turns out that the turtle was a princess; the princess and Urishima Taro spent the day together and fell in love. She gives him a choice of staying with her or going back, he chooses to stay with the princess. However when he does return to the surface the princess gives him a box, everything has been destroyed, and he opens the box, it is his age.

The whole performance was done by one person and she controlled puppets, these were life like puppets as she had made them from a mould from her face and then adapted them. She made them have different characteristics and ‘walks’, one had a hunched back another was taller than she was. The movements were so life like you felt that you were watching more than one person on stage.

Also on stage, stage left, there was a little screen, where on certain parts, showing Urishima Taro going to sea she made a puppet show with miniature versions of the other life like puppets. Also she had a projection screen at the back where when there was the scene where the princess and Urishima Taro made love, we saw the outlines of the bodies, this was very effective, we saw what was happening without feeling uncomfortable.

There was an after show talk where the actor and her partner, who created the idea of it, told us that the idea was discovering the relationship between puppet and human, she also showed us how the puppets worked. My verdict is that this was a very interesting piece of theatre that is a must see.

Journey's End

This was a shockingly real interpretation of Journey's End, I didn't feel as though I was watching a play but that it was actually happening in front of me. I found the ending especially effective, the cast stood in front of a backdrop of listed names that had been killed during the World War One. It was so good that there were many a time I welled up!

King Lear

I loved Derek Jacobi, he definately made the performance. Although, there wasn't alot to this performance and the stage reflected the acting - minimalistic and bland. I was slightly disappointed!

The Reluctant Debutante

Loved it! Was extremely funny! I found the bluntness of the daughter pleasing to watch. However I felt that Act 1, scene 1 dragged one for a little too long, and that the curtain coming down to split the scenes up was very unnessescary and broke the story up too much. It was good to see Jane Asher on stage, but i thought she was extremely wooden and looked uncomfortable at times.

Red,White and Black All Over

Not really a performance but four girls running around the stage in white dresses. Wasn't entertained by it at all, and found the 'dancing' tedious and inexperienced.

Masquerade

This was more of  dance performance and what the performers could do with their bodies, however I did enjoy the useof extra limbs, making them seem as though there was more than a couple of performers onstage. The massive head completly freaked me out, especially how one performer manganed to fit inside and then come towards me!