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David Porter » Entries tagged with "Halesworth"

The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs

Mike Daisey at The Cut, Halesworth Review published in the Eastern Daily Press, 8 May 2012. The prestigious High Tide Festival attracted US performer Mike Daisey to Halesworth. It was a scoop. His one man, stand-up (sitting down) comedy monologue about Steve Jobs and Apple has been contentious everywhere. The late Jobs was creator, inventor and cultural icon, genius behind Apple-Mac’s business and technology phenomenon. From garage inventions to mega-business power plays with anecdotes about the evolution of devices, this was a tale for our times. A large desk-bound Daisey sat for two hours as he animated Jobs’ biography. Voices, faces and events flowed in this masterclass of agit-prop political humour appealing to Apple or Microsoft fans, technophobes or geeks. ‘Power-point presentations’ was side-splittingly funny. The account of China’s Shenzhen Foxconn factory which makes Apples’ … Read entire article »

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GCSE: The Musical

Mini Mouth Youth Theatre at The Cut, Halesworth Abridged review published in the Eastern Daily Press, 12 December 2011 Full review published in the East Anglian Daily Times, 13 December 2011. After NHS The Musical, and musicals about Titanic, Thalidomide and Ofsted, the time has surely come for one about the General Certificate of Secondary Education. It comes in the form of an original piece written and directed by James Holloway, leader of the Mini Mouth Youth group at The Cut. The large open stage was a perfect setting for an energetic ensemble of thirty young to older teenagers. This group are being trained in theatre techniques and performing arts in their own time, and it is a joy to see some success stories of tomorrow learning their craft today, and mastering the discipline needed to … Read entire article »

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Ghost Town

Limbik Theatre at The Cut, Halesworth Review published in the Eastern Daily Press, 31st October 2011 Suffolk-based company Limbik create new theatre that explores human stories set in epic environments. They are funded by the Arts Council to develop Ghost Town. As old gold mines are reopened today, including Bodie in California, this play is a timely reminder how after years of prosperity, comes the fight for survival: ‘every boom has its bust’. Bodie today is a historic park in ‘arrested decay’, but in the 1880s was a town of 10,000 bustling with families, miners, storeowners, gunfighters, prostitutes and thieves. Money, gold and alcohol led to murders on a daily basis. The challenge for Ben Samuels, Will Pinchin and Sarah Johnson, in devising and performing the work, was to conjure that atmosphere, together with the … Read entire article »

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Folk East

Folk East at The Cut, Halesworth Review published in East Anglian Daily Times,  2 Sept 2011 A dry run for a major folk festival during next year’s August Bank Holiday, Halesworth’s Cut presented acts from the wide range of contemporary folk music during this year’s holiday. The final night started with Bridget Cousins, accomplished on celtic harp, followed by Horses Brawl, a talented pair of versatile craftsmen-musicians, taking fragments from medieval to Swedish. Mike Heron was co-founder of The Incredible String Band, and he brought a new ensemble which included his daughter Georgia, with new songs and a couple of ISB classics from the 1960s, ‘The Tree’ and ‘A Very Cellular Song’. He doesn’t look his 69 years, and his still-inventive music interpreted by talented young performers brought the era and the culture flooding back. … Read entire article »

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Comedy of Errors

RoughCast Theatre Company, at The Cut, Halesworth Review published in Eastern Daily Press, 27 June 2011 Purists might gulp, but RoughCast took liberties with Shakespeare’s fiendishly complex plot of absurdities, coincidences and unlikely encounters to make a hilarious night out. They plunged headlong into the box of theatrical genres and tricks. Director Paul Baker cleverly shaped lots of character quirks and movements, at times somewhere between the physicality and slapstick of commedia dell’Arte and manic farce, with a nod to panto. The story is the often imitated one of noble twin brothers separated years ago and twin servants who didn’t know about each other. Aiding confusion, the nobles are called Antipholus, while both servants rejoice in the name Dromio. The lords (Steven Phipps and Mark Burridge) conveyed the increasing insanity convincingly. The zany naivety … Read entire article »

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High Tide Festival 2010

High Tide Festival, Halesworth Review published in the Eastern Daily Press, 3 May 2010 Three Plays The annual High Tide Festival arrived in Halesworth, securely establishing itself as a high-quality forum for new, contemporary, cutting-edge theatre by unknown, developing writers, ranking it alongside top regional and national festivals. Three new plays were on offer along with discussions and films. ‘Lidless’ by Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig used the tiny Scout Hall as a barracks at Guantanamo Bay, in a mock-site-specific setting for a disturbing tale of a former female interrogator and detainee who tracks her down to ask for a kidney as he is dying, in return for what she and the Americans did to him. In the theatre at The Cut, ‘Moscow Live’ by Serge Cartwright is set in a state-run English-language TV station in Moscow, … Read entire article »

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Marat-Sade

Mouth to Mouth Theatre at The Cut, Halesworth Review published in the Eastern Daily Press, 6 May 2005 Marat-Sade Not a bad choice of entertainment in General Election week! Marat-Sade, like King Lear, questions the assumption that “sanity” alone brings awareness of reality, while “insanity” distorts reality. Originally staged in 1964, it is an evocation of Artaud’s Theatre of Cruelty, a powerful, compelling piece with lessons from the Third Reich and earlier history. A wide knowledge of the aftermath of the French Revolution and the assassination of Marat is not a pre-requisite. Nor are details of the Marquis de Sade’s philosophy. Nor the medical treatment of the insane in 1808. This shock entertainment is deftly handled by Mouth to Mouth Theatre. Owing much to Brecht in narrative structure and songs, this play allowed the large cast … Read entire article »

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