David Porter » Entries tagged with "Seagull Theatre"
The Vicar of Dibley
The Vicar of Dibley Seagull Theatre, Lowestoft Review published in the Eastern Daily Press, 3 September 2013 No, no, no, yes!, TV’s Dibley works on stage It’s a challenge to put the bunch of well-loved, well-known characters who people the TV village of Dibley on the stage with inevitable comparisons with the originals. Director John Hales excels in a masterful showcase of comic madnesses personified by deliciously loopy Alice Tinker (Sharn McDonald), irascible David Horton (Ian Hart), gently eccentric Hugo (Will Isgrove), stuttering sex-obsessed Jim Trott (Bob Vivian), strangely dark Frank Pickle (Roger Lee), earthy farmer Owen Hewitt (Nick Murray-Brown) and culinary experimenter Letty Cropley (Marion Small). The Vicar, Geraldine Granger, is played by Agnes Lillis who captures the essence of Dawn French’s version but brings a self-knowing amusement that makes the part all her own. Laughs … Read entire article »
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100 Acts of Minor Dissent
Mark Thomas at the Seagull Theatre, Lowestoft Review published in Eastern Daily Press, 15 June 2013 Political activist and comedian Mark Thomas’ one man stand-up show, 100 Acts of Minor Dissent is touring before the Edinburgh Festival. It’s timely, sharp, keenly observed and sends the thrill of the possible down the spines of people becoming numbed by the way life is. He makes his dissent sound reasonable. The little acts of rebellion against authority are frequently subversive, anarchic, mainly legal and invariably cleverly funny. He labels himself ‘normal’, married with children and 50 years old. His self-imposed task is 100 actions to highlight stupidities, loss of individualism and corporatism in a year. His targets are tax-light companies like Amazon, shops like Harrods and Selfridges, misleading brands, bankers, pornography and politicians. Rapid-fire one-liners are followed by a tale … Read entire article »
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Swimming With Sharks
Swimming With Sharks Seagull Theatre Rep Company, Lowestoft The movie business is about illusion and self, ‘money, girls, power.’ This play from the George Huang 1994 film rips the rosy spectacles off Tinseltown, where everybody has a story, everybody pays a price in personal terms. They’re all sharks in that pool. The young, innocent Guy, (Ricky Reeve), arrives in the office of the mogul (John Hales at his theatrical best, who also directed) and starts learning the realities of Hollywood immediately and painfully. Milly Finch as the ambitious producer who dares to hope Guy is different gives a well-judged interpretation. Principals are ably supported by Alan Bolton, Richard Boakes, Patrick Pilgrim, Ryan Hammond, Rosie and Lily Vincent – an inspired mix of old hands and new faces. Rich with comedy and throw away truths, the … Read entire article »
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The Lover
Foolhardy Actors Company at Seagull Theatre, Lowestoft Review published in the Eastern Daily Press, 25 September 2012 Harold Pinter’s little-performed early play seeps realistic-unreality, comic irony and nervy menace from ordinary life. Will Isgrove directed Sharn McDonald and Thom Bailey masterfully playing the outwardly sophisticated couple relishing erotic games to enliven their marriage. Their daily fantasy is that she entertains an afternoon lover while he goes to work and meets a whore. Then the husband tires of inventing roleplays and wants to stop, but she doesn’t. He then switches back to pretending the adultery, as the relationship becomes more intense, repressive and strangely intimate. The piece is a measured roller-coaster of tangled emotion, with early hints of pause and ear for natural, circular dialogue that later made Pinter famous. … Read entire article »
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Betrayal
Open Space Theatre Company, Seagull Theatre, Lowestoft Review published in the Eastern Daily Press, 14 May 2012 and East Anglian Daily Times, 15 May 2012. Open Space push at yet another boundary with Harold Pinter’s infrequently performed slow dance round the memories of shared guilt, secrets and lies. Rich with the circular dialogue of life, the three-hander play exposes the deceits embedded in the relationships between a man, his wife and his best friend over years. Much of the narrative goes backwards in time as the pain and shallowness are unpacked. Darren France is good as the friend/lover. Stephen Picton is excellent as the less than pure husband. Cathy Gill is just outstanding as the wife and mistress, juggling the men with her family but paying a high emotional price for her deceptions. David Green … Read entire article »
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The Blue Angel
Open Space Theatre at the Seagull Theatre, Lowestoft Review published in the Eastern Daily Press and East Anglian Daily Times, 28th November 2011 It’s always good to see a company taking on new challenges and pushing boundaries. To take Pam Gems’ stage version of what was a successful film, does Open Space credit. Set in decadent Weimar Germany the plot centres on an esteemed, but pompous, ageing professor who falls for a cabaret performer and seeks to give her respectability by marrying her. He is ostracised by his social circle and does whatever degrading or criminal things it takes to restore his good name. Emma Martin plays the brazen but vulnerable, ageless Lola, first played in the film by Marlene Dietrich. She makes an excellent, convincing job of it, as does Paul Baker, her infatuated, … Read entire article »
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Great Expectations
Hotbuckle Theatre at Seagull Theatre, Lowestoft Review published in the Eastern Daily Press, 19 October 2011. Charles Dickens wrote some cracking tales, and this version of a classics was innovative, compelling and dramatic. Produced in story-telling theatre style, with direct-address insights, a talented cast of just five brought to life the rich tapestry of characters who peopled Dickens’ bleak landscape. Artistic Director, adapter of script and director of the piece, Adrian Preater led as the convict Magwitch, determined to make Pip (a credible Ben Warwick) into a gentleman. Fiona Leaning was Pip’s hard sister and the mysterious Miss Haversham. Bobbi O’Callaghan played the cold Estella superbly and Christian Rennie completed the company as the affable Joe and the aloof solicitor, Jaggers. Pip was always Pip, but the rest took on the range of minor … Read entire article »
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Frankenstein
Seagull Club at The Seagull Theatre, Lowestoft Review published in the Eastern Daily Press, 3 April 2010 Frankenstein A woman, Mary Shelley, wrote it first. A creature put together from the body parts of others and brought to a life of its own, lonely, unloved and feared, is the macabre Gothic horror that has always thrilled. Local actor Richard Boakes makes his writing and directorial debut in the Seagull Theatre Club’s latest production. A good job he makes of it, too. He brings Frankenstein’s grisly old corpse alive, charting in a series of narrative scenes the sickening obsession of the young man (Reece Ayers, in horror-struck form) as his monster (a wonderfully rough Ryan Hammond) wreaks vengeance on innocent people for being created. That the original experiment was intended to find a way from disease and … Read entire article »
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Romeo and Juliet
Shakespearean Lunges at The Seagull Theatre, Lowestoft Review published in the Eastern Daily Press, 26 August 2005 Romeo and Juliet The launch of a new amateur theatre ensemble of students and older people is an exciting event. The intriguingly-entitled company is Shakespearean Lunges and their choice of one of the most well-known tragedies from the Bard’s cannon for their debut, is a challenging one. There is always a difficulty in reciting lines that have become part of the fabric of our English language, but director Sam Grayston has found a number of fresh angles. Modern settings and touches like slow dancing at the Capulets’ ball, small but well-formed comic moments from characters and Tybalt’s blood spat over Romeo’s face, all work to lift the text. Love’s young dream is Romeo (Rhys King) whose measured victim-hood is contrasted … Read entire article »
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Animal Farm
Newfangled Theatre Company at the Seagull Theatre, Lowestoft Review published in the Eastern Daily Press, 8 June 2006 Animal Farm Shocking brutality, culling the unwanted and dissenting, betrayal, deceit and fear should come as no surprise in the modern world. George Orwell offered us his novelised fable of the destruction of a heaven on earth from within. Sir Peter Hall dramatised it. Adrian Mitchell added satirical lyrics and this still new company have turned it into a successful display of how humankind focuses on its own wellbeing, regardless of cost. Chris Whiting as Napoleon was superbly sinister with a bent frame that chilled. He was ably supported by Tom Bailey as the alleged traitor Snowball, and the slimy sidekick Squealer (Joel Curtis) and they led a strong cast that strutted, hopped, slid, clucked and pawed … Read entire article »
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