The Spare Room

The Spare Room

Hammerpuzzle Theatre Company

Chapel Arts Centre, Bath

Wednesday 20^th January 2010

The Spare Room is an adaptation of Swiss dramatist Friedrich Durrenmatt’s, 1956 tragicomedy The Visit. The original play focuses on themes of punishment, moral strength, greed and revenge and features a whole town of characters. Hammerpuzzle’s interpretation still heavily focuses on the original themes but the characters have been cut right down to five making a much more intense, claustrophobic atmosphere.

One of my friends said, “I felt the performance was very much of GCSE standard” If that is how I performed when I did my GCSEs I think I would be a famous actor by now.

I thoroughly enjoyed the play, it was intensely gripping and had me hanging onto the edge of my seat right up until the final plot twist unfolded.

The actors were all extremely talented, especially the ones playing children as that can often proof very difficult. I actually felt like I was watching children act as opposed to watching an adult act like a child.

The set was simplistic; everything on stage had a purpose. A table doubled up as a bed. This added to the stylised feel of the piece and the audience having to use their imagination.

I feel this play would do really well as a touring production that visits primary schools. It is highly entertaining and humorous yet educational due to its themes. I think this play would really appeal to a younger audience; it would be easy to understand and would grip their attention.

I look forward to seeing what Hammerpuzzle ‘s future productions will bring.

If you fancy checking them out for yourself visit the companies website at http://www.hammerpuzzle.co.uk/

The Pillowman Man

The Pillowman

University Theatre - Friday 19^th February 2010

Having watched an A Level short performance of The Pillowman I was really interested to see what the play was like as a whole and I was not disappointed.

The play was written in 2003 by Irish playwright Martin McDonagh. An exhilarating dark tale of a writers twisted child murdering stories coming to life.

The acting was completely flawless; you could not say a bad word about any of the actors. They were a very talented group of young adults that could go on to be stars.

Chris Caines as Katurian, the author had an unbelievable amount of lines to learn and had to hold together the whole play but he did so amazingly, he was word perfect and delivered each line with the right amount of emotion.

Michal the brother with learning difficulties was absolutely brilliant. His movement and speech was spot on. He really created a sense of vulnerability and innocence, which then contrasted well with what he had done in acting out his brothers’ stories.

Ariel and Tupolski, the cops where like a comedy duo, playing the ‘good cop bad cop’ stereotype perfectly, they injected humour into the piece which had the audience in fits.

The set was very simplistic but I liked that as I think it gave the actors the chance to stand out and show how talented they are, that they do not need big fancy sets in order to look good.

Although this play was almost three hours long I found the time seemed to fly by as I was so gripped by the action. As a first performance by a newly developed theatre company I would say it was a great success and I wish them every luck in the future.

Link to the events page for this production http://www.bathspampa.com/bathspalive/event-view.php?location=%2Fevents%2Fevent257

5 Mini Reviews

Mini Reviews For Blog – Term 2

Legally Blonde

Omigod you guys, it is amazing. A breath of fresh air, just want the West End needs. A hugely talented cast of actors and not forgetting dogs. Gives the audience real escapism into a world of fashion, sorority and Chihuahua’s. One not to be missed.

The History Boys

Alan Bennett triumphs again. The play set in a 1980s fictional Grammar school tells the story of a group of boys preparing for Oxbridge entrance examinations with guidance from three contrasting teachers. The boys are interested in sex, sport and doing as little work as possible to gain their university place, which makes for witty entertainment.

The Pillowman

An exhilarating dark tale of a writers twisted child murdering stories coming to life. You could not fault the talent of the actors, an extremely strongly acted piece. All the characters were portrayed so differently, whether by the use of accents or gestures etc that made it interesting to watch as no character was similar to another.

The Spare Room

Everything changes when Sophia comes to stay. A successfully adapted version of The Visit. Funny, entertaining yet the climax is ultimately chilling.

Hedda Gabler

Although the simple set design was stunning and the script well acted it was slightly slow moving. Maybe too naturalistic, it lacked a wow factor.