Freshers creating and performing (and reviewing) four mini-plays in under two hours. It’s enough to get anyone on the edge of their seats. But there was no need to fear. The casts and production teams of A Day in the Life, Waiting on Godot, Dignity, and The Shawshank Reaction pulled off a nicely cohesive running flow of performances, unphased by some slight issues with lighting and sound.
The Students’ Union theatre suited the atmosphere well, with a simple staging of chairs and tables making the small space intimate, rather than claustrophobic, the proximity of the audience maintaining that feeling. It was a communal event rather than a high-pressure showcase, giving the plays time to settle into themselves, as opposed to rushing them through their – at times rather complicated – mix of themes.
A Day in the Life
First up was A Day in the Life, directed by Sylvie Theroux and Ezgi Orakci, and produced by Hattie Wood. With a cast made up of Ryan Brooks, Louis Wolffe, Ella Hermer, and Phoebe Williams, the story followed four young people with markedly individualistic careers (a potter, a drummer, an actor, and a sign language interpreter) forced into the dystopian ‘state press’.
Having begun with an impressively in-sync bit of choreography, the characters’ processing by an unseen robotic entity was genuinely compelling. It tapped into a fear many of us have become familiar with in the past few years: our impeding forced obsolescence in the face of an increasingly technological creative world assigned to us by powers entirely beyond our individual reach.
The actors were at their best in the more casual moments, creating an easy banter and believable group chemistry. They made for a seamless team, the difficult reality of bouncing off three other actors’ disparate energies appearing fairly effortless.
All in all, it was an interesting play, perhaps overambitious for its limited time frame, and a little predictable in its conclusion that we should all do what we’re interested in. But it had substantial potential in its ideas and direction, and the dynamic push-and-pull among the characters made for an engaging watch.
Waiting on Godot
Second in line was Harry Petts and Esme Clark’s Waiting on Godot (produced by Hattie Wood), a reinterpretation of Beckett’s masterful Waiting for Godot. It’s a lot to live up to, and unsurprisingly, this Godot simply didn’t have the time to explore most of Beckett’s themes. Though I do think freshers’ week absolutely does inspire thoughts of existentialism, dread, and the mundane suffering of human existence.
On its own terms, Godot made for a tight and well-paced duologue. It captured the sickening descent of a good night out into a grim failure with stomach-wrenching accuracy, the hazy purple lighting adding an almost dreamlike atmosphere.
The two leads, Jed Malley as Estragon and James Campbell as Vladimir, were a disjointed pair. At ease in their rapport, but at times seemingly on different wavelengths. Campbell’s Vladimir was overdramatic almost to the point of a Buster Keaton impression, an energy that worked at times, but could easily become a bit much. In his moments of restraint, he made for a mooning Romeo that was sympathetically pitiful, clinging to a vague hope of Godot’s arrival. Malley provided a dryly witty Estragon, grounding Vladamir’s farce in a more definite reality and providing points of genuine emotion when he questioned why he was not enough for Vladimir on his own.
At its finest, Waiting on Godot was an energetic and constrained drama between two fiercely colourful characters, with more than enough opportunity for an extension into at least a short play, where some of its more complex themes could be expanded upon.
Dignity
Roisin Harder and Antonio Chiu’s Dignity (produced by James Given) was a multi-layered creature, splitting its time between a turbulent class divide, infidelity, and a vaguely implicit denunciation of our own self-absorption.
Dignity‘s depiction of two married couples, one upper-middle class and the other ambiguously working class, living next door to one another, was well served by the constraints of the stage space, creating a chaotic medley of overlapping voices and movement as the two households tried to move around one another. In the foreground, their bin bags pile up – an avid reminder of their only shared trait being a disdain for the ever-absent binman.
Unfortunately, the eagerness of the production to tackle so many emotional throughlines could, at times, weigh it down. The most emphatic and captivating drama was the unfolding affair between the husbands Bill (Henry Pywell) and Dave (Martha Pardue), and the reactions of their wives Evangeline (Lillias Manning) and Mary (Niamh Phipps-Brown). As a result, the references to the binman, and the apparent stagnation of the world around them, almost went unnoticed by the audiences as well as the characters.
The mock interview interludes, while a little out of place, did allow for some well-orchestrated comic relief. Pardue was a particular stand-out, comfortably delivering real hilarity with the character’s laconic delivery and well-meaning awkwardness.
Overall, the fundamental ideas present were sincerely compelling, but perhaps needed more time to sit comfortably in one narrative together. Although, even as they were, there was more than enough to tug on the heartstrings.
The Shawshank Reaction
Last came The Shawshank Reaction, directed by Fraser Crook and Alba Del Rio, and produced by James Given. The play can be most easily described as a series of breakdowns for young adult Becky (Ruby Coyte), an overwrought first year not-so-slowly going crazy in her room. Nothing seems to be going right for Becky – from her troublesome flatmates (Ella Hardy and Anna Shenton), to her little brother (Zane Marsland) calling just to be annoying, to her mum (Hope Briggs) and dad’s threesome with a stranger, to her failure even to buy drugs properly from a remarkably professional dealer (Hannah Diarra).
Becky is an exquisite rendering of the most exhausting person you meet during freshers, turned up to about one billion. Though the intense physicality of her performance could at times be overwhelming, Coyte managed to keep an undercurrent of honest – and frankly relatable – panic driving the play all the way through its course.
The simplicity of the play’s structure, and general topic, was a great asset. It kept the pacing steady and the flow of action entertaining without any moment overstaying its welcome. Besides, with such an inherently fun premise, it took advantage of the whole set up of the show to go after a comedy that might otherwise feel low hanging, elevating it to the perfect end to a really fun night.
There’s no need for a first (or second, or third) play to be perfect. It’s an inevitable trial and error process at the beginning of any creative career, whether that career is just for university fun or a lifelong dream.
That said, the Freshers’ Show more than proved the potential of all those involved and provided a night of genuine enjoyment besides. There was even no practical need for the senior drama society members’ wholesomely over-enthusiastic reactions. These performers, directors, and producers are in no need of a helping hand, and you should be looking out for whatever they do next with bated breath.
