TERROR at the Southwark Playhouse
Oct. 20th, 2010 11:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
emmelinemayI went to see TERROR! at the Southwark Playhouse tonight. I was composing my review for livejournal in my head as I cycled home. I googled to find a link to the show to use in the review and found this review which says pretty much everything (in some cases, almost word for word) I was going to say.
I will add a few more thoughts :
The Exclusion Zone
Yes to everything the review said. If it only lost the weird HA! I AM UNDEAD! SUPRISE! LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT CHERNOBYL and the strange zombie cabaret bit at the end, it would actually have been quite funny and spooky. An alternative ending which has no singing goth, but instead revenge of the 'zombies' on their killer would have been far more satisfying.
Zombie Belly Fusion
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alabastamasta is a better belly dancer, and I've only seen her dancing when drunk in a club. A friend turned to me and whispered "my god, we're back in slimelight" as a goth with bad hair and bad makeup did the same basic moves over and over like a Zumba routine to Rob Zombie.
The Unimaginable
I can't improve on how the other review put it, only to say that half way through I had Chris Morris in my head warning me of the dangers of paedophiles and I could barley hold back the laughter.
The Country
Was actually pretty good - if anything too short. The slow "possession" of the grieving widow was a bit rushed, and could have been drawn out even more sublty, but it was brilliantly acted. Like the Exclusion Zone though it needed to end slightly before it did. Weapon up & lights off & a thump and a silence would have been infinitely more chilling than ZOMBIES and a rather half hearted scream that Fay Wray would have scoffed at.
The Reanimator
Was also pretty good. I loved the staging, there was some really creative sequences - particularly with a boxing match, but some set pieces worked better than others and some scenes dragged on a little. This one came closest to actually creating a sense of horror. It took slightly too long to come to it's rather inevitable conclusion though, had they got to the point quicker it might have been more successsful as a chiller. There was also some bizarre monthy python/little britainesque men-dressed as ladies bit parts, which kind of watered down the spooky effect it might have had. It was really well performed though, and enjoyable enough considering the tickets are only £13.
At university, in my 2nd year. we had to create a short piece of theatre about 'fear'. We set it in the drama studio, bought the audience in, turned all the lights off and just had the performers in different parts of the room represeting fears. One person was covering her face and crying and if you got close she had clown make up on. Another was just shaking in the coner. I was under the studio floor tied up and shouting out for help and trying to lift the trap door with my head (when we did it, some audience members (read, other drama students) did lift up the trapdoor, but then stood and watched me beg them to untie me, rather than actually h elping, which is what we hoped they'd do). A guy was crawling along underneath the floor rattling chains. Soomeone else was dressed all in black trying to come up behind people and breath on their neck. Our feedback from the students was pretty good, they liked it. The lecturers all thought it was a bit contrived, especially in the Viva, when we all admitted that the 'fears' we'd shown weren't really *our* fears (I am not scared of the dark, or being tied up, or being under the floor. It was actually kind of cool. I AM scared of clowns. And people coming up behind me unexpectedly.) The point was made by the lecturers that us running around basically going OOH LOOK. THIS IS A SCARY THING. PEOPLE ARE SCARED OF THIS. THEREFORE IT'S SCARY. OOOOooOOOoooOOOooOOoh isn't, in itelf, a study of 'fear' or really very frighting at all. None of us were facing our own fears, or encouraging the audience to face their own. Because none of us were exploring our own fears in any genuine way, there was no truth to any of the performances, and no way in for the audience to identify with that. And if there's no truth to the performance, and no way for the audience to 'get your point', it won't work.
It was an interesting lesson to us (well, to me at least) on fear, and how it's created in a theatre or in a performance. Punchdrunk productions achieve that unsettling 'fear' experience by throwing you right in there with the action happening around you, and to you, making it a much more visceral experience. THeir sets are totally immersive and they draw you in, encouraging you to be a part of it. The Woman In Black manages to create a sense of fear and horror even though you are sat in a theatre, watching a stage, which is quite an achievement. I would rather like to see it again and work out how they manage it!
I will add a few more thoughts :
The Exclusion Zone
Yes to everything the review said. If it only lost the weird HA! I AM UNDEAD! SUPRISE! LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT CHERNOBYL and the strange zombie cabaret bit at the end, it would actually have been quite funny and spooky. An alternative ending which has no singing goth, but instead revenge of the 'zombies' on their killer would have been far more satisfying.
Zombie Belly Fusion
alabastamasta is a better belly dancer, and I've only seen her dancing when drunk in a club. A friend turned to me and whispered "my god, we're back in slimelight" as a goth with bad hair and bad makeup did the same basic moves over and over like a Zumba routine to Rob Zombie.The Unimaginable
I can't improve on how the other review put it, only to say that half way through I had Chris Morris in my head warning me of the dangers of paedophiles and I could barley hold back the laughter.
The Country
Was actually pretty good - if anything too short. The slow "possession" of the grieving widow was a bit rushed, and could have been drawn out even more sublty, but it was brilliantly acted. Like the Exclusion Zone though it needed to end slightly before it did. Weapon up & lights off & a thump and a silence would have been infinitely more chilling than ZOMBIES and a rather half hearted scream that Fay Wray would have scoffed at.
The Reanimator
Was also pretty good. I loved the staging, there was some really creative sequences - particularly with a boxing match, but some set pieces worked better than others and some scenes dragged on a little. This one came closest to actually creating a sense of horror. It took slightly too long to come to it's rather inevitable conclusion though, had they got to the point quicker it might have been more successsful as a chiller. There was also some bizarre monthy python/little britainesque men-dressed as ladies bit parts, which kind of watered down the spooky effect it might have had. It was really well performed though, and enjoyable enough considering the tickets are only £13.
At university, in my 2nd year. we had to create a short piece of theatre about 'fear'. We set it in the drama studio, bought the audience in, turned all the lights off and just had the performers in different parts of the room represeting fears. One person was covering her face and crying and if you got close she had clown make up on. Another was just shaking in the coner. I was under the studio floor tied up and shouting out for help and trying to lift the trap door with my head (when we did it, some audience members (read, other drama students) did lift up the trapdoor, but then stood and watched me beg them to untie me, rather than actually h elping, which is what we hoped they'd do). A guy was crawling along underneath the floor rattling chains. Soomeone else was dressed all in black trying to come up behind people and breath on their neck. Our feedback from the students was pretty good, they liked it. The lecturers all thought it was a bit contrived, especially in the Viva, when we all admitted that the 'fears' we'd shown weren't really *our* fears (I am not scared of the dark, or being tied up, or being under the floor. It was actually kind of cool. I AM scared of clowns. And people coming up behind me unexpectedly.) The point was made by the lecturers that us running around basically going OOH LOOK. THIS IS A SCARY THING. PEOPLE ARE SCARED OF THIS. THEREFORE IT'S SCARY. OOOOooOOOoooOOOooOOoh isn't, in itelf, a study of 'fear' or really very frighting at all. None of us were facing our own fears, or encouraging the audience to face their own. Because none of us were exploring our own fears in any genuine way, there was no truth to any of the performances, and no way in for the audience to identify with that. And if there's no truth to the performance, and no way for the audience to 'get your point', it won't work.
It was an interesting lesson to us (well, to me at least) on fear, and how it's created in a theatre or in a performance. Punchdrunk productions achieve that unsettling 'fear' experience by throwing you right in there with the action happening around you, and to you, making it a much more visceral experience. THeir sets are totally immersive and they draw you in, encouraging you to be a part of it. The Woman In Black manages to create a sense of fear and horror even though you are sat in a theatre, watching a stage, which is quite an achievement. I would rather like to see it again and work out how they manage it!
