Espresso Theatre

 Margaret rose Abri, Digbeth

This now well established quarterly event aims to provide a showcase for short plays, around 15 minutes long, with minimal props, costuming and sets. Once again it delivered in spades with variety, and quality. 

“Breaking Free”, by Irish author and playwright Mary Rochford, who was in the audience, was an absolute delight. Largely a single hander, Zofja Zolna plays Nuala, a young Irish woman, trapped watching a tennis match at Centre Court at Wimbledon, when her heart is really with how the Eire National Football team are performing in a World Cup Finals match being played at the same time. Beautiful and feisty ,Zolna’s performance is a veritable tour de force, as with only the Umpire  to keep her company, events unfold. Her “Meg Ryan” moment at the end – outdid Meg Ryan! The combination of her acting talents and  Rochford’s nuanced script was a triumph. 

 Aaron Twitchen is a man destined for great things. Already an emerging star on the midlands  comedy circuit as a comedic talent, DJ and MC tonight he turned his hand to playwriting – inevitably he is pretty good at that too. Jane Campione –Hoy milked “Cooking” for all it was worth embellishing  wry lines with dexterous flashes of her eyes or hair ina marvellous dialogue. 

DARK SIDE

 Louise Stokes is another established fixture on the Brum performance circuit and is a playwright and author with several distinguished productions and books to her credit. Instinctively she loves the dark side of life, but her piece “For Pete’s Sake”, about a mysterious telephone call is a bit of a departure, a light  effort with a wicked twist at the end, and was very well received.

“The Ghosts of Pere Lachaise” by  Stuart Zola continued his proud tradition of fine drama. His ability to combine character with circumstance is uncanny, this time the twist was that he was dead, railing about the unsuitability of Piaf and Bizet as fellow plot sharers, and wishing that instead he had Marcel Marceau for company! My only complaint was that it was not longe nough

Sam Hunt  Is a young emerging poet and playwright who draws upon her own dramatic personal experiences to play out the fictional role of “Amanda Jane”. Tonight she combined discipline with talent, and pathos with structure. Her strongest work, and performance, to date. 

The next “Espresso Theatre” is in two months time, details available on the Margarett Rose Abri  Facebook  page. 04-02-11. 

Gary Longden  

Poetry @The Cafe

Margaret Rose Abri, Digbeth

Paid events are proliferating around Birmingham at the moment, but this open mic evening defiantly bucks the trend affording new and established poets and writers the chance to present their material with no door or performance charge. John Richman epitomises the zeitgeist of the event, his first public performance at all , let alone of the piece he delivered, entitled “Procrastination”, a rehearsed, spiritual reading  was well received by all, and promised much for the future. 

At the other end of the spectrum David Calcutt performed a selection of largely new work. Best known for his novels, “Crowboy”, “Shadowbringer” and “Map of Marvels”, David offered a series of new poems inspired by his walks in Walsall Arboretum, a wonderful selection of the pastoral lyrical and naturalistic. David is next appearing at the Library Theatre in Bloxwich in support of the “Tiger Tiger “ project on the evening of Saturday the 5^th of March. 

SHARPLY OBSERVED

Janet Smith’s performance authority seems to grow each time I see her. This time, in a varied and characteristically intense set she included her signature “Bear” with the new “Lucifer”, which had a beguiling Shamenic quality and is sure to become a staple of hers for the future. Penny Hewlett’s style is equally distinctive personal and domestic territory is her home ground,  always sharply observed, and never sentimental. Her reflections on her own, compared to her daughter’s experiences at university a good example of her style, warm, witty and universal in sentiment. 

A common question is where Poets derive their inspiration from. Bob Hale is inspired by travel, and whether it is incapacitation on a hill walking holiday, Bear Museums in Alaska, or “Mountains of Friendship” in North Korea, he never disappoints. Another poet on a different type of journey is Ian Ward.

Originally his staple material was vampires, Armageddon and contemporary pop culture. His latest love poetry , which will no doubt be repeated at the Bring & Share Poetry Night at the Library Theatre, Birmingham City centre, on the evening of February 14^th, was inspired, and his “twin poems, “Truth 1 &2” were a clever development of the pop culture theme. Brendan Higgins and Stuart Favell offered their customary stirling support. Stuart Zola facilitated, next session, Thursday  3^rd March. 03-12-11. 

Gary Longden

 Snug – Hollybush  Public House, Cradley Heath 

This was a site specific live performance which combined theatre with poetry for a production which used the Hollybush pub in its entirety as its stage for the first of two sold out nights. The brainchild of Emma Purshouse and Heather Wastie, “Snug” is a celebration of the pub – in a pub! 

Trudy King acts as Narrator and leads us in to proceedings by introducing an evening where the traditions of the pub are looked back upon, with the audience as time travellers ,dipping into the past. The cannon of pub characters are wonderfully brought alive. Heather Wastie wanders in to wryly reflect on, “We had a bust up” and “You’ re sitting in my seat”, the latter the perennial cry of the disgruntled regular, to ease us into people and situations which many of us are familiar with. 

This is a performance of many moods. Brendan Hawthorne delivers a tour de force spot with the “Retirement Speech of a Black Country  Ventriloquist”, filled with pathos and introspection, before Emma Purshouse rips through “Concheta”, a hilarious spoof on a fruit machine which comes to life. The site specific pieces work particularly well, “Pool Life” around the pool table, “Nubs” around the discarded fag ends in the smoking area and memorably “Bogs” by the bogs, performed by landlord Dave Francis. 

The writing is very strong, as is the acting, with Heather Wastie an astonishingly convincing drunk binge drinking Mayor ( you had to be there),and Brendan Hawthorne oozing regret and vino veritas through the bottom of a glass. “Old boy regular” Geoff Cox is never far away doing the crossword either. 

Bold, inventive and fresh, this production has enormous potential to evolve and grow. It was warmly received by an audience who revelled in being part of the show, and where having a pint  was entering into the spirit of the evening. The divide between narration, live action, poetry, prose and dialogue is marvellously blurred resulting in a fusion of styles which constantly holds everyone’s attention as the performance dynamic shifts, twists and turns. A little gem of a show. 01-02-11
Gary Longden