BLOOD WEDDING

BLOOD WEDDING

Horizons Performing Company at the Brentwood Theatre

17.05.2016

Lorca's Spain is light years away from 21^st century Havering. A bold choice, then, for these drama students, and an impressive attempt at a classic of European theatre.

Julia Stallard's production is pared-back, and very stylish. Black drapes, black costumes, with an occasional, eye-catching splash of colour – the bowl of fruit, the wool, the scarlet shawls. The young actors have learnt the power of stillness, of significant pauses. There is an inner strength in Leah Rowlands' Mother, for example. Words are weighed, souls searched.

It's the poetical text that presents the biggest challenge here – not sure whose translation this is; not, I think, the Tanya Ronder or the Ted Hughes. Sometimes passions have more shrillness than strength. Sam Fava's Leonardo seems the most comfortable with the spoken word – a fine, intense performance. Sophie Honeywell gives a lively characterization, now shy, now feisty, of the young bride who leaves her new husband [Ben Antoniades] to ride off with her lover. A strong presence from Jessica Ravate as La Criada, the servant who tells the Bride of Leonardo's attentions. Good work too from Callum Cresswell as the Father of the Bride, and Rebecca Lawrence, stepping in to the role of Leonardo’s reserved, poised wife at just eight days' notice. Louisa Collins-Farrow plays her mother, as well as one of the Greek chorus Woodcutters.

The later scenes leave naturalism behind, with Moon [Gvidas Milinkis] and Beggarwoman [Lucy Mason] witnesses to the distant tragedy. It's the stage pictures, often imaginatively lit, which stay in the mind – the blood red moon, the bearers and the biers, the double portrait with gifts – and the contrasts: closeness amid the decorous distance, like the two profiles in a rare moment of intimacy, or spontaneity, such as the girls' greeting, amid the solemn formality.

THE ARABIAN NIGHTS

THE ARABIAN NIGHTS

Horizons Performance Company at Brentwood Theatre

28.04.15

Dominic Cooke's stage adaptation of the 1001 nights was an excellent choice for the young performers of Horizons, blending story-telling with acting in role.

All fourteen actors played multiple parts. Especially successful in switching between narration and depiction were Charlie Bailey, as Ali Baba and others, Luke Edmunds as greedy Kaseem, and Liam O'Connell as Sinbad and the beggar boy. Shahrazad, whose bedtime tales save countless lives, was played by Songul Gilgil, with Kavneet Padam as her attentive sister. But this was very much an ensemble show, with everyone playing a crucial part in the six stories and the big set pieces.

Julia Stallard's production, though its pace was sometimes sluggish, was full of ingenious creativity. The horsemen and the umbrellas turning to gold inside the Sesame cave, the great auk, the beautiful island, the dogs and the wedding arches. Some impressive puppetry, notably for Sinbad, and lovely ombres chinoises. And there was a magical moment near the end, when snatches of stories past travelled through the mist to the ear of the king [Joe Nutter].

Good to see Brentwood Theatre packed to support these young performing arts students, and watch them acquiring key language and movement skills in such an entertaining context.