Review: Happy Jack is a slice of Yorkshire life at the coalfaceReview: My Fair Lady is ‘loverly’Review: Tess, a bold circus adaptation of the Hardy classic, at York Theatre Royal

Lauren Crisp is a book editor, writer and keen follower of arts and culture. Born and raised in Harrogate, Lauren recently moved back to North Yorkshire after a stint in London, where she regularly reviewed theatre – everything from big West End shows to small fringe productions. She is now eager to explore the culture on offer in and around her home town. You can contact Lauren on laurencrispwriter@gmail.com. 

(Lead image: Kie Cummings)

Thomas Hardy’s classic novel, Tess of the D’Urbervilles, is not obviously synonymous with acrobatics. Contemporary circus company Ockham’s Razor, however, think otherwise, and in a bold new vision, make Hardy’s world a vessel for the magic of physical movement.

The part of Tess is performed by two players. Narrator Tess, played by Hanora Kamen in a speaking role (sadly hampered somewhat by sound quality), gives voice to the heroine’s inner world. Dancer Tess (Lila Naruse), meanwhile, physically enacts this mostly tragic character’s existence, along with six other cast members who use dance and mind-boggling acrobatics to tell Tess’ tale.

In a feast for the eyes, the performers cartwheel, balance and flip their way through the story, building and scaling wooden structures, and each another, to drive the narrative.

(Image: Kie Cummings)

With bustling ensemble scenes and more subdued, individual expressions, we understand these characters, with few words required; a rural world comes to life, its various settings and many hardships told by the bodies on stage. The cast performs with vigour and vitality, their choreography sublime: it’s a wondrous spectacle.

The whole piece is hazy and dreamlike, underpinned by rustic beige-hued costume and long flowing hair. Hardy’s pastoral world comes alive on stage, with an organic set by Tina Bicât, constructed almost entirely of wood and billowing natural fabrics.

Holly Khan’s sound design matches the tone, with evocative, earthy soundscapes rooted in folk. Not a stone goes unturned in building a distinct atmosphere to envelop the audience.

The play is at once full of joy and humour while delving deep into the pathos and pain that Tess endures.  While part one is a touch long and meandering, it is a mesmerising piece, visually exhilarating, one which proves the power of the human body to portray meaning.

(Image: Kie Cummings)

The characters’ movement gives them freedom. The audience (which included many students reading the novel as part of their studies) sees Tess anew, giving us a sense of freedom, too – to interpret stories, as classic as they may be, in completely new ways.

Tess is at York Theatre Royal until Saturday, 11 May. 

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Review: Murder in the Dark is chaotic and clichéd

Lauren Crisp is a book editor, writer and keen follower of arts and culture. Born and raised in Harrogate, Lauren recently moved back to North Yorkshire after a stint in London, where she regularly reviewed theatre – everything from big West End shows to small fringe productions. She is now eager to explore the culture on offer in and around her home town.  You can contact Lauren on laurencrispwriter@gmail.com 

It’s New Year’s Eve; a storm rages and there is a car crash on a country road. An eccentric old lady comes to the aid of the driver and his family, inviting them to stay overnight in a creaky, isolated holiday cottage on her farm. There’s no telephone, no Wi-Fi and no indoor toilet… but there are plenty of bumps in the night.

As synopses go, Murder in the Dark sounded right up my street; in the event, this production, currently at the wonderful and welcoming York Theatre Royal, left me cold.

The play appears to want to be a kind of modern-horror-film interpretation of an Agatha Christie-esque closed-circle mystery. Consistent references to the nursery rhyme Three Blind Mice are completely overplayed in an apparent attempt to link to Christie’s classic, The Mousetrap. But The Mousetrap this is not.

The approach to genre is a confused concoction of horror, mystery, melodrama and comedy, but most disappointingly, the writing and characterisations are lacklustre and clichéd. A family in tatters: an alcoholic, Z-list celebrity has-been father, with a rather-too-young girlfriend, a son who doesn’t talk to him, an estranged brother, and an ex-wife who refuses to take him back. We’ve seen it all before.

The ray of light in a cast of actors who have, to be fair to them, been given wholly superficial characters to perform, is Susie Blake, as the mysterious and rather mischievous old Mrs Bateman. Her role gathers purpose and momentum as the production progresses, and it is a relief when she enters on stage to remove us from the predictability that one could otherwise have suffered through watching any low-budget horror flick.

Also a relief were the occasional and affecting ghostly apparitions, providing enjoyable breaks in the action, assisted by effective sound and lighting. The final twist showed initial promise, but an ultimately chaotic denouement denied the audience any neat or satisfying sort of conclusion. Yes, there is murder and there is darkness, but this play won’t be keeping me up at night.

Murder in the Dark is on at the York Theatre Royal until Saturday 23 September.

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Review: The House with Chicken Legs is magic on stage

Lauren Crisp is a book editor, writer and keen follower of arts and culture. Born and raised in Harrogate, Lauren recently moved back to North Yorkshire after a stint in London, where she regularly reviewed theatre – everything from big West End shows to small fringe productions. She is now eager to explore the culture on offer in and around her home town.  You can contact Lauren on laurencrispwriter@gmail.com 

Based on Sophie Anderson’s children’s novel, The House with Chicken Legs has been enchantingly adapted for stage by award-winning theatre company Les Enfants Terribles. The production, currently at Leeds Playhouse as part of a tour across the country, brings the author’s imaginative, dreamy tale to dazzling life and is a resplendent feast for the eyes.

The story, rooted in Slavic folklore, follows 12-year-old Marinka, whose house has legs (specifically, chicken legs) and a mind of its own, taking off to far-flung corners of the universe at a moment’s notice. Marinka’s grandmother is a spirit guide who ushers the dead from this world to the next so that they may sit amongst the stars, and is teaching her granddaughter to one day do the same. The only problem is that Marinka, young and full of life, wants to forge her own destiny in the world of the living.

The production’s fast-paced narrative is at once energetic and emotionally charged, alive with the wonders of storytelling, seamlessly transporting its audience to other worlds entirely, with a compelling blend of stage action, set changes, music, puppetry and mesmerising animation. Creative and beautiful, this is true escapism.

Image © Rah Petherbridge

The play’s music is spellbinding, with a captivating score by Alexander Wolfe that journeys from New Orleans to Eastern Europe, to the stars and beyond. Every song serves a purpose (often not the case in a musical adaptation), all accompanied by instruments played by the actors themselves – everything from flute to accordion, saxophone to electric guitar – proving themselves truly multi-talented.

Ultimately, this is a tale of life and death, but one which deals with matters of the afterlife with wisdom and warmth. Anderson notes that in her novel she was eager to “help children see death in a more positive way, as the circle of life”. The stage version delivers on this brief, transforming the narrative of grief into a bright, happy and moving celebration of life.

It is worth stressing that this is not just a play for youngsters; whilst the piece treads delicately on the macabre and the darker questions, audience members of all ages will fall under its spell.  This is magic on stage; and yes, chicken legs do feature. You’ll have to see it to believe it.

The House with Chicken Legs is on at the Leeds Playhouse until September 16. 

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Review: The Cripple of Inishmaan brings dark comedy to Harrogate Theatre

Lauren Crisp is a book editor, writer and keen follower of arts and culture. Born and raised in Harrogate, Lauren recently moved back to North Yorkshire after a stint in London, where she regularly reviewed theatre – everything from big West End shows to small fringe productions. She is now eager to explore the culture on offer in and around her home town.  You can contact Lauren on laurencrispwriter@gmail.com

Whilst the somewhat indelicate title of this Irish tragicomedy may have you doing a double take, don’t think twice about buying a ticket – it’s a performance not to be missed.

Written in 1996 by celebrated playwright Martin McDonagh, who has since found big-screen success with films such as In Bruges and The Banshees of Inisherin, The Cripple of Inishmaan centres on orphan Billy Claven, a disabled youngster living on the remote island of Inishmaan, off the west coast of Ireland, in 1934.

Plagued by the incessant ridicule of his neighbours, he is referred to by all (despite his protestations) as Cripple Billy.

This even extends to his own foster ‘aunties’, who love him like a son, yet apply the same casual cruelty that is the very lifeblood of this play. Whilst pondering their sickly ward’s future, his aunt, Eileen, doubts he’ll ever be kissed, “…unless it was by a blind girl”.

When a Hollywood film director arrives on a neighbouring island (to film the real-life documentary, The Man of Aran), Billy finally sees his opportunity to escape his miserable existence.

An outrageously dark comedy, the play mixes hilarity, cruelty and kindness with great dexterity, its writing electric, with one uproarious quip after the other.

The Harrogate Dramatic Society cast, under Stuart Kellett’s direction, performing their opening night last night, knew exactly how to deliver every line – particularly impressive for what is a challenging play, jam-packed with dialogue.

This is a pleasingly rounded story with a satisfying arc, but it is also made or broken by the ability to draw its cast of characters, whose absurdity and colourfulness lie at its core; there is no disappointment here, with the HDS’ small yet mighty cast of nine. The Irish accents were out in full force, and the performers’ efforts to maintain these throughout were truly commendable.

Engaging and thoughtfully chosen, the cast proved consistently comic and dependably droll. The play’s sole non-comic player, outcast Billy, was handled by Adam Naylor with great earnestness and vulnerability.

A play like this was made for the simplicity of the studio at Harrogate Theatre. It is one without fuss; a neat piece which hops from scene to scene with real deftness. A clean, no-frills set with few distracting props, this production is really all about its players, who capture both the play’s sentimentality and its more outlandish threads, providing an evening as punchy as potent poteen.

The Cripple of Inishmaan is on tonight and tomorrow evening at Harrogate Theatre, and twice on Saturday. More information is available here.

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