The Palace of Varieties
Newcastle Alphabetti
Theatre
11th April 2015.
Newcastle’s newest venue is
intended to be a leading part of the fringe scene in the city. It is ideally
situated to take risks with its programming and enable artists to develop their
shows. Chris Stewart plans to take The Palace of Varieties to Edinburgh and this was an
opportunity to see how his plans unfold in front of a live audience.
The
evening began in the capable hands of Kirsten Luckins who
gave us a ‘button box’ selection of her fine work. Brilliant delivery help
bring out the emotion behind her verse. A tour of topics from second hand shops
through the Trouble with Compassion
to writers block. The set finished too quickly with a response to Tony
Harrison’s controversial 1985 poem V.
John-Clovis Morden was billed as a ‘born fighter and
Teesside legend’. The Republic is a Socratic dialogue, written by Plato around
380 BC, concerning the definition of justice. John-Clovis tried to engage the
audience into a debate about the definition of justice. The nature of emerging
theatre is that some ideas work out on certain nights with some audiences and
then fall flat on another evening with a different crowd.
Middlesbrough Empire was built as a music hall in 1897
and has hosted a variety of performers from Charlie Chaplin to modern-day
bands. Chris Stewart has used the venue, in its many forms from its original use to its modern
function as a night club, as inspiration for The Palace Of Varieties. Starting with drinking with fans of heavy
metal acts such as Sepultura Chris describes his own personal journey with a
venue he described as a place one went to as there were no other options. He
gave a lengthy look at how a girl called
Zoe is chatted up and viewed by her fellow revellers. Some interesting
highlights included his crossword introduction and drawing parallels with how
primary school playgrounds are a microcosm of life. The enduring image of the
show is Chris dancing a Tango with a chain of rain macs representing various
relationships that Zoe had. Some ideas
in the show need some polishing but Chris’s engaging personality should see him
have a successful time when he take The
Palace of Varieties to Edinburgh is the summer.
This
review was written by Stephen Oliver for Jowheretogo PR (www.jowheretogo.com).
Follow Jo on twitter @jowheretogo, Stephen @panic_c_button or like Jowheretogo
on Facebook www.facebook.com/Jowheretogo
On
The Web:
Twitter: www.twitter.com/SideBurnedPoet
No comments:
Post a Comment