Review: Breakfast Hearts / Choirplay at Newcastle Live Theatre

 A Suprise For Dinner

Breakfast Hearts / Choirplay

Newcastle Live Theatre

Until 21^st February 2015.

Live Theatre is playing host to a double bill written by Robin French, who wrote the screenplay for the recent BBC3 hit Cuckoo, produced by the new local company The Six Twenty. Director, Melanie Rasbrooke, was involved in the initial work in-development showings in London and wanted to bring the full versions to the North East.

Choirplay is very much an ensemble piece that examines our need to buy things we don’t need. The cast of nine starts the show with a series of randomly spoken line such as “I bought a CD today as I was feeling unhappy. I put it next to the CD I bought last week” or “achieving my dreams is only a question of wanting it enough”. There messages are either a desire for material goods or what is apparently a better, more successful life.

There are times when Choirplay comes across more as an artwork than a drama piece. It is unusual, working best when sentences are being completed by different actors around the room and, perhaps, less so when talking in unison. An exploration into the Ikea generation – it is a brave piece on consumerism.

The second play, Breakfast Hearts, works much better as it unveils a set of values, which are unlikely to be shared by the audience, to comic effect. Sarah (Katie Powell) and Roy (Steven Blackshaw) are much in love but Sarah is hungry. She doesn’t feel a need to visit the shops nor does she fancy the corned beef in the cupboard, so she kills Roy and eats him instead. Breakfast Hearts quickly presents its darker core.

Philip (Stan Hodgson) is missing his dead wife so his mate Gary (Chris Foley) suggests a dinner date with his wife Charlotte (Alex Tahnée) and, the now single, Sarah. During the meal they discuss cannibalism as if it is a normal state of play. Carving up the new members of staff and leaving body parts lying around is seen as a practical joke.

Fortunately the disturbing nature of the subject matter is nicely countered by a dark sense of humour that had the audience laughing on numerous occasions. The silliness includes sawing workmate Marilyn (Amy Foley) in half and building a heart shaped swimming pool despite an inability to swim. The craziness is exemplified by an accountant with is rubbish at numbers but doesn’t feel there is a need to use a calculator. A nice part of the meal scenes is the reaction to the contents of their meal as they pick at their teeth.

The young cast were entertaining and Breakfast Hearts worked well as satire. Provocative and engaging, I look forward to the next production by The Six Twenty.

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

The show preview originally appeared: http://nomorepanicbutton.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/preview-breakfast-hearts-choirplay-at.html

On The Web:

Website: www.thesixtwenty.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/thesixtwenty

Facebook: www.facebook.com/thesixtwenty

Cast:

Steven Blackshaw

Glen Collier

Jessica Dawson

Amy Foley

Chris Foley

Zoë Hakin

Stan Hodgson

Katie Powell

Alex Tahnée

Creatives:

Writer: Robin French

Director: Melanie Rashbrooke

Technical Manager: Charlotte Woods

Producers: Ellie Claughton & Eleni Venaki

Lighting & Sound Design: Charlotte Woods

Tickets

The double bill appears at Live Theatre’s Studio Theatre from  Wednesday 18 February to Saturday 21 February  at 7.30pm. Tickets for Breakfast Hearts / Choirplay cost £8 full price and £6 concessions and can be booked by contacting Live Theatre’s box office on (0191) 232 1232 or by visiting www.live.org.uk. 

Preview: Breakfast Hearts / Choirplay at Live Theatre

A pioneering new theatre company present a double bill of plays by award-winning writer Robin French

Wednesday 15 to Saturday 18 October, 
Breakfast Hearts / Choirplay
Presented by The Six Twenty
Written by Robin French 
Directed by Melanie Rashbrooke

Due to demand the run of Breakfast Hearts / Choirplay is being extended at Live Theatre. They've added two extra performances on Friday 20 and Saturday 21 February. The Wednesday and Thursday performances are now sold out.

From Robin French, the award-winning writer of Bear Hug (Royal Court) and screenwriter of Cuckoo (BBC 3), comes a double bill of piercingly funny and irreverent plays about what it means to live and love in the 21^st century – with Ikea and cannibalism.

Breakfast Hearts / Choirplay is presented by The Six Twenty from Wednesday 18 February to Saturday 21 February at 7.30pm in Live Theatre’s intimate Studio Theatre. The Six Twenty is a pioneering new theatre company, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, created by theatre director Melanie Rashbrooke.

Breakfast Hearts is a dark and disturbing comedy following two mismatched couples determined to find love. This sharp satire offers a startling exploration of the harsh realities of relationships. And cannibalism.

Breakfast Hearts features an exciting cast of up-and-coming north east talent including Alex Tahnée, one eighth of north east theatre company The Letter Room, as a wife that can’t swim who is obsessed with buying a pool and Chris Foley (10 Minutes To...Take Off, Mixtape and Write Stuff, Live Theatre) as a loud-mouth insurance broker who saws his secretary (Amy Foley) in half. They’re joined by an innumerate accountant (Stan Hodgson) and his obsessive girlfriend who has unexpected urges (Katie Powell) and her first husband (Steven Blackshaw). Joining the Breakfast Hearts cast in Choirplay are Glen Collier, Jessica Dawson, Zoë Hakin and Hannah Walker.

Choirplay is an audacious experiment with form and style in which the eternal problem of finding happiness is pitted against our insatiable modern desire for never-ending choice. Featuring a cast of ten, Choirplay takes a wry and cynical swipe at our endless battle with wanting more. Society’s individuals blend to become one in this hauntingly compelling play of voices searching for the ultimate fulfilment of true happiness.

The plays were originally produced as work-in-development showings at Theatre503 in 2007, by Tickle Productions. The Six Twenty are previewing the shows for the first time as full scale productions.

As Melanie Rashbrooke, The Six Twenty’s artistic director explains:

“I’m thrilled to be previewing this double bill at Live Theatre early next year as The Six Twenty’s first official production. Ever since I was involved with the initial work-in-development showings of Robin’s plays, at Theatre503, I’ve always wanted to direct them and see them produced as full scale shows. I’m particularly excited to bring the double bill to Newcastle and preview them at Live Theatre, which is a powerhouse of bold new theatre. We’ve got a fantastic cast of emerging north east talent who are going to bring these piercingly funny and poignant plays to life. I hope you can join us”

Robin French’s first play, Bear Hug, was produced at The Royal Court in 2004, and he was one of Paines Plough and Channel 4’s Future Perfect writers. He was chosen by The Observer as one of Britain's brightest up and coming talents in 2005. He has twice been chosen as a Broadcast Hotshot (2006 and 2008). His short film Crocodile won production funding from the BFI and was nominated for a BIFA for Best British short. In 2014, the completed film went on to win awards at Cannes, Encounters, and Guanajuato festival in Mexico. He’s also recently co-written the hit BBC3 sitcom Cuckoo with his best friend from school, Kieron Quirke.

“Blazingly funny, intensely disturbing and audaciously ambitious”
The Times on Bear Hug

Tickets

These bold and ambitious shows will be performed in Live Theatre’s Studio Theatre from  Wednesday 18 February to Saturday 21 February  at 7.30pm. Tickets for Breakfast Hearts / Choirplay cost £8 full price and £6 concessions and can be booked by contacting Live Theatre’s box office on (0191) 232 1232 or by visiting www.live.org.uk.