Reviews for Arts Events I have Attended

Arts that I’ve visited and my reviews:

An Inspector Calls

Buffy Revamped

Disney On Ice

 

An Inspector Calls

About The Play

An Inspector Calls is a British play, written by the playwright J.B. Priestley. It was written in 1945, and first performed in the Soviet Union in 1945. The play was written within a single week, and all the British theatres were already booked, so the play was first performed in two Russian theatres.

The play is a critique of Victorian English society. It explores the idea that the rich and poor are two separate people, and whether people with money should be helping the poor or not. 

This text is still used in GCSE and IGCSE exams today.

Plot      (contains spoilers)

Set in 1912, in the English town of Brumley, the play centres around the Birling family, who have gathered to celebrate the engagement of their daughter. The festivities are interrupted by a man, who claims to be a police inspector, that interrogates the family about the suicide of a young woman earlier that day.

The Inspector introduces himself as Inspector Goole and explains to the family about the death of a woman called Eva Smith, who had died earlier that night. He starts by questioning the father, then working through each of the family, questioning them all. Goole reveals that they all played a part in the suicide of Eva Smith.

After Goole leaves, the Birling family start to question whether Goole was a police inspector. He did not act like one, and eventually, the family call the police and ask whether there is an Inspector called Goole. There is not. The family call the infirmary and ask if a girl had committed suicide. No such girl existed.

Believing to have been conned, the family start to laugh it off, starting to ignore and forget the lessons Goole had taught them.

And then they get a call, from the infirmary, saying that a young woman had just been brought in, having committed suicide.

They play ends with the family, scared and unsure.

My Thoughts On The Play

This is a well-written play, which really makes you consider the underlying theme of the play: whether rich and poor are different, or if really, we are all part of the same society.

I agree with the inspector, that we are all part of one society, and that the endlessly rich people could do more to help those that need the help, instead of treating them like common muck.

The characters are well developed, all with their individual style of speech and traits. 

The background was plain, with minimal decoration. There was the cobbled street, and the outlines of housed in the distance, with only one house in detail. This house was split in half so we could see inside, and it was filled with vibrant colours, lavish decorations, and there was a table piled with delicious party foods. The Birling family were each dressed in fancy formalwear, full of feathers, and silk and jewels, a stark contrast compared to the 

At the end of the play, as Goole gives his final speech, lights flash, and bangs go off. Whilst this was impressive, I don’t think it added anything to the play. The rest of it was quite quiet, and there were no warnings before the bangs, so those who are sensitive to loud sounds, or flashing lights have no warning, and this could potentially upset people.

Merchandise

After the play, we went to the merchandise stall. Usually, theatres sell programs, telling us about the cast, play, and company. This theatre, however, didn’t sell any pamphlets.

In the end, I bought a black T-shirt, which has the quote “One Society” on the back. The letters are this greeny-yellow, which looks like it should be glow-in-the-dark but isn’t. (Which would have been super cool) 

Overall

Overall, I think this a good play, well-written, and excellently performed, but the producers could perhaps think about adding a warning for the unpredicted bangs and flashes at the end. I also think selling programs would be nice, because it is interesting to read about the cast and play.

Buffy Revamped

Buffy revamped is the show Buffy the Vampire Slayer retold by one of the most iconic characters – Spike!

Spike is a vampire, introduced to the TV series in season two, and makes appearances in every season going forward. At the end, Spike saves the world, sacrificing himself to do so….

Until now!

In the 70 minute long show, a mix of comedy and drama, Spike, played by Brendan Murphy, walks us through all 7 seasons of Buffy, often interacting with the audience in different ways and manners.

About the Set

The stage was a simple wooden raised platform, with blue velvet curtains around the edge. On the enter of the stage was a table, draped in black cloth. This cloth was embroidered with a magic star symbol, and stacked on top of the table, where Willow’s (the TV show’s witch) spell books. Either side of the table, are red lockers, and class cabinets. These are filled with props from the show. 

An enchanted mask, a haunted trophy, a black leather jacket, pom-poms, an emergency axe, and even a car number-plate. If you had never seen the show, these would look like random items, but to a Buffy-Fan, these are all meaningful mementos of the show.  

The Acting

When Spike came on-stage, he started by interacting with the audience, right away making people laugh. He introduced all the main characters from the show (Buffy, Angel, Willow, Xander, Cordelia, Giles, and of course, himself) that he would be acting out.

Unlike every other play I have been to with an ensemble cast, this was a cast of just one man and he single handedly acted out the six roles other than his own. Hidden around the stage were wigs, jackets, and whatever else he needed to act them out. He was amazing. Whilst he was still Spike, you could easily tell who he was depicting through his mannerisms as much as slight costume change, and it meant he brilliantly portrayed the characters, adding enough sarcasm to make it hilarious.

Audience Participation

Unlike other theatre productions I have been to, this one man show engaged the audience regularly.  Sometimes these were silly bits like an audience member having to wear a hat, other times they moved the plot along, for example another audience member having to reading an ancient scroll if anything happened to Spike which brings Spike back to life!

On the front two rows of seats (I was in row two), there were special emergency stakes. Near the end of the play, we hold our stakes in the air, and copy what spike tells us to say. “This is my pointy stick!”

My thoughts on the play

It is hard to find anything to criticise because I thought it was simply brilliant. Brendan Murphy as Spike was hilarious, his acting was amazing, switching easily from character to character, and honestly every part of the play was well thought out, from the set to the script. I am so glad I got to see this.

I am a Buffy fan so I understood all the jokes, I think you definitely needed to have seen all the seasons of the TV show to get the most out of this show, it would be quite confusing at time otherwise.  However Buffy fans are the people this show is directly aimed at and it makes no secret of this.  

To the play, I got to wear my black Buffy T-shirt, which I have received earlier that day as a birthday gift. 

Overall, I loved seeing this comedy play, and I was really impressed with how good it was, I would love to go and see it again!

Disney On Ice

In November I went to see something very different to the type of entertainment I have seen before – a show on ice!

Disney On Ice is an ice-skating based show, theming many of the most popular Disney shows, which I went to see with two of my friends.

Unlike other shows I have been to, this one allowed the audience to take photos and videos throughout the show. At various intervals, they encouraged us to post them on social media.

 The show started by us being introduced to our tour guides. They said hello, and explained that the big screens at the back of the hall would show pictures of us, and hidden cameras will film the crowd, and show the live videos on screen. 

Then the show started!

The first character we met was Mary Poppins. She wore her bright red coat, which was the only bright feature amongst the grey backup dancers. They had wheeled lampposts on stage that lit up, and at the end, Poppin’s was attached to an almost invisible wire, and lifted into the air, making it look like she was flying!

Next, we saw the Incredibles, which was probably my least favourite of all the different shows. Although, I did like Violet’s blow-up bubble that she rolled around the ice in! 

Next, we saw Moana and Maui, who sung ‘You’re Welcome. I realised that they cut the songs which were playing, so they were shorter, which annoyed me, but was understandable.

Next was Frozen. I was surprised by this one, as I had heard a lot about how good the Frozen display is, but when I saw it, I didn’t think It was as good as some of the others. 

However, I did enjoy watching Elsa’s display of ‘Let It Go’, where she performed arial acrobatics.

From the Frozen display, my favourite character had to be Olaf. He’s just so cute!
 

My favourite from the entire show, we had Simba! I love the film, and I loved the display. The characters Simba and Nala stunted whilst skating, which must have been incredibly difficult to do, but they pulled it off wonderfully.

We also saw Jasmine and Aladin. Jasime sung her song ‘Speechless’, which was only in the real-life adaption. I’m glad they did, as it is more womanpower than in the original film.

At one point, Jasmine got attached to wires, and did beautiful dances in the air, whilst Aladin skated underneath.

At the end, all the characters from the entire show came on stage for the finale.

Sparklers went off overhead, everyone was clapping and cheering, and it was great fun.

Overall

Overall, I enjoyed seeing this with my friends, and would love to go again at some point. It was well designed, well-choreographed, and the details were fabulous. The actors mouthed along to the music in the background, making it seem like they were singing (for the younger audience’s benefit). My favourite actors here were the Aladin skaters, and the Simba skaters. I didn’t think the Incredibles was very good, as unlike the others, where they showed the character’s story, they didn’t that with the Incredibles, making it seem less interesting.

I only other thing I didn’t like was the amount of people there, but that was to be expected.