Tag: theatre

Checking in.

So how is everything going?

It feels as though Corona is never going to dissipate. But hopefully that hasn’t quelled our creativity. We know that life has changed and lots of people are missing the crazy casual lifestyles that we used to enjoy. However, some things may have made a positive impact.

The original lockdowns made us stop and take check of our lives. More people have started to engage with their neighbours. Often these are people we hardly had any dealing with in the past. Some might say we have reinstalled a sense of community. This is one aspect of post-lockdown life which I for one consider hugely beneficial. So many previously lonely or ignored people are now feeling valued and safer, knowing the people that live near them will check on them and show appreciation for them.

One of my passions is making people more aware of environmental issues and it would seem that less people flying around may be having a positive impact by reducing pollution. People have realised that you don’t have to travel to Europe for a meeting any longer as everyone can log in over Zoom instead. This prevents the need for flights and hotels and additional business costs. At the same time it cuts back air miles and the related devastation caused by the carbon emissions high in the atmosphere.

On another note, the ‘new normal’ seems to have brought about even more creativity and many have had to think of different and interesting ways to tell stories, show shows and generally continue to entertain. From drive-through theatre and live comedy to socially distanced filming, the industry has tried hard to combat hazards thrown in its path.

For writers though, it has seen a large audience of home workers with a few extra minutes in the day that once were spent driving to and from work. Apparently this has led to more book sales and a re-emerging obsession with fiction. I hope that this has given some support and reassurance to my friends and colleagues in the literary industry.

So yes….. times are tough. But still, players gotta play and writers gotta write.

Theatre is the one thing I miss most.

The Brilliant Book of Mormon

It was finally time for me to evaluate this much-talked-about West End Show.

Tongue-in-cheek, yet irresistible. That is the way to sum up this masterpiece play by the makers of South Park. Although, those of you with delicate sensibilities may want to stop reading right now as sometimes it borderlines on total ridicule of the Mormon faith.

It has taken a while for me to get round to seeing exactly what this was all about and all I went in with was a knowledge that some people might find it offensive. Luckily for me I do not get easily put off and I went to a Saturday night showing, immediately pleased by the opening song, which takes the mickey out of the door-to-door selling of religion by depicting a Mormon training academy.

The music was great and the lyrics were really quirky (and outright rude at times… be prepared for the C word and some jokes about maggot infested scrotums). One ditty was about switching off any feeling you might have in order to be a positive person. A guy referred to fancying his buddy and having to switch off the gay part of hisself. Another talked about his sister dying and him not being there when she passed away because he was queueing for the latest iPhone. Generally it was pointing to the fact that some of the stories and ideas within this religion were hard to follow or explain but the preachers had to simply forget about those aspects that didn’t quite make sense.

Without giving away the plot, the two missionaries went to Uganda where they tried to convert locals to the Mormon way of life and get them baptised. Suffice to say, this was not an easy task. A local army general was treating the locals badly and creating a barrier to any progress they were making.

This hilarious play was punctuated with spectacular song and dance numbers and its stars really shone with incredible vocals, clever dance routines and great comic acting.

I gave this performance five stars. You really must go and see it for yourselves!