Setting adds edge to Kes

I remember writing a story for the Newbury Weekly News about the launch of Shining Lights Youth (SLY) Theatre back in 1999, so it's great to see the company still going strong, resident at New Greenham Arts, and having seen Alumni move on to professional work, such as Alec Hopkins who played the young Severus Snape in the fifth Harry Potter film.

The aim of SLY is to produce drama that challenges both its members and audiences, and it certainly did so with its latest production based on the classic novel A Kestrel for a Knave by Barry Hines.

Transposing the story 15 years forward from its source material to the early 1980s brought in extra elements of tension into the action - rudderless juvenile delinquent Billy Casper's taking of the fledgling kestrel from its nest would have been a criminal act after the 1981 Wildlife and Countryside Act, while his future looked even more hopeless with the added knowledge that the steady-but-dull employment lined up for him at the mine would not be ajob for life after all.

Keeping the action in Yorkshire was an opportunity for the 10 actors to face the challenge of the regional accent and dialect, which they did so with great dedication. Indeed, the entire performance was an intense experience, as the entire cast were in camera at virtually all times, constantly fluttering the pages of books (possibly copies of A Kestrel for A Knave - I couldn't tell from my seat) and watching Elliot Laker as Billy intensely, their eyes forever following him as he immersed us in the teenager's isolated and misunderstood life.

With the story focused around Billy's relationship with Kes, the young kestrel he tames and trains, another challenge for the company was representing the raptor, which they did with feathered set dressings and lighting which stained the feathers with a flash of red when Billy discovered Kes' body.

The ensemble cast each took on several roles, creating excellent character pen portraits in their walks and mannerisms, such as Anna Roberts' prim librarian, Natalie Poernig as both Billy's careworn mother and caring teacher Miss Farthing, and Conor Holt as Jud, the jack-the-lad older brother whose immature reaction to a perceived slighting resulted in the destruction of both the bird and Billy's hopes.

All involved in SLY can be proud of this stylish, affecting and powerful production, which retained both the bleakness and dark humour of the source text.

Catriona Reeves Newbury Weekly News Thursday, July 7, 2011

Pint-size Pinter packs a punch

Shining Lights Youth Theatre: Mountain Language, at New Greenham Arts, on Monday, April 12 and Tuesday, April 13

Shining Lights Youth Theatre's production of Harold Pinter's Mountain Language was a challenging choice for this young company. Set in a prison compound with unnamed guards in an unnamed country the play was apparently inspired by the Kurds suffering under the Turkish oppression.

The production opens with a menacing soundscape where a group of frightened women are held captive. Who are these people and why are they there? Are they refugees or prisoners? Why have they been standing in the snow for five hours?

An officer (Jak Ford-Lane) wants names; the atmosphere is tense. A young woman (Abigail Kalikwani) explains that a girl has been badly bitten by a Doberman pinscher dog. The officer demands to know what was the name of the dog: "If you tell me the name of the dog I will have it shot", he barks.

The women's relatives are accused of being enemies of the state and as they are mountain people they are forbidden to speak their own language and must communicate using the language of the capital.

A black-hooded man (Daryl Hurst), his hands bound to a wooden pole, stands on the stark white raised rostra in the centre of the stage. He appears dejected and is taken to a visitor's room where his mother (Natalie Poernig) is waiting. The smug guard (Karim Newton) harshly reminds them that they must use the language of the capital, but the mother does not speak it, creating a poignant heart-rending moment.

The man is returned to his cell and beaten when the guard announces that the language ban has been lifted. Despotism is now the rule as authority and dignity collapse and the audience are left with many questions about the human condition.

There was strong acting throughout from the 14 members of the cast, who perfectly captured Pinter's style, using pauses and silences to great effect. There was a tangible feeling of tension in some fine ensemble performances. Directed with aplomb by Pete Watt this short play was an ideal channel for the actors to display their talents. A most engaging production.

ROBIN STRAPP

Raw emotion at Blood Wedding

Blood Wedding, performed at New Greenham Arts Centre on 27th & 28th July, truly captivated and enthralled the audience over its short, hour-long production.

It was another in a long line of outstanding performances from Shining Lights Youth Theatre, and the first to be ambitiously directed by Charlotte Allen. Her stripped down, intimate approach bought the cast and audience closer together, as without a backstage area we were able to observe the actors throughout the performance.

It's hard to believe that Miss Allen is only 22 years old and this is her first foray as a director, as both the subtlety and drama of the play was carried out at full force. The stark, bleak backdrop and staging amplified the raw emotion presented in Federico Garcia Lorca's play.

Blood Wedding was inspired after a newspaper account of a bride in Spain who abandoned her husband on their wedding day to escape with her childhood sweetheart. The play, adapted for this production by Daryl Hurst, expands on these themes of love, betrayal and lust.

It centres on a Son and his widowed, bitter Mother, and the Son's plans to marry. The Mother, excellently portrayed by Poppy Jermaine, is fighting desperately to keep her son away from the violence that caused the death of his father and brother, and is initially reluctant to let him leave, especially as it would mean her own abandonment. However, after a meeting with the young bride and her father, she relents, and the date is set.

Through the Servant, played with a cheerful air which gives a welcome relief to the rest of the themes presented by the play by Bobbie Anderson, we learn that the Bride has still been meeting with her childhood sweetheart, the deeply troubled and menacing Leonardo (played by Tom Serruya). He himself is battling with his marriage and his feelings towards the Bride.

As the story reaches the wedding day, the Bride's despair about her predicament grows to fever pitch, and Freya Poole shows her anguish and torment with great dignity and understanding. When Leonardo approaches her after she is married, the two run away together. As the jilted Son, Elliot Laker, decides to give chase, the tension changes dramatically. There is also a change in approach, as the events are relayed by three ethereal, manic wood cutters, each (Holly Lucas, Anna Roberts and Abi Kalikwani) showing new depths in their respective performances after their earlier roles.

Caz Harrold gives a brief, but moving and haunting turn as the Moon, appearing after this claustrophobic change in tempo. She is joined by Death (Karim Newton), another complete change from his earlier appearance as the well meaning and ambitious Father. This menacing presence signals the death of both the Son and Leonardo, despite Death's weapon of choice appearing to be kitchen knives, as the chase reaches its inevitable end.

There is a horrible familiarity as the women congregate together and mourn at the end of the fateful evening. The Mother, who has fought to keep her Son from the violence she knew would inevitably take his life, gives little comfort to the Bride as she deals with the consequences of her actions. All are portrayed with real depth and feeling by this young cast, as yet another excellent production by Shining Lights draws to a close.

Jennifer Collins - Newbury August 2010

 

A Dickens of a Tale

A Christmas Carol, at New Greenham Arts, on Tuesday, December 21 and Wednesday, December 22

As the audience enter the auditorium to group of steam-punk Victorians busily painting words from Dickens best-loved Christmas story on to any available scenery (including the four boxes that will later cleverly transform into Scrooge's bed, office, school-room and ultimately his grave) it is clear that the words are going to be important in this re-telling of A Christmas Carol from SLY Theatre.

And indeed they are as the story is clearly told and scenes woven in our imaginations by the narrating chorus. They bark Christmas Carols at us and provide real menace to the appearance of Marley's Ghost (powerfully portrayed by Natalie Poernig). All of the characters emerge from the chorus, transforming themselves quickly with the addition of a hat or a scarf. Even Ebenezer Scrooge takes his turn in the chorus, adding real depth to the idea that this is a story that we are being told. Holly Lucas is a confident Scrooge, hard and unlikeable at first but ridiculously childlike and loveable by the end.

Caz Harrold brings a real gentleness to the Ghost of Christmas Past, nudging a reluctant Scrooge towards understanding. Poppy Jermaine as the Ghost of Christmas Present wrenches both Scrooge and the audience through a whole range of emotions ending with the chilling revelation of Ignorance and Want, symbols of humankind's greed that fittingly remain highlighted for the rest of the show. Anna Roberts completes the ghostly trio with a wonderfully understated Ghost of Christmas Yet Come.

Elliot Laker almost steals the show with his delightfully bumbling Fezziwig and touching naive nephew Fred. Freya Poole gives a sensitive portrayal of Bob Cratchit but also doubles as Musical Director. An unenviable task (and one she manages brilliantly) as she is responsible for keeping a range of hectic time signatures together as the traditional Christmas Carols are deconstructed to weave there way around and through the story-telling.

Another thrilling piece of ensemble theatre from SLY Theatre, who manage to keep the story telling engaging throughout.

Jane Alexander

Newbury Weekly News