Blakeson - Writer

Cardiff-based film, theatre and gig reviews, cultural ramblings, whingeing, short films, etc.

Wednesday, April 18, 2018

"Ghost Stories" / "Sirens" / "Tremor"


I didn’t get to see the acclaimed stage production of Jeremy Dyson and Andy Nyman’s “Ghost Stories”, but reports were that it combined elements of their excellent other work (“The League Of Gentlemen”, Derren Brown) to satisfyingly chilling effect. The film adaptation is perhaps less successful, since the kind of scares which are thrillingly rare on-stage are commonplace in the cinema. The plot sees Nyman’s professional debunker of psychic phenomena challenged to investigate three inexplicable spooky events, giving it a “Dead Of Night”-style portmanteau structure. The acting (Nyman, Marin Freeman, Paul Whitehouse, Alex Lawther) is impeccable, and the visuals are highly atmospheric; but the whole thing is rather slow, and the thinness of the individual plot-lines sets us up for a denouement which is somewhat predictable. Still, it’s more than scary enough to deter night-time viewings.
I attended “Sirens”, one of the events in the Performances For The Curious season at the Wales Millennium Centre. This was a presentation, by Leeway Productions, of new songs developed with participants in their “10-Minute Musicals” scheme, as well as through a recent song-writing workshop with Amy Wadge. Working with a broadly female-positive theme, the songwriters, most of whom also performed, were a varied bunch (e.g. actor Huw Blainey, hip-hop performance poet Rufus Mufasa, 14 year-old Myah Freeman, Elis Walker from the band Mellt), the material ranging from the heartfelt to the humorous; an entertaining and heartening 90 minutes or so.
 
"Tremor" (photo: Mark Douet)

My latest theatre reviewing assignment was Brad Birch’s “Tremor” at the Sherman – about a former couple interrogating the implications of a traumatic incident in their shared past. Well performed, but perhaps not entirely successful in its attempts to drag contemporary politics into a relationship drama.



Labels: , , , , , , , ,

Tuesday, April 03, 2018

"Ready Player One" / "Inheriting Gods" / "All But Gone"


Not being a video-games aficionado I initially had no interest in seeing “Ready Player One”. However, given the good reviews, and the proven story-telling acumen of Steven Spielberg, I figured, correctly as it turned out, that it would at least be a visually stimulating experience. The story involves the inter-connectedness between a hellish real world of high-rise trailer-park slums, and a CGI realm of 3D gaming with real-life consequences. There is a quest, involving a group of “virtual” friends, led by Tye Sheridan and Olivia Cooke, seeking a set of keys which will allow them to take control of their universe and impeded by the villainous Ben Mendelsohn. It’s all very entertaining, with echoes of “Charlie And The Chocolate Factory”, plentiful positive undertones (inclusivity, little people rising up against The Man, the rise of the geeks), too many clever 1980s movie references to take in, and some good jokes. I suspect it won’t live long in the memory, however.

"Ready Player One" (Warner Bros)

My most recent theatre-reviewing assignments were Carmen Stephens’ likeable “Inheriting Gods” at Chapter, a two-hander about a Welsh girl on holiday in America making friends with a native American youth, and both of them reconnecting with their ancestors’ legacies; and the latest at The Other Room: Matthew Trevannions’s “All But Gone”, all about small-town relationships and life-long regrets – very emotional.

"Inheriting Gods" (photo: Kirsten McTernan)
"All But Gone" (photo: Kieran Cudlip)




Labels: , , , , , , ,