The Book Club, Lawler Theatre, Saturday August 27th 2016
For those new to my blog I write about the holistic experience of attending the theatre. I buy my own tickets. So if you want a re-telling of the story please refer to the links for further information or for further insights. Note, that I may provide different links for repeated main words or phrases. I write for my memories of what I have seen, and is more of a stream of consciousness.
"The Book Club" stars Amanda Muggleton as Deborah that features numerous characters. The playwright, Roger Hall has a keen ear and eye observing the different types of people who join or avoid book clubs.
Produced by Andrew Kay and Associates in conjunction with Amanda Muggleton this show will tour to London and New York.
Every actor should see Amanda Muggleton in "The Book Club" to understand why actors study improvisation. Amanda Muggleton is a tour de force in her ability to command the stage and deal with at least five small groups of late comers. She showed her supreme talent to keep focused but also deal with some very rude interruptions. Amanda welcomed late-comers to join this week's book club meeting and did not embarrass her guests. At one stage Amanda took a sip from a late-comer's drink. The largest group of late-comers provided Amanda Muggleton with the opportunity to paraphrase and bring this group up to speed with the show.
As it was General Admission seating I was a bit disappointed that the MTC ushers did not request that audience members move all the way along their row of seating to allow for any late comers. Three of the late-comers had to walk onto the perimeter of the stage to get to their seats in the furthermost position - both in the front row!
Two other late-comers had to use their mobile phones during the show. These rude "twankers" in the audience lit up their mobile phones as they texted with no effort to hide their important "twankering". It was so distracting!
Each performance must deal with various interactions from the audience. There were lots of sighs and nods of recognition at different books mentioned. The audience were invited to engage in these brief moments which kept the show alive and snappy. Feedback during the performance is also welcomed and Amanda Muggleton is skillful to be able to incorporate these into the show.
We were watching various books coming to life throughout the show. Without spoiling it the show is a book within a book.
Amanda Muggleton played multiple characters with a gamut of speech patterns and physical characteristics. As each character was introduced Nadia Tass, the director had specifically positioned each new character's introduction in a specific area to allow us to recall their name and their characteristic.
The use of neuro-linguistic-programming (NLP) was evident om the staging of the various character's entrances and main sequences. This made it easier for the audience to keep track of the various characters. For example the breast feeder set up camp in one position while a Russian seductress would stalk her pathway. Howls of laughter with our snorter and the Greek lady who could not pronounce certain words. Yes rude jokes but such good fun with great comedic timing. Who will ever forget the Greek lady's insightful pronunciation of happiness?
Very few props are used. With all of the other comings and goings of the various characters most other props made sense being mimed. The telephone or mobile telephone should have been a prop and not a mimed action as it is a central character in Deborah's communication with other characters.
The programme is a free double sided A4 sheet. After the show I did long for the names of all of the characters.
"The Book Club" by Roger Hall was presented by Andrew Kay and Associates and Amanda Muggleton was a light, fun and entertaining night at the theatre.
Overall I gave this production an 8/10. But she deserves a 10/10 for her skill in dealing with such rude people.
No comments:
Post a Comment