Culture & Literature – Page 16 of 35

12Nov

By Michele TheilNo Comments

Culture & Literature, Theatre & Performance

Life is a Cabaret, Old Chum

Saturday 11 November saw the opening night of Musical Theatre Society’s (MTS) show, Cabaret. It was held in the SU Main Hall and despite a slightly delayed start to the evening, it opened with pomp, circumstance and a bang. The hall was set up with a thrust stage, meaning the cast performed in the centre of the room, with the audience settled in three sections around the stage area. The 26-piece band was placed up on the stage, in full view of the audience, conducted by Musical Director Flynn Sturgeon. Tom Holmes was the ‘Master of Ceremonies’, or Emcee, who provided an entertaining commentary throughout, peppered with nuanced jokes and cheeky double entendres. Because of the way the staging area was set up, there were many opportunities for the cast to interact with the audience throug...

7Nov

By Oli RushbyNo Comments

Culture & Literature, Theatre & Performance

Comedy Virgins – Review

The performance featured a variety of acts, with comedians new to performing stand up gigs and veteran performers with experience from previous performances. The evening was expertly hosted by Philipp Carl Kostelecky, whose charisma and stand up comedy captivated the audience from the moment he stepped onto the stage. His material, focusing on topics such as pornography and relationships, was expertly delivered, and his interaction with members of the audience made the evening one filled with (occasionally embarrassed) laughter. Two performers stood out as true comedic talents – one being an experienced comic, and the other being totally new to stand up performances. Veteran Ewan Boissinot’s first-half performance dealt with the potentially controversial topics of recreational drug use ...

‘boys wear their hats backwards so they can kiss other boys’ – Representation through verbatim, poetry and dance.

4Nov

By Josip MartincicNo Comments

Culture & Literature, Theatre & Performance

‘boys wear their hats backwards so they can kiss other boys’ – Representation through verbatim, poetry and dance.

This collaborative ensemble piece explores queer relationships through verbatim testimonies, poetry and dance. The atmosphere in the rehearsal room is exciting, exploratory, engaging and overall positive. The directors, Michael Greenwood, who also choreographed the piece, and Austin Seddon, who wrote the poetry and gathered the verbatim, joined in with the intense physical warm up led by Deputy Stage Manager Eden Tinsey. This involves cardio and stretching, meaning the performers will be warmed up and ready to create a performance safely. Cast member Rebecca Emmerson-Gold says that ‘the process has been very collaborative and ensemble based, where pieces are devised together as a team. Everyone has their individual input so it really feels like we’ve created the show together.’ Talking ...

1Nov

By Helena KeebleNo Comments

Culture & Literature, Literature

Murder He Wrote

The Norwich Crime Writing Festival brought together a wide range of authors, from Martina Cole, to Arne Dahl. One of the key speakers, bestselling author Anthony Horowitz, discussed his new book The Word is Murder. The event was full of wonderful insights into this new book and his writing career. Horowitz initially became famous for his award winning spy series, Alex Rider, and his productions of Midsomer Murders and Foyles War. Horowitz has written some remarkable literature in a wide variety of genres. However, at The Norwich Crime Writing Festival, he admitted that since he’s “sixty-two now, it’s time to quiet down” from writing multiple genres and stick to crime writing. The Word is Murder evolved from the idea to write a book which explores the process of writing, originally ca...

31Oct

By Josip MartincicNo Comments

Culture & Literature, Theatre & Performance

The Nether – Review

Bethany Wilkinson set herself a very difficult challenge – to direct a complicated, dark play in a very limited rehearsal period and present it in the, frankly, bare setting of the rehearsal room in the Drama department. She succeeded in completing this challenge and this can be vouched by the audience members who were lucky enough to witness this show (only 30 tickets per show for 2 performances were available). The Nether by Jennifer Haley is a look at a dystopian not-too-distant future where the internet grew into what is referred to as The Nether, a virtual reality system where users can live a consequence free existence and they can choose to transition into Shadows, living out a fantasy while their actual bodies wither away. The lead character, Detective Morris, is after a specifi...

Theatre Tickets at a Price You Can’t Afford to Miss

31Oct

By Rebecca OwenNo Comments

Culture & Literature, Theatre & Performance

Theatre Tickets at a Price You Can’t Afford to Miss

When you’re 40 minutes from central London, with a return ticket for as little as £7, studying at Royal Holloway is a drama student’s dream. But being a regular theatre-goer comes at a hefty price if you’re not savvy about how to nab the most reasonably priced tickets. Student life is expensive enough as it is, so I’ve compiled a list of the best ways to maintain your theatre addiction and save your pennies. Mousetrap Theatre Projects has a scheme called westend4£10 if you’re 19-25 (or theatrelive4£5 if you’re 18!) where they organise trips to the biggest shows currently in the West End, often accompanied with a backstage tour or Q&A to make the experience even better. You can sign up for free on their website. PROMPT offers students great deals from £16 to some of the best West ...

Review: Fish Out of Water’s “Hares on a Mountain”

28Oct

By Georgia BeithNo Comments

Culture & Literature, Music

Review: Fish Out of Water’s “Hares on a Mountain”

Fish Out of Water is a folk rock quintet hailing from Bournemouth, and fronted by one of Royal Holloway’s own, Maria Green. They are following up their debut album “Carp Diem” with the release of a four track EP; “Hares on a Mountain”. Working with Talking Elephant Records, the five piece band’s second release is decidedly more polished, and presents a slicker, more cohesive sound than their first ten track album. Their sound travels in a slightly heavier direction at times, pulling traditional folk songs into the twenty first century through reworked covers. For a group of people so young Fish Out of Water expertly take on songs with centuries of history, churning out fresh, if not slightly experimental, music. Fish Out of Water’s revamped sound brings a new level of originality to ...

22Oct

By Paula Manuela Reyes SantosNo Comments

Culture & Literature, Theatre & Performance

A Night At The Theatre

'A Night at the Theatre' was a collaborative show for Royal Holloway's Creative Arts societies and included performances from Absolute Harmony, Ballroom and Latin, Dance, Drama, Fashion, Gospel, Musical Theatre, Saavoy Opera, Shakespeare and Voices of Holloway. The show began with a performance from MTS of ‘Nicest Kids in Town’ from the musical Hairspray. I believe the audience enjoyed the uplifting vibe of the song but the melodies would have worked better without a microphone, as each individual solo singer had a different approach to it. At times, it was difficult to hear the individual performer’s voices, unfortunately. This happened throughout the course of the majority of the singing acts. Having individual microphones, like some other singing acts had, would have helped. Gospe...

28Sep

By Amber ChoudharyNo Comments

Culture & Literature, Theatre & Performance

Matilda the Musical, a Review

The vibrantly lit stage of the Cambridge Theatre is littered with colourful wooden blocks spelling out words like “shiny”, “joy” and “escape”, a nod to Matilda Wormwood’s love for books and the escapism reading provides. Commissioned by the Royal Shakespeare Company, Matilda the Musical is based on the 1988 children’s novel Matilda, written by Roald Dahl. The premise follows a similar narrative to the novel. A young girl discovers her magical powers as she navigates parents who’d rather she were a boy, and a headmistress who uses any opportunity to throw her in the much-feared chokey, a narrow cupboard with nails and sharp, pointy pieces of glass sticking outwards from every corner. With an army of schoolchildren dancing and singing atop classroom desks and chairs, Matilda the Musical o...

25Sep

By Josip MartincicNo Comments

Culture & Literature, Theatre & Performance

A Dark Season

A theatre will usually create a season of shows with a shared concept, and an example of this is the upcoming season of Oscar Wilde at the Vaudeville Theatre in the West End. It is often the case with Shakespeare’s Globe, especially during Emma Rice’s time as the artistic director, with seasons called ‘Summer of Love’, for example, or ‘The Wonder Season’. Therefore, it is very interesting to see that, unintentionally, the Performing Arts Societies on campus are all putting on some very dark shows, while The Student Workshop, the extension of the Drama department not affiliated with the SU, instead chose an intentionally light show. Drama Society is putting on Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, Musical Theatre Society (MTS) is doing Kander and Ebb’s Cabaret, Savoy Opera Society is offering Br...