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Comment by Emma Louise Faulkner on October 25, 2010 at 1:28

I reckon I could give it a go :3

Comment by Guy O'Donnell on October 24, 2010 at 18:35

Hi Emma a really interesting review,I love your use of the comic book style.
I wonder if this is a medium that you could develop for further reviews ?
What do you think?
Guy

Comment by Emma Louise Faulkner on October 24, 2010 at 9:16

If you cant see the text in the comic here it is


Love steals us from loneliness, but for how long?


Gary Owen's piece was simply a masterpiece, brought to life literally by the superb cast and crew. Bringing the audience directly into the world of the play by an ensamble cast was a genius idea and perfectly executed. I think the characters were very believable, like being in a real party.

Then enter part one where we find a pair of typical Bridgend teens on a halloween night out. Through the dialogue we learn about the characters themselves and a bit about what happened just before their meeting. At this point you feel as if you are evesdropping in front of real people having a real conversation, very believable characters played by Katie and Mark. This was an effective way I think to get the audience to become spectators and to piece together the events they don't see.

The layout of the audience and set, although quite abstract, made it clear as to the whereabouts of the characters in the first half and accompanied by sound effects of traffic and background music aided the ambiance of a night out in Bridgend town. the intricate use of steal hoops and concrete really made the audience feel as if they were outside in the streets of Bridged and the dull colours did not distract from the action and dialogue on stage too much if at all.

After the humorous events of act one the audience are taken back into the bar for an interval but remain in the world of the play as Mather announces a karaoke night in the transformed setting. From the halloween party before the first half we arrive in the normal bar setting where the audience is encouraged to take part in the karaoke, as well as the ensamble cast from the haloween party, allowing the audience to gain some sense of security before entering act two.

Katie is called up onto the karaoke stage and begins to sing before stopping for an unknown reason as the audience is ushered back into the 'street.' She sings once more so the audience can hear then act two begins. The mood and style change dramatically in the second half, only adding to the sense of confusion and mixed emotions of the characters. We don't see what happened in the interval (In which several days have passed,) but the jumping monologues and snippits of dialogue help piece together a tragic event as well as some background history of the characters. Although it was interesting and effective I feel this went on a bit too long and some pieces of speech could have been left out.

The mother character in particular stood out for me as I know several people who are just like her. The act goes on and shows how the characters cope and develop over the course of a few years and how their relationships change and differ right up until they are brought back to the end of act one. Showing exactly what it was that caused the character we don't see to end up drink driving during the interval.

Leaving the audience has to really think about life in general, this play may be hard to understand and confusing at first but the small messages it leaves are the sort of ones that stay in your memory and really get into your mind. This is a play I'd re-comend seeing.