Another two weeks and another three performances. This fortnight has seen comedic theatre, beautiful ballet and 2012's inaugural gig!
The Big Wow are becomming a feature of Unity Theatre's January programme but this as this is my first year actually following Unity Theatre shows outside of Homotopia it's the first time I've known about them. The Art of Falling Apart features two performers and some chairs yet manages to present a stunning array of characters including a 6 person house party including conversations, arguments and fights between them all. And the image of Brian Blessed dressed as a penguin...
All of this brilliantly funny physcial and lyrical comedy framed around a mid-life crisis and a wickedly funny comment on the dearth of new ideas in the mainstream creative industries. I can't wait to see future shows.
Sometimes, support acts are just plain bad. Sometimes support acts are ok. Sometimes... well... they end up as a favourite band. I discovered Laura J Martin through watching her support Misty's Big Adventure (a band I discovered when they supported dan le sac vs. Scroobius Pip). I promised myself to keep an eye out and see her again if I could. So I ventured to a pub (eugh) that I had never been to before (shudder) a bus ride away from the station (arghhh) on a day when the trains were all replaced by buses (ARGHHHHH!). She was that good.
And is that good.
Her weapons of choice are the flute and mandolin. Yeah. Weapons. The flute, previously something I'd only ever associated with light and airy becomes aggressively beautiful (or beautifully aggressive) almost punching the notes out of the air in songs like Doki Doki which gets built up from such simple beginnings to an amazing instrumental piece. Unfortunately due to reliance on public transport I had to leave after only 15 minutes of Laura J Martin - half way through Tom, a track from the new album which has been a particular highlight with reviewers - and as such missed a lot. But it was worth seeing the little bit I did get to see.
And of course, a gig with such support-act pedigree, I can't get away without saying a word about the support acts. Jo Gillot was enjoyable but maybe a bit slow to really stick for me. Emily and the Faves on the other hand were a little closer to my type of band. Emily herself is a part of Stealing Sheep (another band I really like) and The Faves are another band I will keep an eye out for.
The final performace is the biggest of the year to date - The Lyric Theatre at The Lowry giving us Birmingham Royal Ballet's production of Beauty and the Beast. Like Cinderella last year, Beast is gorgeous. The photos on the official site and programme focus, unsurprisingly on the dancers and the costumes but this is to completely miss an equally important part of the production - the set.
I know I bang on about sets a lot when I review things, but they can be things of beautiful imagination, things of beautiful technical achievement, things of pure artistic beauty. The right set can elevate a performance, the wrong set can destroy it. This was the right set. Technically, imaginatively and artistically stunning. From the library in the prologue opening up into the woodland to the Prince's castle itself...
Of course, with a ballet the best set in the world won't forgive a bad show and Birmingham Royal Ballet can certainly provide that. It's easy to remember and rave about the comedic elements - the rabbit dancing with Belle at the Beast's ball, the grandmother's dominance of the wedding preparations - and the glorious set pieces - such as the Beast's ball (I so want to organise a Beauty and the Beast themed ball now) - but the rest of the dancing and storytelling was also amazing. I hope that Birmingham Royal Ballet can pull another one out next year...
Alex
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