theatreocelot

[theatreocelot]

TASTE OF HONEY TIME EEEEEEEEEEEEE

#theatre #taste of honey #the royal exchange theatre

[theatreocelot]

Watching the tech rehearsal for taste of honey and I’m gaining an even greater respect for the tech crew because you would never catch me up a ladder that high

#theatre #tech #taste of honey

[theatreocelot]

Shed: Exploded View, by Phoebe Eclair-Powell

A review

Date of viewing: 19/02/24 (Mon 19 feb 2024)

Place of viewing: Royal exchange theatre

Story rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Cast rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Design rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Heavy trigger warnings for discussions and depictions of domestic violence, child loss, depictions of dementia, depictions of grief, allusions to eating disorders, allusions to mental health issues and sexist language.

Shed: Exploded view is a masterclass in theatre that I cannot in good faith recommend to anyone. Following the story of Lil (Haley Carmichael), Abi (Norah Lopez Holden), Naomi (Lizzy Watts) and their partners, Tony (Wil Johnson), Frank (Jason Hughs) and Mark (Michael Workéyè) it is an awareness piece on relationships and domestic violence. Spoilers ahead, trigger warnings will apply in part to this review.

I found the most pleasant story to be that of Lil and Tony, an older couple who married in 1995, as they navigate their relationship, with both of them being married before, as well as Lil’s frustration as Tony loses himself to dementia. I found their relationship to be sweet, compelling and heartbreaking, Lil especially was amazingly played, Haley Carmichael did a fantastic job, however I feel the story does hit one of its sticking points here that keeps getting hit throughout all 3 of the parallel stories, it plays it’s dark themes far to much for shock value, when Lil shouts in frustration at Tony who doesn’t understand why he can’t leave the house (the play jumps around in time from between 1995 and “now” (2024) so parts are set during lockdown), it is shocking and distressing to watch, however as a tragedy, it misses the emotional catharsis, as well as this, it is mentioned that before Tony, Lil was married to an abusive man, however this plot point is mostly brushed over (being mentioned only a couple of times, most notably in Lil’s final monologue (which was brilliant btw, I love this cast so much)), serving mostly to act as a parallel to Abi’s abuse and eventual murder at the hands of Mark, this left it feeling like there was missed potential in Lil’s story, however as a whole she was a good character.

The second plotline follows Naomi and Frank, a middle aged couple who married in 1995 and encountered Lil and Frank on their honeymoon and later go on to have a daughter- Abi. Naomi is by far the stand out character of the show, with the best of the stage time being given to developing her relationship with Abi. Overall, Naomi’s relationships with both Abi and Frank feel realistic, however it suffers from a similar problem, when Naomi performs her final monologue at the end of the play (another brilliant monologue, I find myself wondering if this play would’ve been better if viewed as a collection of disconnected monologues), the energy stays very heightened, like the story is tripping over itself to make you feel something, to the point where it only leaves you feeling overwhelmed. Frank was very well played and his relationship with Naomi was believable to how a marriage when one of the partners is disloyal (however as I have never been in a relationship, I cannot attest to that).

Abi and Mark’s plotline is where the story trips over its own feet the most, from the starting monologue, the story foreshadows that Abi is going to be violently murdered, so when she meets Mark at university and has dubiously consensual sex with him, it becomes quite obvious that it will be by his hand. The play goes out of its way to show the good times that Abi and Mark have in their relationship, showing that abusive partners are not always the stereotype of abuse, however these moments can sometimes fall a bit short, as it shows them seemingly only having nice couple times, then takes a drastic turn near the end, the idea was good but the execution was a bit heavy handed. Abi and Naomi’s relationship is by far my favourite, their moments are some of the only reprieve the audience gets from the constant distress the characters are in, however the play does seem to want to portray Abi as having some resentment towards Naomi, but this does come across as teenage angst. A major area Abi’s characterisation falls a little bit flat for me is her past history of eating disorders, while Mark does make fun of her for being fat and we do have one scene of her running up to her room as a child (followed by Naomi and Frank talking about food and a doctor), it feels glossed over in a similar way to Lil’s abusive ex, like the story expects us to see this in Abi’s character, without actually having her react in a way that would be consistent with this.

In conclusion, Shed: Exploded view is a beautiful play with brilliant actors that acts as a masterclass of shocking your audience, however the characterisation can sometimes fall short and the story lacks the emotional catharsis it needs to be a truly compelling tragedy, I think it would be interesting to watch it again, to see if it would be different when it can’t shock me.

#Shed: Exploded View #The royal exchange #The royal exchange theatre #Theatre #Manchester #tragedy #review #theatre review #play review