Shooting With Light Archives - UPSTAGED MANCHESTER

My Favourite Productions of 2015

It has been an exciting year for Upstaged Manchester and I feel blessed and nostalgic as I remember the productions that have lifted my heart, helped me to question and generally captivated me this year. Here is a list of my theatrical highlights for 2015.

Yen at The Royal Exchange

I couldn’t shake this 2013 Bruntwood Prize Winner by Anna Jordan for quite a while – it left my mind doing somersaults. Jordan’s phenomenal writing and her vivid characters combined with Ned Bennett’s clever direction and Georgia Lowe’s sparse set design gave an unforgettable fusion of total brilliance.

Nirbhaya at The Contact Theatre

This brave, real and haunting piece of work, exploring the effect of the brutal attack that Jyoti Singh endured on board a bus in Delhi on December 16th 2012, stopped me in my tracks and left me speechless. A perfect example of the role that theatre has in spreading an important message and how art can bring about change.

Shooting With Light at The Lowry

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This is by far the best production I have ever seen in the Lowry Studio – slick choreography and an atmospheric soundscape. Idol Motion will certainly be a theatre company that I will be looking out for in 2016.

The Rolling Stone at The Royal Exchange

The Rolling Stone had me captivated – on the edge of my seat throughout. With outstanding performances from all, Chris Urch’s Bruntwood Prize Winner about the persecution of gay men in Uganda stays with you for a long time. I am so pleased that it is being performed at Orange Tree Theatre in January and February of 2016.

Boeing Boeing at Oldham Coliseum

I had never seen a farce done well – until I saw this version of Boeing Boeing directed by Robin Herford. An energetic production with an outstanding cast – their timing and delivery was impeccable. It really lifted my heart to see the performance propelled along by gasps, laughter and impromptu applause from the audience.

Beautiful Thing at The Lowry

The combination of Jonathan Harvey’s brilliant writing and Nikolai Foster’s intelligent direction managed to bring out every nuance in the script – I found myself noticing elements that I hadn’t fully appreciated in previous interpretations. This production felt like a celebration and a salute to how far rights for gay, lesbian and transgender people have come over the last 20 years, and a recognition that we still have a fair way to go.

Kafka’s Monkey at HOME

What an accomplished performer Kathryn Hunter is – such a rich tone and incredible physicality. Masterfully directed by Walter Meierjohann, I feel blessed to have witnessed a performance like this – this show certainly put Manchester’s new arts space HOME on the map.

Golem at HOME

A true theatrical spectacle and a perfect amalgam of animation, live performance, music and claymation. Golem was like nothing that I had ever seen before – sharp interaction between the performers, Paul Barritt’s eye-popping animation and Lillian Henley’s brilliant silent movie-esque score.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time at The Lowry

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is a tremendous piece of theatre – a perfect collaboration with outstanding performances throughout. Gripping and heartfelt – the perfect example of the power that theatre has to change the way that we view the world.

Wicked at The Lowry

Emily Tierney as Glinda & Ashleigh Gray as Elphaba. ©Matt Crockett

Well, I’m a big fan of Wicked and despite having seen the production before it just gets better and better for me every time. With magnificent music and lyrics, Wicked is a theatrical feast for your eyes, ears and hearts.

Merry Christmas to each and every one of you – thank you for all of your support this year.

Wishing you all the best in 2016.

-Kristy Stott

Date: 22 April 2015

Upstaged Rating:

As the audience take their seats for Idle Motion’s Shooting With Light, I could hear some deep in discussion about photography – not just the technical intricacies but how it makes them feel. When the play opens with a scene revealing the discovery of a boxed set of negatives, it is reflective of the need to unearth the past through photography, shining some light on the stories of conflict and war, life and death, that need to be heard. Gerda Taro was the first female photojournalist who lost her life on the front-line and she is brought to light in this powerful, beautiful and passionate production.

The main story is set in the 1930’s and it is essentially a love story between Gerda, a German refugee and Andre, a budding Hungarian photographer. Through their shared love of photography, Gerda gives Andre the confidence to sell his work under the alternative name of Bob Capa and he teaches her how to use a camera. Meanwhile, a parallel story about Capa’s brother, Cornell, runs neatly alongside the main love story. This story is set at a later date and long after Capa’s death when Cornell, an old man, struggles to find a missing box of Capa’s negatives.

Sophie Cullen’s performance as Taro is spirited and charming – she conveys Gerda Taro’s positivity, independence and bravery well. Some of the scenes between Taro and Bob Capa, played by Tom Radford, are particularly poignant and well choreographed and their relationship is believable – from the moment they connect over a roll of film to the tense scene when Taro chooses to return to capture the Spanish Civil War.

The atmospheric soundscape by Chris Bartholomew really aids the narrative – moving through from the romantic and nostalgic to the claustrophobic and loud which suggests the chaos and brutality of war. The choreography in the physical sections is slick, and despite the parallel story and frequent flashbacks everything moves fluidly and without confusion. Most importantly, there is a real sense that Idle Motion worked collaboratively with Grace Chapman, Sophie Cullen, Nathan Parkinson, Ellie Simpson, Julian Spooner and Kate Stanley all devising, writing and directing, as well as 4 of these members performing also.

Ellen Nabarro’s set is minimalist with a grid of little doors forming the backdrop for a lot of the action. It is clever staging and with the help of the lighting design by Greg Cebula, film and photographs, it easily suggests an apartment window, a fridge, a cinema screen and a phone booth with ease. The cast move around the stage beautifully, with the physical sections adding a further dimension to the play -not only by aiding the passage of time and guiding the audience through the story but in the way that they felt as though they were choreographed with a photographers eye in mind.

Idol Motion really impressed with Shooting With Light – they are definitely a company I’ll be looking out for in future and I can’t wait to see what they come up with next.