Review: 'Stewart Francis Live at the Grand Opera House'

By Tom Clarke

With opening acts, it is often hard to grab the audience’s attention, especially as they haven’t paid to see a support. It generally requires a thicker skin than for most other comedy shows. This support act was Matt Rudge, a young comedian from the West Country. One of his main strengths was interacting with the audience, which showed his brash yet charming confidence and warmed him to most of the audience. He was a storytelling comedian who liked to play along with the audience in each joke and, for the most part, this worked very well. Occasionally, however, his stories would become a little bit too long and the punch line not funny enough to sustain the amount of time dedicated to it. Nevertheless, the last thing I took away from this was one of his last jokes, which was a one liner and didn’t sink that well with the audience – His response to this was “you better get used to those as you’ve got a full hour in front of you!” This led to one of his first rounds of applause and set us up nicely for Stewart Francis.

Francis is a Canadian born comedian who has established himself in both the US and UK. He is frequently on comedy panel shows such as QI, Mock the Week and 8 Out of 10 Cats and has written for famous American shows like ‘Tonight With Jay Leno.’ This year at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival he was awarded the best joke award for his one liner “You know who gives kids a bad name? Posh and Becks.” He is one of the most successful one liner comedians in the World. My first worry when coming to see him was if his material would remain fresh throughout the hour-long runtime. One line comedy is very hard to maintain for 60 minutes and audiences can easily get tired of the same routine. This was not the case with Stuart Francis as he came out firing with some great surrealist stories.

His first few jokes settled the audience in for a night of thinking, and of course, huge amounts of laughter. He started to use a variety of props, voice-overs and great story arcs to give his act a sense of vitality. I was not subject to the same style for more than five minutes, with his satirical impression of observational comedy to his mocking time wasting tactic of playing ping-pong offstage. The two jokes that really stood out for me came at points during the night where his one liners were starting to get fewer and fewer laughs. “I’m not a plagiarist! – His words not mine!” After about two seconds of silence, the theatre erupted with laughter, which was a usual occurrence with the challenging wordplay which Stuart Francis uses. The next was rather more inappropriate yet got the audience laughing as well as groaning. “My uncle ejaculated on me the other day! I’m glad I got that off my chest!” His jokes are simple but his deadpan delivery gives them the edge they need to make you roar with laughter.

Overall I thought the whole experience was well worth the money (even though I didn’t pay for my ticket) and I would definitely go and see him again. Highly recommendable - 5 Stars!!

You can listen to Tom's review this Sunday on Yorworld by visiting the URY website.

Review: 'Birdsong'

By Alex Boyall

This week's Drama Barn production is an adaption of Sebastian Faulk's novel Birdsong, by Rachel Wagstaff. It essentially centres on the short lives of two young men, infantry Lieutenant Stephen Wraysford (Jason Ryall), and Royal Engineer Sapper Jack Firebrace (Iain Campbell), and their lives in the trenches of France and Belgium during WWI. Interspersed with the storyline during the war in 1916 is the earlier story of the same Lieutenant in 1910, whilst working for a French textile factory owner, René Azaire (Toby King). During this time, he falls in love with René's wife, Isabelle (Zoe Biles) and they begin an affair. The first act ends with Wraysford and his men going over the top to attack the Germans. The second act is set two years later with Wraysford and Firebrace still in the trenches, and concludes very poignantly with the entire cast walking slowly on, carrying makeshift wooden crosses, and looking towards a war memorial, illuminated by a single spotlight. The acting in this impressive production is spot on, wonderful direction from Connor Abbott - Ryall switches between embittered Officer and smitten young man with ease; whilst Campbell portrays a down-to-earth former miner, trying his best to keep his morale, and that of those around him, high, despite the hopelessness and desperation of the trenches they are stuck in.

King is positively frightening as the malevolent, controlling husband, with Biles at his side as all that is sweet and good in life, despite the situation she finds herself in. Notable performances too, from Andy Bewley as Jack's best friend Arthur Shaw, and Joseph D'angelo, the provider of many a laugh as Monsieur Bérard, a friend of the Azaires.

Credit has to go to Emma Henderson, the movement director and lighting designer, for the opening scene - a war dance by the soldiers, set to original techno/industrial sound design by Marco Baratelli. The fantastic lighting didn't end there though, with full use of the well-spaced lights in the Barn creating entirely different moods in moments - intimate love scene, or brutal war.

The set too, constructed by Nick Dandakis, was simple (as the limits of the barn dictate), but effective - a wooden framed cuboid covered in opaque fabric, backlit, provides the tunnel which Sapper Jack spends a lot of his time digging in, and two hessian-covered flats, with sandbags at their bases, complete the trench feel. Unfortunately, some of the French accents slipped from time to time but it is always difficult holding an accent, whilst remembering lines and acting, and it didn't detract too much from the acting. The timeline kept jumping between the trenches in 1916 and the textile factory in 1910, sometimes with a character remaining in the background from the previous scene. Whilst I understand that it was to keep the pace flowing between scenes, I personally found it a little confusing at times. It was also a shame this production was not over remembrance weekend - but I thought it was nice to be reminded of the men and women who lost their lives in WWI and II a month after remembrance weekend. Indeed, remembrance shouldn't just be confined to November.

The play is a long one, at two hours and 15 minutes (with an interval), but a lot happens, and it's worth the money for the length alone. The cast also presumably needed a lot of time to learn the dialogue, and they did - flawlessly. I recommend you watch it, before it finishes on Sunday evening.

And you can listen to the review this Sunday on Yorworld by visiting the URY website.

Review: The Office Party

By James Metcalf

The Office Party by the York Settlement Community Players, and showing at Friargate Theatre, was, unfortunately, somewhat of a disappointment. With themes apparently surrounding the ‘sexual politics’ involved with any regular business office at Christmas time, its poorly scripted dialogue, hammy over-acting, and clumsy, falsely intimate setting simply negated any positive impact from characters that were never more than two-dimensional clichés of office workers at their worst.

The characterisation of Andy (played by Matt Simpson) as an almost-middle-aged man with depressive tendencies as a result of the poor relationship with his wife due to his long hours at work,
and the subsequent attraction towards his co-worker Jo (played by Clancy McMullan) is a hackneyed plot driver if ever there was one, and the use of a fifty-something older office worker (Bob, played by Ian Giles) as the ‘clown’ and sexually explicit, though actually inactive, pest was a poor attempt at a more introspective depiction of an unlikeable character that came all too late. Similarly, the wooden, pursed-lipped character of Patty (played by Rachel Alexander-Hill), and the disturbing attempt at provocation in the character of Pippa (played by Katy Devine) did very little for the play as a whole,and served to compound the already irritating performances of the central cast members.

The setting was equally unappealing. Without a stage, and consequently any semblance of withdrawal backstage, the convincing office set was unfortunately subjected to a distinct lack of the mystery one expects from a visit to the theatre, and caused the addition of props by the stage-hands to look unprofessional and clumsy. However, the staging was distinctly office-like, with cheap desks and wheelie chairs, dell computers and ancient cord telephones, though perhaps the sheer mass of at least thirty empty bottles of alcohol was a tad excessive.

The Office Party was clearly intended to be a comedy; failing in its aim, the characters had not nearly enough depth to be convincing, human portrayals and so the play degenerated into scene after scene of innuendo and stilted one-liners, and the occasional occurrence of a serious subject matter was handled so badly that the production became a painful experience. That said, the use of lighting to hide scene changes and of music to build tension and create a partly dynamic performance from time to time was fairly well done; still, this was not enough to hide the crude and poorly drawn characters, the amateurish acting by a cast clearly fixated not on the interaction between their characters, but on the remembrance of their own lines, and a set was too close to be professional and too miserable to be intimate. Sadly not one to be watched, or perhaps acted, again.

Review: 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf'

By James Metcalf

York Dramasoc’s new production of Edward Albee’s off the wall psychological play ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf’ is quite possibly the best performance I have ever seen in the barn.

Produced by Issy Smith, this truly intriguing play is not what one might expect. Beginning with a domestic spat between history professor George (played by Jamie Oliver) and his wife (played by Ali Skamangas), the play soon degenerates from what, on the surface, appears to be essentially harmless repartee, into the verbal interplay of two psychologically damaged human beings.

Viewed from the eyes of the young biology professor known (but not named) as Nick (played by Rory Hern) and his brandy-addicted, painfully awkward and mouse-like wife Honey (played by Sophie Mann) who are visiting the older couple after a late night party, the audience similarly experience their subjective feelings of awkward involvement in what is clearly a personal exchange, as well as the obvious, voyeuristic thrill they experience as their hosts become increasingly vindictive and entertaining.

Of course, the evening cannot simply stagnate at this juncture of mingled discomfiture and self-conscious excitement, and, as the passage of time slips all too quickly through the fingers of the middle-aged George and Martha, the game they are playing with their young guests and with each other becomes ever more apparent, certain truths are revealed that turn byplay into the cruel scars left by the acts of surreptitious violence carried out by their hosts.

The title of the play is derived from the classic song ‘Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf’, and its central theme is the movement of time, which seems to be escaping the struggling professor, who is failing to take over the history department at the university in the small American town of New Carthage, and his wife, who’s marriage seems to be the product of George’s career-motivated desire (as she is the daughter of the university’s president). Reference is continually made to birthdays, the age difference between the couples, birth and death, and the tolling of bells, yet the emphasis is never over-stated, and the motifs of violence, sex, and the addiction and excess so often associated with the mid-twentieth-century provide the play with an extravagant multifocality, giving the audience a unique and captivating insight into the visceral reality of a tragically damaged marriage.

There is very little to detract from the brilliance of Dramasoc’s latest offering. The American accents of Skamangas, Hern, and Mann were flawless, the setting was deceptively provincial, delivering quite the scene of false security, and the acting of every cast member was truly staggering. If there was a standout performance, Ali Skamangas as the complex, troubled and self-conscious, but brash and hypersexual, Martha is without doubt the finest student acting I have ever seen. She is at once dramatic and occasionally very funny with her dry attacks on her husband; still, the use of the song as a tension building motif, the cyclical rhythm of the play’s three parts – beginning with a lull and rapidly building to an aggressive climax – and the blatant, waspish ferocity of each character as they turn on each other indiscriminately awards the audience for their attendance with dynamic and poignant performances from all concerned.

Not only is the play simultaneously full of the inherent tragedy of human life, and the comedy one is forced to employ to manage the pain of this experience, but it manages to capture this overwhelming devastation without descending into despair. With performances to match those of a professional standard, ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf’ is decidedly one to watch.

You can see ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf’ at York Dramabarn at 19.30 on Saturday and Sunday.

Review: 'Creditors' by August Strindberg

By independent URY reviewer, James Metcalf.

Perhaps August Strindberg is an unfamiliar name to most; I had certainly never heard of him, but the radio play of his creation ‘Creditors’, which will feature on University Radio York on Sunday 25th November, from 14:00 until 15:25 in the afternoon, changed all that.

Advertised as a ‘darkly comic and mature work of obsession, honour, and revenge’, ‘Creditors’ deals with the mania of a married artist named Adolph who waits impatiently for his ambitious and fiercely independent novelist wife to return. When he discovers that he is, in fact, suffering as a result of his anxiety and passionate yet resentful covetousness, he opens his life to a stranger, and finds that he has more suffering still to endure. This stranger uncovers the possibilities of infidelity, and future unhappiness, and Adolph is forced to confront these issues that had, unconsciously, already infiltrated his interior mind. In so doing, he questions his future with a woman whose heart is withheld and whose feelings are consequently unknown, and finds that the happiness he thought he had was never truly there at all – at least, not as he remembers it.

Of course, a play such as this focuses on the familiar themes of male and female relations, rife with sexual and social domination, the complexities of human emotion, and the hidden, ulterior agendas of all those involved. Still, the student play, directed by Lewis Gray and based on David Greig’s 2008 version which premièred at London’s Donmar Warehouse, casts a new light onto this dark subject matter; a light that is filled with both the reflective surface of wry comedy, and the shadow of tragedy that claws at the whole of human life.

Gray’s adaptation of Strindberg’s ‘Creditors’ for radio stars Ryan Lane, Dan Wood, and Georgia Bird – all of whom are eminently professional and extraordinarily engaging. The combination of these student voice actors with a script so full of the clefts and peaks of individual experience transforms what could have been a dry recital of a piece of theatre free of modern relevance, into an intriguing and thoroughly appropriate play, full of fine acting, carefully honed direction, and, of course, the written word of a Swedish master of the tragicomedy.

Though the prose may be as full of metaphor and surreptitious magnificence as one would expect of the age in which it was written, and though the characters are a relativly unknown in today’s age of pragmatic professionalism, the driving motif is the same – that when men are together, their wives become the topic of questionable conversation, that marriage is continually answerable to the subjective speculation of self-conscious voyeurs, and that hidden lives are, in fact, ever surprising and hardly ever what one expects.

The Festival of Drama currently taking place on University Radio York renovates an already innovative radio station, and this is epitomised whole-heartedly by ‘Creditors’. The quick wit of the writing is complemented by the evenly matched vocal nuances of Lane, Wood, and Bird, and the dexterous direction of Gray which hides the themes just long enough to keep the listener wrapt with unavoidable attention. This play is deceptively simple, both in its acting and production. The challenge of tempering human tragedy with barbed comedy is carried off so well and so professionally that one believes anyone could do it. Perhaps this is its greatest triumph; it is neither overbearing nor overtly difficult to comprehend, it is purely enjoyable radio drama at its best.

'Creditors' will be broadcast on Sunday the 25th of November at 14:00. See our facebook event for more details. 

Review: 'The New World Order: Part 2: 1651'

By independent URY reviewer Ben Bason.

Part 2 of URY’s epic drama ‘The New World Order’ is even more passionate, even more dramatic and even more brilliant than the previous episode. And that’s saying something. Set 6 years after Part 1, the alien Holekhor race from a ‘New World’ turn from allies to enemies as their presence in England adds to the high political and religious tensions of the Civil War, culminating in a grand finale of epic proportions.

We are introduced to the Dommon’el – the wonderfully evil ruler of the Holekhor, played by David Malinsky – who arrives in England and ends up putting both Dhon Do and his son in awkward positions by furthering the Holekhor’s presence in England, leading to messy consequences as the two cultures clash dramatically.

The stand-out performance of this concluding episode is without doubt that of Toby King as Daniel. The character starts off as a naive youngster very much in the shadow of his father, but the story quickly turns into somewhat of a coming-of-age narrative for the boy, as he develops into an independently-minded adult. He is given power as a Holekhor commander by the Dommon’el early on in the episode and must choose where his loyalties lie as the events of the story unfold. The passionate anger King employs to present Daniel’s inner frustration is just right, and brings the tension of the drama almost to boiling point. Praise must be given to the director here, John Wakefield, who creates exactly the right tone for these scenes.

Wakefield’s production is also incredible – the range of different settings to which he can transport the listener is remarkable, as the sound effects create a world of which the audience is almost a part. The ambush of a train is particularly graphic, despite existing merely in audio form. My only slight quibble is the sound of the footsteps; often characters converse whilst walking, yet the pace of their steps is often slightly too high, losing a bit of realism. Alas, a very small issue that doesn’t take away from the majority of the drama which sounds stunning.

James Whittle’s score is again a resounding success, with the impeccable dramatic timing of instrumental stabs adding that extra cinematic element to the most appropriate of dramatic scenes. The music also provides the backdrop to some of the most emotional encounters, such as that of Daniel and his father at the end of the episode. Having been separated for almost the whole two hours of drama, the pair’s reunion is permeated with sparse strings that make the scene extremely touching. These two, almost forced by their situation on to different sides of a war, are finally together again as the episode draws to a close.

Part 2 offers a slight comic element which was not present in the previous episode – the still immature King Charles (Ryan Hall) provides some light relief from the drama of the unfolding conflict, as he attempts to give Daniel (whom he still refers to as ‘Boy Troll) some life-lessons. It’s a very funny interlude which is certainly very welcome in the course of the narrative.

So, if you thought ‘The New World Order’ couldn't get any better, you were wrong. The second part is much more fraught with emotions – the performances of the actors convince us that the loyalties they hold are real, and we can’t help but feel attached to them all. With whom are we meant to sympathise? There is no definitive answer: over the two parts all of the characters appeal to our emotions, even the sneering King Charles. And it is this which makes ‘The New World Order’ so captivating and a truly staggering piece of radio drama.

You only have one chance to catch the concluding episode of ‘The New World Order’ – tune in this Sunday at 2 – across campus on 1350am and online at www.ury.org.uk.

Review: The Hunchback of Notre Dam

By Alex Gordon,

Upon entering the near-1000-year-old Selby Abbey, I could not help but think that, other than the York Minster itself, Belt Up could not have chosen a better local landmark for their production of ‘Hunchback.’ Jethro Compton (Producer, Writer and co-Artistic Director) has created a very condensed adaptation of Victor Hugo’s epic gothic novel. This is no bad thing, as Compton has taken the core characters, themes and events of the story to tell a simplified version that tells of Quasimodo’s tortured, unrequited love for La Esmeralda, whilst retaining a strong element of darkness.

Despite having an astounding back-drop to be performed in, Compton’s script still relies on the power of language to tell a story; the words of the characters conjuring up verbal images for the audience. One particularly poignant image is Esmeralda’s description of love between two people being akin to that of two grains of sand in a dessert briefly settling next to each other after a storm, before another gust of wind blows them apart again. Whether images such as these are lifted from Hugo’s work or are Compton’s own creation, they are to the script’s credit.

The play however, does stray into unchartered territory away from the novel, as Quasimodo, both as participant and puppeteer, begins to put words in the mouths of the characters and manipulate the story towards his own design. Though an interesting twist, I am not sure it needed to go down this route, as the original material is dark and harrowing enough to still be dramatic.

The actors, being only four in number, have their work cut out for them. As well as playing the central characters of Quasimodo (Sam Donnelly), Archdeacon Frollo (Dominic Allen), La Esmeralda (Serena Manteghi) and Captain Phoebus (Oliver Tilney), the latter three also multi-roll as a masked-menagerie of fools, gypsies and other characters.

I wasn’t sure about this ‘masked’ aspect of the performance. It seemed that in order to fully re-create the ‘feast of fools’, they needed more actors to fill the space in front of and around the audience. Although I am not against breaking the fourth wall, the way in which they did this didn’t add anything to the story and seemed to create more discomfort in the audience than it relieved.

However, they were, for the most part, all proficient in their central rolls. Notably, Donnelly’s Quasimodo was a convincing transformation into a deformed man desperately longing for human affection, his physicalization altering between a vulnerable obsequiousness and an alarming, animal-like swiftness. Allen’s malicious, puritanical Frollo, in his sexual craving for Esmeralda, served as a chilling reminder that human deformities can be all the greater on the inside.

There is a fifth performer however; one who never speaks yet whose presence is always felt. Just as the lives of the characters in Hugo’s novel revolve around the world of Notre Dame Cathedral, so do the performances revolve around and depend on the magnificent structure of the Abbey to breathe life into the story.

Music also plays an integral part in creating the atmosphere with an original underscore and songs by Gavin Whitworth, combined with choral performances by the Abbey Belles and Selby Abbey Choir. A haunting touch, especially in the respective surroundings. The songs though, all sung by Esmeralda, didn’t do anything to progress the plot or feel necessary in light of the play’s other musical components.

Truly, Belt Up’s ‘Hunchback’ is a testament to the power of a piece of theatre to be transformed by its surroundings. There is an imbalance however, when the play relies too heavily on its surroundings to be a success. Were it to be performed in any other setting than one as grand or archaic as the Abbey, I am not sure how well it would translate.

Having said that, it is fantastic and also important to see theatre performed in places other than theatres, and the extent to which they have attracted a local as well as a student audience is proof that there is a public interest for it.

Listen out for Alex's full audio review on the ((URY PLAYER)).

Review: 'The New World Order: Part 1: 1645'

From independent URY reviewer Ben Bason,

Before reading Ben's review check out the Youtube trailer here!

If it’s done effectively, radio can be a powerful medium for drama. Without the benefit of vision, sounds must paint a mental image that pulls the listener out of reality and throws them into a fictional world. The New World Order, URY’s more ambitious drama to date, certainly succeeds.

Based on the novel by Ben Jeapes, the drama constitutes a layering of realistic sound effects, convincing acting and a specially-composed musical score that transports us back to the Civil War; with guns firing, men shouting and a dramatic instrumental underscore, you could be forgiven for thinking this is the soundtrack to a Hollywood film. The audio imagery is so vivid it you can picture the action taking place right in front of your eyes and the pivotal moments are enhanced by appropriate music courtesy of James Whittle, providing that extra tension, tenderness or drama that the key scenes need. 

Set in 1645, The New World Order mixes history with science-fiction, as the Holekhor, an alien race from a ‘New World’, emerge in London during the English Civil War. I know what you’re thinking, sounds a bit Doctor Who-ish, But strangely, it works. We’re introduced to a Holekhor called Dhon Do (Luke De Belder), who returns to our world from the parallel world of the Holekhor to lead an invasion of his people. But since he’d last been here, the human woman he loved has given birth to his child, and things get complicated. De Belder delivers a strong performance and, along with the other actors playing Holekhor parts, employs an accent that’s somewhere between Russian and Polish. The decision to have the characters speak in this was perhaps not a wise one as there were a few occasional slips and although it’s an effective way to distinguish the race from the human characters on radio, it is easy to mistake the race as merely foreign, rather than other-worldly.  Other convincing performances came from Joe Williams as the troubled Oliver Cromwell and Ryan Hall as a nasty young Prince Charles. The whole cast excel themselves and combine to produce an outstanding performance.

‘The New Wold Order’ is not merely fantasy – it’s quite reliant on political and social themes as well as the other-worldly narrative of the Holekhor. This is really where John Wakefield, who adapted the text from the original novel, has succeeded; with some editing the drama could have worked as a significantly shorter piece, but we would have missed out on some of the different strands of the story; the political frustration of Cromwell (Joe Williams), the split loyalties of Dhon Do and the developing relationship between Prince Charles and Dhon Do’s son Daniel (Toby King) – all essential ingredients that make the drama what it is.

The script is excellently written and contains many of the lines from the original novel but it’s in the intimate scenes between two or three characters that it comes into its own – the words exact just the right amount of poignancy and combine beautifully with the orchestral soundtrack. Only once or twice did the script disappoint, with historical questionability – would they really have said “what the hell?” in the times of Cromwell? I think not.

The audio mixing is also occasionally confusing. The level of the actors’ speech sometimes tends to be too low, and although the sound effects really enhance the reality of scenes, they do at times overpower the lines.

Despite these slight technical hiccups, 'The New World Order: Part 1: 1645'  is a truly remarkable achievement from URY Drama. It’s a well-paced progression through the emotions of the story and truly gripping. The original score is the cherry on the top, creating appropriate atmosphere and making the drama sound extremely professional. 

So catch 'The New World Order' while you can – it’s only broadcast once and won’t be available online afterwards. Make sure you tune in on Sunday at 2pm for the first part: you can’t afford to miss it.

Find out more about the production on our event page here!

YorWorld: 4th November 2012

Rebecca Elson presents this week's show where we find out about the Aesthetica Film Festival as Laura Stratford speaks to the organisers, look at Dramasoc's latest production 'The Comedians', a student written production gracing the barn this week and we  review the much anticipated 'Illuminating York'. 

Also our acclaimed previews, this year up for another National Award Nomination, focus on Happily Ever After Society's production of 'The Little Shop of Horrors'!.

Hear the programme now on the ((URY PLAYER)) !

And make sure you tune in next week for our own original drama 'The New World Order: Part 1: 1645 - next Sunday at 2. 

Review: 'The Comedians'

By Alex Gordon,

Before and before reading my review have a listen to URY's exclusive preview of the production.

The Comedians marks the second piece of student writing performed this term in The Drama Barn. Written and directed by Elliot Kinnear, it also marks his second full-length play to be staged at university, the first being the psychological thriller Defenestrated in 2011; a fine achievement for a third-year student.

The play takes its name from the centuries-old Italian art form of ‘Comedia dell’arte,’ a style of theatre that involves using masked ‘stock’ characters combined with clowning and improvisation to tell a story.

DramaSoc’s description of it as a Comedia dell’arte piece is somewhat of a misrepresentation as it is not, strictly speaking, a piece that adheres to the art form. Rather it takes some of the ideas and characters from it to tell a new story of the author’s design. A story that, it must be said, is inventive, original and tragic.

The old man Pantalone, in order to save his new-born daughter’s life, strikes a deal with the Loki-like spirit, Sandrone. He must give Sandrone something in return – though we know not what – when he asks for it. This is essentially the driving force of the plot as we are introduced to a host of characters that become enmeshed in Sandrone’s schemes.

For a student piece, it is better written than most. Kinnear’s use of language for his characters is articulate, complex and well honed. The story structure, though slightly predictable in its nature, has enough twists and turns in the different lives of the characters to keep us involved until the final tragic revelation at the end of Act 2 - a moment worth waiting for

The play also exhibits ambitious stage-craft; stylistic masks and costumes, an ornately decorated set, full use of the Barn space, well-choreographed duels and arresting use of lighting all combine to provide a visual spectacle for the audience.

Balance however, is always difficult for a student writer to achieve satisfactorily. Just as I felt Paradise was too short in its duration, I thought The Comedians was too long for its finale to have the dramatic impact it deserved. Act 2 could have been much shorter altogether, and many of the characters had the habit of giving long-winded, repetitive explanations of the sum of events so far that caused any previously gathered momentum to grind to a halt.

The acting style of traditional Comedia dell’arte is heightened, bold, and exaggerated. Some actors threw themselves into it with real commitment, such as Peter Marshall as the malevolent Sandrone. Though some lines were lost through his mask, he exploited his vocal and physical capabilities to the full to create a truly frightening character. Peter Fisher as the honest Pierrot also gave what I thought was the most truthful and understated performance of the evening.

Though these two very different styles – one heightened, one naturalistic – suited the characters in question, I could not help but feel that many of the rest of the actors where not quite sure which they were going for, leaving them with an uneasy compromise between the two. It is the director’s job to redress this balance, and it felt as if it had not been dealt with sufficiently.

I would also liked to have seen more of what is implicit in the play’s title – comedy. The play had relatively few gags in the script, leaving it up to the actors to embellish it with their own inventions to varying success. Moments of tragedy can be all the more poignant when contrasted with moments of comedy.

Writers also need to bear in mind how much their audiences are prepared to sit-through before their attention begins to wane and it should be DramaSoc’s responsibility to ensure any student-written material that they produce is re-examined in cooperation with the writer to ensure that it has the potential to be as successful as it can be.

Though flawed, this is a play that shows potential both in itself and on the part of its writer. The strength of individual performances was perhaps variable among its cast, however, they worked well as a cohesive unit, just as a Comedia dell’arte troupe would, to bring it to life.

Hear Alex's full audio review tommorow at 2 in YorWorld!

Review: 'Paradise'

By Alex Gordon.

Before reading my review, listen to our exclusive preview of the production.

Paradise is a play with potential. It did not seem to me however, ready to be presented to a paying student audience. It is a one-man show written and directed by Christian Smith and performed by Howard Thompson. It presents us with a sad, frustrated, sardonic individual named Ricky who tells us about aspects of his life and why he feels it has gone wrong. Ricky narrates his story with a cutting, often dark sense of humour and moments of existential pondering.

It is performed on a completely bare stage, save for one chair in the centre where Ricky sits broodingly, as the audience enter. This starkness, jarring at first, pulled our focus immediately onto Ricky and made sure it stayed there; no distractions of set, lighting or sound, just one man and what he has to say.

Smith’s writing showed promise in places. Ricky’s speech alternates between personal anecdotes and bitter asides to the audience, interspersed with moments of comical, often bleak insight into the student condition (Ricky reveals he is at York University), and some witty manipulation of language.

However, the play simply doesn’t have enough content to stand up on its own. Many of the jokes seemed recycled – he talks repeatedly about how awful the North of England is, a reference that grows tiresome after a while – or not strong enough to provoke great laughter from the audience; Ricky’s rantings about the apparent racism of Dolmio adverts and the pointlessness of condoms felt more like an attempt at stand-up rather than giving us any great insight into his character.

This, combined with its incredibly short length of 27 minutes meant that I neither sympathised with Ricky as a person nor understood just why, in the end, he was so depressed. The play just didn’t seem to have a coherent development or any clear resolution, which left me dissatisfied as an audience member.

Howard Thompson gave a commendable performance as Ricky. He displayed dynamism and vigour, exploiting his vocal capabilities to good effect in Ricky’s more incensed passages.  This contrasted nicely with a great pensiveness during his more self-reflective moments. Thompson’s performance though, could only be so good due to the material.

I felt the play either needed to be twice its length, or teamed with a series of similar monologues from different characters on the subjects that this one covers, such as the student experience, or how we all, as people, share a loneliness and insecurity which we never admit to. Themes which Smith seemed to be able to tap into, but never seemed to go further than just skimming the surface.

Paradise would have been perfect material as a work-in-progress piece for an Open Drama Night on a Monday evening. I do not feel though that, in its current form, the Drama Society should be putting it on and be expecting audiences, students or otherwise, to pay to come and see it. It does not represent value for money.

You can hear Alex’s full audio review today at 2 inYorWorld.

The Blurb: Episode 1

The Blurb is URY’s new book review show that plans to explore the world of literature and leave no page unturned. Each week we’ll be bringing you reviews of books both old and new as well as discussing the most pressing problems in the literary world. We’ll also be taking a look at rising campus talent as we team up with The Looking Glass Anthology to showcase the work of student authors.

This week Elisabeth Shuker reviews Miranda Hart’s hilarious new novel, Is It Just Me? and Rachel Bond takes us on a journey through the exciting world of Fan Fiction. Our panel also discusses the impact of blogging on literature and its reviewers in reaction to Peter Stothard’s article for the Guardian.

Tune in at 3 this Sunday to join in our love of literature!

If you want  to get involved you can find 'The Blurb' on facebook here!

YorWorld: 28th October 2012

Coming up on this weeks YorWorld we review this weeks Dramasoc one man show 'Paradise'.

Also take a look at t the York Shakepeare Project’s latest production ‘Othello’, as they continue to work their way through Shakespeare’s cannon.

And we preview next weeks Dramasoc production ‘The Comedians’.

Make sure you tune in this this Sunday at 2!

And at 2:30 Paddy Evans will be chatting to Doreen Masey; British social scientist and geographer, working among others on topics typical of Marxist geography about her role in the artist Patrick Keiler's film Robinson in Ruins.

And don't forget to stay listening for 'The Blurb' at 3. See our above post for more details!

Review: 'Othello'

by Hannah Whyman,

Before reading my written review listen to URY's preview of the production.

Mark France's production of othello was an absolute joy to watch. A talented cast and minimalistic staging set in a claustrophic corner of the Theatre Royal made it an evening well spent.

The play was staged in the Studio part of the Theatre Royal meaning the fast pace of the script and the simmering tensions between the characters was greatly emphasised. At times, it was easy to forget one was a member of the audience and not, say, a spectator of the royal court. Although small, the cast used the space well and there was never a sense of clumsiness among them even when all members were onstage.

Iago was portrayed very well and he commanded the action brilliantly, playing on the slight injections of humour with precision. Roderigo contrasted wonderfully with Iago and they conveyed a clear sense of who was the powerless and powerful. Dermot Daly gave a brilliant performance as Othello both as the hero and the warrior and as the jealous, paranoid husband. It would have been great if, at the climatic moment of the play, Daly had injected just a touch more passion so that his emotions conveyed genuine tragedy but he never the less gave a worthy performance. Desdemona, played by the university's very own Katie Macintyre, was a similarly excellent performance. She had the audience silently pleading with her to realise Iago's sinister plot against her and Othello and on the verge of weeping in the final stages of her young life.

The other characters in the play only added to its success. The young Cassio contributed to the lighter moments of the play and pulled off his fighting scenes very well. Emilia gave a brilliant performance as Desdemona's companion and servant and despite her earlier disloyalty regarding the handkerchief, her final speech commanded respect from the audience. And it was interesting to see the Duke as a woman, which was a nice touch to a play of great misogyny.

A highly recommended performance.

And make sure you tune in to YorWorld this Sunday for our audio review of 'Othello' with Hannah and Tom Bonnington.

Review: 'Deathtrap'

Before reading our written review check out our exclusive preview of the production here!

Kate Bull reviews the Drama Barn’s first play of this academic year – Ira Levin’s Deathtrap.

‘Deathtrap’ set this year’s Drama Barn programme off to a flying start. With a talented cast, great set and a quick, pleasing pace given to the script, the play was a joy to watch.

Despite the cast’s humourous put downs of McGregor’s work in a ‘documentary’ filmed during the play’s rehearsal period (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knU10g6N45M&feature=plcp), his direction produced a crisp, clean production of Ira Levin’s classic.

The space was used well, and the farcical nature of the action augmented with greatly timed sound and lighting; a melodramatic thunder storm – complete with strobe lighting and rolling thunder – brought cackles from the audience.

Mungo Tatton-Brown did was he does best and produced a “devious and underhanded” Sidney Bruhl of immense pomposity, with booming phrases and grandiose gestures. Lily Cooper’s quiet, scurrying Myra contrasted well with this.

Louis Lunts portrayed the irritatingly enthusiastic Clifford Anderson believably, changing from bashful university student to confident playwright with ease.

The main male characters had great chemistry, not only between themselves, but with the audience. Their pauses, jokes and double entendres elicited great reactions from the densely packed audience.

The smaller parts – played by Roseanna Brear and Richard Spears – added comic relief to the action. Levin’s comedy is very dark, and the reprieve provided by Helga Ten Dorp and Porter Milgrim was welcomed.

The set - ornate, and somewhat oppressive – was filled with actors of great ability, who delivered Levin’s script with aplomb. A great production, thoroughly recommended.

And catch our full audio review today at 2 in YorWorld!

Preview: 'The New World Order'

A sneak peak at our most ambitious dramas to date!

YorWorld: 21 November 2012

Coming up on YorWorld this week we chat to artists, filmakers and actors as we look at the artistic spectrum of York.

John Wakefield interviews Zam Salim, writer and director of exciting new British comedy 'Up There' looking at life after death, about making his first feature film and his award winning short films.

Tom Edwards speaks to artist Robin Spalding and curator Penelope Hines, the people behind 'The Temple of the Occult' - the latest exciting exhibition at York University's own Norman Rae Gallery.  

We review Dramasoc's first offering of the term, Ira Levin's comedy thriller 'Deathtrap' which is running this weekend in the Dramabarn and also preview next weeks performance 'Paradise' by Christian Smith - a one man show.

Its not one to miss - this Sunday at 2 on URY!

Auditions: 'The Witching Hour'

From Tess Humphrey, the writer behind the National Award Winning ‘The Prince of Humberside’, comes a brand new spoof horror comedy.

A local radio station is trying an exciting new venture, a live show to contact the dead. When the show appears to be going badly the world-weary student presenter is stuck in the studio talking to a psychic who's coming up with predictions like "Tories to abolish student radio funding." To fill in the time, they start telling each other local ghost stories, which are blended in with re-enactments.

We meet Marmaduke Buckle,

Star-crossed Yorkshire lovers;

Plague victims,

And the vampire employed by the council.

With a large cast of over 36 characters there is definitely a part you’ll love – and through the magic of radio prepare multiple voices for this fantastic spoof horror comedy!

Auditions Fri - Sat Week 3 - 18:00 - 20:00 in VO44

Join our Facebook event now!

YorWorld: 14th October 2012

YorWorld makes a return after being nominated for two national student radio awards. One for best interview and another for our ‘In the Stalls’ drama previews for another year running.

This week on the show we preview YUSU Drama Society's production of 'Deathtrap', Ira Levin's 1978 classic combines satire of the most famous thrillers, such as Sleuth & Dial M for Murder, with an intricate and clever plot to create one of the most successful and long-running productions in Broadway history.

We also preview York Shakespeare Project's ambitious new production of 'Othello' as well as reviewing the York St John Graduate Productions, the York Theatre Royal's 'The Guinea Pig Club' and the touring production of 'Blue/Orange'!

Hear the programme now on the ((URY PLAYER)) here!

Review: Blue/Orange - Grand Opera House

by Alex Gordon

Joe Penhall’s psychological thriller, Blue/Orange, after its National Theatre premiere in 2000, won almost every major award for New Play. The Theatre Royal Brighton Productions’ revival, directed by Christopher Luscombe, is pacey, witty and provocative, but it is a complex play and it certainly doesn’t hand things to you on a plate.

Set on a London psychiatric ward, it follows an ideological battle between junior consultant Bruce and his superior Robert over whether black patient Christopher is ready or not to rejoin the community with his ‘Borderline Personality Disorder.’ Bruce wants to retain him for further treatment, Robert wants to let him go.

This raises a whole multitude of other questions. Is Christopher’s schizophrenic behaviour caused by his environment, is it inherent in his race, or is he merely socially insecure? Should he be protected from the public and vice-versa? And why the hell does he say the oranges on the consultancy table are blue? Everything is not simply black and white.

Robert Bathhurst, (aka Downton Abbey’s Sir Anthony Strallan) is excellent as Robert. Awarded many of the best lines, they roll off Bathhurst’s tongue with such eloquent timing and precision that our allegiance often ends up with him instead of Bruce because, as he puts it so pertinently, ‘my semantics are better than yours so I win.’

It was harder to side with Gerard McCarthy as Bruce. Though he performed admirably and with gusto, I found his delivery, at times, whiny and repetitive as well as his gesture; the hands often covered the face in ‘shock’ or chopped the air emphatically when making ‘a point.’ Consequently, I found I did not fully believe him cracking under the pressure of scrutinization from above when he lets rip in his tirade of abuse on Chris in Act Three.

Oliver Wilson provides an understated yet solid performance as Christopher. His affability as a person combined with a nervous laughter, constant repetition of colloquilaisms like ‘know what I mean?’ and unpredictable anger make his portrayal of a schizophrenia sufferer believable and unnerving.

The production as a whole however, feels as though it would be more suited to a more modern and intimate studio space, as opposed to a functioning museum like the Opera House. Colin Falconer’s strikingly stark, clinical set feels unnecessarily bulked out with a moving platform for the sake of filling an overly-large stage.

Oliver Fenwick’s cold blue lighting, brilliantly contrasted by an out-of-place bowel of oranges, though effective, is dulled somewhat by the surrounding faded grandeur.

What I enjoyed most about the production was the construction of the play itself and watching three actors working well together in delivering the ‘pin-ball’ fast dialogue, contrasted with almost Pinteresque moments of stillness before sudden, violent explosions.

This is definitely worth a watch for the talent on display, and for being one of the only plays that confronts head-on one of our last great modern taboos.

And you can hear Alex's full audio review in YorWorld.

Review: 'The Guinea Pig Club'

Kate Bull reviews The Guinea Pig Club, an impressive piece documenting British wartime pride, and commenting on society’s ingrained obsession with appearance.

The Guinea Pig Club, written by Susan Watkins, premiered this week at York Theatre Royal. Based on a true story, the play follows the story of a pioneering plastic surgeon during the Second World War. Archibald McIndoe applied dexterity and care to the burned and crippled bodies of RAF pilots who were wounded in action, and training exercises.

As Dr Ludwig Guttmann refused to give up on his paralysed patients at Stoke Newington, the Sussex town of East Grinstead was populated with wounded pilots who were encouraged to continue to live in the outside world, rather than hide away with (and behind) their battle scars.

Susan Watkins has a close attachment to the subject matter, for she personally knew a member of the self-named ‘Guinea Pig Club’. The sensitive manner in which she dealt with the story deserves congratulation, although the length (three hours including interval) reaffirms the belief that the closer you are to a subject, the harder it is to edit.

Occasionally, the pace seemed to drag, but apart from that the script was light-hearted and humourous. To a certain extent the characters were predictable – the private school boy who’d always longed to be a pilot, the pretty nurse who falls for him; the brusque matron, and the token Yankee are all characters we see perennially in anything war-based.

However, the particular subject matter meant that the actors really had to work to develop well-rounded characters. It is hard to convey feelings and thoughts without the use of your facial muscles, and as some of the actors were masked for the majority of the play they did well to create characters with body language, vocal range and chemistry with each other. In this way, the potential of acting stereotypes was averted, and the characters on stage came across as well-rounded individuals.

Damian Cruden, the current artistic director at the Theatre Royal used the traditional proscenium arch of the theatre to his advantage: creating a tall, RAF base in which the patients were housed. Joanna Scotcher’s stage design echoed well the scary, cold environment of a military hospital which eventually became a place of comfort and sanctuary for ‘Archie’s boys’. Ingenious use of hospital bed curtains and disco balls (not necessarily at the same time) transformed the stage into a ballroom, hotel suite and local pub.

Graham Harley created a sympathetic, well-rounded McIndoe, and his Kiwi accent wasn’t bad either. The revelation of his extra marital affairs, as well as his stubborn personality, made McIndoe very much a human character; Harley performed the role well. Anna O’Grady’s work as nurse Alice Harwood was convincing, although in my opinion, her character was not developed enough for her skills as an actor to be demonstrated.

Richard Jones’ lighting choices complemented the various moods of the play – despair, jubilation, anger. The projections designed and projected against the back wall of the stage anchored the play in its historical context.

One of the most engaging aspects of the entire play was the live music provided by George Ure on cornet and piano. His character, Tom, can only communicate through his ventriloquist’s dummy, but the music he creates is rousing and spine tingling.

The unpolished, proud singing of the patients made startlingly evident the long lasting friendships that these men had created in such traumatic experiences. As they raised their glasses to each other and to their doctor, the audience was exposed to the sense of pride felt by every member of the Club to overcome such debilitating conditions. 

2012 has been an excitable, patriotic year. With the Olympics, Paralympics and Diamond Jubilee, The Guinea Pig Club was well timed to ride the Union Jack wave and it would have had to have done something diabolical to fail. This country’s fascination with The War  – whether through documentaries, plays, interviews and films – continues to draw in the crowds. This play was no gimmick, however, and tells a story that needed to be told very well indeed.  

And you can hear Kate's full audio review in YorWorld here.

Review: York St John Graduate Prize 2012: Journey to Karawane and Letters to Yseult

By Alex Gordon.

The York Theatre Royal Studio was originally conceived as a room for workshops and performances of a more experimental kind. It seemed fitting then that tonight it played host to a double-bill of two devised pieces, created and performed by three students who are this year’s receivers of the York St John Graduate Prize, awarded annually (since 2011) to students in their final year of studying Theatre at York St John University.

They are then given the chance, under guidance from the Theatre’s Associate Director Juliet Forster, to take a short play they have created as part of their degree and re-work it for a public performance. An opportunity that should make students on the equivalent theatre course at York University shiver with envy.

The first play, Journey to Karawane, follows ‘The King’ (Joel Dean) and his noble steed, ‘Horse’ (Adam Ekin) on their journey to…well, Karawane. Although the play revealed as much about the plot as the title does, evidently this was not the point as, in part homage and part pastiche of Beckett’s Waiting For Godot, we watch two lonely, slightly unhinged individuals pass the time on their journey by playing several equally off-the-wall characters in a series of games and sketches.

Though at times slap-dash in its construction, the play had some amusing, Pythonesque moments and some well-thought out jokes. As Dean’s character points out, ‘Baffling people can be fun,’ and what’s more, they can enjoy being baffled. Dean and Akin’s performances however, were perhaps not quite strong enough to make their Pozzo-Lucky relationship entirely convincing. It could be hilarious and thought-provoking if its creators refined their material and their performances more carefully.

Letters to Yseult could not have provided a more different change of tone to the evening. Performed solo by its author, Richard Wade, we are taken on a journey through the old ‘Tristanian’ Legend – the love of a Cornish Knight, Tristan, for an Irish Princess, Iseult – told from Tristan’s perspective in a modern context, with Wade convincingly inhabiting a host of characters along the way.

It is unusual, intriguing, romantic, funny and heart-breaking. Wade’s versatility must be commended as he took us from comic-highs, such as when Tristan drunkenly performs Beyoncé’s ‘Single Ladies’ dance, to heart-shattering lows when Tristan, blinded by an assassin, his face smeared by crushed berries for blood, dies thinking that his beloved Yseult has abandoned him. Music was also used to great effect, as Wade both sang and played guitar, his lyrics introducing us to, and resolving the story.

This was an engaging and vibrant story told by a youthful, energetic performer, and I sincerely hope he finds the opportunity for it to grow and reach audiences beyond York. Perhaps next year’s Edinburgh Fringe would be ideal?

The evening proved an interesting and eclectic mix, with a post-show talk revealing as much about the actors as about their plays. Perhaps their characters, who all share a common thread in their loneliness and their questioning of their own situations are simply, as Akin puts it, ‘extensions of ourselves.’

Hear Alex's full audio review this Sunday at 2 on YorWorld.

Welcome and Autumn 2012

On behalf of the Speech team at URY welcome to all the freshers coming to York this year and welcome back to everyone else.

As I'm sure you've all already discovered York University is a fantastic place to be creative in all forms and URY is a great place to take part and share what you love to do with others! The Multi-National Award winning speech team here at the U.Ks oldest legal independent radio station provides you with the opportunity to make whatever you want, from dramas such as our hard hitting drama 'The Prince of Humberside' to comedy ranging from our five part sitcom 'Going Solar' to our live sketch shows and improv comedy programmes. 

You can also make documentaries, perhaps taking your interest in your subject to the next level, or even try something more adventurous and artistic and venture into the realm of exciting radiophonic soundscapes.

If that wasn't enough we also off the chance to make discussion and debate programmes or join the team on our highly praised arts programme YorWorld where there's the opportunity to interview celebritys and noteworthy artists and writers, review, present and get involved in a unique way with performing arts groups in York.

In short your imagination is the limit!

We provide you with all the equipment, training and help you achieve your radio aspirations at York and be part for a great society to boot!


What to listen out for this term!

Of course we are not just about providing you with great opportunities to make programmes but also to listen to some fantastic original productions of our own and this term we have some exciting new dramas coming your way.



The New World Order 

A two part historical thriller set in the English Civil war with a twist the 'New World Order' is the first ever adaptation of the acclaimed novel by Ben Jeapes described by the Sunday Times as 'without doubt the best science fiction book of the year.' It is the most ambitious drama we've ever attempted here at URY with a cast of around 25 and an original score performed by student musicians at the university.

England, May 1645: The civil war that has torn England apart between King Charles I and Parliament is nearing its bloody conclusion — and in the English countryside, a stranger seeks his old love and finds there is a son whom he has never seen…

You would be excused, perhaps, for thinking that this is the introduction to a thrilling historical novel. And you’d be dead right. Yet this is not the history you know, for the world has turned on to a new and deadly path.

With breathtaking imagination, Ben Jeapes has wrenched the familiar flow of English history out of its course and made it into something else, something entirely other. There is a third force, an entirely alien force — the Holekhor — who have martial powers of their own, their own religious leaders who command mysterious and strange forces, and who bring with them technology that should not have been seen in England for another three hundred years…

Prepare to be astounded. History will never be the same again.

You can see a teaser trailer for the production on our Youtube channel now!

And you can hear the production...
Part 1: 11.11.12 at 14:00
Part 2: 18.11.12 at 14:00

August Strindberg's 'Creditors'

Anxiously awaiting the return of his new wife, Adolph finds solace in the words of a stranger. But comfort soon turns to destruction as old wounds are opened, insecurities are laid bare and former debts are settled. Regarded as Strindberg's most mature work, "Creditors" is a darkly comic tale of obsession, honour and revenge. David Greig's version premiered at the Donmar Warehouse, London, in September 2008 and now comes to URY with an incredible student cast directed by Lewis Gray. 

And you can hear the production at 14:00 on the 25th of November.

To keep up to date with our in-house production company 'URY DRAMA' and for audition opportunities as we; as the latest updates on all our productions find us on facebook!


And also this term we have brand new comedy!

Live from Laughitude

URY brings you the very best standups the university has to offer recorded live at Comedysoc's 'Laughitude' Festival!

Laugh along to this fantastic show in the comfort of your own home and don't forget to look out for URY and Comedysoc's live free comedy events that take place throughout the year.

I sincerely hope that you all have a fantastic start to the year at York and that you will come and join the speech team here at URY.

It has defined my time at York so far and been the best decision of my life to be part of the station and I hope to see you soon. 

Any questions don't hesitate to contact me at the email address below,

John Wakefield - Head of Speech Broadcasting - URY

head.of.speech@ury.org.uk