NWN-18062020

NEWBURY NEWS ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT n 2

Thursday, June 18, 2020 39

Newbury Weekly News

And the band played on

Cesario’s task is to promote the love interests of the Captain to Olivia (Emma Wright), a glamorous and famous actress whose day-to-day affairs are managed by the prim and, in her mind, upwardly mobile Malvolia (Faith Turner). It’s a role- change similar to that of Tamsin Greig in Simon Godwin’s National Theatre production, even to the point of wearing hot pants and yellow stockings. Turner, like Greig, is very funny, and ultimately touching when the plot to put her in the brig is played out. Her tormentors are the double act Lady Toby (Anna Franklin), a faded star, and her twittish rich friend Sir Andrew (Will Franklin), real-life husband and wife, so they share the same screen, and the alluring stylist Maria (Rosa Lennox), who is suffering from All About Eve syndrome. Overseeing the actions is a modern-day Buttons, Fabian (Will Pattle), a laddish croupier who gives the audience instructions on how to use Zoom. The musical elements are pre-recorded and integrated into the narrative artfully. Hannah Francis-Baker is irresistible as the crooner Feste, joining others in the cast singing well-known pop songs by stars like Britney Spears as 20s standards. The finale is a real showstopper. Malvolia croons Radiohead’s Creep alone, its lyrics cuttingly appropriate for a woman whose pomposity has been ridiculed. This entertaining production deserves a long run online – I am sure there are audiences starved of live Shakespeare who would lap it up. JON LEWIS Theatre Twelfth Night, in front rooms everywhere, from Friday, June 12, to Sunday, June 14

IN return for a ticket to watch St Albans-based OVO theatre’s production of William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night , refashioned from its live performance last year at the Maltings Theatre for the internet, audiences are invited to dress up in 1920s clothes, and take along something yellow and something like a drum or a saucepan to make lots of noise. OVO have clearly observed and learned from Creation Theatre’s Zoom performances of The Tempest in April to develop the format further in creating the illusion that the actors are not working in isolation in front of their laptops. The conceit is that shipwrecked twins Viola (Flora Squires) and Sebastian (Earl Frisquos), vaudeville dancers, have been rescued by the luxury liner SS Illyria . Onboard, Viola finds employment disguised as a boy, Cesario, working for the hoary captain of the ship, Orsino (Will Forrester). OVO’s graphic designer, Adam Nichols, has created virtual backdrops on the green screens behind the actors that just about line up in sync, while Zoom boxes are aligned in rows that give the impression that everyone is on deck, or in a ballroom, together. This entertaining production deserves a long run online – I am sure there are audiences starved of live Shakespeare who would lap it up

Virtual adventeusr WITH the support of Oxford’s Creation Theatre company for Another screen success where children can interact with others Theatre

steampunk-style visual of the balloon’s interior. In one scene, the balloonists abandon the balloon on parachutes, the children doing the same by holding up blankets over their heads. No one is reticent in giving the apprentice advice on how to cross mountains and lakes. He finds himself in a flea circus where a strongly accented French flea (a cute puppet) introduces him to a magician, Zucchini. The children then take off their socks to perform as jumping fleas. Chaos is averted, unlikely brothers are reunited and our hero finds his beloved balloon,

marketing and logistical support, Super Stories and City Actors’ play Up, Up, Up and Away , adapted by George Rennie from Hans Christian Andersen’s story The Flea and the Professor, is a fun-filled interactive 45 minutes for young children. A boyish apprentice balloonist (Ryan Duncan) goes on a balloon ride with the buffoonish Captain Calamity (Rowland Stirling), promising the viewers an interactive journey and inducting them as cloud cadets, and their parents to Zoom, with the children invited to bring along a soft toy as a travel buddy. The company employs Zoom confidently, zooming in only on those front rooms where the children dance, wiggle and raise their hand to offer advice. We are asked to find a

destination for the balloon and one child suggests the Amazonian rain forest where the apprentice can find a black panther. The gallery view function encourages as many children as possible to join in the action in a shared experience, the enthusiasm spreading from one screen to another. The show integrates pre-filmed songs with a delightful animation of the balloon being chased across the Andes by an angry thunder cloud. Virtual green screen backgrounds include a Up, Up, Up and Away, in front rooms everywhere, on Saturday, June 13

all with the help of the children. Productions like this should be

supported by funding bodies so that more children can interact with others while being creative. JON LEWIS Spike Le’se argument with American histor y

‘The perspective on the black soldier experience in Vietnam is something uniquely tailored to Lee’s skills as a filmmaker.’ Out on Netflix, Da 5 Bloods reviewed by CAMERON BLACKSHAW

and the horrors of the war in efficient ways. The film begins with a memorable montage of historical clips, a method that is used throughout to ground the film’s personal story in the larger socio-political context of America’s involvement in the Vietnam war. Despite this, the film’s personal story is the one that shines through, particularly through the character of Paul (Delroy Lindo). Paul is driven by the guilt of his past to lay his former commander to rest, but his pro-Trump politics put him at odds with his fellow Bloods and the state of modern Vietnam around him. Lindo puts in a compelling performance, without a doubt outshining the rest of the cast. The relationships between the different members of the team are where the film

VETERAN director Spike Lee’s most ambitious outing yet, Da 5 Bloods transports us to the tropical jungles of South East Asia, as the story follows four African American VietnamWar veterans who return to the country to find the remains of their fallen commander and the millions of dollars-worth of gold bars they buried along with him. Outside of Lee’s normal urban comfort zone, Da 5 Bloods blends elements of a war film with the director’s own signature cinematic style and the film stands tall among his impressive filmography, touching on similar themes that Lee has always dealt with. It’s a story of renewed friendship and loyalty, as well as hardened views and traditions. Lee is able to shed light on both the racism the men have suffered

concise and skilled as delivering its message as, say, Do The Right Thing , but Da 5 Bloods is a rough diamond, proving Lee’s continuous consistency even this late into his career.

times and I believe it overstays its welcome with a two-and-a-half hour runtime, but Da 5 Bloods is as necessary and interesting as any of Spike Lee’s former classics. It’s a large-scale film with a personal touch, and its perspective on the black soldier experience in Vietnam is a something uniquely tailored to Lee’s skills as a filmmaker. It isn’t quite as

finds its comedy and charm, and all the actors have great chemistry in their construction of a group of old friends and former brothers in arms. Lee’s writing is as idiosyncratic and politically-current as ever, with the shadow of Donald Trump consistently looming over the film in the form of various MAGA caps. The story stoops into unbelievability at

Da 5 Bloods (15) Running time 2hr 34min Rating: HHHH