Review and such
Apr. 6th, 2007 10:12 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
desperanceOkay, here's the review from the Sunderland Echo, as echoed in the Shields Gazette:
Accepting the death of a loved one can be physically and emotionally draining and even more so when it's long and painful.
That's what A Cold Coming deals with - a group of friends rallying around Quin, a man dying of Aids, and the effect it has on their lives.
It's the debut play by north-east writer Chaz Brenchley, who coincidentally accepts the Best Supporting Actor nod for the role of the motionless decaying figure lying centre stage.
Sean Kenney, as Quin's returning boyfriend Michael, gives a certain realism to the role, trying to accept his long-lost partner's condition and how time is quickly running out.
There's the right level of emotion, humour, bickering and story throughout the play, which at 75 minutes has only one act, and doesn't need anything else.
The eight-strong cast all excel in their roles and Brenchley, drawing on his own experiences of looking after a loved one losing their life to the condition, approaches the often taboo subject with passion and clarity.
It's a charming piece of theatre which becomes more intimate in the confines of the delapidated surroundings of the library theatre.
A Cold Coming never intended to use a big budget, which is why it triumphs.
...And then I went to the pub with playwrights, who were significantly less lovely about it, but that's what you get for hanging around with professionals. And for once I defended myself, argued even, rather than following my usual course of capitulation at the first sight of criticism. Hrrumph.
And now it's another lovely morning and I don't know what to do with myself, but I think it won't be work. Maybe I'll clean the kitchen after all. Or maybe not...
Accepting the death of a loved one can be physically and emotionally draining and even more so when it's long and painful.
That's what A Cold Coming deals with - a group of friends rallying around Quin, a man dying of Aids, and the effect it has on their lives.
It's the debut play by north-east writer Chaz Brenchley, who coincidentally accepts the Best Supporting Actor nod for the role of the motionless decaying figure lying centre stage.
Sean Kenney, as Quin's returning boyfriend Michael, gives a certain realism to the role, trying to accept his long-lost partner's condition and how time is quickly running out.
There's the right level of emotion, humour, bickering and story throughout the play, which at 75 minutes has only one act, and doesn't need anything else.
The eight-strong cast all excel in their roles and Brenchley, drawing on his own experiences of looking after a loved one losing their life to the condition, approaches the often taboo subject with passion and clarity.
It's a charming piece of theatre which becomes more intimate in the confines of the delapidated surroundings of the library theatre.
A Cold Coming never intended to use a big budget, which is why it triumphs.
...And then I went to the pub with playwrights, who were significantly less lovely about it, but that's what you get for hanging around with professionals. And for once I defended myself, argued even, rather than following my usual course of capitulation at the first sight of criticism. Hrrumph.
And now it's another lovely morning and I don't know what to do with myself, but I think it won't be work. Maybe I'll clean the kitchen after all. Or maybe not...
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(no subject)
Date: 2007-04-06 09:45 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-04-06 12:14 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-04-06 02:01 pm (UTC)1. Do they have any relevance to your life as a whole?
2. Is there anything they said that, whether or not you liked it, you feel you could learn from and apply to the next play?
Congrats on the review, and may it have a successful run.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-04-06 06:10 pm (UTC)Whoo, yeah. Some of my best friends are playwrights...
Hmm. That's trickier. The way I feel about it, what they said was absolutely orthodox, and highlights the way my play departs from the orthodoxy; but I did that deliberately, and I like it, and I still think it works...
(no subject)
Date: 2007-04-07 03:07 am (UTC)Congratulations.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-04-07 01:28 pm (UTC)So, then, it was more of a debate of positions on technique than anything else.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-04-06 09:19 pm (UTC)