Spotlight Review

Riding on the success of last year, Drama Soc aimed to produce another night of exciting new theatre with Spotlight – and they did not disappoint. Armed with six new plays, the cast and writers held the audience’s attention throughout the night, showing you don’t need to be a pro to produce great theatre.

First was “The Ghost Writer”, written by Freddie Van der Velde and directed by Benjamin Rogers. The play tells the tale of a struggling writer who is intercepted by his former partner seconds after signing a contract to his life-changing screenplay. The big-shot Hollywood producers were cast perfectly, their comic timing and booming, confident vocals making them great antagonists to the shy and nervous Vincent. Although it started strongly, the play lost its clarity slightly towards the end. Overall a great performance nonetheless.

Next was Charlotte Spencer’s “Second Midnight”, which tells the story of a boy band hiding in “self-imposed” solitude. The play had an air of improvisation about it, which meant the actors’ conversations were natural and flowing. There was a great use of props and costumes. “Josh, I want your babies #midnightlove” was my favourite line of the night, and it wasn’t just me who found it funny. The performance had the entire audience cackling with laughter – and everyone in the front row covered in beer.

“The Earthlings Are Coming” began the second duo of plays. Using split staging, two groups of Martians demonstrated parliament and civilians’ reaction to an invasion. The physicality of the piece gave it its strength, with the Martians’ hunched postures and clawed hands setting them apart from the humans. Using a combination of costumes and more cornflakes than I’ve ever seen used on stage before, Day’s script proved that silliness can produce great theatre.

Play number four, Stephan Dury’s “Queue for Paradise” – directed by Joe Caplin – began incredibly strongly. The aged Brenda was superbly emotive, particularly in re-telling tales from her childhood which she expressed with great excitement. The entire cast played their characters brilliantly and energetically, with cockiness and attitude aplenty. However, the play didn’t seem to come to a full conclusion, leaving the audience slightly confused.

The penultimate play was Ellie Whitaker’s “Quiet Night In”, directed by Alyssa Rasmus. Although the play told a story of something we have all undoubtedly experienced, it did so in a hilarious and empathetic way. We were endeared to the characters and all rooting for Claudia to ditch the pretentious Jeremy. The play presented a poignant message hidden in a brilliantly relatable script, with an excellent rendition of the Spice Girls’ “Wannabe”.

The standout performances of the night came from Ed Jones and Gus Glassborrow, in Harry Denniston’s “Phoney”, directed by Rob Henderson. The script was excellent, with mugging being used to examine attitudes behind criminal acts. Listening intently as the phone’s incessant ringing wore away at the thieves’ bravado, we watched as the levels of power and control swapped and contorted between them.

Overall the evening was a huge success. With the combination of six fantastic plays and hilarious compères, it was a great way of enticing people to get involved with UEA theatre.