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View as published at NG Magazine
Shakespeare doesn't exactly bring comedy to mind. Nor has the great Baird typically written plays that are particularly accessible for a modern audience. The Comedy of Errors, however, manages to accomplish both. Not only was it laugh-out-loud funny, but the couple of hours I was at the Theatre flew by. By the end of plays I am usually nursing a sore rear-end as a result of dodgy theatre seats, though in this case The Royal Shakespeare Company served as a more than suitable distraction.
The play opened in Nottingham last night to a sold-out auditorium. It was pleasant to find that this was inhabited by a wide spectrum of different age-groups. Tickets weren't reserved solely for the over thirties. Of course Nottingham students can revel in the fact that any Shakespearean performance will cost them no more than a fiver! A quarter of the cost of face-value tickets!
Separated at birth, a twin begins looking for his brother. Arriving at his home town, he unknowingly becomes mistaken for his sibling, leading to all manner of awkward and compromising situations and misunderstandings. Hilarity is the inevitable outcome.
The set consists of ragged sails and a lop-sided mast, giving an interesting and fruitful backdrop to the scenes. Like many interpretations of classic plays, the RSC have chosen a style of worn authenticity, whereby nothing appears to be new or in good condition. The result is that the audience finds it easy to suspend their sense of disbelief; the overall mise-en-scene takes on a slightly postmodern flavour. The style of acting is not unlike this either. The characters regularly break the fourth wall, mocking the unfortunate people who shelled-out for front-row seats.
Fans of quirky and stylistic comedies, such as The Mighty Boosh or Green Wing, will find the humour hits the spot. Mannerisms are exaggerated and the comedy is elevated to the point where it becomes borderline slapstick, though without the risk of seeming silly: the characters are speaking in prose after all. Possibly one of the funniest characters - the medicine man - reminded me of Johnny Depp's infamous Captain Jack Sparrow from the Pirates Of The Caribbean trilogy, but in a style reminiscent of Noel Fielding's. It all makes for a highly amusing experience.
Many reasonably famous faces line the cast list. Jason Merrells plays one of the twins, Antipholus, having starred in The Bill, Casualty, and Waterloo Road among many others. The rest of the line-up have similar records, meaning you will recognise many of the actors from their previous work.
The Comedy Of Errors is on at the Theatre Royal until 10 November. If you can get hold of tickets, then do so with haste: a production of such quality doesn't come around very frequently. Students should make extra effort. This is a performance of a classic Shakespeare play I guarantee you will enjoy. Plus if you phone you parents telling them where you've been, you might be able to get a bit more cash out of them!
View as published at NG Magazine
On a stage covered with frilly red curtains, vases of flowers and porcelain figures, Kate Nash looks like she's sitting in a Granny's living room. Or she would do if Granny’s had a penchant for 8ft speakers and electric guitars.
Playing at Nottingham Trent Students Union, Nash was greeted by torrents of support from the many fans that had turned up to the sold-out gig. It was great to hear that most of the people present knew all the words to every song on the album, not just her single releases! For an artist who emerged on the popular music scene less than a year ago, that's pretty impressive.
Through her videos, Nash comes across as a very poppy, pissed-off mockney lass. On stage however, this impression is shattered. She plays the piano and guitar, and not for just a few songs like some other pop artists. She is the only pianist on the stage and is very competent too.
She's nothing like the Nash we see in the Foundations video. Onstage she is shy and humbled by the crowd's support, blushing as someone shouts a declaration of love. A revelation for those unfamiliar with her work is that the majority of her songs are heart-felt, passionate and sung in this way too.
There are plenty of tongue-in-cheek lyrics, not unlike those of the Arctic Monkeys or The Streets. Such a song is Birds, which if people were still allowed to smoke in venues these days, would have been received with a sea of lighter-flames. The song is a passionate story of love, but relayed in Nash’s typical cheeky style: "Birds can fly so high and they can shit on your head/Yeah they can almost fly into your eye and make you feel so scared/But when you look at them and you see that they are beautiful/That's how I feel about you.”
Another of the crowd favourites was the song Dickhead; at least, it was with the female demographic. An Estuary English accent coupled with bad grammar seem to be the vital ingredients for creating crowd-rocking songs these days. Not needing to think about using the correct tense probably helps the crowd to rock-out that little bit better.
Inevitably, it was Nash’s singles that generated the most noise from the audience. Talking to the crowd whilst sipping a cup of tea (Yes, the lyrics to Mouthwash are true!), only underlines the surprising fact that Nash is actually quite shy and mousey. At least she is when talking.
During her more upbeat tracks, Nash bobs up and down on her piano stool like a child having a tantrum, such is the ferocity of her musical passion. Mouthwash and the final song of the night Pumpkin Soup were such numbers, and had much of the audience dancing.
For an artist labelled as sitting in the mainstream pop category, Nash maintains a huge level of musical talent. The fact that actual instruments are played and there isn't a mime-track in sight brings hope and strength to the fact that real live music is here to stay, and isn’t the sole preserve of less mainstream acts. More artists like Kate Nash please!
View as published at NG Magazine
Funny really, how retro works. Styles and fashions seem to recycle themselves. New generations copy the innovations and statements of those previous and claim them as their own. Some fashions, like mini-skirts, we welcome back. Others, like 80s day-glo t-shirts, we don't. The style of Darren Hayman's new album however, oozes a refreshing seventies sound. It's like Ziggy-Stardust just had kids.
In fact David Bowie and Darren Hayman are two peas in an iPod. From an album dubbed as being an introduction into electro-folk music, it has the same kind of fitful sub-conscious lyrical haze as the songs from the original seventies revolutionary.
As you'd probably guessed the album is based around the goings-on in a secondary modern school, for many listeners, furthering the melodic trip back in time. Tracks tell stories about Art & Design teachers, escapades in shoplifting, star pupils and such like.
At first the prospect of electro-folk seems kind of daunting. The cover art consists of an oil-painting of a sheep dog. It led me to believe the album was going to be the kind of folk that consists of beard-stroking, woolly jumpers, pipes and slippers. One should never judge a book by its cover though, or an album by it’s sleeve design.
The double struts of electric-guitar power chords, overlaying a rolling melody played on a Banjo, work together fantastically. Rochelle is such a track. Another example of the delightful way Hayman fuses electric and acoustic overtures is in the song Elizabeth Duke. A violin follows the vocal melody, whilst a harp, electric piano and a half-dozen other electronically produced sounds combine to create a song which flows so easily into a summer's day driving song.
Let's Go Stealing is probably my favourite track on the album. I cannot help but smile when playing it. It's one of those songs you ought to play before going to work because it'll put you in a good mood for the rest of the day.
Hayman's band Hefner, with whom his last work was produced, was a favourite of the the late, great John Peel. Like typical Peel tender, The Secondary Modern isn't necessarily an album that will have you humming the tunes straight away. Given a few revolutions in the CD player however, and it easily grows on the listener. In no time you'll find yourself singing "Let's go stealing". Probably best not to wander round the supermarket singing it though.
Darren Hayman & The Secondary Modern is available through Track & Field from November 5.
