Out of the males, the character that I thought was by far the most entertaining and the most individual was Ian. Ian was a very sarcastically comical character whom was also quite camp which was fun to watch. He was dressed very stylishly and in clothes that made him appear as a very, laid back person. His voice was quite camp which was quite life like as his character was supposed to be gay. He seemed quite intelligent in his speech, he used quite a wide variety of vocabulary and he had a slight, posh twist to his voice.
In the beginning scene Terry got very nervous about the arrival of a guest of his, whereas Ian was not nervous or worried in any way; instead of becoming anxious like the other character he just made sarcastic comments and jokes. Even when left by his partner, he did not become upset or quite, he carried on with his strong, dominating character which to me was very real as in real life, people don’t just change over night. Although, at times I found his sarcasm slightly irritating as it was constant, but at the same time that added to the reality of his character.
The character I liked the least out of the men was probably Terry as he was quite a whiney, annoying person. He started out to be friendly and quite a likable character but then his need to be liked by people became a bit boring. But again, this was also a very life like character. Terry’s speech was quite real for a man from London, he was also slightly posh which showed he was not a dumb character.
The character I thought was best out of the women was probably Amanda, she started out as a typical ‘dumb blonde’ character who wore lots of make up, very girly coloured clothing, and failed each time she tried to add up a sum behind the counter in her shop. She spoke in quite a common manor and would cut words short, or even use some ‘slang’ which showed she was a young character. This part of her character was really funny even though it was just a stereotype. As her character changed into a more over powering character her clothes became smarter, her voice and speech became clearer and more educated and her hair changed from blonde to brown.
The character I found the least entertaining out of the females was Tamara, she was quite plain and I found her to be boring to watch. She had a few funny lines that she slipped in but other than that, her character was quite plain and didn’t seem to have any characteristics that stood out in any way. She played a woman who was fairly well spoken, this may have been one of the reasons why I didn’t find her particularly interesting as her voice was quite boring. She was of around 40-50 which also, is no where near my age so perhaps it was because I was not very well connected with her as a character because of the age difference.
The costumes that were used were not particularly fantastic but they didn’t need to be as the characters still came across fantastically believable. The men being dressed in women’s clothing was very funny and that gave the play a lot of its humour. The women from the soap’s were dressed in quite old fashioned clothes which reminded me of a lot of the characters from some soaps.
The stage was set in a very informal way, it was on the same level as the audience, which was really unusual but quite interesting and I felt made me, as the audience, feel as though I was really involved in the production. I feel that from what I saw, the audience behaved in much more of a relaxed way then they would at a big play (for example, feeling easy and comfortable to be able to laugh at certain things, etc). It also made it easier to get to know the characters and warm to them appropriately as we was very close to them.
Having the performance space so close also meant that it was a lot easier to see the characters facial expressions, which is always a bonus. This added to the naturalism of the play in a big way. This also meant that the audience were close enough to be able to see the wonderful details of the costumes and the set! This was fantastic as the whole way through I kept spotting new little bits and pieces that just made it all seem more and more like real life. It shows the real effort that is put into every production that is put on.
The audience also had to go through the stage to get to the bar area, I thought that this was very interesting and it really showed you that all the cast really had to work with, was a small set made of cardboard, and it was really them that made the play come alive. It also really lets the audience feel a part of the play.
When we walked into the acting space it had quite a personal feel as it was very small and the audience is placed very close to the acting space. The room was very dark with some soft coloured lighting scattered around, this gave the room a mysterious feel to it as what was on the stage was unclear. It also gave it a feel of professionalism which may have been lost due to the fact that the stage was not raised.
The music was quite minimal, a few short bits to introduce the soap opera scenes. The music used for this was very over the top, dramatic music which was quite funny as it was again hinting at how soaps these days are much too melodramatic. The theme tune to the soap was played a few times so it became recognisable to when the soap scenes were about to start, this made it much clearer as it was quite a complicated story line which was at times, hard to follow.
There was no other music used to set the scene other than sounds that were used in the soap scenes to create a comic and dramatic feeling. I felt that a bit more music may have made the play a bit easier to watch as some music can often break up long scenes, making them more interesting.
The lighting that was used was mainly key lighting which is very naturalistic, some spot lighting on people and just blackouts to separate the soap scenes from the real scenes with the men.
In the soap scenes there was slightly softer lighting used, which is used mostly to make people look more flattering and to give the scene a more glamorous look. This is what is done in real life soap operas which again, makes the more even more realistic in that respect. There was a lot of spotlighting used in the soap scenes which gave even more of a dramatic feel.
At one point when the stage was being re-arranged in the dark, there was a soft spotlight put on one character whilst he was making a phone call. This was a very clever way of separating the scenes, as there was a monologue going on whilst there were other people moving around on the stage but it wasn’t even noticeable as all the audience was focused on the monologue that was being performed.
I feel that this play could appeal to a wide range of ages from early teens up to quite elderly people. Although it was not suitable for children as it had some swearing in it, it had some mild sexual references and it was quite complicated in the story line. I think that the real target audience was around 15-45. I feel it is open to both male and female audiences but in my opinion, I feel that a female audience may enjoy it more. The play features a few gay relationships, not in any detail but having this as a factor may make some people less keen to be able to warm to the play which is a risk but it gives it a realistic twist as society is now much more open to things such as homosexuality than it ever has been before. The language used was just British, with very little if not, no slang at all so it would not be hard for anybody to understand.
The cost of the tickets was not very expensive, therefore it is a performance open to people from all different income backgrounds. A lot of judgments can be made, because it is a theatre production that it is only for the more ‘wealthy’ or ‘well off’ members of society but this play is not in any way limited to people of a higher social standing, even in cost.
One thing I did notice about this play was that there was no characters of any other origin than White-British, the play was set in London where the majority of people are White British but n today’s modern society there is a great mix or different cultures, races and backgrounds and I feel the play was lacking the extra appeal of some racial variety which may have even made it slightly more interesting and realistic. Therefore the play does not really reach out to any kind of audience other than the White-British ethnicity.
Overall, I thought that it was a fun, light hearted play which was different to anything I’ve ever seen before. At times it was slightly strange as the story lines were quite complicated which made it hard to follow at times, but I managed to get the overall drift of the play. After reading the programme I did not expect what I saw which can both be positive and negative, in a way having a clearer explanation of the overall plot I may have understood it a bit better but then having that element of surprise in all the twists and turns in the play was exciting and it kept me watching.
The opening was funny, attention grabbing and clear. The end however, was a bit more confusing as it was a bit sharp and unexpected. I liked the characters but in a way found it hard to warm to any specific person, perhaps this was as there was no real main character.
I would like to maybe go to see it again and maybe it would make it a bit more sense to me. I liked the overall idea of it all, with the contrast of the soap opera and the real life things and how they were strangely just as exciting as each other. The acting was very professional and any mistakes made were carried out in a way that wasn’t even noticeable. I don’t feel that this was a play that would have any kind of long term effect on me, or even one that I feel I will remember for a long time but I will say it was a fun piece of drama that had me on my toes and laughing on and off the whole way through.
My rating of the play overall, would be about a 6 out of 10.
