Sceptical in the ways of the theatre critic, I entered the Lawns Centre to watch this Drama Society production. As is always the way with theatre (in my opinion) I go feeling reluctant and leave uplifted. The show was fantastic, featuring some amazing comic and dramatic acting.
However, the venue itself was a disaster. The Lawns is just not the place to put on a play. Where I was sitting during the show, I had to contend with the annoying light of the sound and lighting technicians. Not specifically their fault obviously, but it occasionally brought me back to reality when I’d rather have stayed in the show’s atmosphere.
The actors showed some real professionalism and class, keeping me entertained and amused for the whole
three or so hours. There was the occasional slip-up or loss of concentration, but rather  few and far between. I was particularly impressed with Steve Marsden playing the part of Stanley, whom I thought was
fantastic throughout. Having said this, I was impressed with all the actors, and it did in fact surpass some professional productions I’ve seen in my time. One stumbling block at the end was the curtain call – I felt that it wasn’t rehearsed, and it seemed very clumsy after all the fantastic acting. It might be only a bow,
but it’s the last thing your audience will see and I always think it’s important.
The directors Vicky Allen and Andrew Corless are to be commended, having to deal with a change of venue and performance dates, let alone creating the production itself. They are to be congratulated; they put on a show they can really be proud of.
Overall, I had a really enjoyable evening. There was some real attention to detail, in particular during the interval, there was some jazz music being sung which added some variety and made the interval a part of the show. I’m happy to say although it was my first Drama Society event; it will not be my last.

Alexander Haigh

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THEATRE

Hull’s two main theatres, Hull New Theatre and Hull Truck, are both situated in the city centre (so you can pick up tickets whilst you shop!).
From 20th October to 25th October, Hull New Theatre is showing The Buddy Holly Story, telling us the story the brief life of the musical legend. In November, they bring us the classic seasonal ballet The Nutcracker Suite, the unforgettable orphan Annie, the energetic musical (and one of my favourites) Seven Brides For Seven Brothers and the utterly eighties Footloose: The Musical.
One of Hull Truck’s October productions, My Grandfather’s Great War, is a solo drama performance by Cameron Stewart, taken from the First World War diaries of Captain Alexander Stewart. Also, BAFTA-winning playwright John Godber’s play Bouncers will be showing on the 15th January to 14th February. In the Autumn, Hull Truck also bring us comedians Jeff Green, Mark Steel and Four Poofs and a Piano (yes, them from Jonathan Ross) who could all make for an amusing and affordable evening.

CINEMA

There are four mainstream cinemas in Hull, showing all the big blockbuster films.  Three of these are within walking distance of the City Centre (Odeon, Vue, Reel),  and the other is only a bus journey away in Kingswood (Cineworld, next door to Hollywood Bowl!).
Our fifth cinema, Hull Screen, is an independent art house cinema and tends to show more obscure and unusual films. They have been near to closure at various points, but are now looking forward to the possibility of a new home.  You can browse their showings online at http://www.friendsofhullscreen.co.uk/

GALLERIES and MUSEUMS

Are you an art lover? Hull won’t disappoint. Ferens Art Gallery is Hull’s artistic highlight. The Autumn exhibition – Above all, the Sky – features work by one of Hull’s most significant artists, Walter Goodin (1907-1992), is running from Saturday 27th September 2008 until early January 2009. Best of all, it has free admission, so you can spend hours wandering around, enjoying beautiful paintings, and it won’t cost you a penny.
There is also the ‘Old Town’ on the west side of Hull’s City Centre which is full of free museums and galleries and, if you like architecture, Old Town has some beautiful buildings.

UNIVERSITY

Last but certainly not least, the University is an exciting place to partake in the Arts. For instance, there are loads of Arts societies to join from the obvious Drama Society to the less obvious Gilbert and Sullivan. For a poetry lover, the English Department’s Phillip Larkin Centre holds poetry readings once a month in Zest on Newland Avenue (ten minutes walk from campus). They have previously played host to some brilliant modern poets and authors, such as Craig Raine and Matthew Sweeney, and up and coming performers include Lavinia Greenlaw and Julian Barnes. Artwork, including visiting displays from all over the world, is showcased on campus our very own Art Gallery in the bottom of the Larkin building.  There are also some great plays to look forward to, some exemplary student talent at acceptable student prices. The Drama Society (Drama Soc) are due to put on a Cinderella pantomime, and (in complete contrast) a performance of A Clockwork Orange at Christmas and The Gilbert and Sullivan Society (HUGSS) are staging The Pirates of Penzance in March. The Drama Department will, as always, have a lot to offer – there are always plenty of brilliant University productions, so keep an eye out.

Entering my third year, I still haven’t tasted all the wealth of Arts that Hull has to offer the student world. So go explore, and most importantly, enjoy!

-Kristin Bremmer

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Some of the 20,000 performers encompassed the University’s own Big Band, Barbershop Quartet The Suits, and four shows that the Drama Department’s first years toured as Z Theatre Company. These included Said Alice, a modern interpretation of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (Lewis Carroll), and Wide Asleep, a black comedy, satirising the over-prescription of anti-depressants and chemically induced happiness. A Prozac or two in your tea? To feel numb is the new black, so why is this chemically induced happiness not enough?

I was lucky enough to perform in Said Alice. Performing at the Fringe is a fantastic experience; you get to perform every day to an audience who have hand picked your show out of more than twenty others that would all be on at the same time. Said Alice follows the journey of Alice on a night out. She is given LSD by her friend Cat, she takes a ‘trip’ into Wonderland and madness ensues as she meets the weird and wonderful characters that live there, whilst unable to tell what is real and what is not. She goes to a tea party with three tramps, has sex with a drug-dealing caterpillar, and gambles with the transvestite Queen of Hearts.

With so many things on offer it can be hard to decide which shows to see, so getting a daily guide really helped- it was an entire booklet which just listed what shows were on at what time on one day. Comedy is a must, as there’s so much of it about, from big names like Jimmy Carr to up and coming new acts, there is something for everyone. There is also a lot of free comedy which is definitely worth checking out, but be wary – if it’s free you risk sitting through a couple of bad acts before you get a good one. As well as the huge variety of comedy, there is a large amount of other shows including dance and physical theatre. One of the stand-out shows for me was Clockheart Boy – the tale of a professor who is searching for his long lost daughter with the help of his creations. A show full of emotion, and quite simply a fantastic piece of theatre.

It’s hard to sum up the Fringe Festival in so few words. There is so much to do and everybody’s experience is different, but every experience has its merits and the Fringe is something you should most definitely visit should you get the chance.

Alison Best

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Mike Loader’s throat must really hurt after these shows. Don’t get me wrong, the man is a good actor and clearly has an impressive memory, but inevitably at any sign of passionate rage, Loader will hurl words into the audience with the strength of a force five tornado. He was, though, an energetic frontman for Drama Society’s intellectually ambitious production of Nikolai Erdman’s The Suicide.
The first half of the play was, admittedly, painfully long and tedious in places, but this was well supplanted by the superior humour of the second half. Quirky moments such as the players mock-complaining about being cast as coffin carriers while changing set complimented the comedic elements present within the play. Particularly noteworthy (as always) was Matthew Revil, a talented actor with an apparent gift for on-stage crying. Two other regulars who made their usual good impression were Rory Stobo, a man who simply commands the stage, and Anna Corbett, who was a hit as a hysterical housewife.
Asylum is not a versatile theatrical venue, but the set and props, including a full sized working door, were effective and well utilized. Some of the costumes complimented the effort put into set design and fitted the theme of Soviet Russia, but occasional others looked rather too blatantly hot off the ‘Primarni’ catwalk.
Aside from the customary Drama Soc late start, the farcical course of The Suicide was portrayed fairly well. It was generally enjoyable, and though some parts could have benefited more directorial attention, as the programme rightly said – ‘Russian disco music, a perverted postman, and a coffin. What more could you want?’

Kayleigh Oliver
Arts Editor

Dance Society
Canned Heat

The University’s Dance Society, one would assume, encompasses both those who excel at dance, and those who enjoy dancing regardless. When watching their mountainous production in April, it was surprisingly easy to observe the divide.

As soon as the dancing began, some performers were left behind, with more than a handful suffering an overwhelming lack of rhythm. Even the girls who shone in ability displayed faces shrouded in misery and concentration. Perhaps the Union would be kind enough this year to provide funding for Dance Society auto cues, suggested wording: FOR GOD’S SAKE, SMILE.

Criticism should always be constructive however, and there were some good points of the show. The Dance Sport Salsa girl-girl couple in short dresses were confident, talented, and above all happy. The show was well organised, resplendently costumed, and all previous sins were temporarily absolved by the brilliantly energetic full company version of ‘You Cant Stop The Beat’ (Hairspray).

This show was titled ‘Canned Heat’, but one could not help notice that parts of the Dance Society were distinctly off-the-boil, leaving the dissatisfying feeling that ‘Adequately Packaged and Hot in Places’ would have been a more accurate disclaimer.

Penny Rose

Music Department
Summer Concert

Back in May I went down to city hall to check out the Music Department’s end of year concert. Now, I’ll be honest with you, there was a lot of debate between my two friends and I as to whether to go. Having been dragged to concerts to see my sister perform when I was a kid, all I can remember is being bored throughout the whole concert. However, one of our friends was performing so we eventually decided that we had to go just to support him.
So off we went, on the third bus to come along, with long faces and a negative attitude. As every stop came and went we began to feel more and more like we didn’t want to go. Eventually the bus stopped and we were walking in (late) to the concert we so badly wanted to miss. As we walked up the stairs we could hear music and still we debated turning back. We snuck into the hall and took our seats at the back and approximately sixty seconds later, our attitudes had been completely turned around as the first performer ended and we gave our applause. The second act was an opera singer. She was amazing. I’ve never heard anyone sing like she did. She filled the entire hall with her voice and didn’t even have a microphone. Shortly after she finished her first song, she was joined on the stage by a four man strong barber shop quartet (The Suits). Once again, it was a hit with the three ‘previously-resenting-the-fact-they-had-come-to-this’ guys. This act even got a well earned standing ovation from the entire hall. The following acts included a middle-eastern performance and singing from lone child. It must have taken some courage, but he performed well and, as with the rest of the acts, received tremendous applause.
There were only two critical comments I can make in relation to the concert as a whole, the first being that I wish that my friends and I had gotten to the concert on time. The second point is the audience. There were a fair amount of people there, however it wasn’t a packed out hall which was a shame. This was the last ‘gig’ I would have ever thought I would voluntarily go to, but I did, and both myself and everyone else I spoke to had a really good time.
The Music Department put a lot of work and effort into this, as I am sure they do with all of their other concerts. I would recommend another of their concerts to anyone. It gives you a change of scene, you can feel a little cultured, and you have the peace of mind that you are supporting your friends and the University.

Jonno Witts
Photo Editor

Drama Society
Baby With The Bathwater

It is unclear as to whether audience comprehension was high on Christopher Durang’s list when he wrote this play, but the Drama Soc treatment rendered the performance entertaining despite the almost overwhelming confusion. This bizarre nature versus nurture play saw parents Helen (Anna Esko) and John (Alex Davies) subjecting their unfortunate male progeny Daisy (Doug Ackerman) to a childhood of memories literally climbing over each other to be first into the ‘repressed’ bank.
Directors Tom Perry and Linzi Hamilton created the set; a vibrant and rather brilliant toy-filled Elysium (pictured), which almost made up for the limited performance venue which Asylum offers. The acting throughout was of a generally high standard, with Esko and Davies leading the troupe. Drama Soc regular Anna Corbett had a modest but well suited role, and Kit Hargreaves’ queer impersonation of Nanny was as excruciatingly disconcerting as it was downright amusing.
The experience overall would have benefited from certain scenes being cut down or entirely removed, but the more successful areas of the play teemed with ironic and uncomfortable humour, serving to rate Baby as among the best of Drama Soc productions of recent years.

Kayleigh Oliver
Arts Editor

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