The title of James P Mannion’s new play Ridley’s Choice is somewhat deceptive. Because in reality Ridley makes a whole multitude of choices. George Ridley is a failed playwright and a failing father. When an eminent critic slates his latest play he chooses to up sticks and live in the woods, renouncing technology and the ‘material world’. One day a young local boy films him ranting about modern society and reciting the beginning of his pseudo-philosophical new book — also called Ridley’s Choice — making him into a minor Youtube sensation. When the media hunt him down, he chooses to let them interview him. Getting more and more caught up in his illusory fame, he makes one last fateful choice….

George Varley as Ridley has all the traits of a tortured writer experiencing an extreme form of mid-life crisis, while Archie Thomson gives an energetic performance in his role as Ridley’s mysterious friend, Clive. Although this play undoubtedly revolves around these two characters (or are they really two separate characters?), the supporting roles are equally strong: for example, Ali Ackland-Snow is by turn seductive and unnerving as the journalist who never strays from her industry speak, and James P Mannion is wonderfully irritating as the local youth who takes a video of Ridley — “mate” — on his iPhone.

The script intermingles the existential with the mundane — “Do bears shit in the woods? And if so, will they respect that this is a residential area?”, Ridley humorously ponders. It raises bold issues about our age: the inescapability of technology, the shallowness of the press, the dangerous allure of fame. This story, in which almost every character is a divorcé, also makes a profound comment on the viability of lasting marriage in modern society.

The themes and tropes are familiar but knowingly so: during the relentlessly fast-paced interview scene Ridley is accused of acting out a Walden-esque fantasy, and the character of Polly is an obvious nod to hacky Murdochian style of journalism. It is satirical without being moralistic and there are no real goodies or baddies. In addition, the fourth wall is well and truly broken when Ridley starts a rant about how in his play ‘characters come in when you least expect them to just to drive the plot along’ and is interrupted by the timely entrance of his daughter.

The play will be set in the intimate Burton Taylor theatre with a semi-thrust stage, which will create a claustrophobic space, evocative of the small woodland enclave. The experimental lighting will create a fluid sense of time, which will make it impossible to gage how long Ridley has been in his forest hideout and establish the all-important dissonance between fantasy and reality. The bathetic ending leaves the audience with plenty of questions, including the extent to which the drama has merely been playing out in Ridley’s imagination.

With tickets at just a fiver, this play is definitely worth a see. Not only because original student writing deserves support, but also because it looks bloody good.

Ridley’s Choice will be on at the BT from November 25-29 at 7.30. 

★★★★☆
Four Stars

There’s A Star Above The Manger Tonight becomes Red Red Meat’s first vinyl reissue this week. ‘Experimental rock’ would not do this album justice — a more accurate description would be the incredibly catchy ‘ambient post-bluegrass slide alternative boogeyblues’.

It is essentially a series of fragments, a broken picture with no directions for reassembly. The Meatheads dismantle their grooves as soon as they’ve built them, dragging you kicking and screaming through the resulting sonic mess.

But don’t get me wrong, that’s exactly what works so well with this album. It feels like the Meatheads, in a break from washing out meat trucks, ran inside — blood still dripping from their hands — and just happened to bung together whatever they found into an abyss of distorted ambience.

It’s almost impossible to pin down a top track, but ‘Chinese Balls’ comes pretty close. Starting off with a groove that seems to mould 1987 Rick Rubin/Russell Simmons Def Jam into a redo of the Baywatch theme song, you’d be forgiven for thinking you had the wrong disc, before a guitar track that sounds like it’s been strung with spools of worn-out, dirty audio tape comes in. The bridge almost breaks down into an early Pink Floyd psychedelic ramble.

For someone not usually a fan of reissues, this album really is worth the hassle.

★★★★☆

Four Stars

Christmas came early last night in the Simpkins Lee theatre, delivered in all its sleigh bell goodness by the Oxford Revue at the top of their game. My previous experiences of the Revue in the sweatbox that is the Wheatsheaf had given me high hopes for the evening, but this Christmas stocking of comedy went above and beyond my expectations. The performers seemed to revel in the freedom of the larger space and longer time slot, imbuing the evening with an infectious absurdity that had the audience spellbound throughout.

The show’s greatest strength lay in its variety, blending classic stand-up routines with Wogan-infused radio plays alongside moments of the absolutely surreal (without going into too much detail, I never thought I’d see that much human hair grace the stage of Oxford’s finest comedy troupe). The range of sketches was an admirable achievement in a show that has presumably been put together in a very short space of time, and it was testament to the professionalism of the performers that it came off as a cohesive, and at times almost slick, production – though, granted, professional does feel an odd choice of word to use of a show combining postman-based erotic fiction with a Tinder-inspired rock opera.

The Revue played to their strengths, alternating longer sketches and running gags with short and surreal set-pieces that managed to get their audience crying with laughter at the pure ludicrousness of what was going on. The combination of styles meant there was never a real lull in laughter or moment when you found yourself wishing for a sketch to just wrap itself up and end. If there were nerves, the Revue certainly didn’t show it; their breezy confidence meant the audience (when they weren’t desperately trying to avoid being picked on) were eating out of the palm of their hand.

To avoid sounding too sycophantic, I will admit that there were moments of imperfection among the brilliance. There were slight technical issues towards the end and a sketch about the pint of milk was, ironically, wrong about the price of milk (or am I missing the irony?). However, these were eclipsed by its much greater strengths. I genuinely can’t emphasis enough how much this show made me laugh, something I’m all too grateful for as a work-heavy 6th week hobbles to its close; despite the lack of the rumoured mulled wine and mince pies – I still want answers – the Oxford Revue’s Christmas Party proved itself to be an unmissable night of student comedy.

30 shows, 4 days: yes, it was that time of year again. The time of year where aspiring thesps flock to the Burton Taylor Studio for a whirlwind week of drama and heated competition. It certainly did not disappoint. As the producer of the event, I was hugely impressed with what all of the groups came up with; shortlisting the winners was by no means an easy task. Nonetheless, here’s a flavour of some of our favourite shows from the week.

Colin and Katya – Univ (Best Of Cuppers, Best New Writing)

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As we left the auditorium after this show, one of my fellow judges had nothing to say but “That can’t possible have been written by a student.”

He was wrong about that. Jack Clover has certainly exploded onto the drama scene with this superb piece of new writing – the plot is an exquisite balance of comedy with more serious matter, which questions the portrayal of women, the judgemental nature of society and the inner-workings of culture itself. Clover’s play shows an intense amount of consideration for the audience’s emotional journey; we instantly find ourselves rooting for the hero, Colin, and his journey becomes ours.

A great test of a piece of new writing is how effectively other theatrical components are used to showcase the story. Colin and Katya certainly withstands this test. The stage design was minimalistic yet incredibly powerful, drawing the focus sharply on the story itself. As far as acting goes, there was very little to fault. There was a profound depth to all of the characters, including the narrators; the actors had carefully considered every little detail and nuance. The onstage interaction between the characters was incredibly natural, and the more abstract, physical moments were incredibly sharp and well rehearsed. The role-switching was clear and effective and the narration was engaging and perfectly paced to suit the moment. The wonderfully subtle comedic moments were perfectly timed and powerfully executed.

In short, all of the elements were there. There was very little about this play that hadn’t been well planned and creatively executed, even down to the computer keys used for tickets. Look out for these guys – we’d have paid more than £1 to see this.

Eight – Brasenose (Best Director, Best Actress)

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Most of us had previously heard of Ella Hickson’s play Eight; eight monologues which build up a chilling portrait of the distorted nation we live in. We walked into the auditorium believing that we had a good idea of what we were about to see, but Jess Ward’s unique handling of the material was outstanding, and made Eight a real front-runner from the start.

For one thing, the monologues were not performed consecutively and in their entirety, but spliced up and woven in with one another, creating a gripping web of plot-lines and suspense. The emphasis on physical theatre was also hugely effective; the moments of ensemble were well rehearsed and created a powerful visual, using movement and subtle interaction to compliment each of the monologues. This had an incredibly disturbing effect and the heightened tension was only enhanced by the use of white masks, adding a new dimension to the play concerning the nature of identity. 

There were multiple contenders here for Best Actor/Actress. In a play 100% comprised of pieces of monologue, the finished product can only work if the actors have an in-depth understanding of the characters that they are portraying, and if these are developed well. However, there were no weak links in this cast; as individuals, each monologue was engaging and powerful. More importantly, as a group, they offered a colourful display of diversity, with each character bringing something different, and special, to the overriding story. The success of this show was a combination of innovative direction with incredibly skilled acting.

Down By Law – Wadham (Best Design, Best Actor)

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What did we like about this one? It was daring. Any play which is dominated by space, time and silence is difficult to pull off. And luckily for these guys, we thought it worked.

Adapting a film for stage is incredibly different. Arguably, the most significant challenge is working with an entirely different visual framework. In a screenplay, you can change up the shots and angles; in a theatre you’re given a fixed space. These guys used this space extremely effectively. he set, for one thing, was magnificent. The crew had fashioned 2 sets of wooden jail bars, which were moved around the front of the stage to alter perceptions of enclosure, and to situate the audience within or without the cell – whichever fitted the moment best. The tech complimented this, utilising levels of light to mark changes in time, and culminating in an explosive finale whose staging provided a dynamic shift in atmosphere and pace.

The way the actors handled themselves really reflected the atmosphere onto the audience; time slowed right down. Ali Porteous was a worthy winner of our Best Actor award; he kept his character alive and delightfully colourful even in an environment where little interaction was offered to him. He offered a ray of hope, drawing out the best in the characters around him. He also played the audience well, with some well-timed moments of humour.

This was very ambitious yet well executed piece, which we really appreciated.

In Conclusion…

I would have liked to write a lot more. The standards were incredibly high, and just because only a handful of shows ended up winning prizes, it didn’t mean that we weren’t incredibly impressed with everyone. I just couldn’t afford to buy anymore trophies, really.

Despite what certain student publications have been telling you recently, I believe Oxford drama is worth your time and money. As I sat in the BT pretty much 24/7, it was heartening seeing the effort and care that had been invested into these half-hour slots; for me, it made all the chaos completely worth it. These students had been at Oxford for a few weeks, but amidst the subfusc and those first gruelling essay-crises they had taken the time out to assemble a team, put together a play and see it realised onstage. Their enthusiasm to integrate themselves into Oxford’s weird and wonderful world of theatre made them a joy to work with.

And watch this space; we’ve seen Macbeth and Banquo throwing shapes to Abba, we’ve had piano playing through a blackout and we’ve had a crazed director with a profound love for Barbara Streisand…

Who knows what these guys will come up with next?

★★★★☆
Four Stars

When asked to review Mark McGuire’s latest release, Noctilucence, I let out a sigh at the pretentious name. It required a concerted effort to fathom just what ‘noctilucence’ actually means (the phenomenon of clouds glowing at night — who knew?). My further discoveries of fourteen-minute songs did little to raise my hopes.

Yet Noctilucence surpassed all of my assumptions.

Its five tracks provide a stunning complexity of sound shrouded with an almost extraterrestrial undertone. Even if the weird and wonderful isn’t for you, it’s hard to deny the sheer complexity of the songs.

The album is also beautifully symmetrical. Opening track ‘Freedom of Spirit’ is reminiscent of a church choir, its ethereal vocals adding another layer to the song, ensuring that it constantly rushes up to full intensity before ebbing away. The album peaks with title track ‘Noctilucence’, which nevertheless frustrates with its long yet intense opening, before changing beautifully after four minutes into unadulterated electric guitar.

The album works incredibly well as a whole, let down only in the incredibly long introductions, which induce a sense of guilt for feeling frustrated at such beautiful music. If questioning the universe through instrumental music is for you, then McGuire’s Noctilucence comes highly recommended.