Theatre review: 'SS Mendi Dancing the Death Drill' @ Nuffield Southampton Theatres 09/07/18

An edited version of this review was published on the National Student website on the 9th Jul 18

'SS Mendi Dancing the Death Drill' is the Isango Ensemble’s retelling of the negligent wrecking of the SS Mendi, a steam ship bringing black labourers from South Africa in 1917 to assist in the trench-building, latrine-digging and cooking of the Western Front. The play was commissioned by Now14-18, the national arts programme to commemorate the centenary of the First World War, to play at the Nuffield Southampton’s new downtown NST City. For NST, this show is also designed to coincide with their Now-Here theatre festival, supported by Black History Month South, which explores the theme of Southampton’s hidden of migrants and refugees (and accidently became an excellent pun on Theresa May’s “citizens of the world are citizens of Now-Here”).

Sam Hodges, artist director of NST, said that ‘For a story of this magnitude to have been whitewashed from the history books beggars belief’, and this is certainly true. I’m a local and I never learnt about this at school, and for the Southampton audience, the repetition of the phrase ‘12 miles off the Isle of Wight’ is a stark condemnation of the priorities of white, western, US-eurocentric historiography. The play’s paratext is vital in this regard, with a very informative programme and a supplementary booklet free to pick up from the Maritime Archeology Trust, a 43-page history of the ‘Black and Asian Seamen of the Forgotten Wrecks of the First World War’.

Unpack the secrets of your hometown on a microadventure

An edited version of this review was published on the National Student website on the 7th Jul 18

Popularity can have negative impacts on tourist honeypots, as one can see in Venice and other tourist honeypots fighting back against AirBnB’s hostile takeovers and resultant gentrification, and the ecological damage that overcrowding can cause sites of natural beauty. Instead of crowding into Florence, Ho Chi Mihn City, and New York, there is an alternative which is less damaging to tourist hotspots, your wallet, and the planet - especially the latter two when you don’t have to fly! I’m referring to micro-adventures, taking the time to explore your locale as if it were a holiday destination.

Now, I know that you can’t cloy the hungry edge of appetite by bare imagination of a feast, and that’s not what this is about. However, it’s worth remembering that the people in the far-flung cities that we find so exciting are just people pottering about their day like people anywhere else (and a smattering of tourists of course, as you’ll know if you ever tried using a pavement in London), and with the right frame of mind you can make your own hometown feel far-flung.

Theatre review: 'The Big I Am' @ Liverpool Everyman 20/06/18

An edited version of this review was published on the National Student website on the 27th Jun 18

The Liverpool Everyman Company’s new Ibsen adaptation, ‘The Big I Am’, is fantastic. At times anarchic and juvenile, sometimes harmonious and poignant, it transfers Ibsen’s Peer Gynt into 20^th-century Liverpool, tracking the eponymous Gynt through the 60s, 80s and noughties and corssing continents in the process. Its mix of heightened realism and absurdism is highly energetic, and throughout cast demonstrate imagination in absurdist choices. Sometimes the juvenility is too much – only sometimes though, and certainly not enough to take away from what a fantastic experience this show is.

The play features a great cast, all 3 ages of Gynt – young, middle-aged and old, each played by a different actor – are equally good. The ensemble is great, and the attention given to peripheral characters (in Gynt’s world, all characters seem peripheral, even when he’s offstage) is sufficient to amuse without being distracting from the scene. There’s plenty of music throughout, sometimes in the scene and sometimes as backing, from a variety of eras and genres, and there’s also singing in perhaps unusual or unexpected places which is very enjoyable. The production is a good track of the passage of slow time but the first act is too long. It did keep my attention throughout, but the play in total runs to 3 hours so be warned. It requires endurance, but it pays off in a big little way.

A Defence of 'Orwellian'

An edited version of this review was published on the National Student website on the 25th Jun 18

For Orwell’s birthday, I’d like to make a defence of Orwell on account of a quirk of our political parlance. Someone who spends an unhealthy majority of their time reading about politics on the internet tends to run across the term ‘Orwellian’ in a bafflingly diffuse array of sometimes fairly unrelated contexts. Sure, the big bads like the Snoopers’ Charter and the NSA and most things occurring in Russia get ‘Orwellian’ labels and it’s fairly justified. Justified in its use by the average Facebook-user-cum-political-analyst’s loose grasp of a book they almost definitely haven’t read, anyway.
 Enough people have seen ‘Orwellian’ standing for ‘bad oppressive state apparatus’ to learn the broad context and make an educated guess in their own writing. Unfortunately, enough people have learned the word from people who haven’t read 1984who also learned the word from people who haven’t read 1984that such instances as LBC firing Katie Hopkins, Sadiq Khan’s anti-junk food advertisements, and Tommy Robinson being arrested for breaching the peace of court find themselves referred to as ‘Orwellian’. Apparently the somewhat baggier definition of ‘Orwellian’ is “a decision made by someone in a position of power which I don’t agree with”. I wager a tidy sum that at least one person has accused the British state of acting ‘Orwellian’ for arresting the men doing Nazi salutes at the ‘Free Tommy’ demonstration in London.

Shriver Was Wrong on Diversity

An edited version of this article was published on the National Student website on the 19th Jun 18

Let me some up a recent controversy: Leonel Shriver’s gotten in some trouble recently for this article, originally entitled ‘When diversity means uniformity’ as you can tell from the URL, but recently fuzzily renamed ‘Great writers are found with an open mind’, which is bitterly critical of the publisher Penguin Random House’s new diversity policy. The policy aims to make their staff and published authors reflective of UK society by 2025 by ‘taking into account ethnicity, gender, sexuality, social mobility and disability’ – quelle horreur. As a result of her article, she’s been jettisoned as a judge in Mslexia’s 2018 Short Story Competition, who in a tweet quoted their editor as saying Shriver’s comments ‘are not consistent with Mslexia’s ethos, and alienate the very women we are trying to support’.

To my mind, Shriver’s tone in attacking the policy and an accompanying questionnaire used to survey the publisher is almost as offensive as her content. For example, her oh-so-coy complaint that ‘the old chocolate-or-vanilla sexes have multiplied into Baskin Robbins’, and that trans identity ‘merits a whole separate query’ separate to the question on gender. Of course, she could easily defend herself in the first instance as merely using a metaphorical description, as ice cream is frivolous and the disdain is so lightly shaded, but this dog-whistle-inflammatory-language tactic is popular with the Spectator and other reactionary writers and publications for riling up lefty readers and fuelling the stereotype of oversensitive lefties for those who perhaps don’t understand what all the PC hullabaloo is about. 

And then we get to the substantive argument of her article, which you can read yourself or allow me to oversimplify as “diversity is the wrong criterion on which to hire staff and choose which manuscripts to take to print”. But diversity not being the only criterion on which we hire or choose by no means suggests it shouldn’t be highly important among the other criteria. This is the point at which we realise her comments about a ‘gay transgender Caribbean who dropped out of school at seven and powers around town on a mobility scooter’ being published are not only offensive but also wrong. Her defence here to accusations of a host of discriminatory –isms in that one terse phrase will undoubtedly be the caveat she gives that their manuscript is an ‘incoherent, tedious, meandering and insensible pile of mixed-paper recycling’, again obfuscating a reactionary disdain. But it nontheless misses a crucial point: isn’t the idea of a text from a more diverse array of perspectives actually exciting?

Theatre review: 'Trying it on' @ Birmingham REP 12/06/18

An edited version of this review was published on the National Student website on the 18th Jun 18

Trying It On, a new one-man-show by David Edgar which attempts to is not entirely good theatre. Certainly not in the traditional sense of the slick professionalism we’re used to on the modern stage. There are moments that were jarring and awkward, or moments where Edgar took pauses which were perhaps a little too long to regain his place in the story, with the aid of a prompt. It’s not slick, it’s slow and stumbling, but what it is is honest.

The faltering nature is perhaps a reflection of its source material – we were frequently vox-popped along the lines of those over- and under 47 (for purposes as political as you can imagine). Likewise, while the set is nice, the interactions with it are simple and performative (not in the duplicitous sense), but this is the point somehow. The performance is honest, candid, and this closeness to or confidence in the audience allows nuance that an arm’s-length performance wouldn’t.

It’s an intriguing exploration of the generation who dreamed of revolution in 1968 but to varying degrees abandoned it by the current day. A clever device in this involves talking to a recorded voice through a microphone – Edgar’s 20-year-old past-self who reacts in horror at some of the more bourgeois successes of his 70-year-old self – and a key concern of the play is the extent to which we should be allowed to betray our old beliefs or disown or old selves.

Theatre review: '3 Sisters' @ Royal Exchange Manchester 09/05/18

An edited version of this review was published on the National Student website on the 30th May 18

Rashdash is a three-woman ensemble, and from 3^rd-19^thof May they played ‘Three Sisters’, after Chekhov, in the studio space at the Royal Exchange, Manchester. The phrase “after Chekhov” is crucial to the play, a modernised self-referential adaptation of Chekhov’s original intermingled with an abstract dramatisation of Rashdash’s thought process when debating dramatising the Canon. This is such a far postmodern stray from the lackluster realism of conventional theatre that, having asked in their flier for rating out of ‘a) 42’, ‘b) gf%’, ‘c) ★★★★★★★★★★★★★★’, or ‘d) other’, Rashdash would probably be dismayed to see me give them five stars. But the production deserves it, it’s brilliant.

The production (play? artwork? experience?) was anarchic, energetic, joyful. In fact, it was refreshingly disrespectful - disrespectful in the way modern artists probably should be to the revered Classics. A milder form of this phenomenon would be Emma Rice’s euphoric stint at the Globe Theatre. Emma Rice’s critics would have been struck dumb watching Rashdash’s ‘Three Sisters’. Good riddance. I know very little about Chekhov’s original, but I don’t doubt that here the eponymous sisters are given far more stage time than the author intended, and seeing into their world, refracted and distorted as it is by the modernisation, is a rich exploration of character. Rashdash played perfectly with the ambiguity with which female artists approach the mostly male canon and there was also an ambivalence in the actor-character relationship which allowed the knife edge of sincerity and irony to be teetered all the more precariously. At one point for example, a radical feminist grieving the end of an intense romantic relationship questions how her current lived experience interacts with her strongly-held abstract philosophies.

Theatre review: 'The Kite Runner' @ Liverpool Playhouse 27/02/18

An edited version of this review was published on the National Student website on the 3rd Mar 18

‘The Kite Runner’ is a Nottingham Playhouse and Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse co-production with UK Productions and Flying Entertainment. It’s an adaptation of Khaled Hosseini’s novel which the trailer, programme and posters urgently remind us is an ‘international best-selling novel’ which went on to spawn ‘a major feature film’. All of this is meant to sound impressive, which makes the play all the more disappointing: it’s a cheap capitalisation on a cultural phenomenon which, whatever its merits as a novel, should never have been made into a play.

The pacing throughout is appalling thanks to an impossible script which relies on endless tonally-unvarying narration for a crutch to what amounts to a recounting and not an adaptation. “Show, don’t tell” is an elementary commandment, but this is precisely where ‘The Kite Runner’ falls down. One gets a sense of the powerful poetry of Hosseini’s original work, but it jars with Raj Ghatak’s insincere, static delivery which must make up at least a third of the entire runtime, and it overrules the brief snatches of actual dramatic representation the audience is allowed.

The verbose retrospective of the narration created an ironic distance between past and present, particularly in the first half of the play when Ghatak would flit incessantly between the older-narrating and childhood-acting version of Amir, which made it impossible to fully empathise with our protagonist. The overuse of telling also created instances which clearly robbed director and actors of choice and sometimes forced actors into carrying out described actions which did not feel believable, particularly in almost every instance in which a character was said to have cried and the actor was then expected to do so on the spot. 

Theatre review: 'Crimes Under the Sun' @ Bath Theatre Royal 19/02/18

An edited version of this review was published on the National Student website on the 28th Feb 18

‘Crimes Under the Sun’ by new Old Friends is directed by James Farrell and stars Jill Myers, Jonny McClean, Heather Westwell and Feargus Woods Dunlop – a cast of four actors who have to multi-role between them a dramatis personae of fourteen characters. The somewhat farcical pastiche to the period detective fiction of Agatha Christie clearly took some cues from Patrick Barlow’s multiroling melodrama ‘The 39 Steps’ which played the Criterion in London. Highlighting this similarity isn’t a criticism by any means: if a successful and popular production has found a winning formula then why not emulate it?

This production is a lot less polished than its West End equivalent. It’s unprofessional, but charming, funny and self-aware of the opportunities its lack of slick polish allow, with a cabaret-like inclination to try out outside-the-box ideas and the mixing of comedic modes which create a lovely evening of eclectic silly fun. Some of these choices may have been hit-or-miss, for example the song and dance recapitulation of the character introductions which was questionable whilst endearing – although that being said, it’s a more interesting way to stage Christie’s typical introduction of the future suspects than other plays would think of and was enjoyable.

In a decidedly unserious production the multiroling has hilarious opportunities as in Heather Westwell playing all three policemen in the investigation and having to switch between them in one scene with only her voice and the assistance of a moustache, a pair of glasses and crouching for the short one. However, it means the actors are sometimes relying on a silly voice, a stereotyped physicality and an accent to differentiate the more important characters. The acting is affected but works with our sense of the propriety of the time of writing and also works with the ironic tone of the comedy which has to come from the ridiculousness of the premise.

Theatre review: 'A Passage to India' @ Liverpool Playhouse 07/02/18

An edited version of this review was published on the National Student website on the 9th Feb 18

A Passage to India is an adaptation of E M Forster’s novel co-produced by Simple8 and Royal & Derngate, Northampton, adapted by Simon Dormandy, who co-directed the production with Sebastian Armesto. The production is on a 6-stop national tour, having just played the Northampton’s R&D, the Salisbury Playhouse and the Bristol Old Vic. It’s playing at the Liverpool Playhouse till the end of the week (10 Feb). If you want to catch it, and I recommend you do, it’s going on to play Bromley’s Churchill Theatre (13-17 Feb) and a long run at London’s Park Theatre (20 Feb-24 Mar).

The Liverpool Playhouse is joint-owned by the Everyman and is only a short walk from either the Central or Lime Street railway stations. The Playhouse certainly isn’t modern in comparison to its sister-theatre, the Everyman, but neither is it shabby – it has old-fashioned charm, a spacious first-floor bar with a view over Williamson Square and elegant décor in its delightfully traditional proscenium arch auditorium. There were few empty seats in the stalls and the auditorium buzzed with excited chatter, which is always heart-warming in a time of much pessimism with the lack of engagement in theatre.

This is the best professional production I’ve seen in a long time. Simple8 have assembled a truly stunning cast – and star-studded too. Just a glance at the programme shows that the cast have trained at RADA, LAMDA, Bristol, and most have at least a full column of theatre and film credits, and it shows. The acting throughout is precise and believable, and the cast’s utter conviction help sustain our suspension of disbelief in the more interpretive non-naturalistic moments.

And Time Goes by So Slowly

'Unchained Melody' by the Righteous Brothers is a beautiful song. I don't really know enough about music to talk about time signatures, but I love songs like that, where each chord is a lilting arpeggio of 6 notes. 'For Your Precious Love' by Otis Redding, 'Last Kiss' by Taylor Swift, 'Hallelujah' by Jeff Buckley, 'Sanctus' from Fauré's Requiem, and, of course, possibly the most beautiful song ever written, Schubert's 'Ave Maria'. If you can collect enough of them, put on some headphones with a playlist of them and close your eyes. That class of song, they are irrefutably utterly beautiful. There must be something very specific about that rhythm for so many disparate songs to achieve the same effect.

So in amongst its kin, 'Unchained Melody' is probably third after 'Ave Maria' and 'For Your Precious Love'. What brings it to my mind to highlight is a section which, musically, just blows my mind every time. It's that bit near the beginning which goes '... such a long lonely time / and time goes by / so slowly / and time can do so much'. The emotion in those dulcet tones as the first stanza glides into the second really does one on the heart-strings.

However.

'Batman v Superman' - Film review

Review contains spoilers for this film. (But lets be honest the majority of the spoilers in this film are ridiculous. Besides, who worries about spoilers for the second film in a series?)

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was directed by Zack Snyder and is the second entry in the DCCU (If Marvel have the MCU then do Detective Comics have the DCCU? Does it have a name yet?). The first was Man of Steel which was fairly well received in the comic-book movies community but which I personally haven't seen. To be honest you don't have to have seen it to watch this film because Superman is Superman and he's pretty well established in this film anyway. I'll try to avoid comparisons to the MCU, although it can't be ignored that, coming second, the DCCU has to make a clear decision whether to avoid or embrace emulation.

This is a very large image if you click on it.

First let's talk about what the film got really right - Ben Affleck's Batman. Here we have the new best film interpretation of the caped crusader, better, even, than his incarnation in the Arkham videogame series. This dark knight really is a force of nature: the first time we as an audience encounter him from the perspective of an outsider, a policeman investigating a case, the atmosphere is distinctly oppressive and threatening and his first appearance heart-jolting. Maybe Bale's Batman was more valiant and honourable but he now seems lumbering, relying merely on brute force in comparison to Affleck's, who uses stealth and intelligence and demonstrates martial and athletic prowess in all of his confrontations. What's more, Affleck's more cerebral, reserved Bruce Wayne who gives the impression of an inner strength was a more complimentary and coherent fit to his Batman than in Bale's Bruce/Bat pair. There's something about the distance the audience are afforded from Wayne here which creates a sense of mythology around this bat - a force of nature, something of the dark which is separate from our sense of reality, which doesn't necessarily obey our laws of physics as he leaps from wall to wall and vanishes into darkness. We're occasionally offered a little look into how this effect is created, for example seeing Alfred tinkering with the voice alterer, but here Batman v Superman somehow manages to have its cake and eat it because while we see that it's just technology and can marvel at Wayne's prowess it doesn't take away from the fact that that 'Tell me, do you bleed?' is chillingly un-human.

'Eye in the Sky' - Film review

Eye in the Sky is an international political thriller directed by Gavin Hood and starring Helen Mirren, Aaron Paul and the late, great Alan Rickman. It tells the story of a British military officer seeking authorisation for a drone strike in a foreign country on a British national.

The film is a hugely complex moral question based on a very simple premise, so its strength comes from the attention it gives to setting the stage and form the time it took to be intelligent, thoughtful and sensitive. Take for instance the news/documentary exposition on El Shabaab at the beginning of the film. This sequence stands out so much in contrast to the cliche of other more low-brow thrillers, exemplified perfectly by the breakfast scene in Olympus Has Fallen with the offhand reference to rising tensions on the Korean peninsular to create a vague sense of intrigue. There the news programme is used for the opposite purpose for which it's intended in the real world - to tantalise slightly, but mostly to leave the audience in the dark. Eye in the Sky totally turns this trope on its head in the opening sequence, as the news programme is probably the best way to get vital information across. What's more, this blatant exposition doesn't feel in anyway cynical, or rather its cynicism completely pays off as the film evolves requiring a well-informed audience.

Inheritance (for S. Davies)

That you and I are similar this is true,
Lucretius' glass reflects again to see
What great bounty I owe to thee:
Love of art and life inherited of you.
Damned procrastination though
You think part of this fillial 'deed';
So think you that document dishevelled be -
What good be goals if wait is all I do?

But fear not, there may be hope, perchance:
Aware I was that soon was Mother's Day
I actually wrote this sonnet in advance!
So, aye, flit and fancy rule me that they may
But if surely I can write a couple stanzas,
Surely, then, concerns are washed away!

Explanation for a Hiatus

Having a while ago received praise from a friend (and fellow-blogger) on the regularity and consistency of my work on this blog, I feel I owe an explanation for a hiatus which as of this writing has lasted just in excess of 2 months. Besides this I'm pleased to see growing evidence of an irregular and inconsistent yet relatively sizeable readership - and my gratitude for this is another part of what compels me to justify this lack of content from me.

Firstly, what started it to begin with. As I may have referenced before, I'm an actor in my local youth theatre, the Nuffield Youth Theatre, while on my gap year before going to university in October. Shortly after my last post here would have been my last show with the Youth Theatre proper, as Odysseus in an adaptation of The Odyssey which played on allegories of the current refugee crisis. (Disclaimer: this is a large youth theatre, so I wasn't actually playing the main character, I was one of six people playing Odysseus at different points). Immediately after this I was in a 'grassroots' production directed by a member of that youth theatre, Emil Rousseau - whose name I include here as a possible claim to fame when I'm older, yes I was in my youth in a play directed by Emil Rousseau. The play was called Scuttlers and was set in gang-ridden 19th century Manchester, which meant producing my best Mancunian accent, which was awful.

'A Raisin in the Sun' - Play review

A Raisin in the Sun is a play co-produced by Eclipse Theatre Company, Sheffield Theatres and Belgrade Theatre Coventry, directed by Dawn Walton. It tells the story of financial and social strife in an African-American family in civil-rights era South Side Chicago who hit upon a small fortune in insurance money after the death of the family patriarch. A Raisin in the Sun plays through this week, finishing with a Saturday matinee and evening performance, at the Nuffield Theatre in Southampton, before continuing its tour in the Liverpool Playhouse, Watford Palace Theatre, Albany Theatre and Belgrade Theatre throughout March.

One of the things slightly mesmerising about this production from the very opening is its very intense attention to high naturalism. The whole play takes place in the kitchen/living(/bed)room of the Younger family's Chicago apartment and, though scene changes eventually break the unity of time afterwards, the first scene tracks the Younger family's morning routine from sister-in-law's groggy waking up and cooking breakfast (irl, with a cooker on stage) to elder-brother's reluctantly leaving for work as a chauffeur. The effort the cast go to in maintaining this illusion is very impressive and the work pays off as a very immersive and invested portrait of home life. Furthermore, it's a very relatable portrait of home life, which makes this naturalism a very important frame of reference for a 21st-century, English (largely white, in Southampton) audience to contextualise the social issues of the play in what might otherwise feel like a different, incomprehensible world; by giving the audience something they recognise and partake in daily the play can then make direct comparisons between the audience's experiences and the Younger family's.

Singing the Praises of a University I'm not Going to

Since the introduction of fees for university and the massive spike in the number of students being admitted to university there's always the thought at the back of one's mind at extravagant open days that universities have interests besides the advancement of the next generation. Of course whatever the motive the education is likely to be first-rate - what better advertisement for Cambridge's £21,000 course than the prestige afforded its alumni? However, having accepted my offer for Birmingham fairly secure that that institution values paper over linen I feel the need to publish praise for another institution which very clearly honestly believes in the enrichment of its alumni.

This morning I received a letter from Queen Mary, University of London, congratulating me and formally offering me a place. It would have been a nice touch if that's all it was, just the thought of sending a physical letter beside the automatic email from UCAS. QMUL went a step further however, which fully cements in my mind the idea they are wholly committed to the betterment of human intellect, society and culture.

'Deadpool' - Film review

Deadpool is the latest Marvel (/Fox) comic book movie, set in the X-Men universe as opposed to the MCU, about the merc-with-a-mouth Wade Wilson and his alter-ego Deadpool (duh). It's directed by Tim Miller (my heart bounced for a moment thinking it was directed by TJ Miller) and stars Ryan Renolds in the eponymous role, and is all-round just a really really brilliant movie.

First and foremost, Deadpool is the most loving and perfect pastiche of the superhero genre I've yet seen. It has the love of both the insider and the outsider: of the insider to stay true to what the fans and lover of the genre really want to see in their movies, and of the outsider to find and poke fun at those oft-ignored cliches of the genre which get repeated year-on-year. It was slightly unsettling watching the trailers before such a movie, here's roughly what to take away from those: -

X-men Apocalypse: They're the four horsemen of the apocalypse! It's the end of the world! WE WILL TEAR DOWN EVERYTHING THEY HAVE AND BUILD A NEW WORLD!
London Has Fallen: This is the most secure event IN THE WORLD! 6 of the world leaders are dead AND THE PRESIDENT IS UNACCOUNTED FOR!!!
Triple-9: They want us to do one last job - this has to be the BIGGEST ONE EVER! Let's get the Triple-9! All the cops in the city come running IT'S A CODE TO DIE FOR

'Spotlight' - Film review

Spotlight is directed by Tom McCarthy and tells the true story of investigative reporters (going by the name 'Spotlight') uncovering the covering up of child abuse by Catholic priests in Boston. It stars some big-name established actors such as Liev Schreiber, Mark Ruffalo and Stanley Tucci. There'll be a fairly interesting comparison to make on the finer details of investigative-reporting true-stroy film-making, as tomorrow I'm going with my brother to see Concussion, a film in the same genre about a cover up in the NFL.

A solid true-life conspiracy thriller.

One of the odd things about Spotlight is an interesting decision which turns into a questionable decision, or rather a questionable decision which turns into an interesting one: starting sort of in medias res, besides the 30 years earlier prologue. This creates some quite strange pacing for the first quarter of the film. To begin with it has the effect of thrusting you straight into the action with a little bit of intriguing confusion, wondering how you got to the point you're at at that moment, but then this creates a dip of slow pacing as everything has to be explained. However, this is then turned around again as a benefit to the film, as everything is explained and you begin in medias res, as it leads to some of the most naturalistic exposition I have ever seen in film. The characters and situations are so well arranged to have characters with a reason to be imparting the valuable information - the lull in pacing is worth it for making this excellent feat of writing possible.

Just to see if I Could

Wednesday afternoon, my interview at Queen May, University of London, afterwards a brief meet up with a Symonds friend, who goes to UCL, and her QMUL boyfriend. The interviews were meant to be only 15 minutes, by the time the academic felt he'd got enough from me the taster drama workshop had already started. I apologised meekly to the practitioner and put my stuff to the side and joined the circle, the Scottish girl I befriended on the day whispered to me 'that was a long time!'

20 minutes of rambling on about everything that excites me about the English language, literature and drama - finishing reading Barack Obama's fascinating, inspiring biography; ordering The Travels of Ibn Battutah on Amazon the night before; discovering the musical Hamilton and the cultural/historical significance of conflicting musical styles. I couldn't tell if I was able to properly communicate my tremendous excitement to the interviewer, but whatever, it was enough, however truthful and accurate it was. It took QMUL just over 24 hours to get back.

Maybe I'm more inspired by Alexander Hamilton than I would have otherwise realised. Though I hadn't heard the lyrics of the musical nor had I really known that much about the ten-dollar-founding-father before, the past few months have been a slow revelation of this Hamilton-fire-burning desire to explode up and out. 'Imma get a scholarship to Kings college / I shouldn't brag but dag I amaze and astonish' - 4 Russell Group universities, some of the best in the country for English and/or drama. Maybe he and I have something in common, even if it is just to his fictional representation.