REVIEWS

Barefoot in black combats and a pink top, Alice excitedly enters the stage with infectious energy and begins an impromptu audience interaction to launch her story. She’s a waitress, originally from Louisiana, but has now found herself in England. The rapid-fire tour of her young life so far then ensues. Her descriptions allude to a youth spent in a geographically idyllic place. The hum of Cicadas, the presence of fireflies and the all-consuming areas of swampland paint an involved and interesting picture of a home where something is evidently wrong. The facade exists to be dismantled and over the next fifty minutes confident direction from Amber Buttery punctuates the framework of Alice’s story. The mise en scene is simple; key props litter the edges of the small stage, an involved lightin...

The audience was intrigued from the moment they were approached by an Assembly assistant in the queue outside the venue asking if each individual was a ‘believer’ or a ‘non-believer’ and issuing a red or blue card accordingly.  This was a nice touch – bringing the audience together, before they even became a group. The premise of the show is that it was made for the non-believers, for those who believe in science over magic, the entire audience greeted with the sight of a sparking electrical transformer which stayed in situ throughout the entire performance as a reminder of the show’s narrative.  It must be a tall order for a performer to set this kind of show apart from other similar formats, but this angle worked well. Kevin Quantum emerged on stage in a surprisingly ...