Under the arches at 53two’s Watson Street headquarters, JB Shorts is now firmly established on the Manchester theatre scene as the place to experience sharp new writing and watch both emerging and established actors hone their craft. Now in its 25th iteration, tonight’s offerings were as eclectic as ever, managing to mix the farcical and surreal with more thoughtful offerings to delight the packed midweek audience.
Railway Sleepers
Kicking off the evening with a familiar train journey from Piccadilly to Euston, we meet Frank (Will Travis) and Sue (Sue McCardle) ostensibly travelling south for a conference and striking up a conversation with fellow passenger Cheryl (Rosa Brooks) around how best to reply to a text message received from Frank’s mysterious boss. The piece worked quite well within the confines of naturalistic conversation but meandered without purpose towards an ill explained surreal conclusion that was unconvincing. Most fun was derived from Emma Grace Arends as Siobhan, the bored and sarcastic train manager.
North West End UK Rating:
The Exact Spot
Taking its inspiration from Irish folk tales of Changelings and Shapeshifters, writer Trevor Suthers depicts Jack (John Joyce O’Keefe) and Michael (Brandon McCaffrey) as modern-day ghostbusters, seeking to discover the truth behind the legend of Bridget (Stephanie Wallace) and her untimely demise. The plot was unsubstantial, and the actors were given little substance in terms of character and motivation, a more convincing narrative and startling ending would have served the source material better. ‘Porcelain’, a Radio 4 play broadcast last year, highlighted how well this style of story can be done using just voices and minimal effects and unfortunately this piece neither surprised nor shocked.
North West End UK Rating:
Erotic Novel Goes Wrong
Written by and featuring Zoe Iqbal, this solo piece combined elements of ‘Fleabag’ and ‘My Dad Wrote A Porno’, to explore a woman’s attempt to write and publish an erotic novel. Iqbal is an engaging guide as she addresses the audience directly throughout, recounting her adventures under her pseudonym Flange Gasket, discovering her sexuality in a manner strongly reminiscent of Shirley Valentine. Her observation that as you get older a man only needs ‘two inches and a decent pension’ was particularly memorable! The structure falters in parts and the ending is unsubstantial but there were enough one liners and genuinely funny observations to elicit a warm response from the audience.
North West End UK Rating:
You Can’t Kill The Spirit
Following the interval a more political tone greeted the audience with Rebekah Harrison’s exploration of Helen (Chantal Amber Rose) and the Women’s Peace movement at Greenham Common during the 1980’s. Megan Hickie and Michelle Ashton acted as both narrators and supporting characters as we watch Helen develop from a non-political Welsh housewife to an avowedly staunch activist whilst simultaneously losing all semblance of her family life and previous security. As an exploration of the way women are othered in society when seeking to engineer change, this was an excellent stepping off point and I would like to see Helen’s character developed into a longer format allowing more exposition. Rose was excellent in the lead and the inclusion of original songs from the protest movement gave depth and range to the piece.
North West End UK Rating:
Who’s The Dummy
Directed by James Quinn and Amelia Griffiths and written by Dave Simpson, this short had dark humour running through it from the outset and was the undoubted highlight of the evening. Daniel Brennan is excellent as Jack, a slightly sad ventriloquist, plying his trade in clubs and pubs up and down the country with his ‘doll’ Sunny (Vicky Binns). Sunny is foul mouthed, sarcastic and filthy, but when Jack is given the opportunity to appear on Britain’s Got Talent on the proviso he ditches the swearing, things begin to unravel in spectacular fashion.
A lovely twist in the tale brings this story to a satisfying conclusion and with Binns demonstrating eerily accurate mannerisms as the wooden mannequin, this piece demonstrated all the strengths of the short format and held the audience enthralled to the last moment. For anyone old enough to remember the film ‘Magic’ or even ‘Soap’ from the late 1970’s, this piece gave a pleasurable shudder down the spine.
North West End UK Rating:
Hens
A frenetic farce closed proceedings with Joyce Branagh directing this four handed tale of a hen party to Barcelona where everything that can go wrong does. Jo Dakin takes the role of Susie, the bride to be, wanting nothing more than strippers and booze on her last fling before marriage. Her daughter Mia (Hallie Jones) disapproves of both this in particular and the whole marriage in general and in attempting to sabotage the nuptials sets a whole uncontrollable series of events in place. Well acted and choreographed on the small stage both Dakin and Jones, alongside Krissi Bone and Verity Henry as Mo and Susie, squeeze humour out of the usual tropes of blow up dolls and drunken antics. The piece was underwritten and lacked depth or any real insight, but the performances carried it along and were funny and engaging and brought proceedings to a happy conclusion.
North West End UK Rating:
Reviewer: Paul Wilcox
Reviewed: 10th October 2024