Armchair Reviewers Club - Round up of Week 2 (Wonderland)

Thanks to our fabulous theatrical armchair army for taking part again this week, we are so delighted that we can continue to watch theatre together (albeit digitally, for now).

Wonderland presented an excellent contrast for this week’s viewing option and I love that we can jump from theatrical world to theatrical world in the comfort of our very own homes. There is a veritable feast of digital theatre available at the moment and it is particularly exciting when it is a production that you wished you had been able to see at the time, but didn’t quite get the chance to. Or even when it is something you saw and loved and now get to revisit.

So what’s the verdict on this week’s show? I think a word that sums it up well is, ‘hard-hitting’. Wonderland does brilliantly what I think theatre does like no other medium, takes us on a personal and political journey through a moment in history that changed the world as we know it. Sometimes watching it changes us too.

Wonderland focuses on the miners strikes of the 1980s and Tony sets the scene for the play brilliantly for us on Facebook:

‘Inventive staging brings you into the world of the 1980s British coal miner in this modern history play. We follow the trials and tribulations of two young apprentice miners as they join the ‘old lags’ underground and learn about the bonds of brotherhood that develop between the men. This is thrown into sharp relief by the ruthless politicians, journalists and most especially the new Coal Board Chairman Ian MacGregor, as they plan the closure of the UK coal fields and the defeat of the all-powerful unions.’
Tony via Facebook

There is definitely a sense from our reviewers that the play was well directed and excitingly staged, but that it was challenging both in content and in form, occasionally moving too fast or distancing us as audience members from the material. But it leads us to an interesting area to explore and discuss when we are watching a piece of theatre – do we have to ‘enjoy’ it for it to be successful? Janet picks up on this perfectly on Facebook explaining:

‘I found this play interesting and thought provoking but I am still not sure that I actually enjoyed it’
Janet via Facebook

When the stories are difficult and the subject matter is hard, do we enjoy a production, do we enjoy being challenged by it or do we disengage? Words and phrases that reappear in your reviews include ‘chilling’, ‘hard to penetrate’, ‘constant tension’ and ‘not easy’. We can definitely agree that it wasn’t an easy-to-digest piece but I often find the that I get as much from pieces of theatre that I haven’t ‘liked’ or ‘enjoyed’ as I do from those that I have ‘loved’ and that is because for me, it isn’t just about the show itself but what it provokes within you. The time you spend discussing and dissecting after the show, wondering why certain choices were made and what the impact of different choices would have been. The wonderful subjective nature of art! And it seems that even though this show wasn’t universally enjoyed, it certainly impressed.

To conclude, Wonderland demonstrates the amazing ability for theatre to provoke thought, to find different ways to speak to us and to transcend time periods and remain relevant. This is fantastically picked up upon by the brilliant comparison Alison draws to events then and the particular and historical set of circumstances we find ourselves living through now:

‘Looking back from April 2020, nearly 40 years on and only now - in my lifetime at least - are public good and public service truly given recognition and long-overdue praise for the sheer hard work and constant professionalism of caring for the lives and livelihoods of others. Thank you NHS, carers, shop staff and everyone else who is pulling out the stops.’
Alison via email

A brilliant provocation for us to end on and we can join Alison in offering gratitude, admiration and thanks. And thanks to you once again for your input, it is so exciting to be able to share thoughts and opinions with you and to stay connected. We hope you will stay with us for the coming weeks as we delve deeper into some of the best theatrical works our country has produced. It only serves to remind what an amazing, rich and exciting theatrical and cultural landscape this country has to offer and how proud and protective of it we have to be, now more than ever.

And as for next week…

We will be diving into the Emma Rice extravaganza Wise Children based on the Angela Carter novel which premiered at London’s Old Vic in 2019. This time we are going all-out big, beautiful and bawdy with this rich and entertaining theatrical explosion. It’s available on the BBC IPlayer:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p0892kf6/wise-children

We can’t wait to find out what you think!

Take care and stay safe,

Charlotte Hall, Head of Programming and Engagement