Pronoun review

Pronoun is a play acted by students of Stockton Riverside College and I found it a good experience to watch. What makes this piece so good is that it targets an issue that is becoming more and more relevant each year. It follows around a girl Izzy wishing to undergo a sex change and become Dean. This is the first time I have seen a play that is made for our generation, something for our day and age. It isn’t a re-telling of a fairy tale we are sick of seeing, it isn’t a collage of random situations that make no sense in the slightest. It is something that I feel needs to be seen. Something that bigots and children need to see. Okay maybe children need to see a cleaner version because it had a fair bit of strong language but it still needs to be seen by the next generation and get us out of all this confusion on the topic and negative attitudes to those who have undergone this procedure. With that said I would give the story a 5 out of 5 rating.

The structure was fun to watch because it almost perfectly combines drama and humour with a little bit of spirituality from the Ghost of James Dean played by Jack Harrison. The play opens on a strange and humorous note with Josh played by Sam Hinchcliffe wearing a dress and him not being the one wishing to have a sex change. As it goes on I did take note that it worked the audience emotions very well with how smoothly it could change from drama to comedy. But however some scenes seemed to go on too long and certain storylines of other characters become irrelevant quickly. Through this I would give the structure 4 out of 5 rating.

Finally the acting. The cast was small but well picked with Sam Hinchcliffe, Jack Harrison and Shannon Waters staring. They pulled off the roles greatly and truly brought life to the characters, in Jacks case he brought afterlife to his character. And the supporting actors played their parts well and made the whole experience fun to watch. The 4 girls that played SMT officials, played by Natasha Bell, Helen Wilson, Caitlin Collins and Madeleine Webb were outstandingly hilarious with how they were able to keep in character through the unique and strange dialogue and portrayed the roles so perfectly you would believe they acted like that all the time. However there was one issue that made it lack in quality. Something I wasn’t sure about when they were first introduced were the parents. Jacob Hanson played the Mother and Sarah Broughall played the Father. I can understand why this choice was made but when they first came on stage I did not think it was a smart choice. I was happily proven wrong with their performances and I now fully support the decision made by the casting Director. All of the cast are guilty of doing this at least once in the play and that is they talk too quite is some scenes. I was sat towards the back and there were time where I could not hear what they were saying at all because they were too quite when delivering their lines. There was also a point about half way through where one of the actresses, seemed to have forgotten her lines and pauses midsentence while trying to remember. Overall the acting was great, not perfect, but was directed and performed to the peak of their abilities. The acting I rate a 4 out of 5.

My final thoughts on the play is that is a great piece to watch. The students at Stockton Riverside College are very talented when it comes to learning lines because to my understanding they only received the scripts a few weeks in advance to performing it tonight. The story is well thought out and written by a very skilled writer. I do think the structure could have used some work. Overall I would give the full play 4 out of 5 and highly suggest you watch more plays put on by these students.

Archie's final project

Archie's final project is a comedy/drama film based around the concept of suicide. The film follows it protagonist Archibold Holden Buster Williams, or "Archie" as he prefers to be called, in his attempt to create a film of him killing himself. The film is filled with refences to other productions both subtly and right in your face. For example you have Frank from Donnie Darko getting shot in the face in one scene, and towards the end of the film you can see in the background a picture of Carlton from Fresh Prince of Bel air. The style of the film is hard to say. Sometimes its shot like a found footage film, other times it is like a game show, there are even fully or partially animated scenes in the film.

The film throughout changes between Archie in school and interacting with people and him in his room filming himself. Through this you can see the change being in society and being in the comfort of his own room. When around others he is more quiet than he is when alone but still pretty eccentric but when alone he is all out crazy. Picking fun at himself. Talking in weird voices. Basically not caring what people would think if they saw what he was filming and is happy doing it. As the film goes on the jokes begin to get stail and repetative and the story begins to get darker with more peoples hidden secrets come out involving things such as cutting and their own thoughts on suicide.

Overall I wouldn't say thi film is brilliant. The start is funny. The middle drags a little and in the third to last scene I found myself sat there pretty bored. The ending is predictable but still is has an impact over the audience in regards to their opinions on suicide. I would rate it 3 out of 5 at best.