REVIEW: Evangeline at The Lantern Theatre
Brighton & Hove News reviews Evangeline a new musical theatre production happening at The Lantern Theatre as part of Brighton Fringe this week (Evangeline premiered in the Oxford Playhouse in April). This is an intricate one-man show telling of Evangeline’s story as a ‘showbiz survivor’ and her journey to salvation through the challenges of a life lived in the bright lights of the entertainment world.
As the lights rise on this Brighton production, we see The Lantern’s bijou stage laid out in the sparse set principle of any production by Three Chairs and a Hat, the Oxford-based theatre company creating and performing this show. Stage left, the writer of the play, Nia Williams is at the keyboard, and centre stage is a single, simple chair. The first night audience co-operate with each other, moving seats to create a unified group just in time for actor Guy Brigg’s entrance: resplendent in makeup and the air of confidence befitting a run of appreciative full houses even when that is not the case. Guy Brigg took the challenge in a graceful stride, stepped up and looked us all square in the eye. Game on!
Evangeline’s dialogue is immediately clearly technically poetic as well as colourful. I found myself listening out to ascertain if rhyming couples were the name of the game. And I started thinking – Shakespeare. And all that goes with Shakespearian times. Audiences expecting to pay attention to the twists and turns of dialogue, characters and intended depths of commentary upon the human condition, with Guy Brigg in the form of a renowned Shakespearian great actor. Whilst this isn’t something his Three Chairs and a Hat biography indicates, it is an easy imagine when listening to Guy’s melifluous tones and artful switches, rapid fire jumping from one distinctly accented and fully formed character to another, roaming and fully occupying the stage, confidently holding court through The Lantern’s intimate seating, and the production’s minimal lighting, repeatedly taking up the opportunities for performer / audience member eye contact.
Writer Nia William’s plays her own music as Guy deliciously delivers her songs. The mix of dialogue and song created momentum, pace and movement to bring alive the phases of Evangeline’s emotional life experiences. Enjoyably absorbed in enjoying Guy’s artistic agility, some extra visual cues to distinguish the different life phases we moved through would have been a helpful aid for the production, and offered visual relief. Other suggestions for further development in the set could include complementary use of old cinefilm style footage of performers of days gone by, when children were put on the stage to entertain, and tickets came in small pieces of card.
But Briggs and Williams collaboration is in itself a powerful force of effective storytelling. Two props alone were allowed to illustrate the telling of the titular character’s solo tale: A box denoting the sour abandoned beginning of Evangeline’s life, and a pair of Elton John-worthy red specs to denote the flourishing happier ending of a journey through an unwholesome decline; into safety and a thriving life helping others.
At the end of the show I listened in on my fellow audience commentaries to each other. Comments ranged from ‘Well I’d never have remembered all of that, how does he do it?!’ to ‘ A little bit of everything in there’ to ‘Brilliant!’.
What has stayed with me most of this production is Guy Brigg’s talent in song, mimicry, movement, spirited and soulful expressiveness, and audience eye contact. This gives the production its strength. Our journey with Guy as Evangeline felt intimate and vital. I found myself gripped, and wishing for the success of both Evangeline and this first Fringe performance.
Overall a great theatre experience, and the chance to share such stirring life trajectories, coasting upon Guy’s vocals surfing through Nia Williams’ poetry, with a joyous relief of moments of humour. The audience and performer connection really came alive every time Guy delivered a funny/ humorously sarcastic line. More of this would have made the show a more fully developed treat.
If you’d like to enjoy a masterful one-man performance, this is a great opportunity to support live, simple but powerful musical theatre of the raw, honest, full-hearted kind.
Details
Dates: 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th May at 7pm
Venue: The Lantern Theatre, 77 St James Street, Brighton
Tickets: Tickets are £12 with £10 concessions. Each night has a 241 offer through Brighton Fringe website.
Accessible: Assistance Dogs Welcome
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