4 Star Review!!!

Review of Pint, Plate, Performance

"Food for body and soul"by Simon Dale for remotegoat on 02/10/09

Pint, Plate Performance at Central Station, King's Cross - all for £7? Surely not.

Three Person'd God, a monologue written by Craig Jordan Baker and performed by Sophie Talbot kicked off the evening. It was a philosophical examination of a woman, an actress, playing three roles - an activist, a barren woman (her label, not mine) and an actress - which increasingly bleed into one another so that she (and we) are left increasingly uncertain as to who the real person is, where one role stops and another begins: which is reality, which is performance.

Set in an unnamed dystopia, it also raises questions of state versus individual and the struggle of the human spirit in the face of sweeping state tyranny.

Performed with passion and fluency, Sophie Talbot's portrayal of the woman came alive most in the third section as she shifted from the stage to the wings of the audience and delivered her third role in which all roles blurred into one, evoking a powerful sense of personal dislocation and isolation.

Next up was Sally Beaumont with her piece The Other Side of Everything which, as with Craig Jordan Baker's short play, delighted in and revered the richness of language. The play mused upon language and communication, with particular focus on the inadequacy of language within relationships.

Sally Beaumont's character wrestles with the heights to which imagination and language can soar, and the very different reality when you let another into one's life or try to express oneself through words. Her monologue is punctuated by what we assume to be her memories - brought to life life with gusto by Helen Jessica Liggat and Matthew Betteridge whose humour and energy inhabited and gave crackle to the prosaic domestic exchanges, the type that happen regularly in most relationships (think woman talking, trying to engage the man in conversation, the man replying in monosyllables while he tries to read the paper), which were all too familiar to most couples in the audience! They were nice vignettes and a deft depiction of the divide between (in this case) genders and more widely, humans. Language can be as much a barrier as a tool for understanding.

Sally Beaumont delivered a strong and varied performance, wholly believable as a creative, impassioned individual struggling to bridge the gap between inner and outer life, oneself and one's different self in the context of a relationship and society.

Neither play offered a traditional narrative structure or conclusion, though this was deliberate rather than the result of fudgy writing or direction. Sometimes, though, you can be too esoteric at the expense of narrative, too wedded to the search for assonance, alliteration and rhyme, or reclaiming oft-neglected words; it can become to laboured, too self-conscious, weighing the writing down rather than letting it take flight. This wasn't the case here, but there was the odd moment I felt it was in danger of reaching that tipping point.

An elderly gentleman next to me confided that it wasn't his cup of tea, though he went on to say that he had thought it was drag act night at Central Station. I took his point, however, which was, as he explained, that he wanted something a bit more immediate, less intellectual. Unlike a previous incarnation of the evening I have seen from this company, Tuesday night was more experimental, less easy entertainment that the outright comedy I had seen before. His point was that in a pub atmosphere, a little background noise from surrounding venues now and then rearing its head, belly-laugh comedy is a more natural fit. I think there's room for both.So the evening gave food for thought and then some rousing traditional celtic folk music from The Northern Celts to round off the night.I didn't sample the actual food, as I had a dodgy tum (which didn't stop me sampling the pint, which I can report was very satisfactory), but judging from the empty plates around me it seemed to go down well. £7 for a pint, a plate and an evening of entertainment - hard to beat.

Keep your eyes out for more from the team, as Pint, Plate and Performance is set to become a monthly event - and one you should get yourself along to.The writers are part of The Lucky Dogs playwrights' collective.

Pint, Plate, Performance!

I'm delighted to announce the latest Lucky Dogs adventure: Pint, Plate, Performance!

Sophie Talbot has produced this fantastic evening of theatre, music and food at the Central Station in King's Cross- a unique venue for a unique evening.

Lucky Dogs Craig Jordon-Baker and Sally Beaumont have written two short plays, starring Sophie Talbot, Sally Beaumont, Helen Jessica Liggat and Mat Betteridge. The evening will be rounded off by the Northern Celts.

Our listing pages:

http://www.remotegoat.co.uk/event_view.php?uid=87774
(you’ll find links to our performers profiles here)

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=127705371828&ref=share

The blurb:

Pint, Plate, Performance

Tuesday 29th September, 7.30pm
The Central Station, King’s Cross, N1 9SD.

This monthly event brings together great new theatre, performance, music, beer and food into a cultural stew that will satisfy the stomach, eyes, ears and brain.A pint, a plate and three performances all for just £7!

This is a chance to see brand new short plays written by some of the UK's best new writers: the Lucky Dogs Collective. The Dogs were formed via the Royal Court's Young Writers' Programme and support each other to further develop their writing.

The on-the-door ticket price of £7 covers three performances, a feast of either carnivorous speciality or vegan delight and a pint of guesting real ale.

Sophie Talbot will be on stage in the first short play by Craig Jordan-Baker, playing a woman with three roles, trying to reconcile them all.

The second short play is written and performed by Sally Beaumont, up and coming coordinator of the Lucky Dogs and is a snappy, scrappy look at narcissism and self-help. It also features Helen Jessica Liggat and Mat Betteridge tearing each other to pieces…emotionally speaking.

The evening will be rounded off by a fantastic rootsy folk set from local band the Northern Celts.

What We're All Upto...

After a break from our regular meetings, we're back and we're busy!

Huge congratulations go to our co-founder Kevin Kautzman:
For an application including Then Waves he has been named a 2009-10 Jerome Fellow at the Playwrights’ Center in Minneapolis.
Then Waves has also been named a finalist for this year’s Yale Drama Series. Judging this year’s contest is Sir David Hare.
Then Waves has also been named a semi-finalist for Id Theater’s Seven Devils Playwrights Conference.
Kevin's website http://www.kevinkautzman.com/

Gem Carmella has been on our screens three times in quick succession with roles in The Bill, Holby City and Silent Witness.

Edward Llewlyn is off on a national tour. http://www.edwardllewelyn.co.uk/

Tim Macavoy has been writing Finlay Finds Himself for FYI Radio.
Tim's site http://timacavoy.googlepages.com/

Claude Starling has a reading of Under the L of Hollywood at the Tristam Bates Theatre on the 9th April.