THEATRE REVIEW: Unearthed ★★★
Unearthed24th March 2016The Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham
Presented by Folio Theatre, and supported by The John Thaw Foundation and Sackler Trust, Unearthed follows the story of Eliza (Lizzie Stables) and Ben (Chris Ashby) as they are set a number of tasks by their father, who passed away at the beginning of the play, that was left in his will. Though I saw the play entirely differently, and more about the relationship between two siblings who are somewhat disjointed in their lives at the beginning of the play; Ben has Daisy (Alana Ramsey), his girlfriend who looked after Ben and Eliza’s father in the leadup to this demise, and Eliza has her career to think of.
I thought that this play was incredible, and beautifully written by Alys Metcalf, as well as directed by Kim Pearce. Watching a show with such a powerful message lifted perfectly by four creatively trained actors is a real breath of fresh air to see nowadays, and as someone who thrives to see small cast productions doing stories from something right at the heart of real life society these days is mesmerising and really made myself as an audience member feel completely transfixed by the action on stage.
I was also in love with the set, and the way the items used were appropriate to the scenes, for example, in the first scene, Ben and Eliza are burying what looks like a time capsule of memories of their father, and the set has boxes scattered in an arch round the outside, making one box, full with material, double up as a piece of ground, to which the box ultimately gets hidden in. It should also be said that the lighting and sounds were perfectly in sync with each other, especially during moments like the steam train sequence, and the way the transitions were used were flowed beautifully, never making one moment feel rushed or dodgy.
Presented by Folio Theatre, and supported by The John Thaw Foundation and Sackler Trust, Unearthed follows the story of Eliza (Lizzie Stables) and Ben (Chris Ashby) as they are set a number of tasks by their father, who passed away at the beginning of the play, that was left in his will. Though I saw the play entirely differently, and more about the relationship between two siblings who are somewhat disjointed in their lives at the beginning of the play; Ben has Daisy (Alana Ramsey), his girlfriend who looked after Ben and Eliza’s father in the leadup to this demise, and Eliza has her career to think of.
I thought that this play was incredible, and beautifully written by Alys Metcalf, as well as directed by Kim Pearce. Watching a show with such a powerful message lifted perfectly by four creatively trained actors is a real breath of fresh air to see nowadays, and as someone who thrives to see small cast productions doing stories from something right at the heart of real life society these days is mesmerising and really made myself as an audience member feel completely transfixed by the action on stage.
I was also in love with the set, and the way the items used were appropriate to the scenes, for example, in the first scene, Ben and Eliza are burying what looks like a time capsule of memories of their father, and the set has boxes scattered in an arch round the outside, making one box, full with material, double up as a piece of ground, to which the box ultimately gets hidden in. It should also be said that the lighting and sounds were perfectly in sync with each other, especially during moments like the steam train sequence, and the way the transitions were used were flowed beautifully, never making one moment feel rushed or dodgy.
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