A FUNNY THING HAPPENED IN ISOLATION (Royal Exchange Theatre)***

 

By Dave

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXfietam9lc

Link to audio-described version:

Available until: Unknown but the Royal Exchange don’t usually keep their videos up for long

This play was created by the Royal Exchange Elders’ Company, through improvisation. It’s a 40-minute ‘documentary’ about how a group of mature actors and theatre fans are coping in lockdown. The actors take on the roles of actors and theatre fans, each with their own story to tell.

It’s described as an irreverent comedy and a lot of the time, it is. But there is a bit more to it than that. I enjoyed watching it but it wasn’t till the ending that things fell into place and I felt like I understood what they were doing (and that’s not a bad thing – some of the best plays come together at the end).

It’s a simple idea but it works because it describes a situation we’ve all experienced to an extent, even if we’re not quite in the same age group. It’s about the way some of the creativity in our lives was taken away from us when theatres closed, but we found new ways of enjoying theatre.

There are times when we laugh because these actors are very funny. Times when we’re nodding along because we’ve been there. Times when we’re smiling because what they’re doing looks fun and we’ve never thought of that. Times when we’re watching in admiration because these actors are so good. The actors aren’t necessarily playing themselves and talking about their actual experiences, but it feels very real.

There’s Joan (Carole Davis) and Maurice (Andrew Husband), who play hide and seek on Zoom (despite living together) and ‘go out’ by giving themselves different backgrounds. Jim (Pete Shotton), who is never been to a theatre and is learning about a completely new world from Jack (Fred Yeomans), who does his best to put theatre into words. Theatre veteran Derek (Malcolm Allum) reads aloud on Instagram. He has one of those voices that could read the telephone directory… and if we go into lockdown again, maybe he will! Deidre and Mike (Gill and Stave Bassam) try to create the theatre atmosphere. Even the not so good parts. Julie Hesmondhalgh narrates, hilariously.

This play has many interesting people with stories to tell. I really liked the incidental music too.