By Megan
Link: https://bristololdvic.org.uk/whats-on/toby-jones
Available until: 2nd May
Desert Island Theatre is a bit different from Desert Island Discs but it’s just as good.
Toby Jones is the guest and Desert Island Theatre was actually his idea. The guest has to choose seven theatre productions they’ve seen which had a big effect on them to take to a desert island with them. He got the idea when he was thinking about the different ways people remember theatre and what they remember.
I think the plan was to have other guests but either they weren’t filmed like this one or the pandemic got in the way again. It’s a brilliant idea so hopefully the Bristol Old Vic will do more in the future.
Desert Island Theatre with Toby Jones was shown to a small audience, wearing masks and socially distanced but a lot more people wanted to see it so it was filmed. There is a British Sign Language interpreter called Nikki Harris onstage with Mr Jones and the host and director Tom Morris. Ms Harris is amazing! Mr Jones talks really quickly but Ms Harris keeps up with him. I have seen lots of BSL interpreters but they don’t usually have to sign that quickly!
The theatre memories are very different but they are all really exciting. They are all doing something with theatre that was new to Mr Jones and that is why it had a big effect on him. I think there are some plays I’m not old enough to see yet and I think I would be upset if I saw them now but Mr Jones saw one of them when he was fifteen. I will be fifteen in four and a half years so maybe I can see it then. I think I have a lot of very exciting theatre to look forward to.
Mr Jones read some parts of the plays aloud and describes some of the other plays. He is very energetic and the way he moves around the stage, using all kinds of different props and acting different scenes out, brings his memories of the plays even more to life. He also says interesting things about what theatre is and what that means. Mr Jones is very funny and I also love how enthusiastic he is about the plays he’s talking about and about telling us about them. He also talks about something that happens at every play and how it makes him feel and that is so interesting because I do the same thing! Except I didn’t know I did it because I haven’t really thought about it before.
He also talks about understudies being exciting and I think he is right! My mum loves understudies because she gets to see a combination of actors most people don’t get to see so it’s special. There aren’t usually understudies for online theatre but I have seen lots of swings (which is a really amazing mixed feeling like “oh no!” for the actor who has lose their internet and “oh yes!” for the swing who is getting a really big chance) and I’ve also seen a few replacements.
Mr Jones also mentions The Showstoppers which made me very happy because I love the Showstoppers and we are seeing them tomorrow and the next day! Except I think it will be tonight and tomorrow night when this review is posted. It is exciting hearing Mr Jones talking about a theatre experience I’ve seen.
There are some bits that we’re not allowed to watch because one of Mr Jones’ big theatre experiences was a play he’s not supposed to tell people about. He told the people in the theatre but I don’t think it’s allowed to be on film. So that was quite sad when the sound cut out so we couldn’t hear or the image got distorted so we couldn’t see but the people in the theatre probably paid more than we did so it is fair if they get extra treats. And the bits we were allowed to see and hear about this play make it sound really interesting.
There is also a bit when we all have to be quiet and think of a theatre memory that it is important to us. I have lots like seeing Imogen making her professional debut and realising she is even better than she thinks she is. I also feel like I have a memory of Alba playing one of the Innkeepers in her Nativity play and improvising a bit where she complains about people showing up without so much as a phone call and expecting free drinks from the minibar and all the rude channels! I think Jack told her about the rude channels and he probably told her about the minibar too because he is interested in rude things and alcohol. But I don’t think I actually saw that play because I was in the juniors then. I just feel like I was there because everyone talks about it.
But maybe my really really special memory is when I watched The Show Must Go Online’s production of Two Gentlemen of Verona. I didn’t understand all of it very well but it was like people were saying all these beautiful words and it was on Zoom but it was still a play and everyone was really good and they did their own hair and costumes and make up. I really really loved it and I felt so lucky because Zoom theatre might easily never have existed but it did. Then I felt really guilty because Zoom theatre only happened because of a really sad and scary reason. But I knew I really loved Shakespeare and some of my favourite actors are people I saw for the first time in TSMGO.
Desert Island Theatre with Toby Jones is so
brilliant and I feel like I learned even more about how wonderful theatre is.
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