REVIEW: Reality, Ovalhouse ✭✭✭

Reality. Photo: Richard Davenport Reality

Ovalhouse

11th July 2015

3 Stars

Today’s teenagers are often described as the first generation to grow up with wall-to-wall reality TV. So who better to perform a dystopian exploration of the dangers of fame-seeking than The Bridge Theatre Company, a group of aspiring young actors?

Reality follows a group of fame-hungry youngsters who get a final recall for The Hostage, a new reality TV show which they hope will get them closer to fame and fortune. The wannabe stars are put through a series of increasingly sadistic and unnerving tasks by unhinged producer Oscar (Jack Stimpson) in order to prove that they’ve got what it takes.

Stimpson’s producer from hell is compelling and becomes more twisted and unpredictable as the play progresses. Most of the play’s strongest moments come when the characters are really put under stress, as the hopefuls are made to perform humiliating tasks, turn on each other and put themselves under brutal scrutiny. Soon, the characters’ carefully crafted back-stories start to fall apart, thanks to a series of shocking revelations.

Whilst this is a play that occasionally sparkles, the script (an original commission from the highly regarded Georgia Fitch) was fairly uneven. Perhaps in a world where we are somehow up to the sixteenth series of Big Brother, most of the comic and dramatic material about reality TV has already been mined (I Can’t Sing, Black Mirror, Game, even The Truman Show). As a result, it’s a real challenge to come up with something that feels fresh and incisive -the sob stories, absurd premises and exploitation of the real thing is almost become beyond parody already. For this reason, although the play eventually bursts into life when Oscar is introduced, the establishing scenes did feel a bit old hat.

Although totally understandable given the nature of the project, the number of characters in the ensemble was also something of a hindrance. Much of the ‘audition’ took place with twelve different characters on a very small stage. As well as meaning that there were often characters out of view of the audience, a few were barely given time or space to develop beyond a regional stereotype (not helped by the fact that the characters were referred to by their hometown!). It was noticeable that as a few of the characters gradually tired of their modern torture chamber and left the stage that the play improved as a result (just like the real Big Brother come to think of it…). After a gripping and tense second act, Reality started to lose its way a bit towards the end, with an ending which didn’t really do justice to the tension which preceded it.

Several of Reality’s young and talented cast have bagged offers for prestigious drama schools and it is not difficult to see why. Performances were very strong across the board, with the ensemble displaying an incredible aptitude for accents (credit to dialect coach Izo FitzRoy who may never again have to coach a Grimsby accent). They all showed considerable maturity and depth in their portrayals, and often excelled when dealing with the really tough subjects, for example Scarlett’s (Nora Lempiere) perfectly pitched monologue on her recent abortion. The aforementioned Jack Stimpson clearly has a bright future ahead, hitting just the right mix of camp and creepy as the play’s antagonist. Others who caught the eye were Cameron Essam as the sweet oddball Darren, Kitty Archer as the unfortunate target of his affections Anya and Louie Webb as Tyler, whose super tough persona starts to unravel when he’s given some shocking news.

The staging was clever and effective throughout, with the canny use of screens around the stage adding to the play’s claustrophobic feel. The screens would often stream live footage, with the cast taking it in turns to roam around with the camera, creating a fantastic dynamic effect. It was used to maximum effect for some of the strongest moments of the play; a series of well crafted clips that challenged our preconceptions about the characters. The sound design from Tom Hackley also deserves a mention, with a Big Brother style soundtrack that helped to ramp up the tension before the show.

Reality is a production from The Bridge Theatre Company, a course run by the theatre department of the BRIT School. It is clearly a wonderful initiative, which allows students to work with industry experts to produce, stage and market their own production. The play has also been supported financially by the Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation. In a world where reality TV shows offer a quicker and easier path to fame, how wonderful to see budding young thesps given the opportunities and resources they need to really flourish. Whilst the script didn’t always have the X factor, it’s definitely true that the BRIT’s got talent.