Page 22 - 367639 LP248834 NE Volume Magazine (170mm x 245mm 52pp) October 2022

A DOLL’S HOUSE
AT VARIOUS THEATRES, NORTH EAST
C
STAGE
1
A North East theatre company has bucked the national trend by coming out of the pandemic stronger than ever – and is set to conquer the whole of the North of England with a trio of hotly-anticipated productions. During lockdown, Elysium Theatre Company cancelled its live performances and instead streamed a series of ground-breaking ‘Covid-19 Monologues’ – one-person performances reaching tens of thousands of people online and receiving awards and accolades in the process. Elysium have just released another six original monologues online, written by and starring some top talent from across the country. It will follow this series with a tour of ‘A Doll’s House’, by Henrik Ibsen, which will visit ten Northern theatres across September/October. The company will then tour another nine venues in November with ‘Reiver – Tales from the Borders’ – an original production adapted from one of Elysium’s original Covid Monologues, by North East playwright Steve Byron. This will be Elysium’s first newly- written stage play. Elysium’s co-founder Jake Murray, who is directing all of the company’s productions, believes this proves that, if anything, the pandemic has made Elysium stronger than ever. Jake said: “A lot of theatre companies have closed during Covid but the pandemic hasn’t killed us - we have emerged stronger than ever. We have come out of the starting blocks at full speed, with two live tours and an online series of productions. When we went into the pandemic, we were taking shows to maybe three or four venues, and now we are touring two shows to up to ten venues at a time. I feel like Covid has helped get us to where we want to be. Our aim pre-pandemic was to bring the best of theatre to the North and with these tour shows, we can do that.” A Doll’s House is regarded as one of the greatest plays of all time, and is said to have ‘fired the starting gun’ on modern theatre. Focusing on the self- discovery of central character Nora Helmer, a woman who goes against conventions and rules of a patriarchal society, by defying her husband, ‘A Doll’s House’ was one of the first plays to put modern marriage under the spotlight, and look at the institution from a woman’s point of view. Its message, that a woman’s right to freedom and dignity was equal to a man’s, was revolutionary at the time, and made playwright Ibsen an icon for the Women’s Movement. The play continues to provoke debate today. LEE ALLCOCK
Visit: elysiumtc.co.uk
MARK WATSON
AT ARC, STOCKTON
Nobody overthinks better than Mark Watson. Where many comedians don their persona when the curtain raises, there’s an urgency in Watson’s delivery that pairs perfectly with his shivering voice, alluding that every insecurity, every incident and every phobia is drawn from a very real place deep inside the comic. Despite this, Mark Watson is only a few steps away from National Treasure status - and rightly so. The comic has been delivering his astute yet rambling routines for decades; the skittish appeal of the performer fronts what is otherwise a masterful deconstruction of everyday little problems, blown into catastrophic proportions. Resonating globally with his discontent, the comic has been flirting with critical and commercial success beautifully throughout his exciting career. With life’s idiosyncrasies all reeking with disappointment or damnation, Watson thrives when circling around the themes in his life that bring him to his knees. With an illustrious career, churning out novels, an iconic run on Taskmaster and a welcome face of Mock The Week, QI and 8 out of 10 Cats, the No More Jockeys icon is now hitting his biggest milestone yet - turning 41. Officially, as the comic claims, at the halfway point in his life, the comic is blasted with half a lifetime's worth of pathological overthinking that he attempts to cram into one evening of masterful stand-up. This turning point in any person’s life is a jarring and uncomfortable transition, and there is nobody more apt at translating these internal pools of doubt and self-loathing into something real, authentic and relatable. Shining a light on the looming shadows of ageing in our current climate, Watson takes the scary and makes the topic approachable and harmless. Feeling as therapeutic for the performer as for the audience, Watson’s shows are a hilariously real affair that aims to take life’s worries and examine and understand them. Nervous, neurotic and very
22 \\ NE VOLUME MAGAZINE \\ CULTURE
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