Beyond the Front Line, reviews

I've gathered a few reviews for those who are interested in seeing what the buzz is about this production I've been blabbering on about, its not all good mind but I think generally it speaks an atmosphere of promise and potential. Lets start from the top

The Guardian writes: "Slung Low shows how regional theatre can stay fresh" This review speaks quite highly of the piece (which I am all for, then again I don't know many people who don't like having smoke blown up their arse... just as I'd typed that I realised what I'd said.) My particular highlight of the article is:

"This is precisely the sort of big thinking that will keep regional theatres fresh, and ought to make a lot of those in London chasing an increasingly oversubscribed pot start thinking seriously about trying to make work outside the capital."

- Andrew Haydon, 2009†

Yes, I totally agree! One of the most captivating aspects of this show is that it is out of regular theatre and that involvement with the outside environment is what adds a huge amount of realism to the project. In Beyond the Front Line, the line between reality and story, audience and cast, stage and... not stage are blurred just enough for the audience (actually I don't like the term audience for this piece, I'm going to use the term 'participants') to trust in the performers, which is exactly what they would do if that situation was really going on!

Next, the Telegraph writes: "Beyond The Front Line lacks sufficient theatrical fire power" This one ends on a rather unflattering note, which I am not too pleased about (who saw that coming?) The review begins with a description of the show and admits it is a worthy subject to honour, and describes the first half of the show (while complaining about having to be outside in the cold weather,) and then...

"...it’s downhill all the way. There’s some complicated, rather pointless palaver in another tent, during which the audience is required to shift empty hospital beds this way and that to the sound of a newly composed requiem. And then it’s on into an opened-up lorry to write a postcard of support to one of ‘our boys’, a process that crosses the line into the realm of sentimental manipulation. One hour in, and it’s over. Promising, yes, but woefully incomplete - and that’s not good enough, really, for Britain’s finest"

- Dominic Cavendish, 2009

Now, I'm not saying that this guy needs to grow a pair of testes before moaning that the piece he has gone to see isn't finished, lacks meaning or that is ends with a "shivery conclusion outdoors" (news flash, its Salford Quays in the fall.) All I'm saying is if he wanted to see a show where the message is handed to him on a silver platter, nice and warm and snug inside of a theatre, with lots of bright lights and moving pictures to keep his attention, White Christmas starts in November (Check it out, I just reviewed someones review, its breaking all the rules!)

Finally, The Public Reviews said: "This promenade production truly breaks away from the restraints of conventional theatre and offers a multi sensory performance of epic proportions" Ending on a happy note, here is another review that actually gets what the production is about. The author is fair in their comments and their criticism, with high praise for Slung Low and the potential they show in this production, and being critical about the second half of the show:

"The final scene is particularly muddled and as we are ushered into an impressive infirmary tent, we are greeted by a rather long and pointless dance of hospital beds. Despite some beautiful live music and singing by Rosalind Hind, this ethereal sequence lacks any real content and certainly doesn’t give answers to what we have experienced so far."

- Clare Howdon, 2009†

I suppose that is fair, I mean really while the outside of the hospital tent is all us soldiers get to see, we did get a chance to take part in an early concept of the bed ballet, I thought it was very effective, but then again we did have a coreographer telling us exactly what to do, I imagine the function might be a little more ambiguous if everything is done by nothing but gesture.

If you would like to find more reviews of the show, you can just do what I did and google it, and if you come across this blog in the process, I wouldn't bother reading it, because I wrote it! (get it?.. nevermind.)

† Cavendish, D (Friday 9 October 2009) 'Beyond The Front Line at the Lowry Centre, Salford, review' (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/theatre-reviews/6283384/Beyond-The-Front-Line-at-the-Lowry-Centre-Salford-review.html)
† Haydon, A (Friday 9 October 2009) 'Slung Low shows how regional theatre can stay fresh' (http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/theatreblog/2009/oct/09/slung-low-beyond-the-frontline)
† Howden, C (Saturday 10 October, 2009) 'Beyond the Front Line - Lowry Theatre, Salford' (http://thepublicreviews.blogspot.com/2009/10/beyond-front-line-lowry-theatre-salford.html)