After having the privilege of reviewing the Not Too Tame’s fantastic touring production Early Doors, it’s fair to say that I jumped at the chance of being able to attend their latest performance – TuckShop – in The Lowry’s temporary ‘pop-up’ venue, The Roundabout.
The intimacy of the venue outside the main theatre’s doors on Salford Quays helped to create some of the inclusive atmosphere seen during Early Doors, which took place at the Royal Oak pub in Eccles.
Read: 5* Review: Not Too Tame’s Early Doors – The Royal Oak, Eccles
On arrival to the theatre audience members were handed complimentary bags of pick-n-mix to enjoy during the show, so the evening was already on to a winner!
As latecomers settled in to their seats, while others rustled through their bags for Palma Violets, the show began without prior warning as actress Emily Stott leapt from her place in the front row and drunkenly stumbled from one side of the stage to the other.
She then delivered a beautifully poetic monologue about the trials and tribulations of a young party animal in a workless northern town.
She was quickly replaced by two male characters, evidently old friends on the eve of one of the characters moving away, who, during a game of ‘what ifs’, began to question one another’s sexuality.
The evening continued in this vein, a string of mini-plays; each one of them taking on some of the more challenging aspects of society, from forced adoptions and controlling relationships, to personality disorders and rape.
Despite the gravity of some of the topics dealt with, the cast managed to do so with their own brand of light-relief.
In my opinion it takes an incredible team of writers and performers to be able to put together, side -by-side, periods of extreme belly-laughs with moments of gut-wrenching despair in brief 10 minute performances.
The highlights were too many to mention in this brief but exceptional production, however there were a couple of stand-out performances, from Alex Griffin-Griffiths’ portrayal of what appeared to be a schizophrenic Frank Spencer preparing for an interview, to Anthony Wright-Wilson’s interview monologue which explored the difficulties of a returning ex-squaddie and Louise Haggerty explaining the life of a runaway daughter.
Every one of tonight’s performances were beautifully written, fantastically performed and above all else, extremely engaging.
I wanted to avoid the cliché of ‘the sky is the limit’ with this talented band of young performers and writers, but I am struggling to see why not.
