Theatre / bristol ferment
Review: Poll Function, Alma Tavern Theatre
“How long can a kid kick a ball against a garden fence for?”
The Project, a newly formed troupe with a focus on new writing and devising, bring their nostalgic, fuel-injected trip through the growing pains of childhood and adolescence to the Alma Tavern Theatre. Developed with support from Bristol Old Vic’s artist development strand Ferment, the play sees a pair of “West Country plonkers” return to suburbia and wreak havoc on childhood dreams and a system they believed would bring them future opportunity – all from the comfort of their hatchback.
Written by Greg Shewring who also performs alongside Jon Pascoe, the piece is directed by Theo St Claire who also doubles up as a sound effects box and audio controller with the help of a microphone and an iPad to provide just about every road-related sound effect – horns, sirens, door handles, windscreen wipers, seatbelts and more. Shewring and Pascoe’s mimed segments, interspersed throughout the piece and set to a Noughties soundtrack, are a real treat.
is needed now More than ever
Shewring’s writing style is refreshingly blunt, the couple constantly cutting each other off over disillusions with school, loans, love, university, ambition, misfortune and mortality. Detail keeps the characters believable (a friend’s nickname is Porky). Unexpected, quotable one liners and laddish quips reminiscent of The Inbetweeners send ripples of laughter coursing through the audience, while the brutal honesty only serves to reinforce the boys’ friendship. Audience shuffles during the tense silences are reassuringly awkward. The script is also brilliantly self-aware: the pair harass the elderly from the safety of their car hollering that “they all dress the same”, whilst they themselves are clothed in similar garments.
A smart and engaging slice of new writing from this newly formed collective who’ll surely be back for more.
Poll Function continues at the Alma Tavern Theatre until Sat 23. For more info and to book tickets, visit www.almataverntheatre.co.uk/theatre/what-s-on
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