“Physical Theatre Killed The Radio Star” by Under The Headstocks
Waterstones Bookstore, Nottingham

Not the first venue you’d think of to hold a theatre production, in a City bookshop, in the Alan Sillitoe Room, but nowadays anywhere is fair game for a performance. I’ve seen plays indoors and outdoors, in cellars and in the top rooms of buildings, so why not a bookshop?

I’ve been lucky enough to see part of this play in its early stages so was very interested to see this play in full and in its finished state.Talking to writer/director Alan Dawson afterwards though, he says that it's still a work in progress.

The play looks at speech, language and communication by way of modern day slapstick comedy, mime and clowning.

The two characters Trevelyan (Matthew Lamb) and Dev (Sandy Edwards-Walsh) come together to perform a radio play, but this isn’t the run of the mill radio play as Trevelyan has mainly non-verbal communication which makes it a bit difficult for Dev to improvise, not forgetting this is for the radio! It asks the question of how do you get help if you can’t ask for it?

Although this is a comedy it has a serious undertone which addresses homelessness and the way that homelessness is seen through the eyes of others and the stigmas that are attached to it.

I'm not sure if it was intended but Dev's character styling comes across as hammy, something that is often preconceived for radio drama actors. The script for Dev is very pronounced, which I actually think added to the comic element and I loved the hamminess, which also created a class difference between the two radio actors. if the "ham" wasn't written in as a characteristic by Alan and just evolved that way, or was the way that Sandy envisaged the character, please keep it, as I loved it. Sandy is great fun to watch.

Trevelyan could be seen as a bit of a buffoon, a lovable one. Alan had the image of a Mr Bean type character and I think that came across to a certain extent. The audience has a lot of empathy for Trelevyan because of his apparent learning difficulties but because he didn't let this hold him back in what he wanted to do, we warm to the character. He is also homeless. I've seen Matt as an actor and as a writer/Director before and he's a rough diamond who had a lot to offer in all three spheres.

The radio play characters are the play within the play and Matt and Sandy start off as actors being directed by the Director, strangely enough, played by Toni Sutton. There are sections that return to this trio as Director/actors scenario, which is quite a brave thing to do for a writer as it may confuse some audience members. The characterisation between the different roles reduce any confusion.

The play is just the right length at around 75 minutes, and for me to see this fuller version from the ten minute or so section I saw.months ago, was a lovely incite into the actors' and director's brains when it comes to fleshing out characters and story lines.

This show was previously performed at Mansfield Palace Theatre, and is also is a one off performance, but a worthy showcase of everyone's talents involved.

Under The Headstocks is a theatre company to look out for in the future.