"Eight" by West Bridgford Dramatic Society.

The Studio Theatre, West Bridgford.

"Eight" is a play, written by Ella Hickson for the Edinburgh Festival in 2008, from which the four monologues, from the original eight, are performed. These monologues were written with the goal of portraying a "state-of-the-nation" group portrait. The official website for the performance describes it as "looking at what has happened to a generation that have grown up in a world where everything has become acceptable."

All four actors are new to West Bridgford Dramatic Society but are well known faces on the Nottingham Amateur Dramatic scene.

"Danny" is a monologue directed by Alex Cotterill and Danny is portrayed by Darren Taylor. This is Darren's first time with West Bridgford Dramatic Society, but you may have caught him recently in court; well, when I saw that I mean that he appeared in the Galleries of Justice in the courtroom drama "Witness For The Prosecution" by Your Chance Productions. Danny is an ex soldier, wounded while patrolling the streets of Basra, he now spends his days, and nights dodging the security guards, working in a mortuary preparing bodies as anatomical specimens for medical students. Apart from Darren's characterisation of Danny, what makes this piece so atmospheric are the sound effects that accompanies the monologue.

Rosie Randall makes her directorial debut with the monologues from Andre and Bobby.            . 

Andre, played by Matthew Thomason,  is a tragicomic character and tells of his recent discovery of his boyfriend’s body hanging in the store-room, by a scarf gifted to him by Andre. Andre gives expression to the humour of his reflections on their life, and work as jobbing art dealers, which gives rise to much of the comedy, whereas the personal life side reveals another side of the pair. The recall, at times, switches from tragedy to comedy in a blink of an eye. Andre tells this while waiting for the emergency services to arrive to remove the body, and the monologue closes with the blue flashing lights, fading to blackout.

Bobby is played by Jen White. Bobby is a single mother living in a Glasgow council flat, laid off from her shop assistant job in the run-up to Christmas. She takes up an offer of work helping an elderly woman, Mrs Beeton, from the other side of the social divide prepare for the arrival of her extended family. There's some gorgeous descriptive passages in this section, and you can practically smell the aroma of the cloves, fruit and cinnamon that is going into the cake mixture as the sounds of a choir sing "Silent Night". There's echoes of Joyce Grenfell at the beginning, and then we are told the truth about the promises that she has just made to the kids.

"Buttons" is directed by Calum Sharp, who also makes his debut as a Director. It's about a prisoner and dreamer with an aversion to buttons and is played by Charles Andrews. The scene is set the day prior to his release from prison, but you get the distinct feeling that this may not be his last visit behind bars. Charles gives the feeling that his character is still on that re-offending spectrum, not just with what he says but by that look on his character's face, creating an uneasy atmosphere; almost in the same way as Danny makes you feel from the first of these monologues.

The lighting design and operation is by Alex Wardle. From the first monologues red heat to the pasty white lighting depicting the war zone to the starkness of the mortuary, through to the lighting effect depicting the shadow of the prison cell bars. The lighting was evocative when needed and in the second and third monologues where was no effects were needed, it made sure that the lighting was basic, so as not to detract from the monologue itself. 

Sound design and operation is by Jem Woolley. the same applies here as well. The sound of the war zone and bomb blasts painted those aural pictures, while in the second and third monologues the sound effects and music were there to give a timescale and create atmosphere. I can't even remember if there were any effects or music in the last one as I was so invested in the monologue and the possible, impending danger from Charles' oration of the monologue.

The stage management is smoothly carried out by Robert Dixon.

Costumes and props are courtesy of Carol O' Connor and Jan Dizon.

This is theatre of a very specific kind, and very different, which is why the whole evening felt so fresh. Here are four story tellers, and we all love to be told stories, drawing us into their own fifteen minute worlds and sharing with us something that is so personal and private to the individuals.

Whether it's a ghost story at Christmas or an audible book we download, it allows us to splash paint on the blank canvas in our minds, even if we have a canvas in front of our eyes called a stage, that doesn't stop us from creating a "what happens next" scenario after we leave the theatre. And that is what makes a performance such as this so exciting.

It was lovely to see The Studio theatre packed out for an evening of excellent story telling from characters who were linked by acceptability of the norm, and brought to life by four excellent story tellers.

"Eight" is being performed at The Studio Theattre, Stamford Road in West Bridgford until Saturday 13 July.