THRIVE performance

Live performance has nothing to say to a young audience

On the 4TH of March I went to Thrive at the Old Market Theatre in hove. It was a promenade show set in one location with props, set and lighting which emphasises the show its self. This is effective to a young audience as we were standing and not sitting. I feel this aspired to a younger audience as it was something unique and unusual and I felt it was effective as you could move around the surface and see multiple points of views from any angle; this is what I feel Toby Ealden wanted when planning set with the designer Barney George. It was effective as the three actors each had one side which was decorated to suit a personality and each was under a ladder to create a room type effect. For example, Ashleigh, played by Claire Gaydon, had a side of pure white which you could spray paint and interact with as well as some clothes and lights. This was effective as you could relate to her quirky nature which was suggested by the ‘arty’ styled decorations surrounding her area. I feel this may relate to a younger audience as of her personality is relatable to that of a younger age as of the way she moves and talks by using slang that today’s younger generation may use.  Her body language was very open. She would jump about o each step and always had her arms either side of her either doing a hand gesture that would emphasis a point she would be making by making her palm flat and fingers together, this made her seem bigger and almost as if she was inviting you into a hug. Her facial expressions where always happy and she would have her eyes open larger than usual and a smile when she wasn’t talking. This was effective as it spoke to a younger audience as this again allowed a younger person to connect with Claire as she seemed younger than what she really is age wise.
Another point that made it seem interesting to young people was the use of physical theatre. Someone who used it well was Ollie who was played by Daniel Morgan. His use of physical theatre was very interesting. It really made a younger audience link to him as he would use bold and big movements to portray his emotions which younger people may be able to link to. A place where he would do this well is after the death of his friend. He would use is arms and hands to cover his face and then fling them away in a robust anger type of movement that his face heighten as he appeared angry. He would do a set of movements over a beat of four which allowed a rush of emotions that would seem to be repeated and may overlap one another if they had felt the experience of losing someone close to them; this was shown through the movements. This would be effective for a younger audience as they may have lost someone or lost a relationship or a friendship and may have experienced emotions that could be perfectly described through the movements Daniel did; I feel Amy O’Sullivan wanted this as the choreographer. We then see this heightened by the fact that he started to seclude himself off using jenga bricks to create a wall type idea to the audience and then went into a big ball by tucking up as tight as possible. Personally I feel that Toby Ealden wanted this array of emotions to be portrayed as he may have wanted younger people to connect with this and especially those who have lost someone close to them. This links to the direction of the play as people could link to these emotions and personalities of these characters and almost put themselves in their shoes.
Another point that made it relatable was the ages of the characters and how they were portrayed to a younger audience. The younger generation are able to link to the characters due to the choices they make, their outfits, language choices and topics they might talk about. This is important for a connection as the younger generation may not be able to link with someone who appeared older due to a dry humour or experiences they have yet to live through. This must have been a point that Toby Ealden wanted due to characters being younger and being played by older actors. They needed to be immersive so the audience could quickly catch on to what they may be trying to show. This can be then be heightened by their choice of clothing which would have been a choice of both Toby and Barney George. A good example of this is Raph who was played by Luke Vernon. He had a snapback hat on backwards, trainers of an iconic brand and long baggy clothing has if he was aim to be a road man. I feel all the younger generation may associate this with being youthful as it many people tend to wear the same sort of stylised clothing that the character Raph wears. The actors also acted younger by being more flamboyant and robust with their movements and would speak faster so that their pace increased when speaking which would make them seem like the don’t have time to stop or have an enormous amount of energy when speaking about something, like the party for example. Ashleigh had a lot of energy for the party so spoke with a fast pace to almost make it seem more like a big event and something super exciting which you could link to a younger generation as throwing a party when only still in high school (years 11-13) would be a big deal especially if alcohol is involved. You could link this to acting and direction the play went. The acting would be important as the actors are acting younger than they are and the direction is important as you need it to flow and seem like a typical young teenager type atmosphere.