1. My very own Theatre Review I created if I were part of an
audience
On the 23rd of February I went to see Cell block 33 in Cranford Community college,
This was a musical with a moral that you should never give up and always have a second
chance to make a situation better. The play is about two best friends who are both
sent to prison for the stabbing of a girl, however only one of them is truly to blame,
the musical shows the journey of these two girls through prison where a growing hate
grows between them until a new prisoner who is innocent for the crime she supposedly
committed helps one of the girls realise that their friendship was too good to lose and
brings both these characters together, on the way one of the girls is freed early as
she unknowingly took part in this crime decides to make something out of herself
writing a book about her life in prison. It was an overwhelming, comic and fun musical
which ticked all the boxes of what an outstanding musical should include.
The director’s incredible ideas were portrayed throughout his play, the meaning of
Friendship and determination was thoroughly emphasised through the Characters and
story line. The use of the props and costumes to bring out the characters personality
really worked well to send the right vibe across to the audience, the staging and set
design were very realistic and brought the right atmosphere with having boards with
painted cells, having the set completely covered in black to make sure all attention was
brought on stage. Overall you could tell that the director’s concept created the right
impact on the audience and achieved the reaction they had hoped for.
The use of stage space was good, Characters always took into account the audience,
making sure everything was able to be seen from where the audience sat. The
movement and space used was varied, there were different levels this was shown
through scaffolding for the guards to March and large stage blocks which represented
the main cell. The pace of the production was perfect, everything including the funny
jokes were timed perfectly, this is especially shown through one of the guards
‘Chandra’ who did not fail to make the audience laugh.