Deadtown, Birmingham REP - review with pictures
Occasionally a theatrical production makes it to the main stage one of our theatres of national standing and manages to break all the general rules of critical appraisal.
The Forman Brothers’ production of Deadtown came with little indication as to what it was about and came without programme notes, cast list or synopsis to help me in my task.
Running at just two hours long it would have to be a concise and exciting form of storytelling to grip the audience's attention from start to finish, but this was not one of the successful outcomes.
The first quarter of the show is a mixture of magic, circus tricks, singing, dancing and dance.
I hate to write this but I have seen better magicians and acrobats appear on BGT.
The stand-out feature in this section was an impressive and versatile on-stage band which successfully captured the rich cultural heritage of the many kinds music it had to perform.
Then came a sudden transformation of atmosphere when the ring-master asked if we had travelled a long distance to see the show.
There follows loud section where the REP stage is turned into a early motion picture house. Using simple animation, visual effects, and which comprised virtually of an old saloon set in the desert where the object seemed to be who would be the last man, or woman, standing, the mini-film certainly portrayed how North America became to be known as The Wild West.
There is another section which apparently depicts a hurricane blowing full throttle which seemed louder and longer than necessary.
There’s also a great deal of violence, involving some rather sloppy gun-shooting routines, by which time most of those on stage are dead. Perhaps they were the lucky ones.
Deadtown has its final performance on Saturday.
