One cold venue, but one hell of a play

Review – NUTS Production of Amadeus

The Death of Mozart as an enchanting work of theatrical art.

Wednesday night saw the opening of NUTS production of Peter Shaffer’s Oscar winning Amadeus at the Cluny 2 Theatre in Newcastle.

Based around the lives of two renowned musicians and composers, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Antonio Salieri, Shaffer’s production combines history and fiction in an attempt to unravel the mystery surrounding the death of Mozart. Shaffer dramatises the rivalry between the two composers, the building jealousy of Salieri of his young rival’s increasing popularity and natural talent, in order to draw an answer to the age old question, who killed Mozart?

In a small cold dark theatre, with minimalistic scenery and props, the NUTS cast put on a captivating and enchanting performance, which kept the audience riveted to their frozen seats until the final lines had been uttered.

As Antonio Salieri, Steven Wallace was spell-binding. His ability to place dramatic emphasis on every word of the two hour performance kept the audience completely enthralled. His performance was both humorous and serious depending on the setting of the scene, and his stage presence as the jealous maestro although undoubtedly sinister and disturbingly psychopathic also attracted the sympathy of the audience, as they witnessed his demise through the taunting of the annoying and immature presence of young Mozart. His confession was portrayed with such compassion and confidence that it became increasingly hard to distinguish reality from performance, as Salieri confided with the audience his darkest thoughts, sins and ultimately unforgivable crime of murder.

Edward O Burgon’s portrayal of Mozart was comical, irritating and an exact dramatic contrast to the serious and calculated portrayal of the protagonist, Salieri. Although O Burgon’s high pitched laughter became increasingly annoying as the play progressed, his performance was exceptional as the young composer; as a taunting, self-obsessed, immature and unfaithful child prodigy, who giggled and boasted, running around the stage after his lover in a rather shameless fashion.

Although the theatre was unbelievably cold, and the audience had to layer up with hats and scarfs throughout the performance, the entire production was an enormous triumph, with every word drawing the audience further into the plot of mystery, confession and rivalry. The entire cast threw themselves into the production with such enthusiasm and professional skill, (particularly considering that a fair amount of the script was in Italian), that it was difficult to forget that this was an amateur society production.

Amadeus was performed by the cast and produced by the production team of NUTS with skill and dedication, and the final result was nothing short of a theatrical work of art. Performances and stage directions like this surely belong in the theatres of Broadway, and I am sure that we will be seeing big things from both Steven Wallace and Edward O Burgeon in the near future.

Rachel Flint

DIY AYE at the Star and Shadow Cinema

Standing in the Star and Shadow Cinema, I begin to realize that most people are brainwashed to ideas of happiness and contention: to get money, a successful career, fame or a handsome partner. From a young age these ideals are forced into our imaginations, we are influenced by our peers, celbrity role-models, favorite films, magazines and friends, into thinking that the key to happiness lies in these materialistic ambitions. We aspire to achieve them; to be the best, the most successful the most powerful and the most beautiful. But do these things really result in true happiness? Can we gain peace through materialistic aspirations?

On the 1st and 2nd of May, the Newcastle Radical Festival “DIY AYE” takes place at the cinema. It is a freedom event, where everything is free from authority and control. The cinema doesn’t have a manager, staff, controlling PR representatives, even rules, it would appear. Star and Shadow is run totally off the backs of volunteers and other valuable contributors, who work tirelessly, creating blogs, Facebook events, emailing and creating networks, to organize events, trips and film showings. The atmosphere is relaxed, with ambient atmospheric décor; dimly lit and decorated with anarchy flags, which where handmade at previous craft workshops.

Today the cinema is playing host to a diverse range of events, which are all a part of the DIY AYE environmental event. The events include; craft work-shops (book binding, zine workshops, screen printing, stencil graffiti, mix tape exchange, drumming and bike maintenance), hairdressing, film viewing, debates, poetry reading and live music gigs. On one small round table, scissors blur and people string pages together into roughly bound books. They are book binding – producing their own books, something which I used to associate with the likes of Penguin and other multi-million pound organizations, not a gang of Geordie’s in a tough and tumble venue, on a hot Saturday morning. One volunteer, Jezz Anbleyth, a biology graduate of Plymouth University, says, “I wrote a story of marine adventure, it’s been published by ourselves”. The pride is obvious; nothing can beat publishing your own work.

At the Star and Shadow the event is thriving. DIY Aye is a free event for free people. Their motto is: ‘As long as we show solidarity, believe in ourselves and follow natural practice, we can do anything’. Their raison d'être is fantastic; that is to be anything they want. Their event, ’DIY AYE’ is a spectacular discovery of our potential. The mantra ‘The Anarchist Ethos of Do It Yourself!’ inspires the visitors until they saturate the venue with a pulsating atmosphere.

Timed Zine Workshops add a competitive feel to the otherwise relaxed atmosphere. Challengers learn how to cut, paste and design, under the impending countdown of the ticking clock. The countdown fuels their excitement. A woman wearing hardcore punk jacket studded with leopard-print, asks a man for glue and as time trickles away, they bite their lips and their hands are entwined with everyone else’s reaching for pens and cutters on the long wooden table. They chose pictures, draw lines and cut up pages which are haphazardly positioned to become a part of their masterpieces. One shouts, “I’ve finished!”. The timer runs out. Everyone must stop even if they haven’t finished and then swap their creation with their neighbour. "This is awesome", "I like your picture" they say to one another. Everyone admires each other’s work and shares their success together; they are brought together in one big huddle of production. Their success has brought them together like one big happy family.

Meanwhile, in the theater, two great movies are showing: A Spanish Squatting movie and Travel Queries. The Spanish documentary analyses the rapid cycle deterioration of public attitudes towards the governmental housing policy. Another illustrates the uniqueness of modern European culture, art and radicalism. Both let us meditate on the complexities of our modern world. It is a chance to learn about: anarchism, primitivism, fundamental notion of nation states, fascism and races.

Even eating here is a form of entertainment. The kitchen prides itself on using local produce to promote sustainability. Mouth-watering meals are “donation price” you pay as you like! There is nothing quite like a good old local Geordie meal, at half the expected price.

In the evening, surrounded by dimming red lights, people are getting people drunk and looking forward to listening to the drunken traditional ramblings of four Geordie’s late on. Tonight no-one is concerned with the tensions of work, family or finances; they are finally free, at one with the chilled out atmosphere and carefree attitude of Diy-Aye. As the night draws to a close, all that is left is the memory of the day; a mountain of string and scrapped paper, piles of empty beer glasses, and the cheerful singing of happy Geordie’s content in their day of fun and recycling.

by adventurers Taka and Rachel