A Monster Calls at the Old Vic: A Review of Sorts
So like many of my fellow artists at this time, I've been taking advantage of the free accessible theatre productions at great theaters being streamed. I've seen a few, particularly the ones at various theaters in England as they seem to be producing the types of shows I want to create as well as doing incredible things with them.
I for some reason did realize at first that the National Theatre Live series doesn't strictly consist of theatre productions produced at the National Theatre. They also do potshots of productions at theaters live the old vic, the young vic, and the bridge theater. Now I'm not well versed in the London Theatre scene so these names of theaters mean virtually nothing to me, but the Young Vic's production of Streetcar was super inventive and the Bridge Theater's production of Midsummer (which is streaming now and I haven't seen yet but I have drooled over the photos and videos) looks whimsical and fun as all productions of Midsummer should be, and I think features same-sex relations which I am all for!
Now the Old Vic Theater has been streaming some of their own productions independently on their youtube channel themselves, one of which being a devised production based on the book "A Monster Calls" by Patrick Ness. After seeing one trailer I just about lost my mind. The use of visual effects and set pieces looked so exciting and mystifying to watch and I immediately had to find out more.
I had heard of the book this production was based on (I used to be an avid watcher of booktubers [youtubers that review books]) and remembered this book having a really interesting concept and the fact that it was a children's book with beautiful illustrations piqued the interest of my short attention span. Looking into the production and finding that Patrick Ness played a huge role in the production meant I had to see it. The production wouldn't be streaming for another two weeks so to satisfy my anticipation I bought the book.
This isn't a book review, but I'll say that the concept spoke to me, that it was a whimsical childhood nightmare with underlying themes of grief and depression and coping with these things while navigating a childhood with its own obstacles like a broken family, school bullies, and a grandma who cares way too much about her antique clock.
My experience of this production was underwhelming if I'm being honest but this is of no fault of the production itself. Firstly, this is a production that cannot be experienced properly through video. Theres just no way to recreate the feeling of being in that room and I was so jealous of everyone in their seats in that audience. I think some productions that I've seen just happen to translate better to screen than others, and this one, given how intricate the direction and designs were, just did not. Secondly, I watched the stream immediately after finishing the book, like minutes after, and with that being said, the production itself was absolutely gripping. I personally am a huge fan of devised theatre just in the ways it allows directors and actors and designers to come up with creative unconventional ways to tell a story or convey a theme.
I mean, the way they used dozens of ropes hanging from the ceiling to create the yew tree, or the way the screen created the atmosphere for Connor's nightmare, everything just floored me. Like I said, I just wanted to be in that room because the camera just did not do the designs justice. This truly was devised theatre at its finest in my opinion, and had minor themes of mental health which just made it the perfect show for me. The ways they used everything they had to convey the pain of a hurtful encounter between Connor and his bullies, or the shock of Connor's grandma seeing her trashed house, or the chaos and fear of Connor's nightmare sequences were all so effective and led to a heartbreaking yet uplifting conclusion.
I want to devise theatre like this someday and this could not have inspired me more.
-RJM
