Ah, promenade theatre, how you test the most adventurous of our theatre makers and show that it’s not always a style worth investing in. Promenade theatre lives or dies within the first 15 minutes, and for Duckie’s Copyright Christmas, what promises to be a self-reflective evening of extravaganza falls early on as we are herded like cattle from repeated performance acts to repeated metaphors and motifs. Whilst the Barbican Theatre’s stage might have been transformed into a maze of supermarket aisles and knock off Christmas treats, Duckie’s overall performance is more trying than worst of family Christmases.

Copyright Christmas is the world of corrupt capitalism where store manager Carol opens her arms to the shoppers’ every desire and need. Want family acceptance  or self respect?  They sell that. Perhaps you’re after a transformation or eternal youth? Whatever you could want, Copyright Christmas has a gift for you. Part promenade, part group and one on one experiences, it’s an evening of rip-off Christmas joy with performance artists strutting their stuff in exaggerated character forms. Duckie’s version of a Christmas is bittersweet, creating a mocking affair of our societal buying into corporations and capitalism, whilst simultaneously showing that a Christmas production isn’t always about pantomimes and cheap snow. It’s just a shame that this alternative Christmas production is more about endurance for an audience than being handled with care and offered a sweet night’s rest, as in Duckie’s previous Barbican offering, Lullaby.

Separated into small groups, we move around the ‘Copyright Christmas Supermarket’, meeting various characters/employees and throwing ourselves into given situations. Copyright Christmas is at times more a military operation than a promenade performance as the audience continually revolve around the maze of encounters, with each moment repeated six or so times in succession. Whilst grand in operation direction and concept, Copyright Christmas struggles to maintain a sense of adventure and entertainment for its audience. The herded movement as the groups pass from performance to performance means that the various artists struggle to keep the momentum, and the audience in return endure continual stopping and shuffling. With this promenade style of work, a strong narrative needs to be fed through, but Mark Whitelaw’s direction seems more intent on driving a naff message of how corporate Christmas has become, rather than teasing out some of Duckie’s ensemble characters and possible narratives.

Whilst Copyright Christmas suffers in its lack of attention to detail, there are some wonderful characters within the ensemble for laugh out moments, and it has to be said the production itself is impressive for handling the vast capacity of audience at once. It’s certainly not suited to a theatregoer wanting to be fully immersed and challenged by theatre, but it might prove a laugh for an alternative Christmas party night out for office employees.

Christmas Copyright comes across as an underdeveloped idea, where even in the final climatic moments at the end of the show, the grand revealing that brings the audience back together as a whole, there is untapped potential for Whitelaw’s production to soar above and beyond. There is a slight expectation that Duckie’s  performances will take the audience on a new adventerous journey, which in many ways will draw a particular audience to the Barbican. But like any grand promenade performance, it’s too easy for all the hard work to be lost when a piece lacks commitment to the storytelling of theatre and making the audience seem less like sheep herded from moment to moment. What Copyright Christmas really needed was a through line, a narrative to engage within those moments of queuing and shuffling. It’s a shame because the production looks impressive, but doesn’t manage to transport its audience through a progressing story or idea. Much like that cheap tacky Christmas gift from your aunt that you’ll end up throwing in the bin at the end of Christmas, Copyright Christmas is a piece of disposable theatre.

Copyright Christmas is playing at The Barbican Theatre until 31 December. For more information and tickets, see the Barbican Theatre’s website. Duckie also has a Christmas Market that is worth visiting before and after the performance in the Barbican foyers.

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I loathe football. It’s the type of sport which brings back chilling reminders of being forced to kick a ball up and down a patch of grass at school in the middle of winter when my desires were clearly in the warmth of the drama department. Let’s face it, football isn’t for everyone, but it seems to get the nation rattled up no end. Total Football by Ridiculusmus looks at how 500 million citizens each year sweat blood and tears over this game. Framed within having to put together the best football team to represent Team GB in the 2012 Olympics, Ridiculusmus presents a farcical two-hander that is both absurd and utterly ridiculous as a performance in the Barbican Pit Theatre.

Having been created, written and performed by Jon Haynes and David Woods, there is a distinct quality to Total Theatre that allows it to be thrown around, just as in the game in question. Where the players on the pitch might be passing the ball between themselves, Haynes and Woods reflect this motion; their dialogue acts as the dynamic of the game itself. Total Football goes a long way to create a false sense of what football does for a nation, which is executed in Haynes and Wood’s attempt at putting together Team GB when Scotland, Wales and Ireland pull out from allowing anyone from their country to participate. Just like the long-running politics between nations, Great Britain is divided and so will this team be.

As performers, Haynes and Woods have a difficult task in keeping the dialogue and pace afoot. Their continual swapping of characters and situations means that you have to invest in them as performers and characters otherwise you’ll be left behind. It is clear that both Haynes and Woods are excellent performers, they have brilliant stage presences, and their abilities to swap characters and voices without changing out of their suit costumes is commendable. However, I struggled to engage with them, and, although this is of course a purely personal take, it affected my overall experience of the show. It is only after reflecting on some of the bigger issues surrounding the piece that I can marvel at how much Ridiculusmus as a company has managed to squeeze into Total Footnall whilst doing so in a completely absurd manner.

A burning questions has to be if Total Football is enjoyable for those people, like me, who dislike the sport? For the most part, yes. Ridiculusmus is careful to not make Total Football only for those who love the sport. There are great comical moments to be had in the rambling explanations of the off-side rule, or in describing certain players and their tactics. The show goes beyond just a look at football as a sport and into the ideas of nationalism and how we can celebrate being British today. This is wonderfully contrasted with the character of an Alabanian cleaner who is attempting to gain citizenship in the UK, learning songs and phrases which, even to someone born and raised in this country, seem absurd. Total Football asks a lot of questions about who we are, probing at the notions of being British whilst at the same time subtly telling us that our obsession with football is so trivial that it is ultimately just as farcical as the idea of kicking a ball up and down some grass as entertainment.

By the end of Total Football it is not so much about the game, but rather how government bodies try to understand the nature of society, our happiness and engagement with sporting events. Can a team of British players in the football section of the Olympics really lift a society’s spirits, bringing out prosperity and happiness? Well, no, but it can for those that truly invest. Just like theatre as a method of entertainment, it can offer us highs and lows, but if it was completely removed from society it wouldn’t cause the downfall of England.

Just like Ridiculusmus tells us that football fanaticism can be utterly controlling and absurd to influence us so much, so can Total Football as a piece of theatre. Haynes and Woods present it as a bewildering farce, and I am left feeling that that’s all it is – a laugh, lifting the lid on the way our society works. Yet it doesn’t capture my spirit, it’s clearly not for me, and this is partly due to the topic. There might be some great performances but Total Football doesn’t quite score a winning game for me.

Total Football is playing at the Barbican until 18th June. For more information and tickets, see the website here.

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In Romeo Castellucci’s latest theatre piece, On the Concept of the Face, Regarding the son of God, as part of the Spill Festival 2011, there is sense of care and devotion in the sixty-minute action between a father and son. The father, a frail figure, has the inability to contain the contents of his bowels for more than fifteen minutes at a time. The son, like a devoted servant (albeit a little disgruntled and exhausted), repeatedly strips his father naked, washes him down and puts a fresh ‘nappy’ onto him.

This simple action makes up for the bulk of the performance, and whilst it is not the easiest of human functions to witness (nor for that matter see spilling out across a pristine white flooring) it is the tender desperation between father and son that makes for a captivating performance. The father (Gianni Plazzi), moans continually “sorry, sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry…” whilst the son (Sergio Scarlatella) repeatedly tells him “there’s no need to say sorry”. The helplessness of the whole situation turns from at first a humourous affair into a tragic cycle of desperation and devotion.

The performance at the Barbican was delivered without surtitles and whilst a hand-out translation was provided of the dialogue, it wasn’t needed to understand the relationship and actions that unfolded on the stage. The remarkably white set of a sofa, chairs, and bed gradually sees the father  moved between them and each time staining them with excrement . In the final moments, the father stands before the white bed and, without clever concealment as before and in full view of the audience, unscrews a large container and proceeds to pour excrement over himself and the bed before finally collapsing into heaving sobs and a pool of brown liquid.

Whilst graphic and yes, shocking if not disturbing to watch, it is this helpless and pathetic form of human life before us that becomes so compelling as a performance piece. Castellucci captures the raw and simplistic actions of the human body, and forms them with the subtle dialogue and situation of father and son in a devastating outcome.

There is a third presence within the space that Castellucci places so that it looms as a watchful eye over the events: that of a huge painting of Christ. Aside from a moment when the son, out of a desire for comfort, rests his face against the lips of Christ, it is not used until the final closing moments as a theatrical device that Castellucci uses to dramatically bring forth a religious metaphor.

With a booming soundscape of shrill sounds and whispers of prayers, the face of Christ begins to bulge and distort as figures press against its canvas form. Then, in a beautiful dramatic image, blood, tears and excrement pour down the face of Christ. With sound and lighting disorientating the audience and the figure of Christ distorted, the canvas erupts with letters that shine from Christ’s face spelling “You are my shepherd”.

As the stage hands remove the scenery and the lights begin to focus once more on the white flooring, all that is left is a dirtied trail of excrement and the distorted face of Christ. It is a poetic,  breathtaking and haunting image that will stay with me for a long time. Castellucci has previously proved that he is a master of contemporary ‘theatre of cruelty’, yet in On the Concept of the Face, Regarding the Son of God, he shows a tender, calmer yet just as profoundly disturbing site to his theatre. Utterly breathtaking.

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As we brave our way through this winter of discontent, it seems an appropriate time to look back at the past twelve months and try to assess whether 2010 was a good year for the young theatre lovers.

Rather than dwell on the negatives, perhaps it’s best to just get them out of the way right at the start. As purse strings were tightened all around the country, young people were further squeezed out of the arts and made to feel distinctly like a non-priority when it came to funding decisions and access schemes. Many of the earliest casualties of the coalition’s budget cuts were schemes introduced in 2009 that, although arguably may not have been the best implemented policies, directly targeted and benefitted young people. You know the damage by now: A Night Less Ordinary, Arts Council England’s free ticket scheme for under 26 year olds, is to be curtailed ahead of time; Find Your Talent, a scheme which gave schoolchildren regular involvement in performing arts, is to be cut; as is the Future Jobs Fund, which provided financial assistance to help arts (and other) organisations hire young people who were out of work for over six months. Theatres big and small are facing funding cuts, although we’re yet to see exactly what impact this will have on the larger organisations’ individual ticketing deals for young people. Yet when you consider that many local arts organisations and youth programs are also vulnerable to the demands on local authorities to make savings, the outlook looks bleak, not just for young people who love theatre, but for those who may not have discovered theatre yet, and who will now find it even harder to access it and be inspired.

On the plus side, necessity is the mother of invention, and rather than saying ‘good riddance’ to young audiences, theatres are increasingly finding innovative ways to attract and retain young theatre lovers. My purse may be bursting from all the individual membership cards for schemes I’ve joined, but there are still great deals to be had if you’re willing to whore your youth for a free ticket. This year has also seen more and more ways for young people to be actively involved in what goes on in theatres across the country. From Battersea Arts Centre‘s If I Ruled the World, a festival where young people devised, performed and debated, via Hoxton Select, which is gearing up for another run of works chosen by a panel of young people, to the growth of York Theatre Royal’s Takeover Festival, 2010 has been a year when young people have had a real say in what goes on stage. As we have previously discussed on A Younger Theatre, this was also a year in which children’s theatre played with the big boys, with established practitioners producing shows aimed at a younger demographic which actually appeal across the ages. 2011 will also be the year that War Horse becomes a global phenomenon thanks to a Broadway transfer and Spielberg film – let us not forget the play’s humble beginnings in the NT Studio.

It has also been a good year for a few notable young theatre practitioners. Nineteen year old Anya Reiss became the youngest ever playwright to be staged in London when her debut, Spur of the Moment, was staged at the Royal Court. Critics could barely contain their excitement that the play had been written by a 17 year old, but the fact she won the Evening Standard Theatre Award for Most Promising Playwright is a testament to the maturity of the writing. The same awards, which championed youth alongside experience, also saw actor Daniel Kaluuya celebrated for his performance in the Royal Court’s Sucker Punch. It has been inspiring to see young writers and performers making a splash, although the achievements of those significantly younger than yourself doesn’t half put your own life in sharp perspective…

When we asked you for your favourite plays and musicals of the past year, we received an impressive variety of shows from around the country, proving (as if proof were needed!) that younger audiences are engaging in a significant range of theatre and that the appetite is there to be built on. There were of course some traditional suggestions – Shakespeare, Les Mis, and the hugely popular Jerusalem will continue to feature on ‘Best of’ lists until the end of time – yet there was one word that kept recurring throughout your explanations for pieces you enjoyed the most – immersive. Whether it was @EveNicol‘s suggestion of Theatre Delicatessen‘s Mercury Fur in London, @HollyCParkerx‘s favourite Sound&Fury‘s Kursk at the Warwick Arts Centre, or any of the plays programmed in Belt Up‘s House Above at the Edinburgh Fringe, plays that threw the audience into the heart of the drama afforded a theatrical experience that has remained in audiences’ minds many months later. It has certainly been a good year for new projects that challenge the audience to participate in the making of the theatre. You Me Bum Bum Train was the fastest selling show ever produced by the Barbican and BAC’s One-on-One Festival was the first of its kind. Both insisted you come and play, giving you very little choice in the matter, and purists would probably run a mile. However, it seems that there is a growing demand for interactive and site-specific theatre, especially amongst younger audiences, and it will be interesting to see how this movement develops.

As the curtain comes down on 2010 it seems, on balance, to have been a good year for the young theatregoer – on a personal note, I have seen more theatre in 2010 than in any previous year, and much of it has been utterly inspiring. It’s difficult to tell what the year ahead will mean for young audiences; however, writing for this website provides me with constant reassurance that young people are passionate about theatre. Recent successes in engaging younger audiences will hopefully provide a firm foundation for the future.

Here are a few more of your theatrical highlights from the past year, share your own and please feel free to add your own reasons why you think 2010 has been a good/bad year for the young theatregoer…

@theatreofdamned: Jerusalem! What a boring choice, but so good I’m thinking about a New York trip just to see it again.

@PeterjHolland: Into the Woods at The Open Air Theatre was definitely my highlight this year. The cast were great and it was IN THE WOODS!

@KellyTeruko: Best play was Metamorphosis by Belt Up Theatre at the Edinburgh Fringe. Powerful, modern take on old material, totally fresh and thought-provoking. Best musical – obviously HAIR! Brilliant music, emotional performances and a once in a lifetime experience.

@CatherineLove21: Hair, for the sheer enthusiasm of that amazing Broadway cast – I don’t know where they got their energy!

@MsCEdge: Design for Living at the Old Vic – I wish I was involved in it! I thought it was sexy without being in your face and fabulously good looking.

@kelly_lou_smith: Ghost Stories! A very well thought out piece of theatre. Appears very formulaic at first but is very subversive by the end. Not necessarily as scary as was made out but they definitely succeed in manipulating and heightening audience expectation and anticipation with every aspect of the production, whether this be through the superb marketing campaign, the transformation of the interior design of the theatre or the pre-show light flickering and eerie sound design that fails to leave your head long after leaving the building. Overall, an almost perfect theatre event!

@tiffanykate09: Birdsong at the Comedy Theatre. Beautifully played, wonderful story, innovative design.

@Sami_luu: Reasons To be Cheerful at Theatre Royal Stratford East cos inclusivity, wonderful storytelling and energy. Access for all…

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