REVIEW: ACT 11 FESTIVAL at The Space Theatre 8 and 15 April 2023

'The Space came alive with creativity, energy and excitement.'

In 2018, Amy Tickner and colleagues established the Act II Festival, hosted by the Space Theatre on the Isle of Dogs. Young theatre makers and would-be theatre makers from 25 drama schools and universities around London, some on performance-related courses, some just up for giving it a go, come together to create, rehearse and perform a plethora of 20-minute-long plays at the festival. This year’s festival showcased 12 plays. 12 new writers, 12 new directors and 40 or so new actors. It makes for quite a party. The Space came alive with creativity, energy and excitement across the course of two weekends.

The festival offers a huge variety of shows, and a wide variety of styles, but it is an important showcase for new talent. Amy Tickner is making good things happen. 

Because of the lack of experience there is a vast range of acting styles, some really good things, and a few problems. The directors should be aware that setting plays at floor level in an unraked auditorium makes it hard to see what’s going on. Actors should work harder to make themselves audible and be more aware of each other on stage – there’s an awful lot of standing frozen and talking to the auditorium walls. But the enthusiasm and commitment of the companies is a sight to see.

One of the stand-out plays was Breathe by Laure Bacchiocchi, a three-hander about sexual abuse and the pressure of expectations, sensitively performed by Roxanne Delreux with excellent support from Elena Lushaku and a very bouncy Hermela Michael injecting some welcome energy into a thoughtful piece.

Lavender by Isaac Banjoko featured a very calm and centred performance by Jemica Taylor, who was a calm centre in a piece that featured some very large performances. A more experienced director might have evened-out the acting styles somewhat, to achieve a more coherent production, but there were lots of good things on display. And a big tip of the hat to Zack Tindall, who demonstrated that there are no small parts with his powerful, funny performance as a cynical café owner in Younes Dine’s Bliss Café.

Also of note was Strangers by Nell Rayner. Urban alienation and the irony of lonely city people searching for meaningful connection was beautifully choreographed by Lucy Millett who conveyed the randomness, bustle and rush with rhythmic composition. The four strangers played by Meghan Mabil, Jennah Finnegan, Maria Vittoria Albertini and Eve Wilson were conveyed with wit and feeling while the script fused spoken word with dialogue to recreate scenes, both light and dark.

Queer Switch by Santiago Guerra used the novel narrative device of two opposing characters trapped in an escape room to explore themes of tolerance and empathy. The necessity to climb inside another skin to create true empathy and understanding was cleverly interpreted and well realised by director, Mya Onwugbonu. It kept the audience both entertained and intrigued until the end.

Reviewed by Chris Lilly and Nilgin Yusuf