The Gown Student Newspaper at Queen's University Belfast

ARTS: National Theatre comes to QFT

For many people attending, the theatre is a cultural experience and here in Belfast we are blessed with the numerous theatres we have, but rarely do people get the chance to experience what the West End stage in London has to offer. So on the last weekend of January, Queen’s Film Theatre for the first time broadcast the matinee performance of the current National Theatre production ‘Nation’.

BY BRIAN SWANN

In an interview with The Belfast Telegraph, QFT’s press and marketing offer, Sarah Hughes, spoke of the theatre’s involvement in broadcasting the series of NT Live shows. “We are tremendously excited about the forthcoming live broadcast of Terry Pratchett’s Nation. The combination of one of the UK’s best-selling authors, one of the world’s most celebrated theatre companies and a home-grown actress in the lead role (Emily Taaffe) makes for an unmissable show for all the family.”

‘Nation’ is the latest spectacular family production from the company. It’s an exhilarating adventure story of survival and self-discovery, based on a novel by Terry Pratchett and adapted to the stage by Mark Ravenhill.

Set in a parallel world around 1860, a deadly tsunami brings two teenagers together on a South Pacific island. They find a way to come to terms with the destruction that has thrown them together while struggling to understand each other’s language in the process. Together they come of age while somehow learning to survive for the sake of the island’s refugee community. Daphne takes responsibility in delivering a baby, milking a pig, brewing beer and in battling a mutineer. Mau fights with cannibal Raiders and asks questions about the world around him as the old doctrine of the tribe’s fiercely patriarchal gods, which gets discarded to forge a new Nation.

Some may complain about the show’s theme of presenting children with the concept of evolution and a godless universe. But unlike Philip Pullman’s ‘In His Dark Materials’, this play has a combination of a lively moral debate within its strong narrative, than a direct attack on religious belief. The South Sea Islanders singing and dancing numbers do resemble a Hawaii cabaret act, the puppetry could’ve been improved and the music is instantly forgettable. But the simply stunning underwater sequences stand out along with the script which captures the mixture of humour and human sympathy found in Pratchett’s novels.

Gary Carr, captures the courage and increasing wisdom of Mau and Emily Taaffe is amusing as the young aristocrat. They are supported by the strong ensemble which brings the islanders and the English colonials to life. The lead actors leave a lasting impact to the audience which shows in the beautiful conclusion which is deeply affecting.

You leave the theatre knowing you’ve been part of a global audience. The experience was a success for the theatre with a strong turn-out on Saturday afternoon. Many of the audience with went straight to the box-office to pre-book for the next NT Live production, the new Alan Bennett play ‘Habit of Art’, on the 22nd April at the QFT.

Tags: Brian Swann, Gown, newspaper, QFT, qub, Queen's, queen's university, student, The Gown

This entry was posted on Monday, February 1st, 2010 at 2:13 pm and is filed under Arts + Ents, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.