Spoonface Steinberg – a great performance

Great night's performance on Saturday night. 'The Sparks' will be the scene that will be forever my 'Spoonface Steinberg'.

The latest Freerange Theatre tour is in my opinion, but also from hearing the comments the
rest of the audience, best witnessed in a small intimate setting, for our setting last night, it was the Audlem Scout & Guide Hall 'Cafe Theatre'.

Staging

Stage and seating carefully merged, and cleverly lit to create the 'ward room'. Literally we (45 ish) sat at the bedside of Spoonface Steinberg, despite the sign saying only two people per patient, as the dawn broke and the waking Spoonface realised we were all there.

The young girl reached for her hat to cover her balding head and hid beneath her duvet to put it on, before setting herself to engage with her 'visitors'.

Monologue

The next 70 minutes of this monologue written by Lee Hall, He of Billy Elliot fame
disappeared. Never a mawkish, or moralising tale, tackling religion, cancer, autism and holocaust, but with enlightment and humour through the simple observation of an autistic child.

This was simply entertaining, a performance engaging the audience on every level as actor Rebecca Fenwick lived as Spoonface, reacting as an autistic child would when the audience laughed, she replayed the line, the more the audience reacted, the more she played.

Positive

The fact that it portrayed autism with all it's positives was masterfully achieved without and demeaning or sentimentality. It's elements like this that Hugo Chadnor, the Director,
brought visually to life the Lee Hall radio play that captured the Radio 4 audience back in 1998.

The Rubiks cube, with the walk, with the monologue so suberbly executed by Fenwick was acting at it's best, and I mean its best.

Q&A

The following Q&A was a magical piece of engagement for the audience, Fenwick and Chadnor to further engage with 'Spoonface' and provide both feedback and share experiences in a light hearted though informative session, a creative way for audience and theatre company to carry out a 'post match' analysis.

As I mentioned in the preview to the play, not an easy sell, and for most that stayed away, the subject "A seventy minute monologue, it features a young autistic eight(ish)-year-old girl with cancer" however, though the basis of the play, the reality is so much more, the brilliance that is the writer, Lee Hall, the direction of Hugo Chadnor and actress Rebecca Fenwick made
this a compelling piece of theatre.

Your next opportunity to see this "moving, funny, sad yet optimistic production", will be at The Roundhouse, Staveley 27th June, and then in Lee Hall's backyard of Newcasle-upon-Tyne 28th June. You will not regret your time spent with Spoonface Steinberg.

Further details on Freerange can be found at http://www.freerangetheatre.co.uk
or on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/pages/Freerange-Theatre-Company/369551926420767?fref=ts

Thank you for supporting another Hoc19 event, we look forward to bringing you more. If you would like to be kept up to date with future events email hoc19@me.com

This article is from our news archive. As a result pictures or videos originally associated with it may have been removed and some of the content may no longer be accurate or relevant.