TRAVELLING LIGHT
By Nicholas Wright
A Rose Bruford Drama School Production, Unicorn Theatre.
Performed in English
Intelligent, unsettling and ebullient.
The TIMES
Daniel Goldman’s high-spirited production…. has a certain oddball charm.
The Guardian
Unapologetically rough theatre — starkly staged, inclusive, anti-authoritarian.
Evening Standard
Tangram deliver the play with a massive charge of enthusiasm and inventiveness.
Playstosee
The Dragon is simultaneously a light-hearted rendition of a fairy tale and a very serious political satire that fully justifies a trip down to the Elephant and Castle.
British Theatre Guide
If the overall parable is clear enough, its enactment is still startling, and drag on the performance certainly does not.
Reviewsgate
In a remote village in Eastern Europe, around 1900, the young Motl Mendl is entranced by the flickering silent images on his late father’s cinematograph. Bankrolled by Jacob, the ebullient local timber merchant, and inspired by Anna, the girl sent to help him make moving pictures of their village, he stumbles on a revolutionary way of story-telling. Forty years on, Motl – now a famed American film director – looks back on his early life and confronts the cost of fulfilling his dreams.
Cast
Rosie Cunnew (Tsippa), Juliette Finn (Ida), Roseby Franklin (Rivka), Lars Gellein (Josef), Teddy Jay (Motl Mendl), Matthew McGoldrick (Maurice Montgomery), Reuben Moss (Aron & Jascha), Callum Ravden (Hezzie), Phil Razey (Mo), Hannah Redfern (Anna), Kai Terry (Nate Dershowitz), Rowan Thorne (Itzak), Fred Trenholme (Jacob Bindel),
Creative Team
Daniel Goldman (Director), Toby Coulton (Scenic & Costume Designer), Brett Kasza (Lighting Designer), Seisha Butler (Sound Designer)
Production
Megan Hartley (Production Manager), Leah Yates (Associate Production Manager), Georgia N T Johnson (Company Manager), Daniel Holland (Technical Manager)
Stage Management
Molly Tackaberry (Stage Manager), Jordan Shepherd (Deputy Stage Manager), Roshni Parmar (Assistant Stage Manager)
Scenic Arts Team
Ben Jones (Scenic Manager), Tim O’Donnell (Scenic Manager), Aaron Bailey (Scenic Assistant), Carly Thompson (Scenic Assistant), Emma Maundrell (Scenic Assistant), Harmony Trodd (Scenic Assistant)
Lighting
Sam Blackmore (Head of Lighting), Jack Hooper (Assistant Lighting Designer), Daniel Bow (Production Electrician), Cameron Dominey (Lighting Programmer)
Costume
Clara Head (Costume Supervisor), Ellie Bertholf (Costume Assistant), Elise Hodson (Costume Assistant), Aleksandra Toronczak (Costume Maker), Niamh Casserley (Costume Maker),
Georgia Polly-Taylo (Intimacy Co-Ordinator)
This was a lovely experience for me. Having been part of some difficult conversations with the Royal Court about anti-Semitism, it was great to be able to do a play full of big exciting Jewish characters set in turn of the century EAstern Europe and the golden days of Hollywood. A great cast and creative team made up by students and a play that revealed more and more layers the more we worked and it was a total joy to build the Jewish world of the play with a cast made up of performers of Jewish and non-Jewish heritage, all of whom embraced the task with great curiosity, intelligence and humour. Lovely too to work at the Unicorn with its unique seating and amphitheatre stage, and fun too, working out how to give every cast member a chance to have fun.
So often with drama school shows, and indeed big cast plays, there are a few big parts and lots of small parts. And that’s hard for student actors who build up their skills over years and can then find themselves playing smaller roles in third year shows and important industry showcases. This play was no different and so we had to work hard to make the play work for everyone and give everyone a chance to shine. I think we did what we could, as much as we could, but it’s always something to think about and work at.
All photos ©