Albion Review: Newcomers debut their talent.

Second on the bill for Newcastle University’s Theatre Society’s (NUTS) semester one shows is a new addition to the NUTS calendar. This year ‘Albion’ Directed by Conrad Klappholz marked the first of the society’s newcomers plays, meaning only people who had never been in a NUTS production before were allowed to be involved in both cast and backstage, with the exception of the Klappholz and producer Callum Wass. Conrad said in his speech following the final performance on Sunday 17^th November that he was anxious when first taking on such a big group of NUTS rookies, but surely afterwards those nerves must have been seen as unnecessary as ‘Albion’ proved to be everything it set out to be: A dramatic baptism of NUTS talent that shows the society is in safe hands for the next years to come.

‘Albion’ takes focus on the red garden, a quintessentially English garden attached to a seven-bed Oxfordshire house that lead character Audrey, played superbly by Ruby Chick, wishes to restore to its former glory. However, on her quest to find the romantic past she admires in her books, Audrey alienates almost everyone in her life.

I believe that the purpose of theatre, like any art form, is to reflect on the world and to highlight a part of it that the artist believes is worthy of our attention. Albion is clearly written as a state-of-the-nation story about change, social class, and family ties. However, either through acting, directing, or most likely both, the NUTS team behind Albion has been able to create more. They created people that we all know, people that we have known forever. A protective mother that wants to change with the times but is finding it harder as she gets older. A daughter (Libby Baker) who feels she knows the world inside and out, but soon discovers she doesn’t. A friend and artist (Emma Hotchkin) who has to battle her mind and her heart. A girl in grief (Lara Hillier), denied closure and desperate to maintain a hold on the person she loved. A boy (Callum Borkowski) infatuated with a girl that doesn’t like him back. These are timeless characters who were played in a timeless way, their performers adding nuance and subtlety to every move. Sure, it was still about change, but it was also about how these characters have always been around. It meant that, when watching it, whichever stereotype you might have fallen into, you were forced to see things from the other perspective, forced to sympathise and understand, which is exactly what theatre should be, making people understand for the first time or in a new way.

The set was beautifully made by the production team with a grand, lit-up tree, flower beds and benches, tools, and tokens of this family’s life scattered around it. Despite the fact that every scene was set in the same garden, the garden changed as the play continued. Flowers were added or taken away, and the colour seemed to change right before our eyes. Although that could also be down to the fantastic tech that was on show. Sound effects and music choices, both diegetic and non-diegetic, were scattered throughout the show in an immersive and world expanding way.

The rest of the ensemble and production teams helped to round out what was a brilliant night at the theatre once again. NUTS, at the time of writing this, are two for two with back-to-back excellent shows, I can’t wait to see what else is in store for the rest of this semester!