My decision to go to see The Foreigner, as performed by NUTS, was as spontaneous as it gets and before I even realised it was half six, and that the Jubilee Theatre was in Gosforth, I had already bought the ticket.
Luckily, I made it through the wind and I was there just a few minutes before it started at half seven. Never having been there before, I got lost a couple of times in St. Nicholas Hospital before I found the venue. I was quite happy that it wasn’t a big stage but rather a small proscenium arch that created an intimate atmosphere and made the audience more comfortable and connected to the performers.
I had never seen The Foreigner before, nor had I seen a NUTS performance and as a Drama student I feel a bit embarrassed to admit that, but, nevertheless, I was extremely curious and excited about it. The entire two-act play took place in a living room so it was quite easy to follow the plot and pay attention to the details in it. The first thing I noticed as the play began was Froggy’s character who was played by a boy in my Drama workshop, whom I’d like to congratulate on their amazing performance.
As well as this, Ruaidhri Johnston perfectly captured the cheerfulness and thoughtfulness of his character. Charlie’s part was played by Aidan Clancy who had the difficult task of having to go through many different character stages and emotions since Charlie has quite an unstable personality.
Every performer seemed to play the part of their character in a very unique way that made the play even more hilarious and enjoyable than other versions I later saw clips of. The whole atmosphere was extremely pleasant and the audience was cheering with laughter almost throughout the whole play. It was an amazing experience for me; it left me very impressed with the Newcastle University Theatre Society and even more fascinated with theatre as a whole.
