Speech

Speech at URY

From URY's inception the idea was to broadcast not only music but drama, documentary, comedy and much more besides... And this is a tradition that we continue today, producing new student written plays and adapting some of the world's finest novels for the airwaves.

We produce comedy programmes such as sketch shows and live stand-up and create intriguing documentaries and features.

All in all, we continue to create great radio in one of the most creative and imaginative universities in the UK.

URY Speech Blog

Review : 'The Spaghetti Western Orchestra'

by Laura Stratford,

Before reading our review why not hear our interview with performer and creator of 'The Spaghetti Western Orchestra' on the ((URY PLAYER)) here now!

The Spaghetti Western Orchestra, currently on their UK tour, stormed the Grand Opera House the other night and took the good people of York into some ‘serious sonic territory’.

You know as soon as the show starts that you’re going to be taken on a journey. Lights fade. Darkness on stage. A raucous Texas accent whispers ‘Once upon a time in the West’. We’re told they’re looking for a Bob Robertson. That’s a gentleman called Mr...Bob Robertson. The rousing ‘Fistful of Dollars’ medley is then played out. If you don’t know what that is, look them up on YouTube.

The Gold-Schmeller, Lieteller, Bankteller, Youngfeller and Storyteller are all from Australia, musicians and actors with diverse backgrounds that are passionate about the Spaghetti Western genre. When interviewing Patrick Conin recently for YorWorld, he commented on how it was natural in Australia for eclectic and musical collaborations to take place, which comes through in their performance. They take foley artistry to the next level, creating bar hubub with beer bottles, footsteps with crushed cornflakes and falling dead birds with marigold gloves. A highlight had to be the moment when the Bankteller plays the ‘theremin’ in ‘Once upon a time in the West’, a cracker of an instrument that involves metal antennae and no physical contact.

As well as the unpredictable source of instruments, there’s an entertaining mélange of improvisation, farce, grunting, synchronised choreography and audience participation. I won’t spill all the details, but there’s a surprise encore which involves the crushing of a lettuce. Out of the blue and hilarious at the same time. To give you an idea of how much the audience enjoyed it, everyone started stamping their feet on the floor when applauding the quintet. The last time I saw that happen was at my school teachers’ pantomime.

The Spaghetti Western Orchestra will be performing in Leeds Town Hall this Saturday. An uplifting way to start a night out. See http://www.spaghettiwesternorchestra.com/ for more details!

YorWorld: 19th February 2012

Chris Ramsey, Fosters award nominated stand up, joins us on the show to talk ‘8 out of 10 Cats’, how he feels about hecklers, and life as a professional comedian ahead of his appearance at the ‘Hyena Comedy Club’ in York on the 18^th of March.

We also preview next weeks Dramasoc Production ‘Posh’ which was first staged at the Royal Court Theatre downstairs in 2010. The play is set in an Oxford student dining club called "The Riot Club" which represents a fictionalised version of the Bullingdon Club to portray the upper echelons of society.

Our reviewers Alex Boyall and Kat Ronson turn their critical eye to this weeks Dramasoc production ‘As Thyself’. This post-dramatic style play centres on three characters whose story unravels through anecdotes, memories, poetry, dance and more. A, B and C, with the help of 1, 2, 3 and 4, explore what makes up identity, the inner turmoil between loving and hating yourself, how memories shape you, the context of this generation and how everyday life is a performance. Dramasoc promised parts to make you laugh, to make you cry, to make you uncomfortable, and to make you think. Find out if the production lived up to expectations!

We also previewed this Mondays Open Drama Night which is an ambitious production of the hit musical ‘Avenue Q’ addressing and satirizing the issues and anxieties associated with entering adulthood through puppets!

Catch the show now on the ((URY PLAYER)) here!

Review: 'Twelfth Night'

By Kat Ronson,

Before you read our review, check out our preview of the production on the ((URY PLAYER)) here.

The barn was in very good order for this production with a clean set clearly divided into three different locations. There was a simple but very effective use of the stage, with carefully selected greenery and simple pieces of furniture to symbolise interior and exterior settings. There were however, a few parts of the play where our views were obstructed; due to some parts of the stage being used more frequently than others.

As with all Shakespearean texts, let alone one as popular as Twelfth Night, there are always high expectations. Such expectations make it difficult for a director to make striking or risky decisions. However, director Cat Gobert-Jones, made some inventive but sensitive choices. She chose to have Feste played by a girl, the priest and Curio to be played by the same actor and set the play in WWI to name just a few. Handling of such choices made it clear that Gobert-Jones had a very strong understanding and genuine passion for the text.

In recent Drama Barn productions the acting has been phenomenal and Twelfth Night is no exception. Helen Peatfield played a highly entertaining Olivia, characterising her as obnoxious and spoilt .Her exchanges with other characters were faultless and she was surprisingly natural when addressing the audience directly. Toby King and Richard Spears were a fantastic double act as Sir Toby and Sir Andrew, injecting pace with their exchanges. Their performances were physically demanding, yet their energy never faltered. Malvolio, played by Peter Marshall, had great comic appearances; his unrequited love for Olivia provided many of the laughs for the production. Laura Griffin’s Feste was also a joy to watch, with her singing providing an incredibly refreshing soundtrack for the performance. At one point, however, Griffin did have a weak moment. Whilst performing a solo dance and monologue simultaneously, she looked very uncomfortable, making her performance less fluid. For the most part however, the production was brilliantly cast and the execution of each character was excellent.

The technical aspect of this production was less inspiring but nonetheless effective. It is refreshing to see direction that does not feel the need to drown the stage in music, lights and costume. The lighting system was mainly a simple wash. However, there was the occasional use of red and blue lighting, though there could have been a more distinct purpose for this. Spotlights were used to highlight important speeches or letters; an innovative touch that further drew the comedy out of the performance.

My main regret with this production was there were very similar tones throughout; I would have liked to see a few changes in direction to keep the energy at peak. Gobert-Jones was selective over the jokes she chose to highlight from the text, which meant there was less reliance on slapstick or less sophisticated humour. Nevertheless, the comical parts were very well executed and all worked beautifully. Overall, Gobert-Jones provides a very eloquent understanding of the text that shone through most aspects of the production. A treat for Shakespeare lovers.

And you can hear Kat and Tom Bonnington's full audio review now on the ((URY PLAYER)) here!

Review: Cloud 9

By Hana Teraie-Wood

Before reading our review check out our preview of the production on the ((URY PLAYER)) here!

Cloud 9 is the first completely student run effort from TFTV, and what a triumph it was. Clever, nuanced, delightful and tragic, this production matched all of the best traits of Caryl Churchill’s script to take it beyond the level of a “student play”. For the first time I couldn’t feel the weeks of effort from cast and crew, because the calibre of the performances made it feel effortless.

Casting choices were impeccable. The real treat was Tom Giles’s performance as Betty. As the tallest and slenderest male of the cast, his clumsy effeminate manoeuvres such as hugging a (shorter) Steven Jerram from behind elicited much unaffected laughter from the audience. This succeeded in communicating Churchill’s reflection on the inherently funny role of women in society, a matter only made explicit when we see its characteristics enacted by a male. What is more ridiculous, a man playing a woman or a woman playing this role on a daily basis? This well acknowledged insight into Victorian social constructs is not ground-breaking stuff, which allows the first act to be kept light-hearted whilst it makes its socio-political mockeries. The intermitting sing-a-longs sung by all the cast helped add to the joyous satire of the first half, with the samba influenced tracks by Bengee Gibson creating an exotic spatial distance between the colonial setting and our contemporary habitation.

In a trademark Churchill style, this distance is closed down by actors playing two or more parts. Steven Jerram’s switch from Clive to Edward suggested a causality between Clive’s patriarchal dominancy and Edward’s sexual oppression. Jerram’s switch from a character of overbearing forcefulness to one of conscientiousness and sensitivity was incredible, both were acted convincingly and neither bore a trace of the other. Out of her three roles, Emma Henderson’s portrayal of Betty was the standout performance; her monologue alone onstage was incredibly touching, revealing her loneliness and sexual suppression shared by her younger self from the first act. This connection was one of the many made with aid of the large projections made at the back of the stage, as videos of characters from the first half ‘spoke’ to the characters of the second half. This was particularly poignant when Clive, who wants to change his sex, is revisited by the younger Edward (Flora Ofilvy), visually projecting his inner self who is by nature a woman.

These choice of doublings have, from what I perceive, been altered from the original. If this is proved accurate, the team behind this TFTV production have done incredibly well to create articulate and insightful connections not explicit in Caryl Churchill’s script. Cathy’s (Rory Hern) doubling as the Soldier killed in Afghanistan gave the play a contemporary edge as well as a foreboding subtext. The child, who plays with a toy gun, holds a real gun in Act One when playing Joshua and is killed as the dead Soldier by another gun in Act Two. From a production that made use of very few props, the moment when Cathy plays on the swing stays imprinted in the mind as a reminder of the child’s innocence which through Hern’s other characters is corrupted and lost. With an unusual level of clarity and skill, these students delivered a play with a confidence and ability that puts them a cut above the rest.

And you can hear Hana's full audio review of the production as well as our other reviews and previews in 'YorWorld' on the ((URY PLAYER)) here now!

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