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War CorrespondentsMalvern Theatres
* There were elements of this experimental
production about journalists in war zones that were poignant and
interesting. Where it bombed, however, were the repetitive,
well below-average songs in this musical creation - or
"multi-disciplined song cycle", as the production company calls it. Fascinating snippets of recorded interviews with
war correspondents were spaced out between 30 acapella performances from
a small cast of five. But the songs all merged into versions of the
same tune with lyrics that were far too basic to do justice to such a
complex topic, and after a while, my mind began to wander with
disinterest. At one point, the lyrics repeated over and over
again "when will it all end", referring to conflicts, but I was
wondering the same thing myself -about this show. Performed by the Helen Chadwick Song Theatre, and
featuring Helen Chadwick as one of the singers, this production has been
co-commissioned by Greenwich and Docklands International Festival, Sage
Gateshead and New Writing North for Durham Book Festival. With the current conflicts ongoing around the
world and interviews with war correspondents achieved as part of the
performance, this had the potential to be something extremely
thought-provoking, instead it lost its way and lacked the drama it so
desperately needed. It ended up telling me nothing I didn't know
already and was musically self-indulgent on songs that were ridiculously
inane and obvious. The journalists who sacrifice much of their lives
to report the truths of war, which this show was supposed to be paying
homage to, deserve much better than this. Until May 21 Alison Brinkworth20-05-14
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