REVIEW: Storm on the Lawn: Metropolis

5:22pm Wednesday 27th August 2008

Ball Court, Prior Park College, Bath.

EVERY year a group of young volunteers get together in the grounds of an old stately park to put on a play for the public.

It's called Storm on the Lawn and it brings together a large group of young aspiring actors and a team of theatre professionals whose united aim is to pull the performance together in 20 days.

This year a cast of 80 under the direction of Steve Marmion tackled Thea von Harbou's Metropolis, a love story set in a nightmarish future.

The end result was a complete triumph of theatre.

Set in a courtyard at Prior Park Ball Court the play was performed outdoors, beginning at dusk and ending in the darkness of night.

Many different elements came together to create a muscular, frightening and powerful performance, which was an absolute credit to the kids who played their parts on stage and the vision of the director and his team.

The audience was assailed with aggressive total theatre and it was a phenomenally enjoyable experience, if not a little unnerving. The battering soundtrack, sirens created by young voices and loudhailers, flashing lights, dizzyingly manic rebellion scenes and heavy interaction with the dystopian, paired down and utilitarian set, was all superb.

Luke Scoging, 16, who played the disturbed scientist Rotwang, was excellent, as were Joey East, 15, as Joh Frederson and 14-year-old Josh Curry, who played Shank.

These are surely acting stars of the future and if we don't see 18-year-old Hattie Jordan on stage and screen in the future then her frighteningly cold and nihilist portrayal of Rotwang's evil android Airam will not receive the recognition it truly deserves.

Theatre, Art & Cinema