REVIEW: Present at Newcastle Live Theatre

Alphabetti Theatre in association with Live Theatre and Crisis Skylight:

Present

Newcastle Live Theatre

Until Saturday 21 December 2024

Writer & Director: Ali Pritchard

Newcastle's Live Theatre have, once again, taken a locally created show from one of our region's fringe theatres and given it a reboot. The 2019 show was originally one of the highlight's of that year's productions at Alphabetti. Five years later, the shows message is still as important as ever.

Malcolm Shields performers in this single handed show as Dave. Dave used to be happily married and run his own business. When problems arose he hit the bottle rather than wait 16 weeks for appropriate counselling and, cutting a long story short, he finds himself homeless. At the start of the show he enters the stage bopping around in his own world. 

Perched above the performance area we have a wonderful live musician in the form of Ceitidh Mac and they play the soundtrack that is going through Dave's head. By adding that context, it seems perfectly natural for him to be making shapes, with a can in one hand, to a rave version of Mariah Carey's All I Want For Christmas Is You. Dave is pacing up and down the stage, making it feel quite small. Then you hear a phone go off - for once, it is not one of the audience. Suddenly Dave stops moving like it is 1994 and sit down on the park bench to read the text message that he has been sent.

He has an invitation to connect up at Christmas with his Grandson. As it is the 23rd December, he has a limited time to clean up, sober up and find a suitable present. It is clear that he really wants to make a go of the opportunity so he throws his drink away and starts trying to raise funds to buy a present. Matt Jamie's video projections then move the action to begging on a high street in the desperate attempt to turn over a new leaf.

This show works because the audience is invited to show empathy for Dave. He is not perfect but it is easy to join team Dave from the comfort of our seats. Malcolm Shields, who originally performed in the role back in 2019, does a fine job in highlighting the challenges facing Dave. We get to consider what it would be like to  walk in his shoes from a safe distance.

By the time we reach the conclusion, the audience have crossed the threshold and have become a choir. This brought back pre-lockdown memories of Christmas sing-a-longs at Alphabetti. As Dave leaves the stage for a final time you are stuck by the pathos of this theatrical experience. 

In 2019 I wrote "This production demands a lot of the single actor but Malcolm Shields delivers, and the audience left with no uncertain knowledge that they had witnessed a great piece of theatre." I stand by that. This is a special show that exemplifies the power of theatre. It is bold and poignant, but it is more than that as it reflects the region and helps showcase the local theatrical creative talent. The show features lighting, sound, costume and set design that is easy to take for granted and Drummond Orr and Molly Barrett have, once again, done a great job in enabling the tale to come alive. As some theatres appear to move away from the local creative talent pool, it is nice to see Live thrive. 

There has been a consistent quality to theatre in our region in 2024 (or I have jest been lucky in the many shows I have seen). With just one non-panto to go we have witnessed lots of great stories and Present is one such tale. The perfect antidote to the pantomime season. 

Review: Stephen Oliver

Photos: Matt Jamie

Tickets:

Present runs from Tuesday 3 to Saturday 21 December. For further information and to book tickets go to www.live.org.uk.

Running time: approx. 90mins including interval

Age Rating 15+

Content Warnings: Contains some themes and language that some audiences may find upsetting and distressing.

BSL Performance: Tue 10 Dec

Captioned and Audio Described Performance: Wed 11 Dec