Brave New (and odd) World review

A step away from my Fancy that of London post series today with a review on a play that really left me quite confused and kind of traumatised. Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. 

 

I saw this performance last night with a group as a Young Reporter for Theatre Cloud. Exciting times!

 

However, it did leave me with very mixed feelings!

 

So here is 'Brave New (and odd) World review'...

Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World is a play at the Darlington Civic that will leave you questioning life. The past, the present and the unknown aka the future.

Set mainly in London, England, it tells the story of two completely different societies.
One, a seemingly perfect world filled with happiness and technology with a futuristic essence throughout as humans are now being born in a bottle and the ideology of everyone belonging to everyone is key. Creepy, eh?!
The other, where the ‘savages’ live, a place which is frowned upon, filled with dirt and diseases. This is where humans are found, where they believe in a God and having a mother is a great thing (our society basically).

The cast includes: ITV’s Endeavour David Burnett as Henry, The Theory of Everything actors Gruffudd Glyn and James Howard as Bernard Marx and Thomas the Director respectively, Outlander actress Olivia Morgan as Lenina, Legend star Samantha Pearl as Polly and Midsomer Murders actor William Postlethwaite as John the Savage. 

Every single member of the cast performed incredibly well. They will leave you feeling awkward, happy, sad and confused as there are twists and turns and a desire to know what will happen to some of the characters. And some don’t end well.
 

The production is second to none as although there are flashing lights throughout, how they set the scenes by using different props was really clever. Sometimes they used the same thing, for example a big box type thing with wheels, but they created a different aspect to it. One time they will have science equipment on in the labs. Next time people are lying on them as they are in a hospital ward type setting. They would pull out things from the stage that created seats or a bed, a great use of the space that had.

The sound effects were spot on, with banging noises making every single member of the audience jump whilst the more relaxing music made everyone feel calm. 
 

Directed by James Darce, it will leave you questioning about drugs as they take a substance to make them feel happy, about relationships as does everyone belong to everyone else or is monogamy key and about the future. What will society be like in 30 years time for us?
 

If you have seen Channel 4 Humans then it is similar to this in some ways.
How ‘people’ are made from technology and have no real emotions except for happiness.
It is strange and crazy to think that this might be society in 20 years time. How we are obsessed with having the perfect life whilst feeling bad is seen as being weak. How being different is condemned as you have to fit in with the ‘social body’ seen throughout the performance.
 

Although the storyline was hard to follow at times and very confusing as the cast play numerous characters so it’s a who’s who situation in some scenes, the fantastically casted actors/actresses will give you an experience that will leave you questioning your whole, entire life. 
 

For more information about the weird but intriguing play, click here.

Well there you have it!

Until next time

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All photographs are my own!