Wind In The Willows
Hi,
The story of Wind in the Willows, is a story that I’ve heard about but never actually read. So when going to see this show at The Mercury Theatre, I went into the show with a complete open mind.
I got lucky enough to go to a touch tour before the show in the afternoon. For those who don’t know, a touch tour is part of the access element which most shows and theatres offer even if it’s a local theatre or London’s West End. A touch tour is where disabled audience members get to experience a full feel of the show, getting to see/feel the sets on stage and costumes that the actors and actresses wear. In today’s case, The Mercury Theatre did this very well, each actor/actress came up to each person individually and allow them to touch their costume and whilst I was doing so, the actor/actress described the item in question e.g. the item’s colour, texture and where and how it was used in the show.
They did the same with the musical instruments and some were very different and some which I had never seen before e,g, various pots and pans you would use when cooking. After they showed us the instruments, they then played a sample of a song in the show showing how the instruments are used. After that we had a questions and answers section, but no one actually asked any questions so it just ended early.
After the touch tour had ended, I then went to the ticket office to collect the tickets for the show later that afternoon. I was also lucky enough that the also gave me a discount on food and drink. Now I am not sure if that was because they knew I was press or it was part of the disabled access, but either way it was a nice touch so I will never turn that down so other theatres reading this take note! :).
The show was overall very good. The acting was of a good standard, the use of setting and lighting added to the atmosphere of the whole show. I really liked the fact that the cast played most of the songs in the show themselves, which I rather enjoyed. Every song made me smile whenever they start singing so thats always a good sign. Their was a lot of audience participation for example during the chase scene, the cast would run through the audience so to heighten the atmosphere and as a audience member I really wanted the good character to get away. Throughout the show, all the cast would use the auditorium doors as a way of entering and exiting a scene, so it made you feel like you were part of the story.
Photo (above): Photo of the stage and some of the audience before the show started.
I felt that the first half of the story during the first half of the show was a little hard to follow and understand, but the second half of the show, I had a much better understanding of what was going on story wise. The cast increased the audience participation, so in terms of that alone by the end of each scene I felt like I was part of the show, and up there on the stage with them. However, the nicest touch I felt was at the end of the show, where the cast allowed members of the audience to come up and dance with them! As soon as they announced this, most all of the kids in the audience (and I must say some of the parents) ran down the stairs and went on the stage and loved being with the cast! This is something which I believe should be encourage within shows everywhere, not just local theatre.
I would highly recommend going to see this show! If you have young kids I strongly recommend you see this show with them, they will love it! The show is very family focused, both children and parents will find moments of the show hilarious! So if you are finding it difficult to find things to do this Summer, go see this show! If you are interested in seeing the show for yourself, I will leave the website to the theatre below!
http://www.mercurytheatre.co.uk/event/wind-in-the-willows/
Trailer:
Photo (above): Theatre graphic of Wind In The Willows
Until next time!
The VI Critic
Life Review – National Rail Train Assistance
Hi,
Thought I would do a review on a service this time. Sadly this one is not going to be a positive one.
As many blind and visually impaired who travel on trains will know, there is a service avalible that offers assistance to disabled passangers get from A to B. I have used this service for a little under a year and normally I can’t fault them in anyway. But sadly today has been different.
Today I travelled from one side of the country to the other. So I went to booked my usual route when ever I come this way (currently writing this as I am one of my trains) but from some reason, my normal route was not available. So I had to go via London Paddington.
Getting to London Paddington was no problem what so ever. But once I got to London Paddington is where it got interesting. The Underground were brilliant as always, so they said they would get hold of overground assistance to come collect me and take me to my next train. At the this point it was round 11.30am. I sat there they had told me to sit and the overground assistance would collect me from. I sat there until about 12.00 (my next train was at 12.15) so I said to myself if I don’t leave and get some help I’m gonna miss my next train. So I got up and went back to the underground assistance, who were again very helpful!
The underground were more than happy to help and take me to the overground assistance. Once I arrived at overground assistance I stood there carmly and explained the situation, how my train was at 12.15 and that I had be waiting almost half and hour. The woman behind the desk then began to basically tell me that the reason no one was there was because when they got there no one was there. I explained again that I been sitting were I was told to, but after waiting so long, I began to worry I would miss my train.
This woman continued to basically blame me and her whole attitude came across as jobs worthy and I’m higher than you sort of attitude and personally as the customer thats something I will not tolerate at all!
On top of all this, my 12.15 train was actually cancalled so I had to get the next train didn’t help my mood either. At the end of the day, would I recommand Paddington Travel Assistance to other Blind/Visually people? Absolutely not! I would strongly recommand, if you can go via London Euston. They are ten times better then what I experinced today and their customer service is great! Don’t go through what I went through!
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Please don’t forget to follow all my social media! Links can be found on the page ‘social media’ link at the top of the page.
The VI Critic
A Girl Like Her
Warning: This post will contain discussions about suicide, depression and bullying. If you or someone you know is going through something similar to what I’m about to write about then please talk to someone about it. Your never alone! I will leave websites and telephone numbers at the end of this post if you need to get in contact with someone. I completely understand if some of you choose to not read this post.
Hi,
As I write this, I have just finished watching a film called ‘A Girl Like Her’. The story is about a sixteen year old high school student called Jessica Burns. For six months, Jessica is bullied by the popular girl at school. It starts off as very small things like bumping into her in the hallway, calling her names etc. It then progresses into mean texts, postings on social media, and harassing her during the school day.
As mentioned before, the girl in question bullies Jessica for six months and drives Jessica to the point where she feels she has no way out. Jessica therefore decides to do the only thing she feels she has left and attempts to commit suicide and take here own life by the form of an overdose. She is rushed into hospital and gets treated.
This film was shot in a documentary-like way which makes the film really enjoyable despite the deep subject matter. I felt like the film was an excellent accurate portrayal of what the victims, friends and families go through. Although, there are times where you could see that this was a drama not an actual documentary. But for the first half an hour I actually thought it was a real documentary and I actually Googled it!
For me the subject of depression and suicide is something I struggle to talk about. I have seen the effect depression in particular has on people and to see this still carrying on in schools if I’m honest angers me. Now this film is fictional, but it honestly shows the impact that bulling taken this far can have massive consequences. People seem to think that posting on someones wall to go kill themselves is a good and fun thing to do. But it isn’t. They have no idea the impact that can have on the person in question and what it can leed them to do.
According to The Independent forty five per cent of young people aged thirteen to eighteen year olds have experienced bullying in their lives, and as a result ten percent of teenagers have attempted to commit suicide because they have been bullied. It is my personal opinion, that more needs to be done in schools to both one, stop the bullying before it gets to the point where the victim feels they have no other option and two the signs of someone who needs help and support. Nine times out of ten, if you ask the young person if they are okay. Then your probably going to get the response of “I’m fine” or “I just have things on my mind.” If your gut tells you something deeper is going on then follow it up and take it to someone higher.
I know this post has been more about a statement and less of a review, but I felt after watching this film that I needed to write something about it and try and get people in authority to do something more about it. Please ‘share’ this post around and comment on what you think should be done to help. Then maybe just maybe we might get the word out.
On the subject of social media, I have my own Facebook and Twitter page so please go ahead and like and follow them both. As new posts will be posted there first before anywhere else. Links will be posted below.
Information on people you can talk to:
For Over 18′s: The Samaritans: Website: http://www.samaritans.org/ Telephone: 116 123
For Under 18′s: Childline: Website: https://www.childline.org.uk/Pages/Home.aspx Telephone: 08000 1111
Facebook & Twitter Pages
The VI Critic
Wicked The Musical – The Untold Story of The Witches Of Oz!
Hi,
Warning before I start, this will be quite a long post, so grab a drink or something first! 🙂
This post is the one I’ve wanted to write about since I started this blog. But never thought I would be writing it so soon! Like I have said before I am a massive fan of musical theatre, and Wicked The Musical is my most favourite musical of all time! After seeing the performance today, I have seen the show I total of six times. The seventh coming in a couple of weeks!
After a what seemed to be a forever bus ride. I arrived to my local train station on time and got the train to London. Once arrived in London I took the Underground to London Victoria. Normally I would get assistance to use the Underground, but I knew the route so I done it on my own. Wicked is performed at the London Apollo Victoria, just a few yards (across the road) from Victoria station, so it’s really easy to get to. The tickets I had I bought were Row B (second row) in the Stalls. For anyone who doesn’t know, the Stalls are the first block of seats nearest to the stage. But the original seats were slightly off to the right and therefore were block by part of the stage set.
I knew this would be somewhat of a problem for me, so I tried to phone the theatre directly first thing this morning with no success. I message them on social media, but again with no success so my hopes were not too high. So when I arrived at the theatre, I went straight to the box office and explained my situation. I said that I did not booked the tickets myself and that I was visually impaired so I would struggle to see the show and that I need to be more central to stage to have the best view. The lady who was service me took the tickets I had bought with me and went to the back. A few seconds later, she came back and said that wouldn’t be a problem and let me choose where I wanted to sit.
Photo: View of the stage before the show from my seat.
I must point out, that on the day I got lucky and there were seats availble that best fit me. But any reading please bare in mind, that when you go and ask for your seat to be changed if needed. The theatre might not be able to do so. It honest just depends on the day and time of the performance. Anyway, the gave me seat C25 which was three rows back from the stage and dead centre. I honestly couldn’t ask for any better!
A bit of backstory about the show, everyone knows the story of The Wizard of Oz? Well, the show is all about The Wicked Witch of the West and what happened before the Wizard of Oz story. The show opened London’s West End in 2006, and has been going every since. It will celebrate its ten years anniversary this year. The show has had a new cast every year, but the cast you were on stage this afternoon and the current cast are as follows: Emma Hatton as Elphaba, Savannah Stevenson as Glinda and Oliver Savile as Fiyero.
I would go so far to say, that this is honestly the best cast I have ever seen by far! The vocal performances off all three actors/actresses, were outstanding! I also got luckily enough to meet Emma at the stage door after the show (photo below) I actually didn’t recognise her at first without all the green! But honestly I really talented and lovely lady!
I would highly recommend Wicked to anyone!! If you ever get a chance to go seriously go! The website and trailer of the show will be below. I can honestly say now, this will NOT be the last time I see this show! I will go and see this show a thousand times more I am sure!
If have got this far, when well done! I am sorry this was such a long post, but I don’t think I would be going this show justice if I didn’t Thank for reading this, and I hope you come back for more next time!
Website of the show: http://www.wickedthemusical.co.uk/wicked-london.php
Full trailer below:
The VI Critic
The VI Critic 