This year, thanks to the support of the Spielman Trust, the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School was able to present its Graduating Showcase in a proper theatre setting, and Principal Paul Rummer was delighted to see that St George’s was packed out for the occasion. The BOVTS is in its seventieth year, and in that time it has accumulated an enormously impressive list of past students, including Stephanie Cole, Sir Daniel Day-Lewis, Olivia Colman and Sir Patrick Stewart. This was an opportunity for us to try to spot some stars of the future, but more importantly it was an opportunity for the class of 2016 to display their many and varied talents in front of a large audience before taking their Showcase to the West End to be scrutinized by agents, producers and directors.
Things kicked off with a lively ensemble song and dance number, Stephen Sondheim’s ‘Opening Doors’. It is hard to imagine a more apt choice, as this is piece full of theatrical optimism and a determination to overcome all future obstacles. There then followed thirty-six short pieces, with each of the twenty-four graduating actors delivering a monologue and sharing in a duologue. At the half-way point they all came together for a tongue-twisting and very rapidly delivered parody of Mozart as sung by a quarrelling bunch of competitive musicians, and the whole show was rounded off with ‘For Now’ from the musical Avenue Q, which stresses the need to accept life as it comes – not so easy when you are faced with an audition, perhaps!
Among the two-handers there were some particularly sharply observed depictions of long-term relationships under stress, including one hilariously ill-timed confession of infidelity. I also very much enjoyed seeing a Roman soldier’s increasingly exasperated attempts to explain the concept of currency to a reluctant Briton. In contrast, there was a rapidly gathering sense of terror in a scene where an apparently innocent visitor transmuted into a menacing intruder. From the solo items I particularly liked the young man desperately seeking some kind of identity, even if only as the victim of a car crash. There was a spot-on, toe-curling portrayal of a spontaneous best man speech that wanders off into dangerous territory, and in a much more serious vein there was Shaw’s St Joan, defiant before the French court. There was much more, all of it splendid. If these young actors are anything to go by, the future of British theatre is in very good hands, for their assured and entirely convincing performances were of a very high standard indeed. Between them they conveyed every emotion, an astonishingly wide range of accents and a kaleidoscopic variety of characters. Directors Jenny Stephens, Paul Clarkson and their team have put together a wonderful shop window for the BOVTS and its young actors. I wish them all every success. Mike Whitton 21st April 2016
