Review: Opening Scene new writing showcase

A constant supply of new voices enriches theatre and helps it maintain a continuing social relevance. But routes into full-scale production are limited by an austere political climate – as well as by the diverse range of entertainment options that can keep audiences away from live dramatic performance.

As a result, whenever opportunities are provided for emerging writers to try material, we should be glad, and there were moments of real entertainment and thoughtfulness as locals Trial & Error presented the work of six local writers in this new writing showcase, which continues until Saturday.

Throughout the night the audience was most successfully engaged by the familiar, and there was a uniquely Bristolian flavour discernible through much of the proceedings, most explicitly in Jaleelah Galbraith’s brilliantly realised closing monologue on Jane Austen and modern female identity. Her act was part theatrical performance, part stand-up character, and we all laughed liberally at her well observed mannerisms and idiolect.

Merlin H. Goldman’s opener produced another recognisable character, casting a flat-capped, janitorial, proletarian stereotype into the role of modern-day anarchic insurgent with Bristol as his epic tale’s familiar backdrop, thereby ribbing affectionately the contrived but compelling class narratives of revolutionary political ideology. His description of a bombing of the suspension bridge and its majestic descent into the Avon was well described and unnervingly compelling. He knows his history and said an awful lot during his short slot.

Jesse Marbulcanti’s Secrets of the Universe contained some convincing and insightful moments of tenderness between two lovers, and their descent into disagreement uncomfortably familiar to anyone that has ever been forced to recognise that, however genuine your affection for a partner, incompatibility cannot merely be ignored into inexistence. Again, the subject was class, and the scene delicately explored its implications on the aspirations, affiliations, affections and identity of two believable characters.

Romantic love was again disrupted, albeit more terminally, in Karolina Kew’s Rosebush Park, a fun horror tale with a nice twist that bravely uncovered and then filled the all-too-often ignored dramatic space between Tennessee Williams and The Twilight Zone. Drama should probably be judged successful if it manages to contort your sense of morality to such an extent that you become glad of a stabbing.

All in all, some nice performances helped bring some decent ideas and moments of valuable reflection to life in front of a sympathetic audience that will have been able to walk away with some confidence that the next generation of local writers will have something useful to contribute. We should watch with interest what these writers try next, and be grateful that there are venues and companies that allow work to emerge from laptops and notebooks in this way.

Opening Scene: A New Writing Showcase continues at the Alma Tavern until Saturday, June 4. For more info and to book tickets, visit www.almataverntheatre.co.uk/theatre/what-s-on