The Playground: Scratch Night at WYP.

Nigel Stone went to WYP for scratch night, The Playground last week (and has the strangest excuse for arriving late I think I’ve ever heard) …

The problem with being in demand is that people tend to require your presence when you have to be somewhere else; which is why I was practicing how to be a corpseless head, rather than watching Dugout Theatre preview their adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s “The Happy Prince” at The Playground, in The West Yorkshire Playhouse last Thursday. However, I will be able to catch the show at the Fringe next summer; assuming I don’t have any prior commitments.

I arrived just in time to see the tail end of “Dancing On My Father’s Footfronts”, by John May. From what I could gather, May’s character was heartbroken by the fact that he couldn’t donate a kidney to his dying father. It would be unfair to comment too much on a performance, when you’ve only seen 5 minutes, so all I’ll say is May looked devastated, and the audience applauded enthusiastically.

What followed was a work in progress. “Slap”; written and directed by Lizi Patch, is a thought provoking combination of live performance and video, which explores parenthood, online porn, and schoolyard peer pressure in an amusing fashion. As a parent myself, “Slap” had me reexamining the way I’ve handled these issues; which I confess has often been a “do as I say, not as I do” approach. It will be interesting to see how “Slap” develops, once Lizi; and the actors who accompanied her, have had more time to work on the piece. But for now, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Chris Singleton showed off his improvisational skills next. The audience were asked to provide Chris with subjects and scenarios, which they wrote down. Singleton then picked from the suggestions at random, and performed a poem about that subject. My personal favourite was the poem about the three blind mice, who escaped from a nursery rhyme, and got lost in the lingerie department of Marks & Spensers. Clever and funny. I watched on enviously as Chris flexed his poetical muscles.

Another poet came on next. Rose Condo hails from Canada; although by her own admission, she’s been around a bit. She performed part of her “The Geography Of Me” show for the audience, who lapped up her verse avidly. As she stood on her own personal red spot, declaring “I am here!”, Rose entertained the crowd with some likable, honest and heartwarming verse. I recommend you catch her, before she moves her red spot elsewhere.

Bush and McClusky were last on the bill, with “Bromance Is Dead”. As a guy, I loved this comedy/ musical act. It showed what happens when your best mate buggers off and gets married, leaving you to contend with single life on your own. Laugh out loud funny, “Bromance Is Dead” was spoiled only by the crowd, who poured noisily out of the main Playhouse production being performed that night. I’m not sure what they’d been watching, but I know they missed a treat. The Playground Scratch Night tickets were only £3, and for that you got to see six separate acts (unless you were rehearsing how to be a corpseless head, while the first two acts were performing. But that’s a tale for another day).