Boo - The Review

Friday 6th March 2009

Blog Category: Boo Blog

As your faithful blogger, giving you your weekly update on all things Boo, i thought it only fair that i give you my thoughts on the first performances at Mind the Gap.

Boo is about a brother and sister who have to spend their summer together because a girl has gone missing.  They spend their time playing in the park and making up stories to scare each other about Boo, who lives in the maisonette by the park.

As the show starts all four of the actors are on stage, but after nearly all the scenes are the brother and sister or Boo and Benny.  The first thing we find out is about a girl who has gone missing called Kelly Spanner whose picture is plastered everywhere and in all the papers.

In one of many speeches to the audience Boo tells us about his home and that he likes scissors and cutting up newspapers to put in a a scrapbook.  Boo's mum has died leaving Benny to look after him, just like Girl's older brother looks after her while their dad is working because their mother is not around anymore, though we never really know why she left.

Boy and Girl start to dare each other to knock on Boo's door to make him come out.  As the play moves on the dares get more and more daring to such an extent that Girl ends up in Boo's living room.  She finds Boo's scrapbook which has clippings in about Kelly Spanner.  Boo walks in on her scissors in hand and Girl runs away.

This is the first touring production in three years for Mind the Gap, it is a very dark piece that makes the audience really think.  The play makes lots of use of AV and projection equipment and all the way through Tony Evans is projected doing his BSL interpretation behind the actors.

Using projections of Boo's living room really added to it and made you feel as though you were in Benny and Boo's house.  The set was just projection screens and a sofa and i think this worked better than a built-set as the scenes could switch very quickly.

I felt pleased for all the cast and everybody involved - their hard work has paid off.  It is impressive that in such a short rehearsal time they have put together such a polished piece.  Mike Kenny's story is well written, it makes you think and asks questions about misunderstanding and stereotypes.

The final scene is split between Girl and Boy, and Benny.  They all address the audience and tell us about the story that replaced Kelly Spanner in the local paper...
If you want to know what that story is book a ticket for this groundbreaking performance at your nearest venue!

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