Char's Stars: Bare Essentials

Written by: Char (@charlypies)

Encompass Productions presents:

 ‘Bare Essentials’

The Emerging Artists Showcase at Battersea Barge, London

Char’s Star of this performance –

Luke Manning:

Luke’s performance may have looked like a simple one (intended split meaning there) but it was actually the most committed and believable of the night, also proving that if all you do is smile then the whole world will certainly smile back at you.

Manning played the adorably oafish brother Marvin in Amber Hillier’s piece The Ronderbrines, a humorous story of a dysfunctional family reunited after five years in the gloriously awkward location of a garden shed.

I always think it’s funny how as an audience we can become so quickly lulled into believing that the characters before us are real. It’s acting like Manning’s which proves that if you commit to a role such as Marvin, careful that you don’t slip for a second, then you can convince the audience that they are experiencing a real moment of observation gold; like catching the only monkey in the zoo with its finger constantly up its nose.

Within the absurd metaphor constructed above there is a lesson, stay committed to whatever role you’re playing and we, the audience, will cotton on quickly wanting to watch what else you can do, and the hard work pays off. I guess the big question raised is for whom are you performing, yourselves or us?

This was a one night only event. 

@EncompassOnline 

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