reviews

Reviews are wonderful in many ways. An idea has germinated into something real, and here are people who generate new material from it, around it, thoughts, ideas, opinions, a conversation begins. We've been looking at all the different ways to use this to its maximum potential. Whilst star ratings and press opinions are useful, at the end of the day, what is equally important to us is the feedback we receive separately from audiences, especially those outside the 'industry'. In light of that, here is a selection of both press and audience feedback we've attained from our first two weeks of performance.

/////Press Reviews/////

/////Audience Feedback/////

"It made me feel glad to be alive, alive and human."

"It reminded me of a trip I once had, where I took so much acid I thought I had died. I loved it."

"Beckett, if he was still alive, and loved Roland Emmerich movies."

"Spellbinding... I don't know if I could see it three times, but I'll certainly see you next week. 

"Extraordinary - a privilege to see SUN tonight - the lightness of touch economy, of Alan Fielden's writing and direction - creative cast - sound scape pitched perfectly to allow disorientation (was that police car on the track or outside?) but for me the star turn were the candles!!! The beautiful simple poetic candles - thanks to Ziggy Jacobs lighting design."

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Across the board is a unanimous acknowledgement of the ambitions and high quality of production. Reading many of the media reviews brings me back to a time (not so long ago) where we were having a lot of trouble articulating what SUN was about. In a way, the critics have done that for us. I wonder what image is conjured when all these descriptions are put next to each other. Let's see... 

"A group of people sit around a table, eating the remains of the food that they have left, waiting for a major event to occur. Conjoined twins glory in the freedom they have been granted when the fabric of society has changed and they can escape the world of hospitals. A woman reveals that she’s been having a long-term affair but none of it maters fully as the human race is on the brink of extinction.

This play has a slightly experimental air; toying with absurdist concepts, serious drama and hyper-reality as well as a healthy blend of humour."

Chris Bridges

"A marriage disintegrates painfully, pointlessly; played first by one pair of actors then repeated in tandem by others, echoing and overlapping, marking the plurality of what we so commonly regard as utterly singular experiences. The concept of ownership disintegrates. Friends gather on the last night of the world and have no real idea of what to do. There is no sense of panic, or fear, just a somewhat uncooperative question mark hanging in the air. What would we do on our last night on Earth? Dance, drink, say everything we have left unsaid? Contemplate suicide? Or have completely inane conversations and eat dry spaghetti? The willingness to explore all of these avenues is one of Sun’sstrengths; the revelation that there may be no revelation at the end of days, that it is an insurmountable concept which may not engender profound acts, but ordinary, seemingly purposeless and therefore sincerely human ones."

Mary Halton

"The end of the world is fast approaching and everywhere people are whispering, shouting, arguing, laughing, getting drunk and dancing with one another in final, desperate attempts at communication and connection."

Kate Knowles

"The lamps are going out all over Europe (and the rest of the world) in National Art Service’s devised show ‘Sun’, a ponderous and pretentious piece that philosophises about the apocalypse. Against the magnificent backdrop of Shoreditch’s St Leonard’s Church, we watch couples, siblings and groups of friends trying to cope as the sun goes down for the last time in a series of fragmented, if loosely chronological scenes."

Honour Bayes