#Emma Mulkern

[willstafford]

Yule Have A Ball

CINDERELLA Belgrade Theatre, Coventry, Sunday 24th December 2023 Writer-director-genius Iain Lauchlan is back at the Belgrade once again to deliver yet another hit pantomime.  Lauchlan is a safe pair of hands; he knows what he’s doing yet, curiously, this one begins with two opening numbers: a duet between the Fairy Godmother and the eponymous heroine.  Then Cinders sings another song with her…

[snicole5087]

Diversity, or lack of it, in the elite is often talked about. The lack of BME representation in industries such as medicine, politics, judiciary and of course theatre and the arts dominates conversations with the question of how to improve numbers never truly being answered.

View from Nowhere looks at what happens when you break the glass ceiling and what happens if you question those above you when you are different. The protagonist is Prez Washington (Mensah Bediako), a professor of biochemistry who also happens to be black, with dreadlocks and a taste for brightly coloured suits. His opening scene, delivering a lecture to an audience reminded me of Noma Dumezweni in A Human Being Died That Night it is great tactic to not only warm this audience to a character but to make it feel more real. Washington could be a wacky professor but we are soon reminded that Washington isn’t like the others. When Tom Pennington (Math Sams) asks Washington if he is Washington the implication is clear; scientists do not look like that.

Credit: Jamie Scott-Smith

Pennington is a scientist who now works for a large corporation Alchemex, providing chemicals to the agricultural industries but Prez and his assistant Sandy (Emma Mulkern) are being paid large grants to look at the effects the chemicals have on frogs, specifically frog genitals. Finding that endocrine disruption is common Washington and Sandy find themselves part of a smear campaign that can only end in tragedy.

The points about race and elitism are key; Washington is treated with such suspicion because he is seen as being ambitious, breaking the glass ceiling he must want more and when he shows interest (based on his merit) he is held back by the company. The human face being Rona (Nina Toussaint-White), a corporate lawyer whose loyalty to her job is never fully explained. Her part in Washington’s downfall seems personal and where I struggled was with the lack of awareness for her race, Toussant-White is mixed race. It is never clear if the character is meant to be racist or understanding of the issues Washington faces. Sams is fantastic as Pennington, a man juggling his relationship with science and with his employer and who understands Washington’s paranoia.

Credit: Jamie Scott-Smith

The characters of Sandy and Prez feel underwritten, families are mentioned as are places where they grew up and it suits their outsiders status but it makes it hard for the audience to warm to them. Why did Prez become a biochemist and why does he stick with it despite it nearly ruining his marriage. His relationship with Sandy is the strongest emotional connection on stage but all four characters feel so distant from each other. Bediako tries to explore Washington but beyond his race and his job there is nothing there, which is a real shame because despite that it is a good, if weak story. It isn’t helped by the often pointless video projections on the floor and the shocking blocking, which means conversations, and their reactions are often missed.

  The View from Nowhere, Park Theatre Diversity, or lack of it, in the elite is often talked about. The lack of BME representation in industries such as medicine, politics, judiciary and of course theatre and the arts dominates conversations with the question of how to improve numbers never truly being answered.

[juniormissperfect]

"We Were In Love" - Prodigy Dance and Performing Arts Centre, junior contemporary extended line, 3rd overall, Jump Dallas, February 2017 ★ Choreography by ? ☆ Dancers ☆ Ava Arbuckle, Ana Barros, Hailey Bills, Haley Bogdon, Emily Fluker, Ella Hendricks, Emma Johnson, Karsyn Kelly, Rachael Landau, Gracie Lee, Courtney McColley, Trinity McKinney, Paige McManaman, Kennedy Morrison, Nicole Mulkern, Lainey Myers, Onye Stevenson, Amanda Vilello, Lindsey Wade, Makaylee Wooldridge

♪ We Were In Love ~ Ta-Ku

[londontheatre]

Nina Toussaint-White (Rona Worthing) and Math Sams (Dr Tom Pennington)

These days, the words ‘post truth’ and ‘fake news’ are accepted as part of common language. There is a real uncertainty about who or what can be trusted as a source of news or information.When a lone warrior attempts to stand up against the resources of a large corporation, whose voice is likely to win through? That is the problem facing the hero of Chuck Anderson’s The View from Nowhere at Park 90.

The evening starts with a lecture from Dr Prez Washington (Mensah Bediako) a renowned – some might say notorious – scientist who specialises in endocrine disruptions. In jaunty and cheerful style, he tells his audience of the things that can cause cancer, including one of the chemicals in a particular herbicide. The chemical is called Atraphosphate and the manufacturer is Alchemex, one of the largest chemical companies in the world. Next we are in Prez’s lab where, with his post-Doc researcher Sandy Jones (Emma Mulkern) are talking with Dr Tom Pennington (Math Sams) a representative of Alchemex who has come with an awesome offer to fund Prez’s work and invite him onto a peer review committee to examine the effects, if any, of Atraphosphate on living bodies. This is all part of a marketing strategy by Alchemex’s Director of Corporate Affairs Rona Worthing (Nina Toussaint-White). Rona believes that she can control the messages getting out about Atraphosphate, but she underestimates how much of a maverick Dr Prez really is. So, in the battle for the truth who will win and what lengths will each side go to to ensure their version of reality is one accepted as truth?

In my day job we have a one-day course on unconscious bias. The course starts with each group being asked to draw a scientist. 9 times out of 10 the picture that is produced is an elderly white man wearing a lab coat. Mensah Bediako playing Prez, couldn’t be further from this image if he tried. Prez is a tall black man with dreadlocks and a highly colourful dress sense. This is an interesting touch for the author to put in. Making Prez not only a lone voice against the corporation but also someone that many people outside of the scientific community, would not necessarily take seriously as a scientist. It is a brilliant touch to an already fascinating plot. Mensah plays to part superbly. When he first came on for the opening lecture/monologue, my mind instantly turned to Johnny Ball and his shows. That infectious enthusiasm that he transmits means even if the science side goes over your head, you can’t help but liking and trusting Prez. In contrast, Tom Pennington is exactly what you would expect from a scientist that has taken the corporate 30 pieces of silver. Math Sams portrays the scientist who finds himself conflicted between scientific method and purity and loyalty to the company. Nina Toussaint-White’s Rona has no such problems. Her loyalty is to the company that pays her and she will not let anything as inconvenient as the truth get in her way of protecting the company and its brand. Power suited to perfection – nice work by designer Dan Street – Nina plays Rona as a ruthless manipulator of people and ‘facts’ and does it superbly. Of the four characters, I found Sandy Jones to be the least developed. There seemed to be a lot of potential, especially given the character’s background but I just didn’t feel I fully grasped her thoughts or why she acted the way she did. Emma Mulkern played the part well but I really did think the character needed more fleshing out.

Director Dan Phillips stages The View From Nowhere in the round and this works very well in the compact space of Park 90. Characters move around enough so that there are very few times when blocking is an issue and by moving around the edges, we can go with Prez on his lecturing/fund raising tour. Overall, I think the staging worked really well and with Chris Howell’s lighting design kept the audience very focussed on the action as it moved round.

The View from Nowhere is apparently all fiction but I imagine it is based on quite a bit of reality. There is a real concern about the effects that the blend of chemicals circulating in the environment may have consequences that are currently unknown. The play is well written and acted and, even if the technical side was a little bit above me, I found it fascinating and compelling in equal measure. An interesting story, really well staged that has the potential to create a long discussion and a frisson of distrust the next time some multi-national conglomerate puts out a press release saying everything they produce is fine…………. honest.

Review by Terry Eastham

Random Thoughts Limited in association with Park Theatre presents the World Premiere of The View From Nowhere By Chuck Anderson Directed by Dan Phillips

Prez is a brilliant biochemist. His experiments show a leading herbicide is carcinogenic. He has an existential fight against entrenched interests on his hands – not helped by the fact that he wears dreadlocks, dresses like David Bowie, and carries a chip on his shoulder as big as the sink estate he grew up on. In his heart he knows he’s right, but can he prove it? From the creative team behind Warehouse of Dreams:

http://ift.tt/2txiLl1 LondonTheatre1.com

[willstafford]

Beans Talk

JACK AND THE BEANSTALK Belgrade Theatre, Coventry, Friday 25th November, 2022 The first pantomime of the season and it’s a favourite fixture of mine, the Belgrade’s annual extravaganza featuring the perennial pairing of Iain Lauchlan and Craig Hollingsworth.  Returning for the umpteenth year, writer/director and dame extraordinaire, Lauchlan delivers the goods once again with a blend of…

[londontheatre]

The new PARK90 season opens with the world premiere of a highly topical drama involving a scientific controversy, The View From Nowhere, presented by the same creative team behind the critically acclaimed Warehouse of Dreams at Lion and Unicorn Theatre. Written by Chuck Anderson and directed by Dan Phillips, The View From Nowhere stars Nina Toussaint-White, Mensah Bediako, Math Sams and Emma Mulkern.

Prez is a brilliant biochemist. His experiments show a leading herbicide is carcinogenic. He has an existential fight against entrenched interests on his hands – not helped by the fact that he dresses like David Bowie, and carries a chip on his shoulder as big as the sink estate he grew up on. In his heart he knows he’s right, but can he prove it?

The plot turns on the scientific fact that eight out of ten of us have minute traces of a potentially dangerous herbicide in our urine. This echoes concerns about glyphosate, an ingredient in Roundup, the leading weedkiller marketed by Monsanto, which is vital to worldwide food production. The European Commission is now considering scientific evidence on whether it is a carcinogenic agent. That decision is anticipated before the end of this year.

Nina Toussaint-White plays Rona. Best known for roles in EastEnders, Switch and Emmerdale, Nina’s stage credits include The Libertine (Theatre Royal Bath and Haymarket), The Etienne Sisters (Theatre Royal Stratford East – Nominated for Best Performance in a Musical at the UK Theatre Awards 2016) and Race (Hampstead Theatre). Other television credits include Gameface, Uncle, Holby City and Death in Paradise.

Mensah Bediako plays Prez. A veteran of the stage, his extensive theatre credits include The Bodyguard (UK tour), One Man Two Guvnors (National Theatre and UK tour), Fast Cuts and Snap Shots (West Yorkshire Playhouse), The Harder They Come (Barbican), Floyd Collins (Southwark Playhouse) and Tobias and the Angel (Young Vic). Television and film credits include Chasing Shadows, Mr Mzuza, Popular Unrest and The Real Kathy Hayden.

Emma Mulkern plays Sandy Jones. Theatre credits include Rough Music (Pint Sized Plays), Courting Drama (Theatre Renegade) and The Cause (ACS Random). Television credits include American Monster.

Math Sams plays Dr Tom Pennington. Theatre credits include Chimerica (Harold Pinter Theatre), Jane Eyre (Birmingham Old Rep), Being Nice (Derby Studio), Old Bag (Theatre 503), Do Worms Have Hearts? (Old Red Lion), Buried Child (Upstairs at the Gatehouse) and The Seagull (Cockpit). Television and film credits include Suicide Platoon, The Truth, Turbulence and For the Fallen

Writer and Producer Chuck Anderson has had his TV plays produced by CBS Television and MGM-TV, Hollywood. In the UK, he has authored fiction and non-fiction books. In 2014, his play, Warehouse of Dreams, about running a UNHCR camp for Syrian refugees, won enthusiastic reviews at the Lion and Unicorn Theatre.

Director Dan Phillips’ credits include the Welsh premiere of Hedwig and the Angry Inch, the new musical Something Something Lazarus at The King’s Head Theatre, The Lonely Walk Home in Manchester and April in Paris in Germany.

Set design is by May Jennifer Davies, Costume design is by Dan Street, Lighting design is by Chris Howells and the musical composer is Simon Arrowsmith.

http://ift.tt/1k7vYDl Box office: 020 7870 6876*

LISTINGS The View From Nowhere Venue: Park Theatre, Clifton Terrace, Finsbury Park, N4 3JP Dates: 27 June – 22 July 2017

http://ift.tt/2s9Eoo2 LondonTheatre1.com