30.8.11

28.8.11

Thanks to everybody.

The whole crew of the Darkness project would like to thank everybody who supported us along the way, our funders, mentors, reviewers, family, friends, administrators and most importantly our audience. It is our last show at the festival tomorrow, if you have not had time to see the play and you get a moment, pop along and see what all the interest had been about. 

My thanks,
Pasco-Q
Creative Producer 
The Guardian - 3 Stars ★★★ "...it's gripping, atmospheric and quite superbly acted"

26.8.11

Audience Feedback

24.8.11
Really liked it! Filmic and well acted, a good account of fundamentalism close to home. 
James Nicholson and Sebastian Senior

Outstandingly good! Wish The Traverse would produce that kind of work! A courage look at fundamentalism.    
Chris

Brilliant! Acting great! ...Story line is good and very believable.  
Ian Mears




23.8.11
Fantastic. There was a tear and I'm not an emotional person!
Hayley 


Brilliant. Fantastic performances.
Peter Ellis


Brilliant, well constructed, shocking and really of the moment issues. I recommend it.
Will


21.8.11

An excellent piece which I thoroughly enjoyed. Very topical and gave plenty of fodder for post show discussions with friends! The acting was excellent and I'd just like to know what happened next!
 
19.8.11
Very enticing and disturbing, a good piece of drama with a compelling twist and polished performances.
Elaine and Fish 

A very strong play. I enjoyed it, but enjoyed is perhaps not the right word! Very powerful.
Anders Olesen


18.8.11
We really enjoyed it, good direction and well written, convincingly acted. Melodramatic but not over performed. 
Paul and Jess


17.8.11
Really good. Simply done and intense, but funny when it needed to be. 
Dennis Herdman

Very good, well acted and an interesting topic
Mike Eppel

Simply stunning. Gripped throughout, as the dynamics and phrases of the piece were perfectly orchestrated. Excellent casting as I truly believed they were a family riddled with bruises. Could see it being transferred to the Almedia - please make this happen. The best show I've seen this season.  
Charlotte King

Brilliant! 
Rosie L

16.8.11
Brilliant, excellent, strong cast and very professional. Powerful story and strong climax.
Janet and David Osborne

Very intense, brilliant characters. Frightening to think there are people like this in the world, it will stay with me.
Carol Faint

It was very dark, mysterious and scary how their beliefs were so powerfully put across.
James Valentine

"...dramatic tension and heartfelt emotion...The cast is strong and the characters of the father, older brother and youngest brother are played by stand out actors. "
Teresa Sparks

15.8.11 

Saw this play last week and loved it. It did that thing that all good plays do, it evoked the emotions whilst watching the fabulous performance of all the actors and then lived with us afterwards causing immediate conversation and week long reflection. Well done to all concerned.  
Mike Knowles    

Really good - an intense experience, very powerful and quite disturbing portrait of Zealots in Christianity. Very interesting with brilliant performances, it feels like a Coen brothers film.
Nick Blower

14.8.11 
A brilliant show with a very talented cast. The direction ( Gari Jones) and skill of the actors allowed you to feel truly involved with the performance. Shining moments, in particular from David Tarkenter, Jamie Wallwork and Nathan Wright made the performance for me. This show wouldn't be out of place at the National. A must see. 
Joel Marvin 


13.8.11
Very good. The best thing I've seen in a week at the Fringe"
Rob F

"This is the best thing I've seen. The cast are incredible, they showed 300% commitment. Nothing approaches the intensity or technicality (of Darkness). Very realistic but nothing is held back."
Jerry Leavy

"Beautifully directed. Lovely ensemble, really good performances. Interesting and relevant topic...I believed the world that was created before me"
Joy Harrison


12.8.11
"Fully formed, very well realised. Rich text and incredible cast."
Rob Salmon

"Deeply evocative, this play leaves one contemplating mankind for days afterwards. It's brilliant. Surprising, gripping, inspiring, terrifying. Quite long for a fringe production, it nevertheless felt like ten minutes as it totally absorbed through a tight production. The acting was strong and consistent. Darkness must be a play that will last long beyond the Fringe. It had something really memorable that is quite hard to encapsulate in a few words. Incredibly exciting to be at one of its first productions, I was left feeling that I had witnessed something that I would discuss years later." 
Christine Temple  

"A good script, tightly acted. Resonances with various Bible stories - but not derivative of them. This play is not about the evils of religion as about the evil that religion can become. My heart went out to the mother who lost her son twice over.****" 
David Goodrum  


"Great. Really good. David Tarkenter as Huw was phenomenal. Really well written."
Alexander Thomas & Peregrine Fallows

"Awesome, the quality of the acting meant you could relate to the issues. Brilliant, thankyou"
Mike Burr & Alex Roden

"Brilliant play. Brilliant performances."
Paul Tinto


10.8.11
"We both cried simultaneously, without knowing. Absolutely brilliant"
Karen Binks and Scott Morgan

"Fantastic, isolating, the audience is witnessing something profound"
William Donaldson


9.8.11
"Very strong performances by David Tarkenter (George) and Jamie Wallwork (Tony) in a bleak and frightening look into the dark heart of religious fanaticism. All leavened with a touch of surreal humor.
Ebay, indeed!!" 
Mark Kleiman  


7.8.11

"Wicked. Very stong cast. Reminded me of something you'd see at the National Theatre"
Emma Arends & Rebecca Farrell

"Absolutely magnificent. Really quite something"
Kate Crawford

"Very much enjoyed it. Very interesting"
Paul Boshies

5.8.11

Today is the day!

Darkness opens today for the first preview show at 3.30pm. There is an offer for the first 20 people to arrive at the Zoo Roxy Box Office and who quote “Q” will get a ticket for £2.50. Grab this great opportunity to be there at the very start of this exciting show.

20.7.11

Kieran from The Good Review interviews Joshua Hayes (Dan) during rehearsals.

Joshua Hayes is currently rehearsing the Lakeside Theatre’s new production of Darkness a new play by fringe first winning writer Jonathan Lichtenstein. The production will be performed throughout the Edinburgh festival at the Zoo Roxy’s loft venue and Josh recently took the time out of his rehearsals on Essex University campus to answer a few questions for us about the project.
Alright Josh?
Now then Kieran lad!
What can you tell us about Darkness?
It’s a brilliant new play, by a fantastic writer, brought to the stage by visionary director Gari Jones, and features a superb ensemble cast. If I may say so myself!
High Praise! What’s it about?
Its about a family in Wales, and their relationship with religion and how it affects their relationships with each other. It is quite dark and sinister, as you’d imagine from the title, but has some funny and moving moments which balance it out nicely.
Is it exciting being at the start of a new project?
Absolutely! The source material is brilliant, Jonathan [Lichtenstein] has given us a really strong platform to build on. We were lucky enough to have had a rehearsed reading at Pulse festival a few weeks ago and the positive reaction from the audience has helped fuel the excitement surrounding the project. Also its quite a relevant subject given our ongoing conflicts in the Middle East and things like Harold Camping’s recent predictions about the date of the Rapture.
How are the rehearsals going?
So far very good, we are in the process of getting it up on its feet. I think the cast and I are just enjoying finding the characters and exploring the relationships. We as a cast are getting on great, and the relaxed atmosphere in the room makes the process so much more fulfilling. Whats interesting about the play is that a lot of the fractures in the relationships occur before the start of it and the period in which the piece takes place is when everything comes to a head.
You’ve been to Edinburgh before, how will this trip compare to the last?
It makes me even more excited if I’m honest. Because when I went before I was still a student and I didn’t really know what it was all about, and now I know what to expect I am looking forward to it even more. I managed to see some great things at the Zoo Roxy last time as well and I am now really excited to be performing there myself.
www.thegoodreview.co.uk

27.5.11

Darkness
by Jonathan Lichtenstein

Yann, a young Muslim immigrant, takes work that no one else will do; clearing windblown trees in a remote forest. It’s dangerous, but he needs the job and anyway he’s fallen for the beautiful Caitlin. The family he works for are deeply religious and soon Yann is confronted about his own convictions.

Darkness is Fringe First winner Jonathan Lichtenstein’s exploration of the devastating impact of religious fundamentalism. As authority figures display an absolute belief in their divine right to act with impunity, a tight knit rural family are torn apart by its destructive force.

Directed by Gari Jones.

Press praise for Jonathan Lichtenstein's work:

"a harrowing heartbreaking play" The Guardian (The Pull of Negative Gravity, 2004)
"urgent and moving’" 4 Stars. Lyn Gardner, The Guardian (The Pull Of Negative Gravity)
“Jonathan Lichtenstein has written the first great play about the second Iraq conflict.” 5 Stars. The Scotsman (The Pull Of Negative Gravity)
"…compelling drama…an impressive achievement…" New York Times (Memory, 2007)