Time Out - Review

Michael Pinchbeck’s ‘The Post Show Party Show’ is a family affair, performed by Pinchbeck and his dad (in identical brown shirts and black slacks), with mum manning the sound desk for a sort of heavily stylised dwelling upon the night his parents met. It was an eventful evening: an after party for a production of ‘The Sound Of Music’ they both had minor roles in, at which one of the actors suffered a heart attack and died. Set in real time to the musical’s soundtrack, each song effectively delineates the boundaries of a little vignette performed by the Pinchbeck men. These run all the way from charming and adorable, with cutesy choreography, a mountain made of stools, and a good measure of lip syncing all making appearances.

As it goes on, the tone becomes more contemplative, the heart attack constantly returned to, Pinchbeck Jnr musing on how he is on some level a continuation of these events. It also gradually runs out of steam. The use of the soundtrack wears thin after a while, and though repetition might be important to the structure, it still feels like Pinchbeck might have benefited from not having to come up with a segment to accompany every song. It’s also odd how it shies away from details about his parents’ meeting. Maybe the point is about the sensation of dwelling upon a moment rather than anything more personal, but I still left thinking that despite being onstage for the duration, the senior Pinchbecks were somewhat underused.

Time Out ***

Carousel of Fantasies - Review

Had the hills never been alive with the sound of music, Michael Pinchbeck would not have come to be. At least, Michael Pinchbeck would not exist had the County Amateur Operatic and Dramatic Society not performed The Sound of Music in November 1970. His father was a Nazi and his mother a nun. His father had one line: “Ulrich, block ze drive-vay.” His mother, it seems, had none. One assumes that it did not make for particularly convincing theatre. Yet as the result of such pretence, something real occurred. For it was at the post show party – just after Arthur Hunter (a guitar-playing Nazi) had keeled over – that his mother and father first kissed.

And so, in 2009, Michael Pinchbeck, 32, takes to the stage with Tony Pinchbeck, sixty going on seventy, to recapture something of that past. Having set the film’s soundtrack in unstoppable motion, the pair work their way through sixteen songs, alternately half-dancing, half-acting, half-re-enacting and lipsyncing. They move stools around the space like checkers and deliver meditative lectures on present and past, absence and presence in the solemn whispers of nature commentators.

For all its pensive contemplation, however, The Post Show Party Show is dragged down by the clumsiness of its meta-theatrics. Pinchbeck seems in so love with the duality of which the stage is capable that he skirts the issue with a mumble where philosophic oration is needed. The absent echoes of 1970 never materialize and, as such, multiplicity collapses into flat monochrome.

Undoubtedly, Pinchbeck shows promise. He handles text with a deft turn of phrase, careful use of repetition and a smidgen of absurdity, but lacks the requisite gutsiness to nail any particular point. The result teeters between the whimsical and the arbitrary. With tightening, volume and some rigorous reflection, The Post Show Party Show could blossom. As it is, however, it lacks the punch to spike.

Carousel of Fantasies

Total Theatre - Review

The title of this performance hints at the self-reflective complexities about to take place. The audience being offered a drink by the performers on their way into the auditorium confirmed it, and Michael Pinchbeck's acknowledgment of actors and audience made it a certainty. This is a show about a show of a show.

The concept is to reenact moments from the post-show party of an amateur operatic and dramatic society production of The Sound of Music from 1970 in which Pinchbeck's parents first met. Pinchbeck is joined in the performance by his parents creating a complex mix of the here and now, the then and there and times before, in between and after.

Pinchbeck plays with the notions of time and place and amateur and professional in an energetic performance in which father and son act out conceptual representations of the sixteen songs from The Sound of Music. These representations consist of both performers moving small wooden stools around the stage from one demarcated square to another, often in symmetry and in time with the song which plays in the background. Past and present frequently overlap. During the reenactment of 'Do-Re-Mi', the lyrics are swapped for the thoughts of Pinchbeck senior as he wonders whether to offer a lift home to his future wife Vivienne.

This is a complex production with many performances taking place in the same show, but complex becomes confusing as time, place, character, song and stool blur into one. For all Pinchbeck junior's ingenuity, matched by his father's energetic exuberance, the conceptualisations appear at times unhinged from any central thesis. Ultimately, perhaps this show speaks of itself too often, in too many languages to be fully understood.

Total Theatre

The Press Release

For immediate release
Thursday 23 October, 7.30pm
Michael Pinchbeck| The Post Show Party Show

Michael Pinchbeck’s parents, Tony and Vivienne, met in 1970 after an amateur dramatic version of The Sound of Music. He was a Nazi. She was a nun. Tonight Michael is on stage with his mum and dad to remember the post show party where it all began.

Mixing genuine performance memories from the past with the iconic soundtrack to the musical, this poignant re-enactment asks what is professional and what is amateur, what is present and what is absent?

The Post Show Party Show receives its UK premiere at Leeds Met Studio after a sell-out performance at Springdance in Holland. Join us for a glass of Shloer and a sing-song as we stand in the wings of the story. You are invited to the post show party.

Michael first worked with his father as part of his Masters Degree when he devised a piece of work with his father’s amateur dramatic group and enjoyed the natural rapport they had. He then started working with his Dad on recreating his own christening and ended up delving even further into the past.

The Post Show Party Show is performed by Michael and Tony with Michael’s mother Vivienne taking a non-performance role operating the lights and sound from on stage and tells the story of the dramatic post show incident that led to the start of his parent’s relationship.

For further information, images or tickets to review contact Jaye Kearney on 0113 812 5997 or J.Kearney@leedsmet.ac.uk

The Flier

Image: Julian Hughes

Publicity copy

We are backstage. We are offstage. We are standing in the wings of the story. We are inviting you to help us to remember. We are pretending to be characters in a musical. We are pretending to be ourselves. We are pretending to be each other.

Award-winning writer and performance maker Michael Pinchbeck takes his parents on tour to recreate the post-show party where they met in 1970 after an amateur dramatic version of The Sound of Music. His mum was a nun. His Dad was a Nazi.

Mixing text from the past and present with movement to the real-time soundtrack of The Sound of Music, Michael Pinchbeck asks what is present and what is absent, what is professional and what is amateur. The Post Show Party Show receives its UK premiere after a sell-out performance at Springdance in Utrecht, Holland.

Produced by Spiel and supported by Dance 4, Nottingham.

Image: Julian Hughes

Portrait

Photos: Anna van Kooij