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PRESS
Past
press releases, features and reviews.
For all press enquiries please contact Chris Wright on 07957 300107
or chris@lekoa.co.uk
BLACK BOX M.E.N. REVIEW
BLACK BOX BBC PROFILE
BLACK BOX PULP REVIEW
BLACK BOX PRESS RELEASE
THE STAGE
Friday 20th October 2006
Vent
Contact, Manchester
Tuesday 17th - Saturday 21st October 2006
The world premiere of this new work, derived from improvisation, may only last 90 minutes but the result is a fascinating piece rich in conversational, student speak. Performed by Lekoa, a Manchester-based, small-scale theatre company, which specialises in creating and performing new work, artistic director Christopher Wright has chosen his committed cast wisely.
Although there’s no set, apart from some white tiles on the floor, it’s quickly established that the action takes place in adjoining toilets on a university campus where we meet four students and a couple of their tutors.
Through these six characters we explore the issues of contemporary sexual politics when, in the aftermath of a suspected date rape, their attitudes to sex are revealed and a breakdown in communication between genders is explored.
There are particularly good performances from Zariah Bailey as the charismatic Ike, an expert on all sexual matters, whilst Freddie Machin plays his best friend Adam who appears to follow the rules. Claire Bleasdale and Victoria Brazier are also good as their girlfriends, concerned about their disintegrating relationship.
An enthusiastic reception from the full house augurs well for the start of Vent’s regional tour, which will end in London.
NATALIE ANGLESEY
BLACK BOX M.E.N. REVIEW
MANCHESTER EVENING NEWS
Friday 31st January 2003
Black Box
Contact, Manchester
Friday 31st Jan & Sat 1st Feb 2003
Wordy, worldly and full of sly plot twists
No-one could fairly accuse the newly-formed LeKoa theatre company of taking the easy option with their smart and sexy debut offering. Written and directed by former Honeymoon Killer Christopher Wright, Black Box goes for the big themes – love, loss, guilt and forgiveness – set against a backdrop of death and infidelity. Oh, and let’s not forget some stray ruminations on the true value of art, the virtues of an alphabeticised record collection and the incidental magic of popular music.
As Wright himself wryly observes: “All that’s missing is war, peace and religion!” Yet this wordy, worldly-wise play is just as compelling and full of plot twists as one of the TV soap operas it slyly mocks. The action takes place in a city centre art gallery, dominated by a coffin. It’s here that, under the strangely watchful eye of the undertaker (Paul David-Gough), four twenty-something friends – Cassius (Conor Ryan), Will (Jonathon Finlay), Liz (Claire Bleasdale) and Kate (Maike Lynden) – gather to mourn their friend, Jack, whose too-early death begins to unravel the secrets and lies of all their lives.
KEVIN BOURKE
BLACK BOX BBC PROFILE
http://www.bbc.co.uk/manchester/going_out/stage/2003/01/30/black_box.shtml
BLACK BOX PULP REVIEW
PULP MAGAZINE
Friday 31st January 2003
Black Box
Contact, Manchester
Friday 31st Jan & Sat 1st Feb 2003
Imagine having a black box in which you could put all your guilt, then shut the lid and forget about it. Is this simply an easy way to do what we like and not care about the consequences, or is it a deeper way of looking at our lives? Do we need to ease the guilt in our lives to live a fuller life? These are just some of the questions thrown up in LeKoa’s first play, Black Box, that superbly observes relationships and love in a humorous and compassionate way.
Meet Cassius, Will, Liz and Kate as they deal with the death of their friend, Jack. Yet Jack’s death is simply a catalyst drawing them together, forcing them to question the emotions they feel and they way they behave. A sudden game of secrets and lies brings startling revelations and results in a climax of anger, hatred and love.
The actors are truly fantastic, especially Conor Ryan who was charismatic and held the audience. When he became angry, he truly shined and I could not take my eyes off him as he beautifully portrayed the bullyboy Cassius.
This is a fantastic play to start the month-of-love February as it highlights the way relationships work in a modern, upbeat style which should cause Carrie Bradshaw in ‘Sex and the City’ to quake in her Manholo Blanhiks.
Press Release: Mon 25/11/02
LeKoa presents…
black box
written and directed by Chris Wright
Thurs 30 Jan - Sat 1 Feb 2003
World Première
Meet Cassius, Kate, Will and Liz. They’re all good friends. But someone is missing. Jack. Having died suddenly, his body is now lying at rest in the city art gallery. Without him the group begin to fall apart, revealing the source of their deepest fears: the secrets and lies that make up their lives.
Featuring ordinary people in an extraordinary situation, black box is an emotionally electric tale of love, loss, guilt, and forgiveness. Like a mirror held up to the face of its audience, black box offers an uncompromising reflection that begs the question: what do we really know about each other?
Set in the city art gallery and framed by four works of modern art, black box also questions the nature of art, the increasingly blurred boundaries between what is and what isn’t acceptable human behaviour and the theatrical tendency and compelling complexity of our everyday lives.
Written and directed by Christopher Wright, one of Manchester’s leading independent directors, black box is the first production by LeKoa, a theatre collaborative committed to writing and producing new plays in and around the North West region.
Receiving its world première at Contact in Manchester from Thursday 30 January to Saturday 1 February, black box is moving, witty and brilliantly observed – the first must-see show of 2003.
“Why can’t people just say how it is? They’re so scared of being misunderstood that they lie to avoid it.”
Times: Thurs - Sat @ 8pm & Sat @ 4pm | Press Night: Thurs 30 Jan @ 7.30pm
Tickets: £8 / £5 concs | Bookings & Info: 0161 274 0600
Ends…
LeKoa Online: www.LeKoa.co.uk | Contact Online: www.contact-theatre.org.uk
For press enquiries, including image, interview and review ticket requests, contact:
Neil Eckersley, Press Manager for LeKoa
t: 08707 127 733 m: 07776 186 220
e: neileckersley@uk2.net
© LeKoa 2007 t: 07957 300107 e:info@lekoa.co.uk