Day #47 - The Boys in the Photograph (Fusion Theatre Review)

Here's a review of a musical Maria and I went to see on the previous Saturday to this date. Wrote it up for the Gown, we'll see if it gets published, but as with all my Gown articles this is more of a unedited prototype!

Hopefully you'll enjoy reading it :D

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When you think Andrew Lloyd Webber, you tend to think Phantom, or Cats, or even Jesus Christ Superstar. When you think Ben Elton, you tend to think Blackadder, Mr Bean or maybe even the unintentionally hilarious We Will Rock You (or “That Queen Musical” colloquially). So putting the two together, you might think of some sort of big-scale musical with a decent sense of comedy (if Blackadder is anything to go by), probably not a politically-fuelled musical about the Belfast/Northern Ireland Troubles.

The Boys in the Photograph, originally written as The Beautiful Game in 1998, is a 2009 re-write about the growing pressures of political violence and unrest in Belfast on a local football team, most of whom are Catholic bar one Protestant who continually identifies himself as an Atheist, and the women who get caught up with the team.
The show, held in the Island Hall Theatre, Lisburn from 8^th-11^th February, was significant because it was the first time the show had ever been performed in Northern Ireland. Held capably in the hands of Fusion Theatre, a youth group from the area, the show was displayed fantastically. With a reasonably-sized cast of actors and actresses under the age of 19, praises for the group can’t be higher. Acting, singing, choreography, music, set design and direction were all undertaken by the group and handled incredibly well. Characters were made as believable as the script would allow, choreography managed to make a game of football without an actual ball into a dangerous dance scene with relative ease and surprising tension, costumes and set pieces were handled well and overall the show felt like every effort was made to bring this piece to life. All of which would be make for the perfect show if the writing by Webber and Elton had more life in them.

While dramatic scenes such as a riot at an Orange Parade, an IRA home invasion and the internment of the main protagonist are scripted well and are genuinely tense and unnerving, at times the script tries to force its message too much. Even during a party scene, where you’d think in real life the people could wind down and enjoy the night, one character serves no other purpose than to remind the audience that the Troubles are still happening, rather than letting the audience put that to the back of their mind and then surprising them as the violence reintroduces itself. Certain characters, including one who remains a vocal point from start to finish, have little to no character and are simply used as dramatic points in which the audience are expected to feel sorry for the characters, despite having no personal relation to them. At these points Fusion really shines, converting what could have been several disappointingly dislocated scenes into highly dramatic, well acted moments. The difficult subject of The Troubles may not have made the perfect musical idea, but the group handles it fine, giving it enough humour and balance to make for a strong show that, if it gets a second run anytime soon, can only be a recommendation.