{"id":2199,"date":"2020-04-28T07:00:08","date_gmt":"2020-04-28T06:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/arts-at-unisouth\/?p=2199"},"modified":"2020-05-14T14:41:05","modified_gmt":"2020-05-14T13:41:05","slug":"be-more-chill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/arts-at-unisouth\/2020\/04\/28\/be-more-chill\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Be More Chill’ in Hindsight or An Ode to Student Theatre"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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by Thea Hartman<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I remember fondly one of the very last outings I went on before the world was turned upside down: Saturday 7 March 2020, closing night of <\/strong>Be More Chill<\/a> <\/strong><\/em>at the Annex Theatre, University of Southampton. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s only about six weeks ago, but it feels like at least a year has passed. Therefore, I couldn\u2019t possibly call this a review because I couldn\u2019t be objective (can anyone ever be, really?) \u2013 that night is already rose-tinted with nostalgia. So I would like to offer my apologies for the delay, Showstoppers<\/a> \u2013 I got majorly distracted, I hope you understand\u2026 but I\u2019m here now, ready to sing (not half as well as you) your praises.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Directed by Alex Wareham and Lizzy Bajegbo, the Showstoppers Spring show was one of the first amateur productions of Be More Chill<\/em> in the UK. For those of you who haven\u2019t encountered this show yet, it is a classic American coming-of-age high school story which feels comfortably familiar as the nerdy Jeremy (Will Fieldhouse) tries to become \u2018cool\u2019 in order to get the girl – Christine (Ellen Goggin) \u2013 who is just as much of a nerd as he is in my opinion, but just much more confident. However, there\u2019s a dystopian twist: in his attempt to be a \u2018cool guy,\u2019 Jeremy gets one step too close to technology and just about ruins everyone\u2019s lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The story from there is what you\u2019d expect: there\u2019s bullying, mind control (okay, maybe you wouldn\u2019t quite expect that), romance, friendship, betrayal\u2026 the works. Basically, the whole show screams a really positive message that people of all ages have heard and still need to hear: there is no right way to act to be cool; being cool is equivalent to being yourself. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And that\u2019s what Showstoppers did, and what they have done in every show I have seen them perform (maybe not directly, but you get me). The mountains of work that went into this show were visible because of how smoothly and flawlessly it all flowed. The acting and singing was all around incredible: nuanced, never overdone, and authentic \u2013 also, the harmonies were genuinely goosebump-inducing. Whilst the characters may be very relatable to a group of students, the way the actors completely inhabited them deserves all the credit in the world regardless. Katie Staines\u2019 choreography was very intricate and well executed \u2013 I can say from experience robot moves are not<\/em> as easy as they seem, especially when they\u2019re done in sync.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, the music. The score of this show is unbelievably good in and of itself (definitely went home and played \u2018Michael In The Bathroom\u2019 100 times, but caught myself thinking of Ed Patience\u2019s absolutely fabulous<\/em> performance) yet also unbelievably difficult. The band, led by Musical Director and fellow Arts Ambassador Molly Ellis<\/a><\/strong> and Assistant Musical Director Charlie English, were almost constantly playing \u2013 be it heartfelt pop-rock ballads, \u2018bangers\u2019, or synth-heavy music whenever the ultra high-tech S.Q.U.I.P (so unsettlingly embodied by George Gunn) was controlling Jeremy\u2019s life. I didn\u2019t think a show with a live band would be able to simultaneously create a sci-fi, dystopian atmosphere \u2013 but I couldn\u2019t be more wrong. Every musical moment was performed perfectly \u2013 there was emotion, there was frustration, and many goosebumps in the jam-packed Annex.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have absolutely no regrets that what is very likely to be my last outing to the theatre for the next six months was to see a student production. Why would I, anyway? I strongly believe student theatre doesn\u2019t get enough credit for the frankly preposterous amount of work they put into their shows (and there are so <\/em>many shows) alongside <\/em>studying for their degrees. They don\u2019t get paid, it\u2019s not what they do for a living \u2013 yet they spend tonnes of hours pouring their hearts and skills into their productions out of pure passion. By definition, they are amateurs at the moment \u2013 without any shade of the negative connotation this label tends to carry \u2013 but they stand as examples of professionalism to many. As they\u2019re reading this they\u2019re probably jiggling their legs with anticipation for the moment they can start rehearsing again \u2013 and they deserve all the respect in the world for their passion, dedication, and professionalism. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hats off to Showstoppers and generally University of Southampton student theatre<\/a><\/strong> and performing arts groups<\/a><\/strong> \u2013 you guys are the future. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

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by Thea Hartman I remember fondly one of the very last outings I went on before the world was turned upside down: Saturday 7 March 2020, closing night of Be More Chill at the Annex Theatre, University of Southampton. It\u2019s only about six weeks ago, but it feels like at least a year has passed. Therefore, I couldn\u2019t … Continue reading ‘Be More Chill’ in Hindsight or An Ode to Student Theatre<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2268,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[120,262,8,194,14,9],"tags":[122,65,359,289,88],"class_list":["post-2199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arts-ambassadors","category-creative-industries","category-music","category-performance","category-student","category-theatre","tag-arts-ambassadors","tag-arts-at-university-of-southampton","tag-musical-theatre-society","tag-thea-hartman","tag-university-of-southampton"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pc9CSZ-zt","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/arts-at-unisouth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2199","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/arts-at-unisouth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/arts-at-unisouth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/arts-at-unisouth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2268"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/arts-at-unisouth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2199"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/arts-at-unisouth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2199\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2252,"href":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/arts-at-unisouth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2199\/revisions\/2252"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/arts-at-unisouth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/arts-at-unisouth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/arts-at-unisouth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}