My first impressions of Blackout

I found this play to be invigorating and insightful. It is absolutely oozing potential for movement and physical Theatre work, by just reading it you get these brilliant images in your head and it makes you want to stage them for real and morph it around the transparent text. I love the way it is straight to the point. There's no beating around the bush and it gets right and you get to the true reality of the situation the character is. He's not hiding. He's giving us the privilege to see his innermost thoughts. He can't waste time shielding himself and blocking everyone out because in fact it's a chase! He's running to find his memory and there's no time to dilly dally!

The overall pace was choppy and had a staccato feel to it jumping backwards and forwards in time form thought to thought and from person to person without slowing down! It feels like it reveals things layer by layer taking us deeper and capturing us in the story, there was never a moment where I felt disconnected from the text. It felt like a real journey. The use of language was very good. There were so many words that just pulled your focus and no line was ever a throw away line especially the lines with violence building up an excellent climax and to then snap us back out of it and back to this jail cell. Magic. 

It touches on social, political and cultural topics through the eyes of someone who isn't completely connected to his society. Someone who is young and outcast. I loved the way Davey Anderson built up character so even when he was doing terrible, fascist, dangerous things you still felt for him and empathised with him even if you felt it was wrong. It was written in a "conscious stream" format so his thoughts become our thoughts and his imagination is cast out in front of us like a projector on a screen playing back.

I am truly excited to be studying this play over the next two terms and feel like my expectations will only be heightened as we stand it up on it's feet and physicalize it!