BRILLIANT ADVENTURES - a play for sci-fi geeks

Following my preview piece Thursday night I had the pleasure of attending The Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester to watch their production of Brilliant Adventures in The Studio. Geek Pride had been invited because the synopsis made promises of science fiction and this naturally intrigued me.

Alistair McDowall’s Brilliant Adventures is just that, a brilliant adventure. This fast paced exploration of brotherhood revolves around Luke, the younger brother and family genius gaining his independence in his new flat. He excels in his new found freedom and constructs the box. His rogue of an older brother, Rob, is Luke’s only real father figure but his nefarious dealings mean their relationship is strained. Enter a the man from London, Ben, with an interest in the box and Luke’s new life falls apart with an emotionally wrought journey with some well thought out twists. This a story that focuses on relationships and redemption leading to an cleverly satisfying conclusion.

From the beginning I was chuckling to myself, which soon lead to laughing out loud and I settled in to watch a night of comedy. However it became increasingly apparent this journey we were about to undertake would be injected with sometimes shockingly emotional moments. So whilst there is no doubt this piece is classed as a comedy, behind the funny is a truly sad yet gripping story of two brothers and their family dynamics.

I was initially sceptical as to whether sci-fi, as I commonly imagine it, can be created in the intimate setting of The Studio. Pleasingly it was the ideal setting for a story involving just five characters and the closeness amplified the moments of hilarity and uncomfortable tension.

Beautifully directed by Caroline Steinbeis, I can honestly say it is one of the beat pieces I have seen. I give all the actors a bravo as I truly saw them as people; I disliked the ones I was supposed to and empathised with those I should. With the light comedy moments from Ian Bonar’s Greg and suitably charismatic yet villainous Ben played by Laurence Mitchell. All the actors interpretations of their characters were right on the mark and the casting couldn’t have been better. Each actor pulled of funny and serious something that I felt was an enormous feat they should be proud of. I would like to make special mentions for the portrayals of Luke and Rob by Robert Lonsdale and Joseph Arkley respectively. The pair’s dynamic was believable and as loving and distressing as the writer intended.

Kudos to designer Max Jones, the entire set was that of Luke’s flat; relatively simple with some fantastic and geeky touches and being appropriately dingy to convey the poverty in which Luke and the people around him live. The Box itself again was very simplistic and not what I expected of such a sci-fi fantastical device, but it didn’t matter because the story has been so well written and the production so well put together, from lighting to sound, that the atmosphere enabled my imagination to take over. Style choices for the characters were perfectly put together and mirrored the sights we come across in real life. For instance Rob was dressed so convincingly as a chav he is, that if I saw him on the street I would cross over and go out of my way to avoid him.

Overall I would absolutely recommend this to fans of science fiction and the human story. It is fast paced and touching, but a very well balanced piece, with elements of laugh out loud humour. It is also a eye opening look at the lives of people in the deprived area’s of our country, when you take the statistics away you are left with people, people like these characters in situations that many of us try to ignore or just don’t want to know about.

Whilst I don’t want to spoiler what the box actually is I can say that it is instrumental and a classic. I guarantee you that geeks like me will love it, and there is a scenario talked about that fans of the sci-fi genre have been discussing for years, very satisfying to see it included. I went from starting out a little sceptical to quickly becoming invested in the lives of these people. If I was to fault anything, and this is something I have had to think long and hard about, it would be that I was left wanting to know more about the workings of the box and there was a couple of inconsistencies about the use of said box, but I’m nit picking, it’s important to remember this is a play not a film, we have imaginations and the production encourages us to use them.

Geeks go and see this play, don’t expect a massive sci-fi adventure but look forward to a personal classic one, I guarantee you will not be disappointed. I wanted to leave you with a quote but the very best ones are incredibly spoilery so I picked this one:

“So he’s a genius, but he does daft stuff like that, and he’s also got his speaking thing and funny turns. He’s that Good Will Hunting.”

The play’s run in Manchester is until the 25th of May, for more details and how to book, visit the Royal Exchange Theatre website HERE