An Usher Pushed Too Far

 
This piece was inspired by the bizarre spectacle at a top West End theatre last year, when a team of forlorn ushers edged in the audience's eyeline brandishing naff, handmade looking signs saying “Turn Your Mobile Phones Off”. A long way from the glamour of treading the boards for these likely aspiring thespians. As the surreal force of his imagination builds up, our usher, conjuring up a ‘Withnail’ like bitter persona, goes into a dark place and – seemingly on the verge of a nervous breakdown – he imagines a fabulous turn of events to transplant him onto the stage. Jason has learned about monologues from performing in the "digging for roots... finding gold" speech of Timon of Athens and with the poignant soliloquy of the old man in the pub in Jim Cartwright's Two.

 Written by Jason Lever
Jason has enjoyed being a member of NVT since 2012 and reviewed shows for its Newsletter from 2015-17. He first acted playing Philly in Playboy of the Western World at Brighton Little Theatre in 2016, followed by a Timon of Athens monologue for BLT’s Kings and Queens review (2019) and in Comment is Free (2019). He recently completed the Academy of Creative Training (ACT) Acting Foundation and Playwriting courses. He currently enjoys not commuting to London as education policy manager for the Mayor of London. Jason is looking forward to Steve and Martin's interpretation of his piece.

Performed by Martin Ryan
As a former Intercontinental Flight Attendant, and with a brief stint as Usher in a well-known theatre under his belt, Martin is well placed to understand the frustrations of the character he portrays. Since becoming a member of NVT in 2017 as a creative outlet, Martin has gleefully chewed up the scenery in productions including Anna Christie, True West, Great Expectations, Pickwick & Weller, and Elephants Graveyard.

Directed by Steve Hutton
Steve completed a sculpture degree from Wimbledon College of Art in 2007. This introduced him to performance, theatre arts and a world of creation and manipulation. Since then he has continued making small, large and multi-media sculpture in various forms and produced, directed and acted in short videos such as ‘Carmen in 40 seconds’ (shown on the BP big screens during Royal Opera’s Carmen production). In 2016 he produced and directed ‘Trojan Women’ at the White Bear Theatre, Stockwell. Moving to Brighton and encountering NVT has renewed Steve’s enthusiasm for making theatre.