A Bolt From The Blue

A Bolt from the Blue’ is a book and comedy play written by David Tristram. The story revolves around a man called Edward Jones, whose whole life changed the day before his fortieth birthday. He was working on an electricity pylon and got struck by lightening. As the story progresses we meet various characters, as well as finding out some very interesting things about Edward’s health and what seemed like a miracle discovery, which caused a media stir.  

The play opened with the visuals of Edward getting struck by lighting and falling from the pylon. This was followed by meeting the narrators for the play. They both set the scene very nicely and explained what would be going on throughout the play.  Reading from books meant that their eye contact  was a little lost with the audience, but it did give the impression of them reading from the original novel. The barrier effect this had was reduced by them both acting out the words and not just reading all of them. The narrators explained that they were present at the incident and witnessed the story firsthand. So it is slightly strange that they required the books to retell their story.

The set was fit for purpose and the pylon created a good visual, which dominated the stage just as pylons do in real life. A few lighting cues were late, leaving some cast members speaking on a dark stage or in the wrong area of the stage was lit. Also working lights were on throughout the performance in both wings which caused a lot of light to bleed onto the stage meaning scene changes were left visible. However these scene changes were done quickly and quietly.

Dialogue was delivered confidently and the cast projected adequately for the audience to hear everything. This ensured all the jokes and comedy moments were brought out. They portrayed their characters in a believable manner, and the people who played dual roles did a superb job of varying each charector to create a different presence on stage, a huge well done.

The show had many funny sections which the audience laughed aloud to. The paramedic scene in the first act of the show was superb, with snappy delivery of lines and expert comedy timing. In addition to this the scenes where Edward and Dr Nugent were incognito to hide from press reporters were hilarious, due to the fantastic body language and the demeanour they brought of being uncomfortable to the stage. This production had a different feel to many others due the story being told via narrators as well as the cast. While we dropped in an out of scenes full of action, which were carefully and well directed, the staging meant it still managed to flow. The countless entrances and exits that the narrators made must have been difficult to configure and remember.  

Overall the play provided the audience with many laughs and also many points to talk about. The Chairman in his opening welcome in the programme said he hoped the audience will have been treated to a ‘hilarious evening of fantastic live entertainment ' and this is what they received. We look forward to seeing what 2016 has in store for Blackburn Drama Club.

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.