Catching Comets At Theatre By The Lake, Keswick Review

Reviewed by Jo Hardy

This production was in the “studio”, theatre by the lakes smaller stage which has a more intimate feel.  You are much closer to the stage and was the perfect setting for this one man show where Toby played by Ali Micheal tells us his story of falling in love mixed with a fantasy of saving the world from a comet and his job in the observatory.
The set is a very simple black open sided box.  It was the dramatic lighting effects that helped to tell the story and guided the audience into what was past, present or an alternate reality.

When we entered the theatre the actor was already on the stage putting on his shoes and preparing things.  The audience must of been watching him intently.   I was amused when he had to point out to us that he hadn’t started yet.  Toby’s love of the cinema and action heroes is clear from the start.  He first meets his love, who for the story he calls “forest Green” while on his way to see a screening of Die Hard, dressed as Rambo and they find this is an interest they have in common.

Throughout the show we see Toby’s relationship with” forest green” build up along with the superhero Toby trying to save the world from a comet.

Sometimes it can be difficult for an audience to follow a play that flits from one story to another so often but Ali’s ability to change characters within seconds was amazing and left no doubt to which story we were in.  Toby really opens up to the audience about his feelings.  It’s so rare to hear a man talk like this.  Due to the closeness of the stage this really felt like he was talking to me as one of his friends.  Sadly this was something that he was unable to do to “forest green “ and I saw this as the reason for his relationship breakdown. He got fixated on a Bruce Willis character who saved the world the world twice but his wife still divorced him and he worries that “forest green” will leave him not matter what he does.

Sadly Toby doesn’t get the girl or save the world and I was left thinking how one persons inability to open up and talk can ruin a relationship.  I wanted to jump on the stage and yell at Toby “talk to her”.

Ali Michel gave a flawless performance full of energy , sensitivity and humour.  The show premiered at the Edinburgh festival in 2019 and is presented by Ransack Theatre an award winning company based in Manchester.   It runs for 75 minutes with no intermission.

Rating: 5/5

I went to the last performance in Keswick but the show is still touring, places and dates can be found on ransacktheatre.co.uk.

Theatre by the Lake has a packed programme for the rest of the year and if your visiting the Lake District it’s a great place to visit on a rainy day.  Details can be found on theatrebythelake.co.uk.