Theatre | Performance
Some very lovely things below said about me and my work by audience and press.
The Only Way Out Is In was performed live to a sold out audience across 4 dates at Theatre Absolute’s Shop Front Theatre in Coventry from October 20th - 23rd during the year of Coventry UK City of Culture 2021. This commission was part of their wonderful Humanistan provocation. Check out below some audience and press responses to the work!
The Only Way Out is in Radio interview for BBC CWR with Rachel New and Coventry Creates - "my hair was standing on end and I felt like the centre of your attention - 'the only way out is in' is a joyous, nourishing, thought provoking and truly remarkable experience from the brilliant, gentle Sharron Devine" - Rachel New - Arts Producer at BBC Radio Coventry and Warwickshire.
The Only Way Out Is In - Interview and Information on our local Broughty Ferry based Space (Studio Space Art) with The Courier by Rebecca Baird (Arts & Entertainment Journalist Dundee DCT Media)
The Only Way Out Is In - Review by Stella Backhouse of Food Covolution, Coventry - “Sealed inside their own little bubble, artist and participant shared twenty minutes of multi-sensory meditation on how we cope when everything in our fast-paced world suddenly grinds to a halt” - Stella Backhouse, of Food Covolution, Coventry.
Some audience Response - “ the intensity of a 3 act play all in 20 minutes and all for one person” “i am so emotional, thank you for this gift and your care; something that has felt missing in these most challenging of times” “she’s made me want to take action!”
I am currently under commission with Theatre Absolute | Shop Front Theatre as part of their gorgeous provocation HUMANISTAN. After the delay caused by 2020, my new work is scheduled to premier in October 2021 during Coventry City of Culture. How delightfully exciting!
Broadway World UK Regional
Three year International Colab. Curatorial Bodies included - Forest Fringe (UK), West Kowloon Cultural District (Hong Kong) Basement Theatre (Auckland)
West Kowloon Cultural District, The Stage Creative NewZealand Broadway World China
I worried my heart wasn't big enough Forest Fringe | Edinburgh Festival Fringe
"inspired"
"punchdrunk meets David Lynch"
"beautiful visual filmic theatre"
"perfectly pitched"
"one of the most powerful immersive experiences i've had"
"profound and moving one on one theatre at Forest Fringe. Emotionally beautiful, highly recommended"
Just for you: the unique power of a theatrical encounter Lyn Gardner The Guardian
I worried my heart wasn't big enough Forest Fringe | Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Is Immersive Theatre Broken? Alice Seville Exeunt Magazine
Control 25 Hope Street Limited All Things Considered
Controlling the Future: Liverpool's First One on One Performance Festival
Control 25 Hope Street Limited All Things Considered
On Sense
such a generous giving piece of work, it reminded me of the work of the late Adrian Howells. Everyone should see it
thank you for my beautiful 'sense' experience i came away from it deeply touched
your 'sense' experience will remain with me always
a life changing experience
you resurrected the magic and evoked long past memories of halcyon days and i trusted you implicitly
inspirational
On Breath
such a moving performance and experience, you touched our hearts
a beautiful piece of theatre
what an experience this was for me i loved it so much
magical
The Venus Labyrinth Surge Festival Arches
On Balance
"Seeing your work has ended a three year war with my mother"
The Venus Labyrinth Cantabile 2 British Theatre Guide
The Venus Labyrinth Cantabile 2 the Skinny
The Venus Labyrinth Cantabile 2 Scotsman
'Here awaits a unique meeting alone with an actor who creates a space and an experience around you - it is quite something of a journey to be part of'
Ørestadavis
Our society aches for this kind of theatre without even knowing it
'Thank you; seeing your work has ended a three year war with my mother' (audience response to Balance)
"The experience is wholly original and extremely well done...
it might make you laugh, think or just plain disturb you, but it will affect you. Do not miss it"
Michael Cox, Onstage Scotland
The remarkable instillation performance work the Venus Labyrinth is a brilliant example of a developing genre one might call "the theatre of intimacy"
clever, humane, astonishing in its capacity to provoke intensely personal thoughts and feelings, the Venus Labyrinth is the kind of work which gives performance art a good name
Mark Brown, Sunday Herald
"Venus comes in many shapes and forms but all are beautiful...
i ache to see in the other 25 rooms"
Keith Bruce, The Herald
On Seek to Seek
When have I last been “read” with the fingertips of a complete stranger in a totally dark room?
you never know what is waiting behind the next door in Cantabile 2’s “Seek to Seek” performance, apart of the My World Images festival in Copenhagen
all senses are involved, the more you give, the more you get
who dares to give a bit of themselves? Cantabile 2’s Seek to Seek confronts theatre-goers with themselves and others
Af Jakob Steen Olsen, Berlingske Tidende
It is the Cantabile 2 theatre ensemble which stands for this dreamlike, intimate, but most of all very gifted performance
This bombardment of the senses is precisely as well thought out and presented as it is different
Lars Wredstrøm, Børsen
To the girl with the tiny delicate hand - what a beautiful experience
i've always been scared of walking in the dark but as soon as you took my hand i felt safe. I realised however after this how little attention i pay on getting to know and experience the world through my own hands. Thank you for letting me experience this with you
thank you so much for creating a room with no visuals, your voice in the darkness guided my imagination and blew my mind
On Black Box Lost
Through a combination of expressive movement, mime and rant, we are taken on an amusing journey and disturbing exploration of old age and dementia - jerky discorded motion set to peculiar, discordant music that all seems rather endearing, wacky and abrupt, but strange enough to be brilliant
Matthew Johnson, Three Weeks
On K
And the quality of the acting - from Russell Loten as K, Sharron Devine as the seductive Freida and Philip Weddell, - is outstanding, passionate and erotic
Joyce McMillan, The Scotsman
If stars were being awarded for ambition, this devised piece "K" would take five and be knocking on the door demanding a sixth
Mark Brown, The Sunday Herald
Intriguing potential from a young company
Steve Cramer, The List
On How to Kill Your Lover
Sharron Devine provides nourishment for the soul in a bitter-sweet look at a modern urban couple. The evening feels all too brief, which is a tribute to the energy levels of the two performers – a unique and fresh style with boundaries ignored - music, movement, comedy and tragedy blur into each other, sometimes in a painfully realistic way – which makes it absorbing. Billed as ‘visual theatre’ this is in fact much more, its nourishment for the soul
Stephen Gray – Edinburgh Evening News
Eddie McCabe and Sharron Devine play the lovers with a cutting wit and powerful energy
Mhari Hetherington, Scottish Theatre Web
Song, dance, monologue and physical artistry as well as the odd piece of traditional dramatic interplay all coalescing into a capable whole. The actors' interplay is at times complex and exhausting, with patterns of movement woven into knots around the stage, punctuated with dry observation
Peter Lathan, British Theatre Guide
On Learning the Rules of Chinese Whispers
The three actresses - Sarah Crabb, Sharron Devine and Kim Falconer give performances of such cumulative integrity and passion that many of the audience end the evening in tears, not so much of sadness as of gratitude
be there, to see a group of remarkable women reclaiming an historic Scottish townscape for womanhood and female experience in a show that fairly lifts the hairs on the back of the neck, so great is its emotional courage, its dramatic power and its overwhelming sense of a hidden history, told at last
stunning debut show, remarkable show
Joyce McMillan, The Scotsman
from the live music performed on the route of the production, to young actor Sharron Devine's superb and touching performance, Learning The Rules Of Chinese Whispers is a memorable new theatre work
Rarely in site-specific theatre does the script so perfectly reflect the essential disjointedness of the promenade experience
Mark Brown, The Sunday Herald
Rich with talent and professionalism this country should nurture
Thelma Good, Edinburgh Theatre Guide
Film
On Mum's Birthday
Awards:
Scottish BAFTA New Talent Award 2011 for producer Sarah Drummond
Hollywood Reel Independent Film Festival 2010:
Best Actor - Elek Kish
Honourable Mention (Ensemble Performance)
Los Angeles Movie Awards 2010:
Honourable Mention (Narrative Short)
A beautiful piece of writing, very sad and moving. I didn’t see the twist coming - it was a real uppercut
Irvine Welsh (Trainspotting/Acid House)
Haunting cinematography and pitch perfect naturalistic performances from the entire cast set the tone for this amazing film that completely masters the late 70's dramatic film style that is all but disappearing in today's movie houses.
Anchored by the complex performance of Elek Kish as Alex, a single father who is trying his best to hold his life together and figure our how to do the right by his son, Mum's Birthday is a triumph of a film
Hollywood Reel Independent Film Festival
It is a touching and realistic portrayal of a broken family, with a few twists and turns along the way which make it a moving and sometimes uncomfortable watch. A Fantastic achievement for a film with humble beginnings. The best picture I've seen in 2010
Jonathan Melville - Reel Time