Theatre REVIEW: War of the Worlds- ★★★★

Mix Up Theatre (Stewart)
8 minutes ago
2 min read

What would you do if order broke down? What would you do to survive? How far would you go to protect your own?

Four performers enter the stage with cameras and construct an epic road movie before our eyes.

It’s a story we know, or think we know – an apocalyptic tale of alien invasion and the unfolding destruction of everything we hold dear. Extraterrestrial lifeforms land from the skies. Lines of Brits scrabble to flee across the channel while their cities and towns lie in smouldering ruins. It’s all of our worst nightmares.

Using miniature environments, model worlds, camera tricks, and projection, imitating the dog mix the live and the recorded, the animate and the inanimate to create a thrilling, audacious and timely retelling of H.G. Wells’s classic novel.

Following their acclaimed adaptations of literary classics Heart of Darkness (2018), Dracula (2021), Macbeth (2023) and Frankenstein (2024), ‘multimedia daredevils’ (The Times) imitating the dog push their inventive storytelling to new heights.

Where?

New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich - until 14th March

WEBSITE

Jan (Age 14) - ★★★1/2

"I enjoyed the show's core idea but I didn't fully understand the story. The concept of filming the characters on the stage and showing them on a screen simultaneously was really cool. I enjoyed watching what it looked like both on the screen and in real life, which is something you usually don't get to see in movies or plays.

The actors had a lot to do; they had to balance filming with acting, which must have been quite challenging but they did it flawlessly. This gave the performance an experimental element that I think many people would find intriguing.

The plot was also very different from anything I've ever seen, however, it was quite hard to follow at times and I didn't really understand the meaning of it all. But, I do not think this show is intended for someone like me, I reckon someone who knew more about some of the references in the play would really enjoy it.

Overall, I think this show has a deep story, which is told through an experimental angle, but it is not for everyone."