Review: STAG Nights Festival- New Works

On February 22nd, the Student Theatre at Glasgow (STAG) put on a showstopping finale for their three-day festival. Six shows were performed over the three days, three of which were 50 minutes long and being watched by judges to determine which one will play at the Edinburgh Fringe festival this summer.

To open the final night, the Glasgow University Acapella Society performed three songs which got the audience even more excited for the finale to commence. They all performed beautifully, singing in harmony.

The first 20 minute play was called 'Living in Good Company', by Will Gowling. The story consists of five flatmates, all living in student accommodation being wakened by a scheduled fire drill. As the alarm approaches their flat, tensions rise in the group and built-up troubles bubble to the surface, and one of the flatmates faces intense grief with the loss of a loved one that the others can’t relate to. The wonderful cast of this play was Emma Comfort, Briony Conaghan, Martha Makovskaja, Marie Boje-Larsen, and Mariama Bah.

From moments of arguing to bursts of comedy, all of the actors played intricate characters with emotion and humour.

After the first play, there was an interval, where Jessica Massey read out a poem that she wrote herself. This poem was made to be written by a dog talking about its owner and Jessica didn’t fail to make the audience laugh. Not only is Jessica a first-class writer, but she is also a comedic genius in her way of reading out the poem.

The second play, which was 50 minutes long, was called 'The Wonderful Everyday' by Ellie Harrington. This story is about a couple who live in IKEA. If they manage to live there for an entire year and sell more furniture than the other couples on the new IKEA reality TV show, then they win their own home for free without mortgages, rent or any other bills. All that they have to do is survive the pressure that comes with reality shows. Their relationship is put on the edge but all they want to do is watch 'The Great Pottery Showdown' in a house of their own one day, but at what cost? The cast of this play was Caoimhe O’Sullivan (the director of the last festival), Emma Gribbon, and Bailey Camack. Each of them put on a fantastic performance in this play, ending the night with humour and drama.

The festival director of STAG: New Works this year was Haneul Lee who worked brilliantly alongside Fergus Kane, Annie Inga, and everyone else on the STAG team, pulling off yet another successful STAG nights festival. Glasgow University’s Student Theatre Society have so much more to offer in terms of quality dramatic and comedic entertainment, you won’t want to miss out.

Find out more here: Student Theatre At Glasgow

★★★★★

A huge congratulations to the cast and crew of ‘The Wonderful Everyday’ for being selected by the panel of judges to perform at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival this summer.