Powerful and compelling. Five characters, a single prison setting, and a collection of tales from the gospel of John, all entangled, overlapping and merged together to produce a witty, tragic and intensely emotional performance. Anticipating a potentially didactic tone, I was pleasantly surprised. This performance exceeded expectations of an overtly religious theme and instead made for a striking and enjoyable experience.

"Powerful and compelling"

Darkness Falls opens to a burst of sound; tumults of hammers, shouts of prisoners, clashing of irons, and then a booming voiceover announcing the arrival of the newest prisoner: John. With the new arrival comes an unravelling of tales, told through the prisoners themselves as roles exchange and multiply, each of the five prisoners taking on a new role to enact out biblical tales, culminating in the betrayal by Judas, the crucifixion and final resurrection of Jesus and his promise that the story will go on. The manipulation of each tale, interweaving each within the prison scene and related to the individual prisoner's character too, had added layers of meaning and there was a sense of multiplicity to the tales that gave them further contemporary reference and frame of understanding.

Review: Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons

The actors were phenomenal - there was a fantastic character portrayal of John in particular, who coerced the other prisoners into enacting his story. Prisoner Lucius took on the role of Jesus in the tales and gave an inspirational and believable performance, shifting with ease between the dual roles of Jesus and prisoner. All cast members made this shift exceptionally well, showing skill in manipulation of a wide variety of characters as they moved through roles, continually maintaining a believable performance. The inclusion of a single female in a male-dominated prison was very clever and enabled for furthering of believability in the stories necessitating female characters: Mary, the poor beggar woman, the weeping sister whose brother has died.

"There was a sense of multiplicity to the tales that gave them further contemporary reference and frame of understanding"

As well as a high standard of acting, technical organisation was well set-up to allow for further enjoyment, working effectively together to accentuate atmosphere and emphasise acting. Lighting in particular was effectively managed to create scenic effects: the dimmed prison cell, the spotlight upon the prisoners as they answered their diurnal calls of duty, individual focusing and spotting, and also flashing and black-outs to accentuate the dynamic emotional moments of climax in the crucifixion. Sound also to induce a tension, as echoic booms, thunderings and collisions offstage perpetuated on-stage depictions of hammers striking, shouting of characters, violent denunciations and screams.

 On the role of the student reviewer

Overall, a very professional performance and a high standard of theatre, inclusive of meticulous detail with believable characters and effective production and staging. A refreshing, different and original production that captured its biblical origins, yet enabled a reframing of them in a renewed, contemporary and relatable context. An enjoyable watch that left me with an entirely different outlook and understanding on a gospel that I was barely familiar with before seeing this show