Features: Luc Hayward, Lydia Hayward, Pete Lawford, Dave Mitchell, Jacqui Roe | Written and Directed by Lucy Harvey, Danielle Kummer
I remember reading about this story a while ago and it seemed like a very obvious story to cover as a documentary. But Alien On Stage is so much more than you can imagine and it’s an absolute joy.
A group of Dorset bus drivers and bus company workers perform a very amateur dramatic pantomime. For those outside of the U.K. a pantomime is a theatrical production that involves music, slapstick comedy and audience interaction, usually based around a fairy tail and performed around Christmas. They’re usually pretty awful for anyone watching that is over twelve years old. The writer of this years pantomime for the bus workers didn’t want to write a pantomime, instead he chose a stage version of Alien!
It’s a crazy idea but clearly a brilliant one.
I remember reading about this story a while ago and it seemed like a very obvious story to cover as a documentary. But Alien On Stage is so much more than you can imagine and it’s an absolute joy.
A group of Dorset bus drivers and bus company workers perform a very amateur dramatic pantomime. For those outside of the U.K. a pantomime is a theatrical production that involves music, slapstick comedy and audience interaction, usually based around a fairy tail and performed around Christmas. They’re usually pretty awful for anyone watching that is over twelve years old. The writer of this years pantomime for the bus workers didn’t want to write a pantomime, instead he chose a stage version of Alien!
It’s a crazy idea but clearly a brilliant one.
- 8/18/2021
- by Alain Elliott
- Nerdly
Back in my early days as a film critic, I took a certain unseemly pleasure in mocking inadvertently funny flops — fiascoes like “The Lonely Lady,” “The Room” and pretty much anything by Uwe Boll — so it’s easy to recognize the impulse with which “Alien on Stage” directors Lucy Harvey and Danielle Kummer drove from London to Dorset to catch the stage play of the same name, a scene-for-scene amateur theatrical production of the Ridley Scott horror classic, as performed by a cast of small-town bus drivers. Safe to assume, the pair traveled all that way for a laugh; then they turned the delight of their discovery into a documentary.
Appreciative to a fault, “Alien on Stage” never really makes clear whether its subjects — a troupe who call themselves the Paranoid Dramatics — are in on the joke. The filmmakers have nothing but affection for director Dave Mitchell and his company,...
Appreciative to a fault, “Alien on Stage” never really makes clear whether its subjects — a troupe who call themselves the Paranoid Dramatics — are in on the joke. The filmmakers have nothing but affection for director Dave Mitchell and his company,...
- 3/30/2021
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
It’s hard to believe that it’s already time for the SXSW Film Festival once again, but here we are. For the 2021 iteration of the fest, SXSW is going virtual, which gives more people the opportunity to get to experience their brilliant lineup of films this year. As someone who is already well into my SXSW viewings for this year, I can confidently say that this might be SXSW’s best slate of Midnighters from top to bottom, and a few other genre and genre-adjacent films that are premiering in other sections are very much worth your time as well.
So, if you’re looking to check out some excellent horror and sci-fi cinema during this year’s SXSW from the comfort of your own home, here are 15 different projects you’ll definitely want to make time for. Oh, and because I included both How it Ends and Violation during my Sundance 2021 preview,...
So, if you’re looking to check out some excellent horror and sci-fi cinema during this year’s SXSW from the comfort of your own home, here are 15 different projects you’ll definitely want to make time for. Oh, and because I included both How it Ends and Violation during my Sundance 2021 preview,...
- 3/11/2021
- by Heather Wixson
- DailyDead
A year after its in-person 2020 edition was canceled due to the pandemic, the SXSW Film Festival is bellying up for yet another virtual edition. But with a year of learning and innovating behind them — not to mention the lessons of a variety of other festivals that have gone the virtual route over the past 365 days — the SXSW team is preparing to offer up a multi-faceted event with ease. One major change: a single-serving pass that will get you into everything. (Learn more about that process right here.)
With reservations for film and episodics screenings open this afternoon, allow us to guide you toward a dozen of our most-anticipated picks for this year’s festival. Some of these titles have appeared at other events, but are just landing on U.S. shores (and screens now), while at least one is a holdover from last year’s truncated SXSW festival. All of...
With reservations for film and episodics screenings open this afternoon, allow us to guide you toward a dozen of our most-anticipated picks for this year’s festival. Some of these titles have appeared at other events, but are just landing on U.S. shores (and screens now), while at least one is a holdover from last year’s truncated SXSW festival. All of...
- 3/9/2021
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
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