MoodyComedy

Mike Wozniak

Prevenge Screening and Q&A with Alice Lowe

February 1, 2017 by Becca Moody Leave a Comment

Alice Lowe has been touring the country with preview screenings of Prevenge, including Chapter Arts Cardiff on January 24th. Hailing from the Midlands and having starred in comedies such as Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace, Hot Fuzz and Sightseers, Alice Lowe is an artist whose work I have always followed. Prevenge is the first feature film Lowe has directed, filmed over eleven days in Cardiff, and it is fair to say you won’t have seen anything like it before.

Ruth (Alice Lowe) is our protagonist. Her husband, and soon-to-be father of her baby, has been killed in a climbing ‘accident’. Prevenge begins under tragic circumstances with a bitter edge that becomes increasingly apparent, as Ruth and her unborn daughter crave vengeance. The setting is bleak, yet the cinematography is beautiful, and Lowe’s trademark sharp wit sends ripples of guilty laughter through the audience. Although this film will certainly satisfy fans of slasher horror, revenge movies and dark comedies, there is something else about Prevenge that makes it particularly unsettling. Yes, it is gory. Not your usual dimly lit hallways, full-moon horror, but  a far more vulnerable, open-air, broad-daylight violence.

© Alice Lowe

Though relatively short for a feature film, an impressive amount of action is compressed within its 90-or-so minutes. And not only this, Lowe’s aptitude for character development still takes precedence. Ruth and baby’s victims are often given limited screen time, yet audiences are given a well-rounded picture of who each of these people are and what they represent. We get an idea of their attitudes and personality traits deemed to be negative, thus meaning that their killings have particular comedic impact. And the faces of Ruth’s victims are recognisable, including the likes of Mike Wozniak, Tom Meeten and Dan Skinner.

The Q&A session after the screening proved valuable in aiding the audience’s understanding of the key issues of the film and artistic decisions in production. Alice herself is very astute in her creative thinking, as well as being relentlessly humble. She explains how she came up with the idea for Prevenge whilst six months pregnant, wrote the script in a matter of days and then, within a couple of months, they were filming.

An interesting discussion point that Alice raises following this regards Ruth’s antenatal nurse (played by This Is England and David Brent: Life on the Road‘s Jo Hartley), in that she is the only genuinely constant kind person who has Ruth’s interests at heart. Lowe makes it abundantly clear that worrying about whether audiences will like Ruth was never an item on her agenda, and it is empowering to hear her say this. The interesting thing, however, is that we do like Ruth, despite her sarcasm, callousness and brutality. We can each see an element of our own psyche within Ruth. Hearing Lowe’s perspective on various aspects of Prevenge‘s writing and production gives viewers much to think about. Audiences are left wondering who, or what, is the true source of our discomfort; is it Ruth’s actions or the fact they almost seem justified? Is Ruth alone or is she stifled? Is this baby an embodiment of innocence, or evil?

This film is an artistic triumph: an independent production that is definitely worth supporting. Prevenge will be returning to Chapter Arts Cardiff, as well as other cinemas across the UK, later this month.

Follow Alice Lowe and Prevenge on Twitter to keep up to date.

Posted in: Comedians, Films Tagged: Alice Lowe, British Comedy, Comedy, Dan Skinner, Jo Hartley, Mike Wozniak, Prevenge, Tom Davis, Tom Meeten

TV Review: Man Down, Series 2

July 6, 2015 by Becca Moody 1 Comment

One of the silliest, most ludicrous new sitcoms from the last few years is finally back on our screens; Greg Davies writes and stars in the highly anticipated second series of Man Down.

Davies and his costars Roisin Conaty and Mike Wozniak make a perfect comedy trio, with Dan’s hopeless communication skills, Jo’s fearlessness and general ineptitude and Brian’s constant moaning and criticisms creating a diverse and integrated unit. I don’t think anyone is sure why these three are friends, but the consequential dramas are priceless. Roisin Conaty’s character of Jo in particular is a favourite of mine. She’s brash, idiotic and absolutely hilarious; always plotting schemes which often involve her pursuit to get a decent job, or any job for that matter, which she is hopeless at. Man Down is a glorious combination of a group of painfully ordinary people, in their truest sense, with the strangest of circumstances.

Young actors Madeleine Harris (Paddington) and Alfie Davis are fantastic in their roles as ‘know-it-all’ and ‘angry kid’ respectively, and are consistently given a platform by Greg Davies to be the stars of the scene, which shows considerate comedy writing and reflects Davies’ compassionate character. The presence of the kids allows Greg’s childish side to come to the forefront, therefore accentuating the brilliant ridiculousness of each episode’s plot, and ridiculousness is always guaranteed with this manic comedy presence.

A new character has also joined the group: Dan’s over-involved Aunt Nesta (Stephanie Cole). This new arrival seems to provide company for Dan’s widowed mother (Gwyneth Powell) but that doesn’t mean she feels the need to stop doing his washing for him, or generally interfering in every aspect of his life. The onscreen relationship between Daniel and his mum is hilarious, partly due to the height difference, but also the fact that Davies often refers to her as “old woman”.

Many worried that the death of comedy royalty Rik Mayall, who played Dan’s father in series one, in June last year would signal the demise of Man Down, because perhaps no ‘replacement’ as such for Rik could ever be sufficient. Filming was set to begin in August and it looked unclear to viewers where the programme was set to go from here. But with a writing crew and cast as skilled as this, it soon became clear that not only was Man Down still going to continue, but the spirit of Rik Mayall was to live on in the show also. Greg Davies’ comedy, much like Mayall’s, is known for being silly and widely accessible, so it is impossible not to be reminded of Rik while seeing Greg mincing up and down the exam hall, playing a game of ‘Snorkel Parka’ or buying Flumps in a supermarket.

Dan may be absolutely hopeless, but I’d have loved for Greg Davies to be my teacher, even if it was just for the chance to go bike riding down dangerously steep hills rather than doing any work.

SEVEN QUESTIONS WITH ROISIN CONATY

Posted in: Comedians, Television Shows Tagged: British Comedy, Comedy, Greg Davies, Man Down, Mike Wozniak, Rik Mayall, Roisin Conaty, Sitcom

subscribe via email

Tweets by @moodycomedy

Categories

  • Ask The Expert
  • Books
  • Comedian Of The Month
  • Comedians
  • Comedy Catch Up
  • Comedy Circle
  • Edinburgh
  • Films
  • Interviews
  • Live Comedy
  • News
  • Podcasts
  • Previews
  • Quarantine Questions
  • Radio
  • Reviews
  • Revisited
  • Seven Questions With…
  • Television Shows
  • Top 5 Moments
  • Uncategorized
  • Web Series

Recent Posts

  • Step into the surreal with Vic Reeves Big Night Out
  • Interview: Johnny White Really-Really (Lunchwatch
  • Interview: Zoe Tomalin and Charlie Dinkin (SeanceCast)
  • Podcast Picks: Cuddle Club
  • Interview: Kevin James Doyle, The 30 Year Old Virgin

Archives

Instagram

This error message is only visible to WordPress admins

Error: There is no connected account for the user 1911812777 Feed will not update.

Copyright © 2021 MoodyComedy.

Omega WordPress Theme by ThemeHall