Silk Road The play was really fortunate to receive some lovely reviews. We had 6 five star reviews and 2 four stars! Some reviews don’t do stars so to read what the critics said about the play you need look no further than below!
A Younger Theatre - “Silk Road certainly has a lot going for it”
The Scotsman - “ Oates writes with lively poetic flourishes and a good comic ear, and in actor James Baxter, he has a warm and endearing interpreter”
Broadway Baby - “ this is a fascinating, bittersweet story. Through the vivid personal experience of Bruce Blakemore, the faceless Silk Road is humanised,”
Three Weeks - “Like a hybrid of ‘Snatch’ and ‘Starter for Ten’, this is both an adolescent adventure and a grotesque, criminal caper. Gritty and very well written by Old Vic New Voices playwright Alex Oates, ‘Silk Road’ is the best thing to come from its namesake”
Quotidian Times - “A veritable tour de force, Baxter gives what must surely be a major contender for best performance of the Fringe 2014. His performance is electric, compelling and palpable, never letting up or losing your attention once throughout.
Alex Oates has provided Baxter an excellent script to work with: imaginative, well constructed combined with well thought out and provocative dialogue. The setting is minimal but this only adds to the plethora of talent and energy seething from the stage.
I would recommend this show to anyone and in a year when I have yet to see a disappointing piece of drama and the standards are high ‘Silk Road’ and Baxter are the best yet by quite some way.”
Postscript Journal - “Alex Oates has created something very modern with this play, which allows the dialectical dialogue to press occasionally into the poetic with the delicacy of Jim Cartwright or Dylan Thomas. As well as being extremely funny, the text is perfectly balanced, with cleverly woven recurring motifs that draw the whole thing together in satisfying unity.
Despite being a play about an abstract online space, Silk Road is a completely human story, light on the jargon and heavy on the heart-strings. The show is elegant and well-composed, but with an honest, unpretentious charm, and is an absolute must-see for this festival.
James Baxter is an enormously talented performer, and plays Bruce with cheeky likeability, masterfully handling the character’s narrative responsibilities. His comic timing is perfect, and his precise and specific performance makes each different character in the story instantly recognisable.”
The New Current - “Playwright Alex Oates has made ’Silk Road’ exciting and accessible allowing the audience to connect to ‘Blakemore’s story while keep an open mind.”
The Public Reviews - “He relates his story to the audience like they are his best friend and they are, because he enthrals, entertains and holds them. This is new writing at its best, well-staged and brilliantly acted, if only more festival shows were like this.”
Fringe Guru - “It’s a long time since I have been quite so enthralled by a piece of theatre. This is theatre at its very best. The writing by Alex Oates is smart, humorous and in places powerfully touching, and it truly was so good that I would cheerfully click the refresh button and start watching it all over again. If you are looking for a powerful and entertaining play this Fringe, then search no further.”
Festival Journal - “The story struck the perfect balance between humour and tragedy. Relationships, stereotypes, and tropes are all played for laughs, whilst difficulty, unfairness, cruelness, and absurdity are all treated with genuine pathos and humanity.”
Broadway World - “Baxter is skilled with adopting the mannerisms of each character and he really gave a fantastic performance.”
Edinburgh Evening News - “James Baxter is a treat to watch”