A 2020 documentary about a dramatic adaptation of ALIEN (1979) put on by a consortium of UK bus drivers. To clarify: this isn’t a filming of the play itself (of which we do see a fair amount), but the effort put into mounting it.
The pic suffers a bit from the fact that filming didn’t commence until after the show had its premiere, meaning the opening scenes, taken up with after-the-fact recollections by the participants, aren’t entirely satisfying—although the later portions more than make up for that lull. As Ivor Powell, ALIEN’s associate producer, informed this film’s makers: “For the first five minutes or so, I had no idea what to think—but by the end, I was grinning from ear to ear and totally charmed” (Ridley Scott and Sigourney Weaver, as far as I know, have yet to comment).
The Southwest England based cast and crew of ALIEN ON STAGE, who we get to know by their first names only, include the army-trained David (the director), his son Luc (who scripts) and Lydia (who plays Ripley). Is their show a tribute to Ridley Scott’s classic, a genuine expression of makeshift artistry or simply a way to pass time? All of the above, it turns out.
These humble folk traditionally spent their nonworking hours doing Pantomime Theater, in productions that “feature cross dressing actors, silly songs and encourage audience participation.” After several years of this they decided to embark on a much more ambitious project: a staging of ALIEN. The show takes a year to put together and features elaborate props that include a plywood cryogenic chamber, an alien head constructed around a cycle helmet and spacesuits that, as their creator eagerly admits, “NASA will spend millions on (but) we built for 116 pounds.”
The premiere performance, at the Allendale Centre in Wimborne, is (in Luc’s words) “a bit of a disaster,” drawing only twenty patrons. But among those patrons were this film’s makers Lucy Harvey and Danielle Kummer, who became instant fans and convinced the staff of the Leicester Square Theatre in London to hold a one-time-only performance of ALIEN ON STAGE. Harvey and Kummer made sure to document the resulting drama.
Entailed is a lot of strife on the part of the cast—they being nonprofessionals, the mere act of remembering lines is a bit of a challenge—and a bus trip to London, where these cockney-accented folk don’t exactly fit in. Yet the show is an unexpected hit, selling out and delighting the raucous audience (who seem endlessly fascinated with the fact that the production was created and performed by bus drivers).
Harvey and Kummer accomplish the rare feat of acknowledging the silliness of this production while not mocking or belittling its creators (unlike similarly-minded docos like AMERICAN MOVIE and OVERNIGHT), allowing them to be themselves without judgement or artificiality. This is definitely a case in which reality usurps fiction, especially in the performance of ALIEN ON STAGE, in which the reactions of the delighted audience are (correctly) given as much weight as the events they’re viewing.
So successful was this performance that the Leicester Square Theatre has invited ALIEN ON STAGE’s cast and crew back each year since, with the staff voting it their favorite show in the history of the theater. This film, for its part, won multiple film festival awards and has charmed viewers around the world—although, as of September 2023, it still doesn’t have any sort of official distribution.
Vital Statistics
ALIEN ON STAGE
Definitive Film/Fool for Love Films
Directors/Producers: Lucy Harvey, Danielle Kummer
Cinematography: Danielle Kummer
Editing: Emily Badescu, Danielle Kummer
Cast: Jason Hill, Lydia Hayward, Jacquie Roe, Susan Baird, Carolyn White, John Elliot, Mike Rustici, Scott Douglas, Penny Thorne, Dave Mitchell, Luc Hayward, Raymond Hayward, Peter Lawford, Amie Wells