You’d think, wouldn’t you, that adapting Ridley Scott’s Alien (1979) as a drama project would be completely mad idea, and you’d be correct. Step forward a group of bus drivers and amateur dramatics enthusiasts from Dorset, England, who were determined to do just that (and for the record, they considered doing Kill Bill). The documentary is based on their journey from the beginnings of the idea to a sell-out show on the West End, and it’s a funny, uplifting film which somehow makes you feel that there’s a lot of good in the world.
The group – calling themselves Paranoid Dramatics – initially saw Alien as the perfect project to get into, despite the challenges: it takes place in more or less one setting, with a limited number of characters, and it offers a good, dramatic story. Still, the small matter of building all the sets, getting the right costumes and the creature design all offer some difficulties. It’s hard not to warm to someone explaining that they have build a wearable xenomorph costume from scratch, using insulation foam for the creature’s ribs and affixing its skull to a bike helmet, for ease of wear. You also get to know the team, who are family and friends that believe taking part in hobbies after work is not only good for them, but a great opportunity to raise money for charity. The Alien production was put on for that purpose.
You’re already invested by the time you find out that, after all their hard work, the first show was incredibly poorly attended; you feel disappointed with them. Then, you are utterly on their side when you find out that their fortunes shift and they get invited to put the show on in Leicester Square, a big indicator of success in theatre. The documentary itself is fairly no frills, a largely fly-on-the-wall style film with a little bit of Q&A thrown in, but you steadily get to know each of the people in the production. They’re a pleasant, self-deprecating bunch, perfectly well aware of the fact that they are amateurs, but they clearly care about what they’re doing, even if there’s a spot of corpsing involved. You also get a sense of the frustrations and the pitfalls of doing a thing like this, certainly by the time they get to the West End theatre and realise they have a sell-out audience on their hands. There are a few lulls before we get to that point – lots of scenes of the team reading through their lines but not having learned them – but once we get to London, everything is worth it.
It’s interesting that, early on in the film, they explain that they wanted to move away from the whole pantomime area which am-dram groups are often known for (and there’s an explanation of what panto is all about, presumably for international audiences who don’t have a festive tradition of cross-dressing participatory theatre). Then, they bring their show to London, and it somehow turns into an Alien pantomime! It’s completely impossible not to join in with the laughter when one punter can’t stop herself from yelling, ‘It’s behind you!’ when the xenomorph steps onto the stage. The film is an engaging study of amateur dramatics as a whole, a popular pastime which doesn’t that often get on screen; you don’t see a lot of the people and places featured in the film, either. The end result is all kinds of charming, even if low-key.
All in all, as much the interpretation of a classic sci-fi like Alien is funny and engaging on its own terms, the emphasis is much more or the people themselves than the original film, though what we see of the performance is just glorious good fun. What the film shows most of all is the joy of people just getting up and doing something, showing us where that can take them. You will absolutely find yourself rooting for these guys, and directors Lucy Harvey and Danielle Kummer have done a good job here by allowing the people and the project to speak for themselves. That’s all you really need.
Alien On Stage: the Documentary will screen as part of the 25th Fantasia Film Festival. For more information on the film, please click here.