Major Tom performed at Lincoln Performing Arts Centre on Thursday 5th February.

Major Tom and Victoria Melody

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This one-woman theatrical show was about how Victoria got a dog, a Basset Hound called Major Tom, and how Victoria followed advice from family and friends who encouraged her to enter Major Tom into dog shows. After a very turbulent start, and well, ending too, Victoria realised what she was putting Major Tom through and started to enter herself into something very similar, a pageant show (for humans). She herself became Mrs Brighton and the story then became about the similarities Major Tom and Victoria experienced as they went through a very similar journey together.

To be completely honest, the dog was the selling point for me. I’m a dog person, not a beauty queen lover who is jealous of the fake tan, fake smiles, and the fake support for world peace, (maybe I am a little bit but that’s not the point here.) However, when I was watching and listening to what Victoria was saying, I realised she knew what she was putting herself through. She came across as being really down to earth and was doing this for the experience. Yes, she admitted to becoming a little vain, but comparing her experience to that of Major Toms, humoured me.

In the post show talk she explained how she documents hundreds of hours of video footage to create her one woman shows which also made up a lot of Major Tom. I thought this would be a very useful practice for me, to record as much as I can, not just videos but keep a notebook with me and write down any ideas or take photos to use within my solo performance.

Another interesting technique Victoria used was that she spoke from memory. She did this by recording herself speaking about her experience and then transcribed these so she could choose what would make the cut, and what would not.

Overall, I really liked Major Tom. As one of my first solo performances I have seen, it was a great start and I am looking forward to seeing her new performance, Hair Peace.