The Pitchfork Disney, Philip Ridley’s debut 1991 play, aims to do two things. Firstly, to disturb the audience (it was credited with introducing “in-yer-face” theatre following its 1991 debut) and secondly, to leave you questioning what it was all about.  Somna Theatre Company, clearly working on a shoestring budget, make a good effort to do both in the small confines of the Upstairs Theatre at Oval House. From the moment we enter our two siblings, Presley and Haley Stray (Pip ...

In the pet stakes no animal comes remotely close to dogs; man’s best friend has become a fully-fledged member of the family. No longer bred for a purely functional purpose, dogs have assimilated human characteristics and a unique personality. This heavily socialised world of a canine is explored in The Noises, a story that concentrates on a dog called Luna, played by Lucy McAllister. Luna’s been a very naughty dog and is now locked in what appears to be the ...

A warm and poignant tribute to a great man

I volunteered to cover this without knowing anything about it, and when I had a quick look at some blurb claiming that it was yet another Brexit-themed piece I admit my heart sank a little.  Fear not.  Yes, Brexit is talked about, argued over and looming in the background, as it probably has for the majority of the UK population over the last couple of years, but I wouldn’t say it was the focal point.  It is a very amusing ...

In 1969, at the height of the Vietnam War, John Lennon and Yoko Ono staged a week-long press conference from their bed in a hotel in Montreal. Set in the round, in the intimate space of the Cockpit Theatre, Bed Peace opens with the narrator, an exuberant and likeable Helen Foster, outlining the setting in rhyming couplets. It hurtles through some personal history, from Yoko’s miscarriage, through the couple’s wedding in Gibraltar, to their eventual bed-in in Montreal (although, curiously, ...

It’s tricky to keep preconceptions at bay when you know that the plot and style of a film has been a winning combination. The 2006 film that is the basis of Little Miss Sunshine, which starred Abigail Breslin as the determined young pageant contestant, Olive, was adorned with awards. The epic plight of the Hoover family on their 500-mile journey to get Olive to her pageant in time shaped its legacy: an audacious comedy that portrayed a joyful, and moving, ...

Matchstick Piehouse is a new creative arts space in the Deptford/New Cross area. Opened by Matchstick Theatre in 2018, it’s a pair of converted railway arches that serves music, beer, pies and, luckily for us, theatre. It’s currently home to The Institute of Nuts, an otherworldly school-cum-retreat-cum-prison. E and M run the Institute and the inmates/guests O, P and B must do what they’re told in order to achieve success within the establishment. B arrives for his first day ready ...

Writer/performer Libby Liburd shares how her experiences with boxing – and those of the women that came before – inspired her new play 'FIGHTER'.

A riotous take on the iconic British musical

“What is your relationship to this man?” It’s a question that recurs through Tom Coash’s play, and it’s one that neatly keeps the focus on the two central characters. These are Nicholas (Marc Antolin), a British academic working in Egypt, and his native lover Mohammed (James El-Sharawy). His name having been “on a list” since some political cartoons in his student days drew him to the attention of the authorities, the play begins with Mohammed, newly released from police custody, ...