Kudos to the Pleasance for snaffling this big, brash and brilliantly executed Australian export for us lucky Londoners. It’s timely too, providing a perfect antidote to the doom-laden predictions dominating our current news agenda. The show sets out its desire to perk us up and help us find our mojos by having Haddaway’s classic ‘What is Love?’ pumping over speakers as we take our seats. OK, it’s mashed up with Australian political speeches, but it’s that kind of evening. ...
Read More »Yearly Archives: 2019
J’Ouvert: Bringing Carnival to the Theatre503 Stage
Playwright Yasmin Joseph shares the journey of bringing her new play J'Ouvert to Theatre503.
Read More »Transit, Underbelly – Review
It’s a warm, barmy evening along the South Bank, just the type of evening that makes the Underbelly festival a perfect place to be. Within its inner hub, the bars and food outlets are buzzing with activity, the whole place crowded as people wait to enter one of the two tents for the evening’s shows, or maybe just enjoy a drink and the atmosphere the place has to offer. Given how many people there are, the latter seems very likely ...
Read More »Precious Little, Jack Studio – Review
A talking gorilla. A linguist. A choice. Brodie is expecting her first child, but receives unsettling news about the baby. The medical profession offer no answers, and her girlfriend offers no mental or spiritual assistance. Brodie’s quest for guidance leads her to two unlikely sources: the elderly speaker of a dying language, and a gorilla. This is Precious Little, directed by Kate Bannister and currently at home in the Brockley Jack Studio Theatre. The cast of three highly skilled performers ...
Read More »The Glass Menagerie, Arcola Theatre – Review
I love the metaphor at the heart of The Glass Menagerie. Laura, the daughter of the play, overwhelmed by the expectations of the world, treats her collection of tiny glass animals with such care lest they break. To stage this play, the metaphor must radiate through every facet of its production. Laura’s anxiety threatens the security of her family, should she not find a husband. Her mother Amanda’s desperation to micro-manage her life maintains a familial tension that holds the ...
Read More »Trump the Musical, King’s Head Theatre – Review
It’s the impossibly distant year 2020, and the world is on the brink of nuclear war. King Nigel Farage rules the Disunited Kingdom of England and Northern Ireland, and Trump’s popularity is higher than ever: “He gave us our jobs back,” exclaims one satisfied voter, “I’m now a full-time Muslim hunter.” Trump The Musical plays, as the central character tells us, to “the biggest musical theatre crowd there has ever been”. A riotous evening of song and dance, satire and ...
Read More »Bullet Tongue Reloaded, The Big House – Review
Intense and vivid account of the Catch 22 of gang life in disadvantaged communities.
Read More »Look At Your Palm, Ovalhouse – Review
There is a song, Angles, by Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip, about how nothing is as clear cut and simple as it might seem. In just three minutes and 56 seconds it speeds through four characters, all connected by one incident that has terrible consequences for all involved. Except each character sees themselves as the good guy, and views others involved as the bad one, as the one that is the cause of so many of society’s problems. Look ...
Read More »Everything today is the same, Katzpace – Review
A smart, fresh take on a modern dystopian setting
Read More »The Talented Mr Ripley, Wilton’s Music Hall – Review
Because film is such a powerful medium it naturally becomes a reference point for any stage adaptation. The Talented Mr Ripley is a perfect example, coming twenty years after the big screen version starring Matt Damon and Jude Law. Here the four principal characters, within a self-contained plot, seem to suit the stage well. The understated grandeur of Wilton’s Music Hall also provides a natural atmosphere in which to crank up the tension. Tom Ripley (Christopher Hughes) is a small ...
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