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Pros: Engrossing and catchy . . . I’m still humming the intro! Cons: The political references are meaningful but need to be more clearly articulated. Set in a school’s music room, The State of Things tells the story of seven 16-year-olds who discover that their music course has been removed from the list of  A Level options. All talented and dedicated musicians, they start thinking of possible ways to get their headteacher, Maggie, to reconsider this decision, before realising that the ...

Pros: I found catharsis in the beginning of the play, which shows the death of the perpetrator. Cons: With only two people in the audience, the cast had to work harder to build the necessary tension. The stage is empty, except for three folding chairs, aligned in front of the audience, and a small table against the wall. On top of it, a bottle of whisky and some glasses. Two loud gunshots break the silence before a man, wearing a ...

Simon Evans' cinematographic cut is imprinted in this fast-paced and strongly visual Hamlet.

Pros: The production values are excellent in every respect. Cons: Not suitable for audiences in search of easy entertainment. There is something intimate and profound about Gunshot Medley that stays with you long after you’ve left Venue 13 in Edinburgh. This must have to do with the sweet whispers of the High Priestess (impersonated by playwright and director Dionna Michelle Daniel) or with the piercing eyes and husky voice of the slave Betty (Morgan Camper). Standing in the middle of a field covered in ...

Pros: Mesmerising and unprecedented. Cons: Watching the puppeteers work in the foreground is fascinating but can also divert the attention from the main screen above their heads. Living in a caravan stationed in the middle of the desert, by a vast satellite field, Lula Del Ray lives a solitary life. Her favourite pastime is to sit on the edge of a satellite dish and look at the moon. Swinging her feet in the empty space below, she wonders about the men who ...

Pros: Nate Edmondson’s original music score is a journey in its own right. Cons: The plot’s dramatic elements aren’t properly developed. British expat Noëlle has inherited from her beloved dad a passion for cartography and, inspired by her childhood readings, she decides to embark on an enlightening journey along the Amazon river. When she comes back, though, she discovers that her father has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s. Recollections from her past empowering adventure merge with the chronicles of his degenerative illness, ...

Pros: The sing-along moment that shows in practical terms the process of dopamine release that the play is all about. Cons: With its hour-long running time, this lively show left me wanting more. When we do something we like, our system produces dopamine, a substance that – as they illustrated by having us sing along during the performance – ‘rewards your brain and numbs your pain, provides the feeling you adore and keeps you coming back for more’. Fix is a ...

Pros: Outrageously funny. Cons: The brazen jokes about sex and religion are for an adult audience. Whore: A Kid’s Play is not a comedy for the faint-hearted. Exploring serious matters like family, religion and sexuality through the eyes of three thirteen-year-olds, it uses the outrageous language of the cool kids from the block and it’s stuffed with jokes that’ll make you cringe before making you laugh out loud. ‘My dad wants to send me to catholic school to avoid getting pregnant’, states ...

Pros: Apphia’s mellow storytelling and powerful singing are a perfect combination. Cons: Some background knowledge of African-American history is beneficial. Opening with a live cover of the popular jazz song St. Louis Blues, Woke moves the audience with a tale of two lives which run 42 years apart and are interwoven into a powerful solo show by Apphia Campbell. In 1971, New York-born Joanne Chesimard, rejects her “slave name” and becomes Assata Olugbala Shakur. As a member of the Black Liberation Army, ...

An emblematic and visually strong play about female victims of abuse; prepare yourself to be shaken.