Fringe/ OffWestEnd
We could argue for hours what makes a fringe theatre venue, and even then we doubt we’d come to a satisfactory definition. So to keep it simple, fringe here simply means the wonderful little venues, generally less than 100 seats, often located above or below or next to pubs, and very much at the heart of our theatre world, where all the magic usually starts.
-
Review: Boxed In, Old Red Lion Theatre
A moving examination of overwhelming grief and resulting mental health issues that deliberately obfuscates the line between inner monologue and external intervention.
-
Review: Dick, Drayton Arms Theatre
An emotionally raw exploration of desire and its consequences, with outstanding acting.
-
Review: The Inseparables, Finborough Theatre
A well-intentioned adaptation of Simone de Beauvoir’s last, lost novella that needs to go bigger to have adequate emotional impact.
-
Review: Whole, Camden’s People Theatre
Whole is a gift to a loved one who ran out of time to accomplish a dream and that gift is thoughtful and intelligent and beautifully wrapped in authenticity and originality.
-
Review: Body Stocking Legion, Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club
Whatever entertainment you might expect from Bethnal Green Working Men’s club, Body Stocking Legion is probably not it! This entertainment is quirky, chaotic, immersive, inclusive, and bawdy but principally good hearted and well-intended.
-
Review: Dead Mom Play, Union Theatre
A play which explores the five stages of grief in a fun, quick-witted and entirely too relatable way.
-
Review: Girls Who War, Lion and Unicorn Theatre
A darkly comic flat-share drama where three women face conscription, argue over love and rent, while a 1940s songstress hauntingly narrates: think wartime absurdity meets millennial chaos with killer vocals and sharp satire.
-
Review: What Fresh Hell is It?, The Libra
A witty, compassionate and sensitive insight into the complex world of Dorothy Parker - an author, lyricist, poet, and activist who achieved many accolades, and a founding member of the Algonquin Round Table writers’ group – a woman of substance.
-
Review: Schrödinger’s Lesbians, The Glitch
An utterly charming rom-com set in Ancient Greece, proving that some love stories are universal.
-
Review: Untitled Space Play, Bread and Roses Theatre
A production about finding meaning and identity which is rooted in philosophy but told through science fiction.