Everything Theatre Reviews, interviews and news for theatre lovers, London and beyond

Stratford Circus is the younger, sleeker looking neighbour to the Theatre Royal Stratford East.  Living in the shadow of a theatrical giant is no easy task, but I’m pleased to report the Circus occupies its own niche, with a wide range of community-based productions. Flight Paths draws inspiration from the Goze; blind female storytellers and musicians who travelled the length and breadth of medieval Japan, making a living from performing epic tales. Two blind performers, Amelia Cavallo and Sarah Houbolt, ...

As a Londoner born and bred, a book lover and aspiring writer to boot, I am ashamed to admit I’d never heard of the London Library. Tucked away in St James’s Square, just behind Piccadilly, it houses over one million books. First editions, antiquities and periodicals stretching back five centuries; a treasure trove of history, knowledge and wisdom. How could I not have known about this place? Another startling fact: Bram Stoker joined the library in 1890 and did his ...

Exit Productions is an interactive events company specialising in agency and involvement.   Their latest offering at The Vaults – ‘Fight Night’ – focuses on a boxing match and the build up immediately before the fight.  After assembling in the graffiti tunnel the evening’s audience were escorted to the ‘secret’ and rather chilly location nearby.  We were then split into two camps, using our North v South London affiliations. On this occasion the really uneven split meant that some people had ...

Feminism and fishnets, punk and precarious friendships, The Half Moon Shania shakes the Vaults Festival in this punk/rock opera reverberating with energy and poignancy. The show evokes youthful excitement and naivety within a dark smoky world. The rush and the barely organised chaos are infectious, but there are moments that don’t quite land as effectively as the rest of the show. THE G STRINGZ are a band of three best friends trying to secure a record deal in the Half ...

Language can take you on a journey. Through stories we can explore the histories, cultures, and struggles of people across continents and ages. In a more literal sense language, or rather translation, can bring these stories to new audiences, many miles away from their source. In Cuzco, an unnamed couple journey to Peru. He hopes to rekindle the spark in their relationship. What she wants is unclear. As the two travel from one exotic locale to another they are driven ...

PROS: The thought and passion that went into the poetry was a pleasure to watch. CONS: It was hard to avoid the slow pace of the dialogue once a slam poem was finished, it only ever picked up during the poetry. I Stopped…when, tells the story of three young slam poetry contestants. The lives of Wren (Tom Nguyen), Naya (Nicole Acquah) and Adele (Lauren La Rocque) are all intertwined; they face ongoing battles due to their identities and the wrath ...

The sweat, the blood and the tears behind the tumbles. A must see for any fan of circus arts.

Pros: Excellent performances by the three cast members.  Cons: The ending is a bit of a damp squib. So the Vault Festival is in full swing beneath Waterloo station. With its interesting spaces and buzzing atmosphere it is well worth a visit. Looking at the eclectic mix of shows available you will surely find something that takes your fancy.  With some planning it may even be possible to see more than one per visit. But one of the problems of ...

In Part One of our Access Articles Sidonie explained what Theatre Access Schemes are, in Part Two she explained what a visit to the theatre is like to as an Access Customer.  Now in the third and final part, Sidonie uses her experience both as a customer and from working in theatre to examine how Access Customers can work with venues staff to ensure they are best served. Serving Access Customers As I’ve previously discussed, it can be difficult to ...

Pros: The set. The sound design. The projection. The lighting. Cons: Far too many people in the audience filming the show on their phones. A silvery particle spins and tumbles from above, setting in train an evolutionary journey from primordial soup to space exploration. Well that’s the idea, anyway. More prosaically, Totem is a high-spec review show, in which circus acts, loosely themed around ideas of man’s evolution and environment, are interspersed with quirky comic vignettes. The circus acts are ...