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Brief awakenings: White Rose The Musical @MaryleboneTHLDN

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A fascinating and daring act of defiance in Nazi Germany by a group of university students in Munich is given a slightly perplexing rock musical treatment in White Rose, the musical. Something seems amiss in this earnest and occasionally tuneful show. It lags more than it inspires, which is surprising given the tragic and compelling history of the real-life characters the show depicts. Given that young people are increasingly likely to vote for far-right parties across Europe, it’s an opportunity to look at a time when they had a different perspective on the future. Perhaps something has been lost in the translation or the larger space of the Marylebone Theatre where it plays.  The White Rose were a group of university students in Munich who sought to undermine the Third Reich through publication of a series of pamphlets urging passive resistance to the Nazi regime. Over a brief period between June 1942 and February 1943, they distributed their pamphlets across campus using ...

Flipping hell: A Simple Space @Udderbellyfest @GOM_Circus


A Simple Space, by Australian-based circus troupe Gravity and Other Myths, is the latest round of circus offering at the Udderbelly Festival at the Southbank Centre.

Between the amazing feats of acrobatics you can hear a constant sound. The sound of heavy breathing. It is coming from the stage. This is pretty intense stuff here and the energy and sweat from the performers is audible and palpable. And in the space of the giant purple cow, where you are up close to the performers, it seems much more intense and intimate.


The title of the show suggests what is in store. There is nothing fancy but some terrific performances by the young and enthusiastic troupe as they do things that you wouldn’t think possible for the body to be able to do.

There is a segment that is a back flips competition where each performer back flips to the point of exhaustion. Watching the performers up close strain and exert to backflip again and again to the point of exhaustion, using up whatever energy reserves they have, seems like it could be considered cruelty to nice young acrobats. But it is also an impressive spectacle.


Other highlights include a rapid strip-skipping and various painful looking balancing acts on each others faces and other body parts. Audience participation is limited to throwing little coloured balls at the performers while they try to remain upside down on their hands.

While the staging may be pared back, and there are not any glitzy costumes (although there are quite a few spectacular looking bodies up there), its simplicity and live percussion accompaniment make for a slick production.

And given the spontenaity of the show (and the nature of the acrobatics) no show is probably the same and worth a look once or twice.

It is on at the Southbank Centre as part of the Udderbelly Festival until 24 May.

⭐︎⭐︎⭐︎⭐︎

Production photos by Chris Herzfeld







A Simple Space Promo 2015 from Gravity & Other Myths on Vimeo.

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