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More sex and violence: Playfight @sohotheatre

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The funny thing about three girls growing up under a tree is that you never quite know when they're being serious or just messing about. One time, they might be talking about giving blow jobs on a tennis court at school and another, they might be yearning for a connection that they can't quite explain. That's what happens in Playfight, an Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2024 hit currently showing at Soho Theatre .  Writer Julia Grogan doesn't give us much time to dwell on the lives of these three young teenage girls. One minute, they're fifteen and giggling, and then the next thing, they're off getting married or going to University. But underneath all the smutty talk, humour, and quick scene changes, there is a darker underbelly about relationships, power, and consent. It's about finding your way in a complex world that can dehumanise and degrade you. But as things move so quickly, you could blink and miss it. This is too bad as the performances capturing this co...

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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