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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 ...

Bang pop kapow: Big Guns @YardTheatre


 It's bad enough walking about the back streets of Hackney alone on a quiet mid-week evening without having to worry about a man with a gun. But after seeing Big Guns at The Yard Theatre that's all I was thinking about.

The man with a gun features a lot in writer Nina Segal's piece. It's part fear and part celebration of a culture of violence. Actually it is mostly fear. With a backdrop of pop culture references, pornography, terrorism, milkshakes and popcorn.

It's all topical as the banter moves between one violent act and the next. It is a two hander and opens with Two (Debra Baker) and One (Jessy Romeo) sitting in what could be a cinema. Wearing 3D glasses and stuffing their faces with popcorn.


But as the piece progresses the fear sets in. You can smell it (along with what appears to be wafting into the audience from the rubbery set). Words and scenes are pelted at you with such vigour you cannot escape. From the trolling of a video blogger to random acts of violence passed off as terrorist atrocities.

Eventually the repetition of fear and loathing starts to impact. But perhaps not as always intended. But there is no time to dwell too much here as the piece moves quick.

And the man with a gun will linger in your mind. If only to ponder that it seems quaint to fear something that is so scarce in this country. I'd like to see a piece about fearing the man with the rental car from Birmingham. That's a little bit closer to reality.

Directed by Dan Hutton, Big Guns is at The Yard until 8 April.

⭐︎⭐︎⭐︎



Photos by Mark Douet

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