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Searching undeterred: The Gift @ParkTheatre

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I recently had a few parcels go missing from where I live. The first parcel disappeared without a trace. The second parcel's contents were removed, and the box was left alone in the lobby. It's one of the things that you have to put up with living in central London. Apart from complaining to the delivery company and filing a police report, it crossed my mind to think about what would happen if I sent myself something rather unpleasant for a future parcel thief to open up. Well, Dave Florez's new work, The Gift, is in this line of thinking, except that the lead receives an anonymous gift of a turd in the mail rather than sending it to himself. It is lovingly gift-wrapped in a cake box from a posh north London bakery. It's a fascinating and hilarious three-hander currently playing at Park Theatre .  Colin (Nicholas Burns) is a little obsessive at the best of times. He doesn't let things drop quickly and is obsessed with the details behind anything and everythi...

Rinse and repeat: Obsession @Katzpace

The quest for perfection is at the heart of Obsession. Writer performer Kate Marston’s gives us Ivy, a young woman with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. She switches on and off the lights. She uses an awful lot of hand sanitiser. She won’t do anything other than sit ups and jogging at the gym. And she will never, ever take the garbage out. It’s presented for a few nights this week at the Katzpace Theatre in Southwark.

At first things seem to be quirks of her personality. But soon things start to spiral out of control. Ivy’s relationship with her boyfriend Sean (Chris Royle) starts to fall apart as she suspects he wants to leave her. This soon becomes a reality. 

Alternatively funny and sensitive, the piece explores how mental health issues impact on the normal lives of a group of young people. 

It’s engaging throughout with its youthful line-up of characters. Rounding out the cast is Chris Udoh as the understanding physical trainer and Sophie Winter-King as the perfect woman to undermine everything Ivy does.

The piece was also selected as part of Stockwell Theatre’s 2018 One Act Festival.

The Katzpace Theatre is a newish fifty-seat venue in the basement of Bavarian Bierkeller, Katzenjammers. It has a mix of comedy and theatre nights.

Directed by Hannah Sands, Obsession is at the the Katzpace Theatre until 13 June.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️


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