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The brown word: Death on the Throne @gatehouselondon

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We’re warned at the start of the show with an upbeat number that this is not the usual sort of musical. And it turns out to be just that. But with boundless enthusiasm and energy from its two leads, who deploy a range of voices and breathtaking energy to create a series of voices for puppet characters, a bedtime story becomes a silly oddball tale about four souls stuck in purgatory. With puppets. And various toilet humour references. It’s currently playing at Upstairs At The Gatehouse . The piece starts as a bedtime story. Daddy (Mark Underwood) is about to read a bedtime story for Louise (Sarah Louise Hughes). But her stomach felt funny, and soon, she went to the bathroom. Then, for reasons that seem to only make sense in the confines of the show, they start telling the story of four people who died in unfortunate circumstances in the bathroom. Depicted as puppets, they’re stuck in purgatory as St Peter doesn’t have enough space for each of them in the afterlife. And so begins a puppe...

Someone to watch over me: Dangerous Lenses #dangerouslensesplay @VaultFestival


As I am writing up my thoughts on Dangerous Lenses I can see the neighbours opposite have switched on their lights. They look like they're getting ready to head out. And the people below them are setting the table for dinner. Perhaps the life of a blogger and the recluse at the centre of this piece are converging.

The premise is that Ann (Grace Chilton) who lives alone is watching the lives of her neighbours as hers goes by. But when a new tenant and his daughter move in. And the tenant says she has no daughter. Ann starts to obsess about what she saw and didn't see.

Written by Brooke Robinson and directed by Melissa Dunne, this monologue is a great exploration of loneliness and obsession in the city. Chilton is great (and a little creepy) as the lonely people-watcher.

It's enough to make you reflect on all the times you've made assumptions or watched others. Assuming you've done that sort of thing.

Papercut Theatre, presented Just To Get Married at the Finborough in 2017. They're presenting this piece along with another, Lola at the Vault Festival until 27 January. It would be possible to see both in the same evening if you're quick.

But the Vault Festival is getting started. With over 400 shows on sale it's a showcase for great new writing, theatre and comedy under the Leake Street arches at Waterloo Station. Now in its seventh year, the programme this year is wild and varied. With something for most people, it'll be running through to 17 March. Ticket prices for events start at £5.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

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