Posts

Showing posts from November, 2019

Featured Post

Searching undeterred: The Gift @ParkTheatre

Image
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...

Space travel’s a drag: Escape From Planet Trash @ThePleasance

Image
The Pleasance Theatre is transformed into a dump with Sink The Pink’s Escape From Planet Trash. A high-concept, camp yet environmentally friendly take on the traditional pantomime. It’s environmentally friendly as jokes were either recycled or used sparingly. But it’s hard not to like a show that puts drag queens in space in search of trash. Set a few decades into the future, a queer space exploration team go in search of some discarded materials on Planet Trash that they believe will help their mission. At least I think that’s what was the point. The plot wasn’t always easy to follow due to poor sound quality. But while on Plant Trash they stumble upon Ginger Johnson and her son (Davina Cumming), the last remaining humans on the doomed planet. And the doomed world turns out to be the former planet Earth which is now floating about in an interplanetary graveyard. Meanwhile, there is some sort of evil force lurking around as it turns out the Christmas is coming. While ...

Talking pictures: Reputation @TheOtherPalace

Image
In the dog eat dog world of new musicals, a brand new one has arrived at the studio space of The Other Palace . It’s about the dog eat dog world of writers and plagiarism during the switch from silent pictures to talkies. A story about a small-time hoodlum who passes off scripts as his sounds like an excellent premise for a show. And some good parts make up the show. But probably not enough to take this show further in its current form. The good parts include the cast, which often high kicks and dances across the small stage. There’s Maddy Banks who plays Michelle. A young girl at a finishing school in France who spends her time in between learning how to be a proper lady writing her first screenplay. And Jeremy Secomb playing Freddy Larceny. A small-time crook, who passes off scripts as his own to Hollywood studios. And there’s Ed Wade as Archie the lawyer trying to trap Freddy in between making eyes for Michelle. Each of them have their moments throughout the piece. Alas, F...

Keep it gay: Soho Cinders @CharingCrossThr

Image
An alternative to Christmas panto season has landed at Charing Cross Theatre in the form of Soho Cinders. A Cinderella goes gay story with music by Stiles and Drewe. But something's a little queer with this adaptation. Catchy songs, humour and a great (although not very diverse) cast don't overcome what feels like a dated, awkward story. In this story set against the backdrop of the London Mayoral election, our Soho Cinders, Robbie (Luke Bayer) is working at a laundromat with his pal Velcro (Millie O'Connell). Somehow he manages to hook up at the notorious hook-up point Trafalgar Square (who knew?) with Mayoral candidate and ex-swimmer James Prince (Lewis Asquith). But the problem is the candidate already has a fiancé (Tori Hargreaves). And she's nice. It's hard to get too enthused about a relationship forged in the shadows of Nelson's column while his other half is waiting at home with a bottle of wine. To give the show it's panto feel, there a...