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Two Ladies: La Bella Bimba at Barons Court Theatre / Canal Cafe Theatre

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T hey sing. They dance. They clown around. They even wash clothes! Such is the story of La Bella Bimba, part of the Voila Theatre Festival, which highlights new and emerging artists. A tale of two Italian ladies who land in 1920s New York, trying to break into Broadway without speaking a word of English. It’s harmless, primarily even if a little nonsensical, and is currently playing as part of the Voila! Theatre Festival .  I caught the performance at the Barons Court Theatre , where the intimate setting created an evocative atmosphere reminiscent of dark New York alleyways. The space was almost claustrophobic with a distinct smell of rising damp, making you feel immersed in the story of two Ladies hanging around the theatre doors of Broadway. On the plus side, the theatre has some of the most comfortable seats you will find in any pub theatre in London. As the naive and hopeful singers, Co-creator Lucrezia Galeone as Carlotta and Sarah Silvestri as Cecilia are fine singers with co...

Spring Awakenings: Love Loss and Chianti @Riverside London


Death and desertion are on the menu in Love Loss and Chianti. A dramatisation of the poems A Scattering and The Song of Lunch by Christopher Reid. Grief and fantasy are explored at first for drama and then for comedy. It’s not always successful in the translation from poetry to stage. But watchable for the performances and staging at the Riverside Studios.

The first half, A Scattering, was Reid’s response to the death of his wife, Lucinda. Told in four parts, with the first part written while she was still alive, the poems won the Cost Book Prize in 2010. But on stage, it feels cold and unengaging. Perhaps there are too many distractions with events as the stages of dying, death and loss are explored. It might have been more engrossing if he just sat on a chair and told to the audience.

Fortunately, things pick up in the Song of Lunch in the second half, which is centred around a man’s attempt to connect with an old flame over lunch. Memories conspire to build a fantasy that bears little resemblance to the reality. The anticipation, the missed cues and the misunderstandings are deployed to witty effect as the lunch veers from one disaster to another. The projected animations by Charles Peattie portray a dizzying array of complexities as the man becomes lost in himself. And the lunch becomes a battle of epic proportions between the mind and reality.

As the man, Robert Bathurst, who is on stage for most of the ninety minutes is engaging as both the grieving man and the fantasist has-been. Rebecca Johnson plays his dying wife and the increasingly disgusted object of his luncheon obsession.

Directed by Jason Morell, Love Loss and Chianti is at the Riverside Studios until 17 May. Worth a visit to take in the magnificent views of Hammersmith by the riverside.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Photos by Alex Harvey-Brown

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