Featured Post

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

Image
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...

Buffering and biding: Waiting for Lefty @twolinestheatre

Waiting for Lefty, Clifford Odets depression-era agitprop theatre piece gets transformed for the covid-era in this fascinating production that gives you a chance to both enjoy the work and immerse yourself in a post-show discussion about what you've just seen. It's an excellent concept for theatre streams and recreates interval moments of passing conversations (albeit curated with knowledgeable experts). By the end, you feel you appreciate the piece its context.

Streamed through Zoom, there's a thirties-era look and feel to the piece. Yet as the drama unfolds, it is within modern homes. The anachronistic treatment suits the material well. It calls for minimal staging, and so having actors perform within their own homes takes this to a new level. 

The piece starts with a group of cab drivers (and the audience) at a union meeting. The drivers are debating whether to strike for a living wage. And they're waiting for Lefty, their elected chairman, to give them an idea about what to do. Alongside this is a series of scenes where the harsh realities of capitalism are laid bare with stark choices for the characters. As part of the audience, it feels like your either a voyeur or part of the proceedings. It all depends on what takes your mood.

In the pandemic-induced recession with people out of work and struggling to make a living, it's not too much of a stretch to see parallels to life today. While living standards have improved, the rise of the gig economy where everyone is a contractor, and the false allure of being your boss, conceals the slow erosion of fair wages and free time as the time taken to earn a living takes longer further to do. And with the insatiable demand for home deliveries of everything from groceries to a hot meal via a smartphone, a work-life balance seems elusive for those who aren't in a job that allows them to work from home.

Food for thought and a call for action, Waiting For Lefty is streaming until 23 May. Directed by Phil Cheadle, it runs for an hour with a short break and a post-show panel moderated by Jacquelyn Landgraf. Check the website for details. 

Production photo by Zoe Leonard

Popular posts from this blog

Opera and full frontal nudity: Rigoletto

Image
David McVicar's oddly modern production of Rigoletto is back at the Royal Opera House . This modern and minimalist dark production has evolved over the years. It is better lit now but there is still an orgy and full frontal nudity within the first thirty minutes. This enables anyone not in the stalls an excellent view of a flaccid penis and a nicely shaved bush. But as time goes it seems more and more superfluous to the main focus of this tragedy of a court jester who seeks revenge. Here is hoping that the production continues to evolve... Conductor John Eliot Gardiner keeps the music well paced. Dimitri Platanias in the title role sounded great and received a rapturous applause for his interpretation of the role. You get a sense more of the doting father rather than the court jester or cursed man here. Vittorio Grigolo plays the Duke and sounds too lovely to be the cad the role calls for, but it is hard not to like when he is on stage anyway. And it is easier to understan...
Read more...

Fantasies: Afterglow @Swkplay

Image
Nowadays no self-respecting gay play can be staged without full frontal nudity of some kind. It feels like the default response for the modern gay play now that gay rights are no longer an issue .   Afterglow, currently playing at Southwark Playhouse , serves it up in spades. From the beginning, three men are in a bed, naked. There’s what appears to be a very brief exhalation of ecstasy, before the obligatory rush to the shower. But the gratuitous nudity and excellent performances can’t conceal this is a pretty conventional and predictable story about a fantasy couple.  The three men in the simultaneous orgasm at the start of the piece are Josh, Alex and Darius. Josh and Alex seem to live in a New York world where they can afford a rooftop apartment in Manhattan while holding jobs as a theatre director and a grad student in chemistry. As writer S. Asher Gelman based it on his own experiences, perhaps gay plays with full frontal nudity are the way to achieve financial ...
Read more...

Play ball: Damn Yankees @LandorTheatre

Image
Damn Yankees at the Landor Theatre is one hell of a fun, sexy show. A great cast of dancers and singers give this show about a man who sells his soul to get on his beloved baseball team (and give them a chance of winning) new legs and balls. It also helps to up the ante with the sexiness with some healthy doses of cleavage and legs (and that's just the men). The musical is a retelling of the Faust story set in the 1950s when the New York Yankees dominated the game.
Read more...