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Showing posts with the label Gbemisola Ikumelo

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More sex and violence: Playfight @sohotheatre

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The funny thing about three girls growing up under a tree is that you never quite know when they're being serious or just messing about. One time, they might be talking about giving blow jobs on a tennis court at school and another, they might be yearning for a connection that they can't quite explain. That's what happens in Playfight, an Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2024 hit currently showing at Soho Theatre .  Writer Julia Grogan doesn't give us much time to dwell on the lives of these three young teenage girls. One minute, they're fifteen and giggling, and then the next thing, they're off getting married or going to University. But underneath all the smutty talk, humour, and quick scene changes, there is a darker underbelly about relationships, power, and consent. It's about finding your way in a complex world that can dehumanise and degrade you. But as things move so quickly, you could blink and miss it. This is too bad as the performances capturing this co...

Bit of a scuffle: Custody @ovalhouse

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Custody has returned to the Ovalhouse Theatre  following an earlier run there. Seemingly taken from the headlines, it follows the fallout from after black man in south London was arrested and then dies in police custody.  “There was a bit of a scuffle, and I’m sorry to say he passed away,” Informs the police officer arriving at the home. And then his family and his lover are left behind to pick up the pieces and pull together the strands of information about what happened. It’s a powerful piece inspired by creator Urban Wolf’s experience with the police and written in collaboration with Tom Wainwright. Part poetry, dreams, reality and anger, a series of short scenes come together to paint a picture of how the system is against people from the start if they don’t look or act the right way. Written at the time of the Independent Police Complaints Commission (which has since been replaced by the Independent Office for Police Conduct), it details the petty bureaucra...