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Showing posts with the label Russell Bolam

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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...
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Will you still love me tomorrow: The Woods @swkplay

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In The Woods, conversations drift into seemingly random discussions about seagulls, raccoons, or aliens. Perhaps it's due to the isolation from being set in a remote cabin. But it's also a heterosexual play, so that means there's a man, woman and inevitable conflict. But even if there aren't any surprises in this revival of David Mamet's 1977 work, the performances and the staging keep you focussed on it like you're a voyeur in the proceedings. It's currently playing at the Southwark Playhouse.  The Woods is set entirely at a secluded cabin on the porch of a summer house. It's early September, and Nick seems to have been keen on taking things to the next level with Ruth. Ruth seems keen too since she took the trouble to buy a gift for Nick. But slowly, from Dusk through the night, things begin to unravel. Things that are banal and trivial become blown out of proportion. Sex becomes complicated, and ultimately there's an outburst that takes everything...
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Mad as duck: The Monkey @theatre503

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A debt, a bad nickname and an obsession Reservoir Dogs come into focus in John Stanley's funny and dark play The Monkey at Theatre 503 . Stanley notes that he has distilled the four characters in the piece from the larger than life characters he has encountered. They bring to life the many traits of London's sub-culture of addiction and criminality. It's part of the Homecoming's season of new writing by prisoners and ex-prisoners. The stories are about getting out and going home. But what is fascinating in this hilarious piece is how he has created a unique character in Terry. Terry (or Tel as his mates call him) has left Bermondsey and trying to leave his old past behind. But an old mate Thick-Al owes him money (or a monkey)  His mates think he has a bit of screw loose but also that he is a soft touch.
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