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Showing posts with the label Theatre

Bad stuff happens: Insignificance @arcolatheatre

October 30, 2017

Insignificance at the Arcola Theatre takes four famous people from the 1950s and puts them in a hotel room. Is it a nostalgia piece or is there a deeper meaning? Written by Terry Johnson, it’s having its first revival in over twenty years. In the second act, the senator (meant to be Joeseph McCarthy) talks about how heroes, geniuses and stars serve as a convenient distraction. It’s also tempting to see parallels with the present day. Thirty five years ago it was the Reagan era and the threat of nuclear war from a trigger-happy b-movie actor-president. In the intervening years there have been desert storms, coalitions of the willing (with or without poodles). In the future maybe there’ll be a battle between little rocket man and the oversized Oompa Loompa. Horrible stuff happens. And the heroes, geniuses and the celebrities exist just to make us feel there’s hope.

Mother and son: The Busy World Is Hushed @Finborough

October 24, 2017

Family and faith is at the forefront of The Busy World Is Hushed by Keith Bunin. The characters here have their faith tested, gained and lost over the course of the piece. It's having its European Premiere at the Finborough Theatre. There's Hanna (Kazia Pelka), a widowed minister and bible scholar. She's received a recently discovered gospel and engages the help of writer Brandt (Mateo Oxley), to help her turn her research into a publication. As they start work her only son Thomas (Michael James) returns home from a trip out in the wilderness. And Brandt and Thomas take an almost-instant liking to each other. But Brandt has just discovered his father has a brain tumour. And Thomas is still searching for reasons why his father died before he was born.

Chopping and ageing: Le Grand Mort @Trafstudios

October 02, 2017

If you ever wondered what eating a light dinner might be like at Julian Clary’s place, Le Grand Mort at Trafalgar Studios gives you an idea. It's a meticulous affair. Everything is stainless steel in Justin Nardella’s sterile kitchen set. As you would imagine a gay man might do to a Notting Hill flat. Food is already prepped and portioned into little bowls or packets. And any spillage is sprayed and wiped up. Based on Clary’s public persona you could assume it is him, even if his character's called Michael. And while the show and the food may not be to everyone’s taste, it's amusing and disturbing enough to keep you fascinated.

Let 'em have it: An Inspector Calls @aninspector

November 14, 2016

Stephen Daldry’s enduring production of JB Priestley’s An Inspector Calls is back in London. Catching it this time around - the last time I saw it in 2010 did not leave much of an impression as I had forgotten I had seen it - had me pondering its enduring popularity. It’s a simple detective story set in 1912. A Detective arrives unannounced to interview a Yorkshire factory owner Arthur Birling ( Clive Francis ) and his family about the suicide of woman. Each scene serves to rub off a little more of the veneer of respectability of their lives. In what could be a tedious premise, the piece starts making you think about broader enduring issues in this country. Soon I found it evoking the polarised politics of the current day, the rise of fashionable far right politics and Scottish independence.

Incestual manoeuvres: Fool For Love @Found111ldn

November 04, 2016

There are various things you can take from Fool For Love playing at Found111 . There isn’t much of a plot. It is more a series of sparring rounds that serve as a star vehicle for great performances. But you walk away thinking how love fades, horse floats burn well and incest is rife. It’s random in a way but enough to thrill and amuse. The couple in focus are Eddie ( Adam Rothenberg ) and May ( Lydia Wilson ). They take pot shots at each other and then kiss and make up. Along the way there is a mysterious old man (Joe McGann) and a new suitor Martin (Luke Neal). Sam Shepard wrote this piece between love affairs. He covers how two people can simultaneously love and loathe each other. But past injustices give way to more secrets and lies that suggest that old wounds don’t heal. They just get ripped open again and again.

Peace is our profession: The Acedian Pirates @Theatre503

November 01, 2016

Keeping the peace and stopping depravity is all and good, but in The Acedian Pirates it comes with a few unintended consequences. It is an evocative and testosterone-fuelled piece currently running at Theatre 503. Watching this piece had me pondering what Donald Rumsfeld said once about unknown unknowns . After all this piece is set in some unknown remote lighthouse in some unknown battleground. The mission is unknown and the outcome also unknown. You’re as confused as the characters about the point of it all, but you get drawn into it anyway. There is never a dull moment with the fights, the explosions and a strange lady upstairs.

Debauchery, drugs and diseases: 5 Guys Chillin @KingsHeadThtr

October 25, 2016

Life in London is just one big endless gory drug-fuelled sex party in 5 Guys Chillin'. It's a relentless look at the London gay chem-sex and chill-out scene by Peter Darney at the King's Head Theatre . It's not for the faint-hearted or those who have lived a sheltered life. The piece has been created from interviews and sourcing material found through social media and apps. Darnley's uses the premise of a "chill-out" to get the guys talking. It's very effective, particularly once you get over the gay gore and start listening to the stories. Among the graphic details is a picture of an empty and lonely gay scene in London. It also helps explain why with record rates of infection among men who have sex with men there is the push to provide PrEP (Pre-exposure Prophylaxis) free on the NHS .

Soul searching: From Ibiza to the Norfolk Broads @waterlooeast @ibizabowie

October 24, 2016

If music is the soundtrack to our lives, From Ibiza to the Norfolk Broads puts Bowie as the soundtrack for eccentrics, outcasts or just troubled teens. Adrian Berry’s fascinating play covers a young Bowie fan's pilgrimage to London. He visits his music idol’s London haunts. It’s part journey of discovering who he is, but also a desire to connect to his father with the music of his hero. As Martin, Alex Walton contorts and moves about the stage as the lanky awkward teen and occasional other character on the journey. As the sole performer he captures the spirit of the young fan and the people he encounters. But he also engages you as a storyteller of this young man’s journey to London. Along the way there are Bowie songs, therapy sessions about bulimia and a dream sequence where he speaks to Bowie. The conversation with the other-worldly Bowie is a pre-recorded voice supplied by Rob Newman. Projections of album covers, London locations also hit us along the way.

Previewing the slags: Confessional @swkplay

October 17, 2016

Confessional is in until 29 October at Southwark Playhouse . It’s an immersive production of an overlooked Tennessee Williams play that transplants the action to Southend on the Essex Coast. The experience is the thing here where the audience joins the cast in a pub (an authentic looking boozer recreated in The Little at Southwark Playhouse) and the action kicks off all around you. The piece centres around Leona Dawson (Lizzie Stanton). She is getting her act together after discovering her layabout boyfriend (Gavin Brocker) has been cheating on her with her mentally ill best friend. And it just happens to be the anniversary of her younger brother’s death. When a couple of gay men come into the bar - one who looks a bit like her dead brother - things start to get to breaking point. Amid all the drinking and rough talk it all starts to get a bit messy. You know where things are heading. All hell threatens to break loose. And it eventually does.

Mister cellophane: Christie in Love @KingsHeadThtr

There is always someone that has to takes something too far... Usually it is a joke. Here in Christie In Love, the central message seems to be that Christie's penchant for weird sex practices was a step too far. His punishment was execution. This seemed fitting for a man who indulged in that... And mass murder. Rough Haired Pointer attempt to understand the motivation of a seemingly dull serial killer John Christie in this production now playing at the Kings Head Theatre . You get the sense that there is a lot more that this piece could have told. Written in 1969, back then there was probably a greater awareness of the details of the case. This production doesn’t let you in on that. The play runs about an hour and calls for the action to be played very slowly. This emphasises the tedium and ordinariness of the man committing the horrors and those uncovering it. But it isn’t always easy to watch and may not to be everyone’s taste. Still for those who are game, there

A glass half full: A Twist of Lemmon @St_JamesTheatre

Every son probably has imitated their father at some point (either intentionally or not). But when your dad is actor Jack Lemmon, you know this is going to be a fascinating night out. Based on his memoir of the same name, A Twist of Lemmon at the St James Theatre studio is Chris Lemmon’s way of giving us a little bit of insight into what it was like growing up as the son of a big Hollywood star. With some simple projections and footage from his career, Chris’s one man show brings to life his father. His mannerisms, his movies, and most of all, his relationship with his son. It is an evening of gentle storytelling, but clever in how it describes not just the life and times of his father, but their at times complex and difficult relationship.

Monkey Business: Frank Sumatra @TheatreN16

Frank Sumatra is a funny piece of monkey business playing at the N16 Theatre, now confusingly situated in Balham. The audience that finds its way to the theatre at the famous Bedford pub in Balham will be treated to an amusing piece of theatre presented as a live radio play. The piece focuses on Bev and Keith. They're a nice, do-gooding young couple trying for a baby. They only eat organic, they separate their recyclables and so on. They also briefly adopted an orangutan in a Sumatran sanctuary. But despite letting the direct debit on the sponsorship lapse after a few months, the orangutan shows up on their doorstep one day and then starts wrecking havoc on their lives as he first eats them out of their organic food, and then starts behaving like a moody teenager.

Quick snatches: The Future of Sex @wardrobensemble

The sexual revolution wasn't quite as it seemed in this style over substance account of sex in the seventies (or should that be present day)? The Wardrobe Ensemble had a hit in Edinburgh last year with this show that goes beneath the hype of the sexual revolution, only to find that things were just as awkward then as they are now. Narration, inner monologues and jump cuts to the present day pepper this story of a group of young people discovering sex in the 70s.

Brief encounters: X @Royalcourt

At some point in the third act there is a constant shouting of the word X. "X, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, " the characters exclaim. Constantly. As a means to explain the loss of space and time in this futuristic story about a voyage to pluto, it is effective. But it also feels a bit like the rest of the piece. Relentlessly repetitive. The story is that a spaceship to Pluto has lost its way and the crew slowly realise that all concept of time and continuity has been lost. They have no idea where they are, or the present or the past. It looks great, with its 2001 a space odessey inspired set and projections. And I was chuffed to see that in the future everyone is wearing Vivobarefoot shoes . I think they are very comfortable and sensible even for the present day. But the piece with a teasing and mysterious first half promises more than it ultimately delivers. I'm

Mister cellophane: If I Were Me @sohotheatre

Alienation, tennis balls, struggling daffodils, piles of post it notes. It is all part of the surreal world in If I Were Me. The piece is billed as the darker consequences of finding a new version of yourself. Selling a product and selling yourself as a product blur together. If at any point you get lost in the piece, it doesn't really matter. Something weird is going to happen and that will either make you more confused or set you straight.

Social climbers: The Young Visiters @TabardTheatreUK

Social climbing in the Victorian period has never seemed so much fun as it is in The Young Visiters. It is a new adaptation of Daisy Ashford's book adapted and directed by Mary Franklin and presented by Rough Haired Pointer . It is a world where ladies are pale owing to the drains in the house. Or where one can say “I had a bath last night so won’t wash much now.”

Blowing off steam: One of Those @TristanBates

February 01, 2016

It all happens on the mid-morning train to Cornwall in One of Those , in this funny and fresh piece of new writing by Tom Ward-Thomas . A train ride to Cornwall is full of connections, and not just of the rail kind. The play's title comes from the false assumptions that people make at first meeting and how this influences how they behave.

Let's talk about stuff: Clickbait @theatre503

January 28, 2016

Clickbait is a comic new play about society’s attitude to porn and the women who make it for themselves. But it is hard to know exactly what to make of it. There is enough material for several plays here; attitudes to pornography, how to set up a sex empire, concepts of consensual sex. They are all explored, but all too briefly to make much sense. The play follows Nicola (played by Georgia Groome ) who, threatened with the release of an amateur sex video, makes a snap decision to post it online herself.

Bump in the night: Botallack O'Clock @ORLTheatre

January 18, 2016

Botallack O'Clock brings to life the creative struggles of Roger Hilton in a funny and dreamy production. Insomnia has never seemed so inspiring and lonely as the dead of night comes to life. Towards the end of Hilton's life he turned to producing works using poster paint on paper. He worked mostly throughout the night on these works, along with writing letters to his wife and various other musings. This piece brings together these items to explore his struggles and his demons.

Dangerous liaisons: The Wasp

December 21, 2015

The Wasp is the perfect antidote to all that Christmas cheer. A tense, psychological thriller with a story that keeps you guessing where it is going to head to next. It is playing downstairs at the Trafalgar Studios for those who dare to see it. Written by Morgan Lloyd Malcolm , the story is about two women who were once school friends, but drifted apart. For good reason. Twenty years on Carla is living hand to mouth, raising four children with a fifth on its way. Heather has a successful career, a husband and a beautiful home. Heather has got in touch with Carla through social media, and with a wad of cash asks her to kill her husband.