Anisha Anantpurkar, Author at North West End UK

14May

By Anisha AnantpurkarNo Comments

London

A Song of Songs – Park Theatre

A ‘song of songs’ was developed by Berkley-based Ofra Daniel as a one-woman show in 2013. Originally called 'Love Sick’, It travels for its European debut to the Park Theatre supported by trained voices and dancing of Ofra Daniel, Laurel Dougall, Rebecca Giacopazzi, Shira Kravitz, Ashleigh Schuman, Joaquin Pedro Valdes and Matthew Woddyatt. The energetic four-women chorus superbly complements an orchestra that tugs at the heart with its sweet longing and tender overtures. Original songs written and performed by Ofra with an incredible diversity of instruments supported superbly by the sounds of the modern European Flamenco and Klezmer have the audience in raptures. It reminded me of an adaptation of the ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ with its youthful anticipation of marriage and community celeb...

20May

By Anisha AnantpurkarNo Comments

London

At Birth – Baron’s Court Theatre

The stage is set with 3 stage-blocks, a couple of wine glasses, a bottle of white wine, and an assortment of stuffed animals neatly arranged in a corner. Sitting in an intimate setting watching Isaac (Ty Autry) and Anna (Thalia Gonzales Kane) work through an unplanned pregnancy was like dropping in on crucial moments of their life. The premise of the show is hilarious and intriguing– two best friends Anna, a lesbian, and Ty, a gold-star gay man, have sex. What starts off as a funny, light-hearted, and awkward piece, then explores the difficulties Anna faces after finding out that she is pregnant. Isaac and Anna, drinking wine, talking about past relationships, and feeling sexually frustrated but also too lazy to find other partners, express their desire to have sex. The first scene is l...

5May

By Anisha AnantpurkarNo Comments

London

Bakkhai – National Youth Theatre

As I walk into the theatre, there is a table where I can avail a free glass of wine. With a glass of wine in hand, most of the audience prepares for the arrival of the God. As they (Dionysos played by Jack d’Arcy) arrive, we go silent, and they take their seat among us in a chair “reserved for God”. On stage is a cubical locker, door ajar, light pouring out. A pomegranate lies by the door- that later gets ripped like a throat. A dress, handed to Pentheus by Agave is locked in it, out of fear of Kadmos and the guards. And only Dionysos can make Pentheus realize and proclaim, “It is valid, this thing we call Daemonic”. Anne Carson, in her translator’s note, ponders: Look at Pentheustwirling around in a dress,so pleased with his girl-guisehe’s almost in tears.Are we to believethis desir...

4May

By Anisha AnantpurkarNo Comments

London

The World’s Wife – Barbican

Clad in red, sitting on blocks shaped like the roof of a house, the Ragazze Quartet sit while Baritone Lucia Lucas stands leaning against the roof with her back to the audience. The sound of one violin and Lucia Lucas’ baritone radiates through the theatre. We don’t see her sing, all we see are the choreographed responses of the rest of the Ragazze Quartet. For the entirety of the performance we are immersed in a production where words, sound, and movement are in conversation with one another as they tell us the stories of women hidden from history. The performance The World’s Wife is based on and named after the book of collection of poems by Carol Ann Duffy’s. It includes the poems The Little Red Cap, Pilate’s Wife, Salome, Mrs. Icarus, Medusa, Mrs Aesop, Anne Hathaway, Mrs Beast, Que...

The Tragedy of Macbeth – Southwark Playhouse

17Mar

By Anisha AnantpurkarNo Comments

London

The Tragedy of Macbeth – Southwark Playhouse

Covered in mud and dirt, we see all cast members on stage as we enter the theatre. The stage is bare, with percussion instruments set up at the back. The performers are clad in beige tank tops and long skirts that look like sack cloth. Their presence creates an ambience in the room; you can feel it in the air, here a tragedy will take place. As we walk in, the theatre staff gives us a warning that the performance will be quite loud. When the show begins, the sound of the drums reverberates in the space generating an immediate sensory impact. The Tragedy of Macbeth is Flabbergast Theatre’s first narrative production of Flabbergast Theatre. The production is supported by Arts Council England and was researched and developed at the forest base of the Grotowski Institute in Brezinka, Wrocla...

22Feb

By Anisha AnantpurkarNo Comments

London

Age Is a Feeling – Soho Theatre

‘Here are twelve stories about what’s to come in your adult years’, says Haley McGee at the top of Age Is a Feeling, and for some reason, I instantly trust her. The stage is set with a tall lifeguard chair, with lit candles on a small platform underneath the seat. The chair sits in the centre of a circle marked by 12 pole-like potted flowering plants. Each plant bears a small card with a word written on it in large letters. The audience hears 6 stories, each picked by an audience member, and we are left with just a hint of what might’ve happened in the ones we don’t pick. Haley McGee, barefoot and dressed in a black blouse featuring some lace and jeans soiled by dirt, picks some cards off the plants and walks towards members of the audience seated closest to the stage. She then asks ...