Carole Gordon, Author at North West End UK

All The Happy Things – Soho Theatre Upstairs

10Apr

By Carole GordonNo Comments

London

All The Happy Things – Soho Theatre Upstairs

If your sister has died, are you still a sister? All The Happy Things explores the devastating effects of grief and loss. Overwhelmed by grief at the death of her older sister Emily, Sienna struggles with all aspects of her life without her. She imagines that Emily is still there with her, arguing, remembering their past, listening to music. Emily shadows her at work, at home and in her relationships. On top of this delusion, Sienna is dealing with her father's decline into dementia and the likelihood of him having to leave his care home because of his aggressive behaviour. Written by Naomi Denny (who also plays Sienna), All The Happy Things initially sounds like it will be a depressing piece, but it's told with great warmth and plenty of light-hearted moments, e...

Murder, She Didn’t Write – Duchess Theatre

27Mar

By Carole GordonNo Comments

London

Murder, She Didn’t Write – Duchess Theatre

The Degrees of Error theatre company, having thrilled audiences at the Edinburgh Fringe, are now on tour around the UK and making their West End debut with their improv comedy of an Agatha Christie-style murder mystery. The audience throws in suggestions about the direction of the case, the murder weapon, the location of the crime, the suspects. There's audience participation, a flying deerstalker and much randomness. Will the audience find the murderer before the culprit is revealed? All characters have the standard means, motive and opportunity to have committed the murder but why and how, what does a giant cucumber have to do with it and why are the characters suddenly speaking in Latin? It's all totally bonkers and great fun. It's 1932 and Detective Agatha Crusty (Lizzy Sk...

14Feb

By Carole GordonNo Comments

London

Animal Farm – Stratford East

George Orwell's Animal Farm was published in 1945, in a world radically different from the modern political scene. Much may have changed in that time, but the themes of human nature, the lure of power and greed remain scarily relevant. Tatty Hennessy's revised working of Orwell's iconic novel highlights the changing work landscape, the loss of an industrial base, the realities of factory farming, and the roles of equality and fairness in society. On the run-down Manor Farm, owned by cruel farmer Jones, the animals long for a world in which they can be equal, free and happy. Major, the elderly and respected boar, calls on the animals to work together to overthrow the farmer. On Major's death, Napoleon and Snowball, two young pigs, assume the informal leadership of the group and org...

18Jan

By Carole GordonNo Comments

London

Kyoto – Soho Place

Rarely can a play genuinely be labelled as an "important piece of theatre”, but Joe Murphy and Joe Robertson's Kyoto is firmly in that category. Fresh from its critically acclaimed run in Stratford-upon-Avon, Kyoto offers a tense and challenging insight into the process of what John Prescott called "diplomacy by exhaustion". And rarely has a play been so topical. With wildfires raging and floods destroying communities, while some politicians and commentators continue to deny the existence of man-made climate change, Kyoto is a much-needed history lesson, a demonstration of what is diplomatically possible as well as a grim warning for the future if governments fail to act. The nations of the world have got together to discuss climate change and attempt to agree to targets and...

7Sep

By Carole GordonNo Comments

London

The Silver Cord – Finborough Theatre

"A boy is never a grown man to his mother." A mother's love - from the self-sacrificing kind to the utterly toxic - has been the subject of many plays, books and films. Sidney Howard's 1926 comedy-drama explores the latter type, his tale of maternal desperation a hit in the West End and on Broadway. The Finborough have now revived the play for its first London production since 1927. And it's a zinger. Set in a middle-class New England suburb in 1926, Mrs Phelps is a morass of emotional manipulation and gaslighting who wants her two grown-up sons to remain with her forever and to be the only important woman in their lives. She has crafted detailed plans for their futures and expects to have complete control over everything, including who they marry. David and Robert have o...

1Aug

By Carole GordonNo Comments

London

Mixed Omens – Etcetera Theatre

Mixed Omens is literally one of a kind. Performed by narrative improv group, The Improvised Play, their previous productions have focused on the works of Tennessee Williams and Caryl Churchill. Here, they take the works of Neil Gaiman, looking at the interface between real life and myth and the creatures that inhabit those spaces. Demons and gods (like Gaiman's interpretation of Aziraphale and Crowley) mix with humans with varying success and outcomes. An evil father who wants to spread his darkness across the world is searching for his wayward daughter who has escaped to the human world to seek out her half-sister rather than following in his dark footsteps. Essentially a struggle between good and evil, the show is Good Omens meets Long Lost Family, with secret sib...

10Jul

By Carole GordonNo Comments

London

Home, Sweet Home – Riverside Studios

Amalia Kontesi's contribution to Riverside Studio's "Bitesize Festival" of short plays explores the concept of home. Ellie lives in London, working in a high-paid marketing job which she hates, having left behind her parents and brother in Athens. Is "home" in London, Athens, or the summer cottage by the sea that the family scraped together the means to buy, and which Ellie and her brother adored? Ellie has returned to the cottage in order to sort it out prior to putting it on the market. As she reminisces about the wonderful summer times by the sea, the fun, her first kiss, first love and subsequent heartbreak, sibling rivalry and eventual loss, can she bring herself to sell up or does she need to hold onto this house that holds so many memories? Is the cottage her home now? Behind this...

24Jun

By Carole GordonNo Comments

London

Where You Go – Etcetera Theatre

Millie Henson's new play follows Aniyah and Finn's relationship, following an argument that threatens to destroy the couple. Finn is sleeping on the sofa, slobbing around their tiny messy apartment trying to break through his musical block and forgetting to water the plants, while Aniyah does long shifts as a nurse and is permanently exhausted. They used to be singer-songwriting partners, with aspirations to sell out stadiums and go on worldwide tours. This dream comes crashing down when Aniyah accepts that they have bills to pay and leaves the singing partnership, much to Finn's resentment. Without his "muse", his songwriting stalls. Suddenly at this pivotal moment in their relationship, a global apocalyptic event forces them to make major life choices, renew familial ties and attem...

The Trials and Passions of Unfamous Women – Brixton House Theatre

18Jun

By Carole GordonNo Comments

London

The Trials and Passions of Unfamous Women – Brixton House Theatre

Throughout mythology and history, women who go against societal norms face the judgement of others and come up against a justice system that appears to be designed against them. Theatre makers Janaina Leite and Lara Duarte here produce a journey exploring the nature of judgement - by others, by the legal system, by other women and too often by themselves. The show presents a gamut of historical figures such as Jean d'Arc and Mary Queen of Scots, alongside mythological goddesses, plus the contemporary, personal stories of women who are seen as transgressive. Told in three parts, the first, in promenade form, focuses on the goddesses, forthright and full of passions, and chastised and pilloried as a result. Act 2 moves to the courts in what is part drama, part TED-talk on the evolution of...

5May

By Carole GordonNo Comments

London

Miss Brexit – Streatham Space Project

Presented as part of the Assemble Festival, Miss Brexit is a satire on the place of the migrant in post-Brexit Britain. Five contestants from various countries (Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Italy and Slovakia) are vying for one award of the right to remain in the UK, showcasing their credentials to be the one to receive this coveted prize and be crowned Miss Brexit. As they do so, their desperation to remain in the UK becomes ever more evident and bizarre, as they push themselves to become "British" in order to stay in the UK and integrate into the culture. Should they do that, or should they stay faithful to their roots and the culture they bring with them into what is a multicultural society? The actors are an international troupe, themselves dealing with the consequences of Brex...