Gaurav Singh, Author at North West End UK

29Sep

By Gaurav SinghNo Comments

London

Tokyo Rose – Southwark Theatre

‘Tokyo Rose was a legend, but Iva Toguri lived.’ It’s this simple yet decisive line, delivered just before its concluding musical number, which encapsulates the interplay between the personal and the political in this extraordinary production. Tokyo Rose is a powerful testament to the life and trials endured by Iva Toguri, an American citizen of Japanese heritage, who was accused of treason by the US Government in the aftermath of the World War II. The title refers to the nickname given to the female radio broadcasters trusted with spreading Japanese propaganda to the Allied Forces and prisoners of war captured by the Axis forces. Blending Iva’s personal journey of coming to terms with the duality of her heritage and upbringing as well as a larger socio-political narrative about the fallou...

Anything Is Possible If You Think About It Hard Enough – Southwark Playhouse

28Sep

By Gaurav SinghNo Comments

London

Anything Is Possible If You Think About It Hard Enough – Southwark Playhouse

When an overwhelming wave of grief and disbelief hit you suddenly, especially in the midst of what was supposed to be a beautiful moment in life, the biggest fallout isn’t from the first hit but from the almost never-ending ripples it leaves in its wake. This sentiment plays out thoroughly in Cordelia O'Neill’s new play Anything Is Possible If You Think About It Hard Enough, currently being staged by the Small Things Theatre at the Southwark Playhouse. With its tightly-knit dialogue, intimate staging and breathtaking performances, the show takes us through the different stages of a couple’s relationship, from the first date to the bittersweet arguments, focusing on the loss of their stillborn child, and the crippling isolation and unhappiness it brings forth. At the centre of the story ...

Dumbledore Is So Gay – Pleasance Theatre

26Sep

By Gaurav SinghNo Comments

London

Dumbledore Is So Gay – Pleasance Theatre

After a sold out run at VAULT Festival 2020, Robert Holtom’s comedy that explores what it means to be gay returns at the Pleasance Theatre’s main house cabaret. Directed by Tom Wright and produced by Hannah Elsy Productions, the show is a nostalgic hug to coming of age, coming out, and growing up with Harry Potter. For Holtom, the story comes from a deeply personal place, inspired by real-life incidents that shaped their childhood. Recounting the script’s development process from early 2019 until its first run in February 2020, Holtom believes it serves as a testimony to the strength and resilience of the LGBTQ+ community. The story centres around the growing up years of Jack, a young boy whose fascination with J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series is perhaps exceeded only by his infatuati...

24Sep

By Gaurav SinghNo Comments

London

The Last Five Years – Garrick Theatre

Jason Robert Brown's musical The Last 5 Years comes to the West End a year after its sold-out London premiere at the Southwark Playhouse. The show originally premiered at Chicago's Northlight Theatre in 2001 and has been produced in Northern America and internationally ever since. The musical takes us through five years in the relationship of New Yorkers Jamie and Cathy, an emerging author and actress respectively, and the toll their demanding professions take on their lives as they fall in and out of love. The action follows a non-linear approach with Jamie's story told in chronological order, starting at the first encounter between the two, whilst Cathy’s story plays out in reverse chronological order, starting just after their marriage has ended. Their individual timelines play out i...

24Sep

By Gaurav SinghNo Comments

London

Blithe Spirit – Harold Pinter Theatre

Noel Coward’s comedy about death and spirits has been playing at theatres around the world since 1941. Enjoying immense success during a time of war when death hung over every household like a persistent mist, it tapped into our innate fascination with the supernatural to tell us more about our present circumstances. Not only was it been adapted into a musical and a feature film, but it also continues to remain a popular choice for adaptation by theatre companies around the world. I remember seeing a version of Blithe Spirit myself in the University of Delhi, wherein the story had been contextualized for an upper class contemporary Indian society. This universal relatability of the text and its characters is an ode to its timeless nature, still drawing packed audiences to date. In this pro...

Funny Girls – New Wimbledon Theatre Studio

23Sep

By Gaurav SinghNo Comments

London

Funny Girls – New Wimbledon Theatre Studio

In his new play Funny Girls, English playwright Roy Smiles imagines a fictional encounter between two American pop culture icons, Barbra Streisand and Joan Rivers. From their first on-stage gig as co-actors in an off-Broadway show called ‘Driftwood’ (an event that actually happened in real life) to their run-in many years later at the height of their stardom, this two-hander play examines their friendship built on shared Jewish identities and insecurities about a life in show business, among other things. This production is created in collaboration with Ambassador Theatre Group’s Studio at New Wimbledon Theatre as part of their new Premieres Season, travelling Upstairs at The Gatehouse Theatre next month. Throwing a spotlight on their early lives and the decisions that influenced their car...

20Sep

By Gaurav SinghNo Comments

London

Is God Is – Royal Court Theatre

To say Aleshea Hariss’ new play is a tale of revenge would be a bit reductionist, for it wouldn’t do justice to its innate exploration of abuse and trauma through the lens of its titular character. The story follows 21-year-old twins Anaia and Racine (played by Adelayo Adedayo and Tamara Lawrance respectively) who travel across the South Western belt of the United States on a mission from ‘god’, a self-christened sobriquet for their mother who they believed was dead for the last 18 years. As kids, the twins managed to survive a gruesome fire that had not only brought their ‘god’ a life of gradual decay, but also had shaped their entire life with visible scars they carried, on their bodies and otherwise. They are now on a quest to find their father, seeking 18 year's worth of answers, justi...

16Sep

By Gaurav SinghNo Comments

London

Catching Comets – Pleasance Theatre

Imagine that an extinction-level event that threatens the fate of humanity is unfolding right before your eyes. You there? Good, now imagine the heart wrenching moment where you know you have to break up with your partner. While it is unlikely that you’ve actually lived through both of these extraordinarily scenarios in the same lifetime, chances are your imagination is likely to associate a grandiose quality to the first scenario and a smaller, more contained quality to the second. In writer and director Piers Black’s play Catching Comets, audiences witness the interplay of these two scenarios – a disaster movie about the end of the world and a rom-com about falling in (and out of) love – each playing out at the same time. After an acclaimed run at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2019, this one-m...

13Sep

By Gaurav SinghNo Comments

London

The Memory of Water – Hampstead Theatre

English playwright Shelagh Stephenson’s comedy returns to the Hampstead Theatre, where it was first staged in 1996, in a new revival directed by Alice Hamilton. The play deals with themes of grief and remembrance told through conversations between three sisters (and their partners) in the aftermath of their aged mother Vi’s death. Between managing the arrangements for the funeral and coming to terms with the reality of their mother’s demise, the sisters, namely Teresa, Catherine and Mary, begin to unpack incidents and conversations from the past. These “fleeting” strolls down memory lane are neither pleasant nor particularly therapeutic, for their confronted by personal demons and shared resentments they’ve held on to for far too long. The tension between them is characterized by the dysfu...

12Sep

By Gaurav SinghNo Comments

London

The Duration – Omnibus Theatre

“You will not be punished for your anger; you will be punished by your anger” The printed program for Bruce Graham’s The Duration carries this simple yet moving quote by the Buddha that foreshadows what’s in store at the Omnibus Theatre that evening. Set in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks in the United States, Graham’s play explores the legacy of the devastating incident through the lens of a family trying to come to terms with their loss and anger. The show commemorates the 20th anniversary of the incident, at a time when there has been a resurgence in interest in the geopolitical scenario of Afghanistan. With the Taliban overthrowing the elected government last month, there is a renewed criticism of the US government’s reaction in the years that followed the bombing, tracing...