Ralph Jeffreys, Author at North West End UK

16Nov

By Ralph JeffreysNo Comments

London

L’Indiscipline – Theatro Technis

L’Indiscipline is a mad show full of creativity and promise and an exemplar of what fringe theatre is all about. The play focuses on the Salpetriere hospital and its celebrity doctor Jean-Martin Charcot. We begin in a lecture, ourselves as the audience, as Charcot and his assistant Gilles demonstrate their various patients, turning their mental disorders into a psuedo-scientific circus show. Their star patient however, a ‘hysteric’ called Louise Gliezes, has disappeared. Gradually, clues are fed to us that this disappearance might not be temporary: a blood stain, a stolen car, a missing gun. From here the control of the two doctors unravels as they try and work out what is going on, all while trying to control their patients and maintain a calm image for us, their lecture audience. A...

Radio Live: Next Generation – Battersea Arts Centre

13Oct

By Ralph JeffreysNo Comments

London

Radio Live: Next Generation – Battersea Arts Centre

Radio Live: Next Generation is not really a play, nor does it claim to be. It is something else altogether. Over two hours, Aurélie Charon speaks to two interviewees: Oksana Leuta, from Ukraine, and Amir Hassan, from Gaza. They recount stories of their childhood, their families and their communities. Then they tell us about the wars that have disrupted all of these things. It is an even-paced few hours in the theatre, never really seeking to grab you, but never lagging either. Whether the memory being discussed is extreme or more every day, it is approached in a similar fashion, with Charon asking her questions simply. Crucially, the focus of the interview is entirely on the experiences of Hassan and Leuta. The politics of the play are thus firmly grounded in the personal. This is th...

24Aug

By Ralph JeffreysNo Comments

London

81 (Life) – Almeida Theatre

81 (Life) is an interesting experiment with a lot of heart, lacking in the structure and drive to make it fly. 81 (Life) is part of a set of community plays designed to examine what it means to be a part of Islington’s community. This installation follows a group of Islington residents (played a cast of 60 local participants) as a semi-secret group called ‘The Forum’ develops within their community. With them, we set out to explore the plays central questions of life: How to begin, how to join, how to choose and how to let go. The first two of these come through the story of Anya. After her friend Happy decides that she has become bored of their regular TV Tuesday nights and needs a break, she finds herself suddenly alone. In steps The Forum, magically appearing in her living room and e...

9Aug

By Ralph JeffreysNo Comments

London

Every Brilliant Thing – @sohoplace

Every Brilliant Thing is a sweet, but ultimately flawed, play about depression, suicide and trying to get on with life. Stemming originally from a monologue written by Duncan Macmillan and developed with co-author Jonny Donahoe, the play is about a child dealing with their mother’s suicidal depression by creating a list of all the brilliant things that make life worth living. As the character grows older, the list takes on new meanings as they deal with their own depression. The show is at its best when its performer, Lenny Henry, is left to do crowd work, finding lots of humour in the script and playing the room brilliantly. The text frequently calls for audience members to play key characters in our protagonist’s life: his dad, the vet who put his dog down, his first love, Sam. Hen...

26Jun

By Ralph JeffreysNo Comments

London

Orpheus Descending – The Cockpit

Orpheus Descending is a difficult and unwieldy play in which the creative team and especially the cast of this production do an excellent job of infusing with serious energy and inventiveness. Orpheus Descending is another of Tennessee Williams plays set in small town USA examining the knotty and repressed relationships of its residents. Mostly we follow the story of Val Xavier (Johnathan Aarons), an outsider with a sordid past who is trying to make a new life for himself. He is quickly drawn into the maelstrom of the town. He is pursued by Carol Cutrere (Daisy Hargreaves), the town’s own scandal, who both wants him romantically and is trying to warn him of the potential danger he is in. Soon, however, Val is falling in love with Lady Torrance (Madison Coppola), the daughter of an I...

20Jun

By Ralph JeffreysNo Comments

London

4.48 Psychosis – Royal Court

‘At 4.48 when depression visits, I shall hang myself to my lover’s breathing’. Sarah Kane’s 4.48 Psychosis contains many lines like the one above that simply go through you. The play is a beautiful and terrifying exploration of the pain, anguish, despair, boredom and paralysis that accompany someone thinking of killing themselves. The work has an obvious resonance because it is Kane’s last before her own suicide, but the quality of the writing is such that it would be wrong to say that this is why the play is so impactful. Kane mixes honest, brutal statements with poetic, even biblical passages; lucid descriptions of a prescription with strange lists of numbers and staccato strings of words ‘flicker, punch, slash, dab, wring, press, burn, slash’. It is a startling piece of writing, w...

A Small Enclosed Room with Alfie Murphy – Soho Theatre

15May

By Ralph JeffreysNo Comments

London

A Small Enclosed Room with Alfie Murphy – Soho Theatre

A Small Enclosed Room With Alfie Murphy is a unique and funny show that sometimes struggles to deliver on its strong themes and ideas. We begin as a one-man style show. Alfie confides in us about his life, telling us about his band ‘The Camden Stoners’ and the struggles he has with his more sociable, but rather shallow bandmate Jai. From the moment our other performer, Anna Constable, puts her head through the curtain (as Alfie’s ghostwriter dressed as a ghost), the show moves at lightning speed. Alfie falls out hard with Jai, travels to India to lose become a guru, and suddenly finds himself thrown into a particularly aggressive talk show interview before the fourth wall comes crashing down as Constable begins to object to all the costumes and roles, she is forced to put on in order to...

17Apr

By Ralph JeffreysNo Comments

London

Ghosts – Lyric Hammersmith

Ibsen’s Ghosts is a serious challenge for anyone to update and adapt. This production falls unfortunately short of meeting that challenge, despite some bright moments. We follow a rich family of mother, Helena, and her difficult son, Oz, as they prepare for the grand opening of a children’s hospital using the money of Carl, Helena’s recently deceased husband. All this is complicated by the presence of Andersen, a lawyer helping to launch the hospital and an old flame of Helena, and Reggie and Jacob, who have worked for Helena and her family for a long time. Soon, all of the buried skeletons come out of the closet, and there is manipulation, suicide threats, and incest. Sadly, where Ibsen’s original is a masterpiece of writing, Gary Owen’s update is not of the same ilk. His adaptation...

15Apr

By Ralph JeffreysNo Comments

London

Heisenberg – Arcola Theatre

A brilliant production, Heisenberg is a reimagining of Simon Stephen’s excellent play about relationships and their inherent uncertainty. Portrayed for the first time as a relationship between two women, we follow seventy-five-year-old Alex and the much younger Georgie in a story of an unlikely relationship that all begins when Georgie unexpectedly plants a kiss on Alex’s neck in the middle of a train station. The quality of Simon Stephen’s writing is superb. His characterisation is full of knotty complexity and his dialogue is expert at pulling out all of the tensions between Alex and Georgie. For example, Stephens plays with the form of the characters’ conversations to show us who is in control, who is driving, who is comfortable, and who is not. Thus, it is Georgie who does most of t...

The Play’s The Thing – Wilton’s Music Hall

9Apr

By Ralph JeffreysNo Comments

London

The Play’s The Thing – Wilton’s Music Hall

Mark Lockyer’s The Play's The Thing is a completely exhilarating performance, and an incredibly impactful version of Shakespeare’s classic. A one-person Hamlet is a serious challenge to any actor and has become something of a byword for something you should probably give a miss. Do not miss this one. Mark Lockyer is a truly singular actor, and probably one of the few whose inventiveness, energy, and total command of the language allows for this incredible feat to come off so perfectly. Taking us through director Fiona Laird’s very cleverly abridged version of the play, Locker utilises deft characterisation to bring the cast of characters to us. There are subtle changes in voice, and neat, repeated gestures and mannerisms that make the complex task of following an actor switching ...