London Archives - Page 14 of 111

30May

By Olivia CoxNo Comments

London

Strategic Love Play – Soho Theatre

Two singletons walk into a bar, ready for (at least) a polite two drinks’ worth of getting-to-know-you chatter with a person they’ve never met outside the confines of their phone screen. What could go wrong? The dating app-induced first date is a scene many of us are all too familiar with, and it sets up the premise of Miriam Battye’s Strategic Love Play, currently playing at Soho Theatre until 15th June. We join the two characters — simply referred to as Woman (Letty Thomas) and Man (Archie Backhouse) — at their first meeting, and it’s abundantly clear from the get-go that they’re not on the same wavelength. While Man seems content exchanging bumbling pleasantries that avoid any risk of a genuinely enlightening conversation, Woman is bitingly honest and desperate to dig deeper....

30May

By Zain RussellNo Comments

London

Fabulous Creatures – Arcola Theatre

“We used to kill, but now we cabaret!” “Fabulous Creatures,” written by Quentin Beroud and Emily Louizou, showcases creatures of Greek mythology in a captivating and unique setting. The story begins in a cabaret club where the monstresses welcome and seduce the audience members with their enchanting songs. The trio at the heart of the show includes Scylla, Charybdis, and a Siren. The narrative interweaves various Greek myths, mentioning a range of other creatures and Gods. The music, enticing from the start, features a variety of styles from ballads to disco pop and even rap, effectively moving the story along. Jazz Jenkins, who plays the Siren, particularly stands out with a stunning singing voice. The performance is set in one act and progresses quickly, transitioning from the caba...

The Secret Diary of Henry VIII – Eastbury Manor

27May

By Kira DanielsNo Comments

London

The Secret Diary of Henry VIII – Eastbury Manor

Come rain or shine. Bring a chair, a picnic blanket, or a picnic for that matter. There’s merry fooling to be had, mellifluous music to be heard, and a manicured lawn to lounge on. This relaxed staging of theatrical farce is anything but languorous. With frenetic pacing to match the attention span of even the most distractible of children and a host of characters frenzied enough to drive parents to distraction, Three Inch Fools’ The Secret Diary of Henry VIII pulls off a difficult balancing act of consistently holding audience’s attention without ever demanding or begging it. Gently cradled in the charming back garden of the only moderately grandiose Eastbury Manor House, audiences are engaged without ostentation and entertained without overwhelming. The rapport between performer and au...

26May

By Anisha PucadyilNo Comments

London

The Windrush Warriors – Theatre Peckham

The Windrush Warriors begins its 25-date tour of the UK. Written by and starring Nicola Gardner, who appears as receptionist and narrator, regales us with tales of time gone by. She is joined by Sisters Johnson and Richards and Brother Leroy and Myers recreating for us banter that is equal measures funny and familiar and parts offensive. Ribbed with wordplay, it is refreshing to see senior women express their sexual wants and needs at centre stage. It's essential and fun to witness the yearning, curiosity and playfulness they embody. The characters are all familiar, which adds to their charm, and one would imagine that the rehearsals were a riot! However, widespread and outdated tropes make the jokes fall short like a fizzy drink without its fizz. The play does have several moments of good...

23May

By Kira DanielsNo Comments

London

Lady Dealer – Bush Theatre

Business is booming. Bass is thumping. Charly’s heart is beating a little too fast, the world is spinning a little too quickly, and someone might be getting sick on the carpet any second now. In this production of Lady Dealer by Martha Watson Allpress, the explosive Alexa Davies plays Charly, the “Lady Dealer” breaking the greenhouse ceiling on feminist drug dealing. A whip smart and poetically eloquent but socially stunted and economically frustrated young woman cusping millennial and gen z identities, Charly is a dynamo in bed rot. Jasmine Araujo’s costume design is convincingly sloppy and effectively evocative of an era of isolation all too familiar to us all. The “Lady Dealer” is not a covid avoidant recluse, but her lifestyle will be comprehensible to anyone who at one point...

22May

By Anisha PucadyilNo Comments

London

Surfacing – Omnibus Theatre

A heartwarming starlit production. Surreal, evocative and empathetic Surfacing's preview run was an Evening Standard Top Pick of VAULT and earned it an Origins Award nomination, and it's previously been shortlisted for New Diorama Theatre's Untapped Award. The ASYLUM Arts is a company focused on improving the representation of neurodiversity and disability in the arts. Founded by Stephen Bailey in 2021, ASYLUM produces work, delivers training on neurodiverse inclusion and reinvests its profits in training for early-career disabled and neurodivergent practitioners. ASYLUM is a Barbican Open Lab resident company and was shortlisted for New Diorama's Untapped Award 2022. The show centers the story of neurodivergents / mental health experiences navigating a maze of a system that sounds l...

22May

By Klervi GavetNo Comments

London

The Great Privation – Theatre503

Shortlisted for the 2023 Theatre503’s International Playwriting Award, “The Great Privation” is a generous play filled with wit, vivid characters, and clever observations on systemic inequalities and the generational gap in African American experiences, which under Kalungi Ssebandeke’s direction sometimes lacks a little risk and finesse. Reminiscent of Bruce Norris' "Clybourne Park," this UK debut play for Harlem playwright Nia Akilah Robinson navigates a dual timeline in Philadelphia: one in 1832 in an African Baptist Church’s graveyard, the other in modern times at a cabin behind the same burial site. The story centres around Missy Freeman (Sydney Sainté) and her daughter Charity (Christie Fewry), who, in 1832, pray at the tomb of Moses, their husband and father, victim of a recent...

22May

By Khushboo ShahNo Comments

London

Passing Strange – Young Vic

If there was a list of stories that amaze and bewilder you, and make you feel a tad regretful of the decisions you made as a teenager that led you to your adult-self, Passing Strange would certainly make the cut. Originally directed by Annie Dorsen, the Tony Award-winning rock musical from Broadway makes its premiere on European soil at the Young Vic, burning the stage with electrifying music, wild performances, and a bold and quintessential coming-of-stage story. Passing Strange follows the narrative of Youth (Keenan Munn-Francis) who lives with his mother in a comfortable, laid-back, Churchish black household in LA in the seventies, where he is coaxed to attend the Church. While he fails to find God, he certainly discovers his tribe and a chance at making music, the only way he seems ...

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang – New Wimbledon Theatre

22May

By Michelle KnightNo Comments

London

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang – New Wimbledon Theatre

The show opened in a blast of action, the headlights of racing cars zooming along, celebrating winners and fearing the losers, moving swiftly to a scene of an old disused car abandoned in Coggins yard. The children, Jemima played by Gracie Cochrane and Jeremy, Roshan Thomson were true to the likeness of the original children in Flemings’ book and it was not long before Truly Scrumptious played by Ellie Nunn and Caractacus Potts Adam Garcia appeared, to the delight of the audience. The puppeteers controlled the dogs seamlessly and interacted well with the actors providing an air of artistic flare, especially during the scenes of mayhem in Lord Scrumptious sweet factory. Grandpa Potts played by Liam Fox together with Ellie and Adam’s performances were true to the original screenplay cast whi...

21May

By Paul AckroydNo Comments

London

The Book of Grace – Arcola Theatre

This is an outstanding production of a gripping drama, written by Pulitzer Prize winner Suzan-Lori Parks in 2009. The Arcola Theatre presents the UK premiere of a revised version, with an all-black cast. The play tells the story of Vet and his second wife Grace who live on the Texas Mexico border. They receive a visit from Vet's son Buddy, who has been away and out of contact for 15 years. He has returned for his father's award ceremony, recognition for his single-handedly having detained a large group of illegal migrants on the border. The border runs through Vet's life: he is a very proud member of the border force, his house is within sight of the border fence and he has a live stream of the fence playing in his house. Borders generally are very important to Vet,...