London Archives - Page 23 of 181

23Apr

By Klervi GavetNo Comments

London

Nayatt School Redux – Coronet Theatre

I once described a Wooster Group production to a prospective theatre date as a “massage for the brain”. She was intrigued and tagged along. She and her hyper-rational brain then spent two hours beside me in quiet agony. Six years later, I texted her to say I was giving them another try, joking there might be a plot this time. She did not ask for a ticket. Probably for the best. Nayatt School Redux by the Wooster Group is less a play than a controlled act of disorientation. Conceived as a reconstruction of a partially lost 1978 production, giving center stage to T. S. Eliot’s The Cocktail Party, it embraces fragmentation as both method and message. It begins with Kate Valk, a long-time Wooster Group member and deadpan narrator, who delivers an avalanche of archival detail about the or...

23Apr

By Olivia CoxNo Comments

London

The Waves – Jermyn Street Theatre

Virginia Woolf’s poetic, genre-resistent novel The Waves might not feel like an obvious candidate for a theatrical adaptation, but Flora Wilson Brown takes on the challenge with aplomb in this excellent new production at Jermyn Street Theatre. Director Júlia Levai reimagines the lives of friends Rhoda, Bernard, Susan, Neville, Jinny, and Louis in a loosely ambiguous time period, set against Tomás Palmer’s stark, metallic set design that becomes etched with the sextuplet’s memories — both literally and figuratively. Costume Designer Annett Black initially has the characters dressed in white t-shirts emblazoned with their names, which they shed as they grow up and into themselves, trying to discover who they are while also acknowledging the extent to which they are the sum of their experi...

Showstopper! The Improvised Musical – Cambridge Theatre

22Apr

By Zain RussellNo Comments

London

Showstopper! The Improvised Musical – Cambridge Theatre

Seeing Showstopper! The Improvised Musical at London West End Theatre might not immediately sound like a must-see. An entirely improvised musical? It could easily seem like a gimmick. But in reality, it’s an absolute triumph of creativity, talent, and quick-thinking, you are genuinely in for a treat. The performance begins with Dylan Emery playing the role of a writer tasked with creating a brand-new musical from scratch in just two hours. From the outset, the audience becomes a central part of the process. We’re invited to shout out ideas for the theme of the show, with suggestions ranging from “White Lotus” to “crisps escaping from a bag” to “a dysfunctional parents’ evening.” After narrowing down the options, the audience votes by cheering, and the winning theme, on this occasion, “d...

Channel Surfing at The End of Days – Hen & Chickens

22Apr

By Charles PipeNo Comments

London

Channel Surfing at The End of Days – Hen & Chickens

CHANNEL SURFING AT THE END OF DAYS, written and directed by Callum Pardoe, takes the form of a series of short vignettes – glimpses into people’s lives in the moments before the world instantaneously and unexpectedly ends. Pardoe’s script excels at depicting the unusual, mysterious, and supernatural. A woman is tasked by an unsettling being to deliver an ancient letter to a private investigator. A grieving father is tormented by a beastly entity. Two brothers bicker about whether or not to contact their dead parents via séance. Pardoe demonstrates an excellent ability to build intrigue and suspense. These vignettes perfectly balance comedy and pathos along with a growing sense of dread, and the effect is gripping. By contrast, the more mundane scenes of everyday life somewhat fal...

22Apr

By Olivia CoxNo Comments

London

Managed Approach – Riverside Studios

Holbeck, Leeds made headlines in 2014 after the local government launched a trial initiative to decriminalise and regulate the sex work industry. The scheme, known as the “managed approach”, ultimately lasted until 2020, and Jules Coyle’s play of the same name explores the programme’s impact on the women and girls living in the area at the time, including those working within the initiative. A semi-verbatim piece, Mangaged Approach threads the stories and experiences of a number of sex workers (played in turn by Áine McNamara and H Sneyd) through a central storyline about 18-year-old Abbie (Coyle) and her mother Kate (Eanna Ferguson), with the managed approach stirring up new tensions between the pair as they debate whether or not the scheme is truly protecting women. It’s immensely ...

17Apr

By Zain RussellNo Comments

London

Avenue Q – Shaftesbury Theatre

Avenue Q returns to the West End for a new run, and it absolutely delivers. Hilarious, sharp, and surprisingly heartfelt, it’s often described as Sesame Street for adults, and that comparison feels spot on. From the moment the curtain rises, the bright set, puppetry, and use of screens give the impression of a cheerful children’s TV show, making the show’s more risqué humour land even harder. The story follows Princeton, played and puppeteered by Noah Harrison, a recent graduate trying to figure out life after university. Armed with a degree but no job, money, or clear direction, he arrives on Avenue Q in search of purpose, and somewhere affordable to live. It’s an instantly relatable premise, and the show cleverly uses its eccentric characters to explore themes of adulthood, identity, ...

16Apr

By Dave SmithNo Comments

London

Single White Female – Richmond Theatre

Ostensibly based on the early 90s erotic thriller of the same name, Single White Female really only takes on the idea of a disturbed stalker moving in and disrupting lives. It updates the setting to take on social media, photoshop and school bullying. There isn’t really much to do with the original film, vast swatches of the plot removed, new pieces added and a dramatically different ending. Faced with a sudden drop in finances, Allie (Lisa Faulkner), and her 15-year-old daughter Bella (Amy Snudden) take in a lodger, Hedda (Kym Marsh) in their new apartment. As Hedda settles in, it becomes clear - she thinks of herself as more than a lodger and oversteps boundaries, first tentatively then increasingly inserting herself into every aspect of their world. The suggestion that He...

14Apr

By Stewart Who?No Comments

London

Iphigenia – Arcola Theatre

Iphigenia in Aulis was first staged, alongside the Bacchae and the Alcmaeon, at the Great Dionysia in 405 B.C. It premiered shortly after Euripides' death. It’s likely that Euripides' son (or nephew) took the reins and staged the play. Nepotism was as rife in showbiz thousands of years ago as it is today. Rather like the Bible, the original text remains an object of debate. It was probably incomplete when the playwright died. Scholars remain in a schism over what was added posthumously, by whom and for what reason. Adapted and directed by Serdar Biliş, Arcola Theatre’s Iphigenia uses Stephen Sharkey’s English take on the play. It dramatizes the myth regarding the sacrifice of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra's daughter Iphigenia. Why would a father slaughter his daughter? Well, the Greeks nee...

RH and Friends – Hoopla 20th Anniversary

13Apr

By Charlotte MansfieldNo Comments

London

RH and Friends – Hoopla 20th Anniversary

Hoopla improv comedy club is turning 20 this Spring, and celebrating with a packed programme of improv shows. RH & Friends launched the anniversary celebrations last night, performing to an enthusiastic, sold-out audience. The Friends part of the title on this occasion consisted of two improv groups: relative newcomers, Not a Cult, who met doing classes at Hoopla; and the more experienced Valkyrie. In the first half of the show, these groups made up short scenes based around suggestions from the audience. We learned that it's important to have your chakras aligned before you take off in a space shuttle, and demons are responsible for Ryanair baggage fees. The experience of Valkyrie was clear in their adoption of different characters, but the Not a Cult performers had some clever...

13Apr

By Kira DanielsNo Comments

London

Carmen – Richmond Theatre

Carlos Acosta’s Carmen isn’t the opera you know but you’ll recognize the music. Extremely danceable and performed by a highly competent company, Bizet’s famous score is in this case prerecorded and piped in to the Richmond Theatre offering a curious mixture of ecstatic dance and rather quiet song to theatregoers. Adria Díaz as Carmen and Alexander Arias as Don José both rise to the occasion and their dancing chemistry powers this performance forward with compelling turns by Paul Brando as Bull and Brandy Martínez as Zúñiga to compliment the molten core of sensuality at the heart of this piece. Music by George Bizet and arrangement by Rodión Schedrin is interspersed with additional music by Martin Yates, Yhovani Duarte and Denis Paralta fairly seemlessly. Set and costumes by Tim H...