London Archives - Page 24 of 150

Application 39 (For The 2048 Gaza Summer Olympics) – Shubbak Festival

30May

By Anisha PucadyilNo Comments

London

Application 39 (For The 2048 Gaza Summer Olympics) – Shubbak Festival

Application 39 invites you; to witness, to weep and to hope. Written by Ahmed Masoud supported with an absolutely fabulous cast of Sara Masry, Sama Rantisi, Joe Haddad. With its tightrope balancing act of rooting in reality while developing wings for at least our collective imagination to fly. The punchy dialogue, razor sharp satire and moving light/ sound choices make this a piece of theatre that will stay in the depth of your bones forever. Set in Gaza in 2048, where being herded by flying talking robots is normal, two young IT professionals reformat France’s application to host the olympics and suggest Gaza. What follows is not only reliving of the ghosts of the many buried past, the decisions affecting so many futures. The play is a treatise to the most forgotten collateral damag...

Return to Palestine: Freedom Theatre – Shubbak Festival

30May

By Anisha PucadyilNo Comments

London

Return to Palestine: Freedom Theatre – Shubbak Festival

Freedom Theatre’s reputation precedes its arrival in London. Holding a bastion for young adults in the heart of Gaza with theatre tools. It held pastoral care for the young adults and a treatise to the spirit of Gaza. Connected deeply to one’s soil, produce, relationships and people it makes one wonder, about one’s own ‘homecoming’ and deeper connection of belonging to the land one is born in. During the pandemic Playback theatre was a stepping stone for many to find artistry, expression and community as the world shut down. I learnt about the Freedom bus from Ben Rivers, one of the co- founders. I celebrated Freedom Theatre hosting the Feminist Theatre Festival in September 2023 just before all hell broke loose. Return to Palestine is directed by Micaela Miranda and devised together wi...

This Is Not a Murder Mystery – Drayton Arms Theatre

29May

By Zain RussellNo Comments

London

This Is Not a Murder Mystery – Drayton Arms Theatre

This Is Not a Murder Mystery is a sharply written and tightly directed comedy-thriller by Peter Rae, performed in the intimate upstairs theatre above the charming Drayton Arms pub. With direction by Helen Bang—who also stars as the whimsical, scene-stealing Elizabeth Treasure—this fast-paced production delivers an evening full of energy, cleverness, and an unexpected twist. Set entirely in a regional theatre’s dressing room on the opening night of a fictional murder mystery, the play cleverly blurs the lines between backstage drama and on-stage intrigue. From the moment the lights go up, we’re immersed in a chaotic, hilarious, and occasionally poignant world of ageing actresses, youthful optimism, and theatrical egos. Helen Bang, Rosalind Blessed, and Laura Morgan have an infectious ...

29May

By Carole GordonNo Comments

London

Marriage Material – Lyric Hammersmith

The clash of cultures is a tale as old as time. Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti's adaptation of Sathnam Sanghera's novel, itself a take on Arnold Bennett's 1908 "The Old Wives' Tale", focuses on the conflict between tradition and change within a Sikh Punjabi family in the 1960s and over the following decades. Family and cultural expectations demand that sisters Kamaljit and Surinder marry, have children, and work in the family business, the corner shop that forms the centrepiece of the story. Their mother juggles the demands of the family, managing the shop after her husband falls ill while fending off suggestions from "Uncle" Dhandra, a more successful shop-owner, that she sell the shop to him. She's a firm, sometimes even cruel matriarch, determined like her sick husband to make a better life for h...

29May

By Sadie PearsonNo Comments

London

House of Life – Soho Theatre

Mad, glitzy and totally camp, what a glorious night of theatre House of Life is. A silly show with heaps of heart, The Raverend (Ben Welch) and Trev (Laurence Cole) take their audience on a journey of joyous enlightenment through a 6 step plan to get happy quick. Mad as a concept, the performance is less of a story and more of a cabaret-come-religious-experience, with glorious concoction of house, gospel and a cracking set of pipes (the Raverend in particular knocking it out the park vocally every time). Attacking the audience's insecurities with mantras of radical self love, honesty and community, House of Life’s great success is that it leaves no audience member un-nurtured. Chickens often the theme - an unsubtle metaphor for rebirth - we are offered egg-maracas (as well as f...

Radiant Boy: A Haunting – Southwark Playhouse Borough

26May

By Ben PearsonNo Comments

London

Radiant Boy: A Haunting – Southwark Playhouse Borough

Radiant Boy is a unique, evocative, and intensely personal play that explores a young man’s relationship with his mother, his sexuality, and his faith. Russell has returned home after a ‘sickness’ prevented him from continuing his singing training in London. Unsure of how else to help Russell, his mother Maud has called a Priest who specialises in supernatural occurrences. Part kitchen-sink drama, part Exorcist style horror, Nancy Netherwood’s script effortlessly moves from understated but heartfelt conversations between a mother and son one moment and a dramatic exorcism the next. Her use of music, particularly traditional folk and New Wave, not only add to the atmosphere of the play but also embody Russell’s internal struggle. As Netherwood says in her Playwright’s note, folk and New Wav...

25May

By Anisha PucadyilNo Comments

London

Little Brother – Jermyn Street Theatre

The Jermyn Street Theatre is known for its office winning productions is tucked away in the corner of the prestigious west end boulevard in central London. It has a neat line up of programs like creative associates supporting early career under represented theatre makers and women in Theatre lab. ‘Little Brother’ retraces the steps of adolescent Ibrahima Balde searching for his younger brother in Libya. The book on which the play is based, began with the conversations Ibrahima had with Amets Arzallus Antia, while seeking asylum. Youness Bouzinab, Blair Gyabaah, Whitney Kehinde, Ivan Oyik and Mo Sesay recreate memorable plethora of characters that young 11-year-old meets. Special mention to the innocence, grief and honesty captured by Blair Gyabaah. In his recreation of wide eyed ...

Shucked – Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre

22May

By Gemma PrinceNo Comments

London

Shucked – Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre

Tony Award-winning musical comedy Shucked has officially kicked off Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre’s 2025 summer season with its highly anticipated UK premier. The question on everyone’s lips, will such an American show be enjoyed by a UK audience? Set in the fictional Cob County, Shucked tells the story of young couple Maizy and Beau as they prepare to get hitched; however, crisis strikes when the town’s much-loved corn begins to die off. Maizy sets off on the adventure of a lifetime when she heads to Tampa in search of help and meets smooth-talking Gordy (Matthew Seadon-Young), who seemingly offers the solution to all their problems. Will Maizy bring back the close-knit town’s happily ever after? Indeed, Shucked is a musical that revolves around corn, yet Robert Horn’s clever writing ...

The Crucible – Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre

22May

By Zain RussellNo Comments

London

The Crucible – Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre

The Crucible, written by the extraordinary Arthur Miller, remains a powerful examination of mass hysteria, moral panic, and how fragile truth becomes in a climate of fear. At Shakespeare’s Globe, the play is given fresh urgency in a setting that amplifies both its historical weight and its emotional resonance. The Globe Theatre itself enhances the drama. Watching a performance in this open-air venue, with its wooden balconies and standing pit, is a unique and deeply atmospheric experience. The historical design transports you to another era, which makes The Crucible—though written in the 20th century—feel like a natural fit. The architecture reinforces the themes of scrutiny, public shame, and isolation. Set in 1692 Salem, the play dramatises a society tearing itself apart over accus...

21May

By Savitha VenugopalNo Comments

London

The Mikado – Drayton Arms Theatre

One presumes it is no easy task to reimagine a classic from a time long gone for an audience of today. Preserving its original form could horrify modern sensibilities; washing the script in political correctness would strip it of its essence. What does one do? Forbear Theatre does a refreshing job of giving comic operetta The Mikado a new look. With a few tweaks, it dusts off the exoticism and stereotypes of the original, while preserving the wit and the tension, the topsy-turviness that the creators intended. Photo: Jon Lo Photography Deviating from the original setting of Japan, this new iteration takes place in the fantasy land of Pa’gæn, populated with woodland creatures, elves, and mages. The names are no longer Far-Eastern either. Rather, according to the director’s note, th...