London Archives - Page 28 of 111

20Jan

By Kira DanielsNo Comments

London

Indestructible – Omnibus Theatre

Okay or not okay? Michael Jackson, Pablo Picasso, Kanye West… Who do we hold accountable? And how? Who even actually has this power that we’re supposed to be speaking truth to anyway? This ballsy production not only asks but demands answers to these questions. Written and directed by Proteus’s Artistic Director, Mary Swan, Indestructible is an unflinching examination of nauseatingly complex, and just plain nauseating, interplay between gender and power in the contemporary art world. Richly situated in a digital world built by the production team and multi-disciplinary artist Paula Varjack contextualizing all of the plays' imagined characters in an all too familiarly problematic alternate reality, this show offers audiences a non-traditionally immersive theatrical experience. The plot fo...

19Jan

By Paul AckroydNo Comments

London

Kindred – Brockley Jack

This new play by Amee Walker-Reid is a journey through one tumultuous week in the lives of a young couple, Lois and Matt, as they look forward to their wedding at the end of the week. As the play starts, they have just returned from Matt's father's funeral, which was a disturbing event due to the ongoing animosities within his family. During the week, they also have to attend Lois's sister's divorce party. This would be enough for most stable couples to cope with, but Matt suffers from a fairly severe psychotic illness which he is struggling to manage, and Lois is reaching the end of her tether trying to help and support him. Thus, this is a fairly angst laden 60 minutes of theatre. There was a lot of swearing, shouting and some physical violence, with just moments of tenderness s...

18Jan

By Alice RoseNo Comments

London

Cowbois – Royal Court

This is my desert island show. It’s only January and I’ve discovered the best play of 2024. Charlie Josephine (writer and co-director) finds a very welcoming new home in the Royal Court after their run before Christmas in Stratford-upon-Avon. We explore the Wild West, a struggling town after the ‘husbands’ of the town go off in search for gold and more supplies. The ‘Wives’ are left waiting but in hearing news of a nearby explosion, hold no hope in their return. Miss Lillian (Sophie Melville) holds the bar while her husband is away- praying every morning for his return when news of the famous criminal ‘Jack’ (Vinnie Heaven) is on route to town. What unfolds is a beautiful release between two people finding their joy, passion and reason to feeling happy and being alive. This town is t...

12Jan

By Stewart Who?No Comments

London

Exhibitionists – King’s Head Theatre

The King’s Head Theatre holds a special place in my heart, as it was the scene of my first ever written review. In 1986, as coursework for my Drama ‘O’ Level, I travelled from the depths of sleepy Surrey to lively Islington for an experimental interpretation of Jean-Paul Sartre’s No Exit. The production was less memorable than the concept of being squidged in a room at the back of a pub with an audience brought together by existential angst. I’d not only found my people, but learned that theatre could be uncomfortably intimate, messy and weird. In 2015, I played a sexual health and drugs counsellor, in a production of The Clinic at The King’s Head. My character was based on renowned ‘chemsex’ expert David Stuart (RIP) who was also one of the show’s producers. It was a thrill to perform ...

12Jan

By Kira DanielsNo Comments

London

Swan Lake – Richmond Theatre

The brand new (2023 founded) Mergaliev Classical Ballet brings to Richmond’s now 125-year-old theatre a tame and traditional rendition of the tragic classic best suited for young audiences. Swan Lake is one of the dance world’s most famous ballets and for good reason. Tchaikovsky’s score is compelling and engaging and the story is simple and accessible. It follows Prince Siegfried (Azamat Askarov), a young man upon whom tragedy suddenly strikes. Urged to choose a bride he spurns the seductive court and ambles into the woods alone. Followed into the woods by the ominous and treacherous sorcerer Rothbart (Jackson Stewart), whose menacing musical motif is no less satisfying for its ubiquity, Siegfried is shocked to discover that the swans he hoped to spear are in fact beautiful maidens tem...

The Enfield Haunting – Ambassadors Theatre

11Jan

By Maani WayNo Comments

London

The Enfield Haunting – Ambassadors Theatre

Based on a true story in 1978, Catherine Tate stars alongside David Threlfall as Peggy Hodgson, a single mother who is desperate to protect her three children from an unknown source that is incomprehensible and deeply disturbing. Written by Paul Unwin, this new, supernatural and paranormal play is based on the first-hand accounts of one of the ghost hunters from the true story in 1978. The Hodgsons, once a normal family from North London, were subject to the movements of a terrifying poltergeist in the summer of 1977. When furniture and toys began mysteriously moving on their own accord, and the family’s behaviour started changing, the Hodgsons found themselves the subject of supernatural torture for eighteen months, becoming one of the most famous poltergeist events worldwide. One o...

10Jan

By Carole GordonNo Comments

London

The Unfriend – Wyndham’s Theatre

We've all done it - you're on holiday, you're relaxed, you meet a fellow tourist and strike up a vacation-friendship. You say, "We must keep in touch", even exchange contact details without ever really meaning anything other than "Goodbye" and never really wanting to see that person again. Maybe you exchange Christmas cards but nothing more. It's part of the British psyche to avoid appearing even a little impolite, so you will do everything to escape a hint of awkwardness or embarrassment. Thus, when Peter and Debbie meet ebullient far-right-wing American, the Trump-supporting Elsa Jean Krakowski, on a cruise and she invites them to visit her in Denver, they reluctantly give her their email address. A few weeks later she's manipulated them into letting her stay for a few days and she turns...

The Motive and The Cue – Noël Coward Theatre

23Dec

By Stewart Who?No Comments

London

The Motive and The Cue – Noël Coward Theatre

The Motive and the Cue takes a moment in theatrical history that might only appeal to academics or utter luvvies and transforms it into a gripping meditation on fame, ego, art and the power of the stage. The play is a multi-dimensional window onto a 1964 Broadway production of Hamlet, directed by Sir John Gielgud and starring Richard Burton. The personal dynamics between the two actors were at best complex and often toxic. Burton was a global star of stage and screen, at the peak of his career when he asked Gielgud to direct him. Gielgud’s star was on the wane, rendered unfashionable by 1960s modernism and experimental performance. Jack Thorne’s writing is sharp, witty and peppered with metaphors. What makes this show so thrilling to watch is that a tight and clever script is in t...

18Dec

By Jennifer LaishleyNo Comments

London

Stranger Sings – Southwark Playhouse

Stranger Sings bursts back onto stage at the Southwark Playhouse this winter. This is an incredibly funny spoof of Netflix favourite Stranger Things that promises audiences a night of adventure, musical ear worms and non-stop laughter! This cast of incredibly talented performers use their captivating energy and beautifully blended voices to make this a musical that you will want to see over and over. Stranger Sings returns to the Southwark Playhouse for a second run, after a sell-out season in the vaults last Christmas and a tour around the country that has excited audiences night after night. Jonathan House’s script is a love letter to the 80s, with lots of musical theatre jokes that are entertaining if you’ve not managed to binge the Netflix series before seeing the show. The songs ar...

14Dec

By Paul AckroydNo Comments

London

Ulster American – Riverside Studios

A play about an American actor and English director and an Irish playwright sounds like the combination of two rather bad bar jokes but that is what David Ireland’s play Ulster American presents. While it might have been expected to be about the legitimate differences in the creative process between actors, writers and directors. In fact, it was a conflict between three rather implausible characters. Jay Conway, played by Woody Harrelson, is the American actor, with a glittering Hollywood career behind him. He has a great sense of his own importance and of being right even when he is clearly in the wrong. He carries his Oscar around with him to remind himself, and others of his omnipotence. From the beginning of the play, having only just recently arrived from America ...