London Archives - Page 32 of 124

15Apr

By Zara OdetundeNo Comments

London

The Comeuppance – Almeida Theatre

The Comeuppance is the first offering of the Almeida’s 2024 season as a thought-provoking piece of theatre that will leave the audience reflecting on their own lives. The Comeuppance takes place at the pre drinks of a circle of high school friends who reunite before they attend their 20th high school reunion. Many haven’t seen each other for years and each person is at a different point in their lives, as they reconnect and share old memories and inside jokes, another presence is hovering on the outskirts. Death. Branden Jacobs-Jenkins writes a play in which the characters are exploring their perspective of mortality and maturity. They have all grown up since they have last seen each other and have started to reflect on their choices and the consequences of them, all the what ifs and...

13Apr

By Anisha PucadyilNo Comments

London

Giselle Remix – Pleasance Theatre

Giselle Remix leaves you feeling inspired. Dare I say hopeful and courageous? You don't have to be gay or queer or pining for unrequited love. You come for the debauchery of cabaret but stay for the heart wrenching poetry of Raison d'être of life. Giselle Remix arrives at the Pleasance Theatre after a sold-out premiere at the Royal Opera House. Giselle, considered a masterwork of the classical ballet canon created in 1841, has been brought to many a stage in the past 183 years. This brainchild of the Pleasance Associate Artist Jack Sears and Royal Ballet Soloist Hannah Grennell has created a rapturous thunderclap in its universality of emotions and expression that is timeless. Before anyone comes on stage, the lights and orchestra fill it up. The music of an era gone by fill...

13Apr

By Caroline WorswickNo Comments

London

Player Kings – Noel Coward Theatre

If it were not for the promotion of this show, the title would hide the fact that the play came from Shakespeare’s quill. Incorporating both Henry IV Part One and Two, this adaptation faces the challenge of giving the audience a decent slice of the two plays, without losing the essence that makes each play special. It is a brave actor that takes on such a dialogue heavy role as Falstaff, with almost four hours of performance, but Sir Ian McKellen is a brave knight, and despite his eighty-four years, and his acknowledgement that this is a role that he has previously avoided, he is victorious in his joust with words. Adapted and directed by Robert Icke, there is a fresh breeze blowing through this history play. Gone is the chainmail, replaced with khaki fatigues and red berets...

12Apr

By Olivia CoxNo Comments

London

Artificially Yours – Riverside Studios

You can’t escape talk about AI these days. Whether it’s dubious photo editing or a dodgy script in an ill-fated Willy Wonka experience, this tech has well and truly permeated our collective consciousness, so it comes as no surprise that it’s starting to be explored through theatre. Enter: Aaron Thakar’s Artificially Yours, playing its first-ever run at Riverside Studios until 21st April. The play revolves around the domestic lives of three couples: Pippa and Martin (Leslie Ash and Paul Giddings), Lilah and Ash (Destiny Mayers and Aaron Thakar), and Ellie and Noah (Ella Jarvis and Jake Mavis) — all of whom have welcomed Agapē, the AI-powered virtual relationship therapist, into their homes. Each couple navigates various disputes that one person in the relationship believes can be reso...

Spencer Jones: Making Friends – Soho Theatre

12Apr

By Alice RoseNo Comments

London

Spencer Jones: Making Friends – Soho Theatre

Actor and comedian, Spencer Jones is back with a brand-new hour of chaos at the Soho Theatre Downstairs. We explore the creation of his lockdown crafts, new friends found and lost in Devon and his justification of career as his kids seek advice to escape bullies and chickens. From the very entrance Jones is excitable and generous with his audience. Humble and giddy to be here, we are immediately put at ease ready to enjoy whatever he has crafted for us this evening. Pre-warning us “if you haven’t seen one of my shows before, ah ahaha. At least you’ll have a story”. There is loose plot, but we can put ourselves in his ‘study’ at home in his new house in Devon mid lockdown trying to create ‘new material’ to pay his mortgage. Longing to make new friends here, with anyone: neighbours, raili...

10Apr

By Klervi GavetNo Comments

London

The Retreat – White Bear Theatre

From the writer & creator of “Peep Show” & “Fresh Meat” comes a disappointing, often predictable farce on spirituality, mental health and the pressure of modern living. Monk-in-the-making Luke (Jed McLoughlin) escaped London’s City life and painful events to find inner peace at a spiritual retreat in the Scottish Highlands. His coke and sex addict of a brother, Tony (Harry Harding), comes to bring him down from his Gaelic cloud and back into carnal reality. Ensues an endless series of easy plot revelations, which sadly turns the play into a classic, yet unimaginative topping improv exercise of “Yes and…” There is little to no subtext here, nor emotional reality to hold on to. The somewhat intimate, confessional moments feel unearned. The childish blaming game gets old fast...

9Apr

By Anisha PucadyilNo Comments

London

Gunter – Royal Court

Gunter is haunting! Take a bow! Lydia Higman, Julia Grogan, and Rachel Lemon are three co-creators who prepared the show just in time for the Edinburgh Fringe 2023. They took the Fringe by storm with sold-out shows at Summerhall then. As you read this review, they continue their winning streak with sold-out shows at the Royal Court. The play wraps fiction, myth, past, and present with haunting imagery and spine-tingling music. My favourite moment on stage is young Anne centre stage, sitting with her period pain as the 'adults' trip over their own assumptions of what is happening without asking her. You wonder why you have never seen this before on stage. You wonder, after all these years, why we are still fighting wars and lamenting dead children instead of researching the deep pain wom...

6Apr

By Michelle KnightNo Comments

London

Love Steps – Omnibus Theatre

The writer, poet and producer Anastasia Osei-Kuffour makes her playwriting debut in Love Steps: The story of Anna a young, gifted and Black girl navigating a world in turmoil searching for the one thing missing in her life, love. The set is simplistic with only shadow effects of their silhouettes, flashed up words to reflect the mood, offering no hiding place for this two person play. Anna played out by Sharon Rose set the perfect scene of her successful professional life with prose poetry and dance. She had everything a Black girl would want except in this life, devoid of a man’s love and affection, marriage and children. She would ponder, analyse control and create a checklist of the perfect man. When will happen, and how, who will it be are ...

6Apr

By Klervi GavetNo Comments

London

The Pinot Princess – Omnibus Theatre

“Blessed are the hags and the harlots. For they shall be celebrated in this show.” A Bruntwood Prize 2022 nominee, this dark comedic Tale of Two Marys packs up a punch for all feminist and Life Of Brian enthusiasts out there in just under an hour. The Pinot Princess follows Irish actress Pamela Flanagan in her double portrayal of unruly, gender-tormented Marys. First as Pinot, a punk Virgin Mary and the lead character in a rebellious-soon-to-be-viral-hopefully-Vatican-banned production on Jesus’ legendary mum. Second as modern Mary, the catholic actress who portrays the horny, foul-mouthed heroine, and who is convinced she will go to hell for it. Opposite Mary is, of course, her co-star Joseph. Energetically portrayed by Neal Craig in a whirlwind of colourful role-playing, Joe off...

6Apr

By Samantha CollettNo Comments

London

Horne’s Descent – Old Red Lion Theatre

In the intimate surroundings of the Old Red Lion Theatre, you feel as if you have been invited to a dinner party from the last century. With 1920s décor, and a set that resembles a real-life drawing room, this is an immersive fly on the wall experience. Albie (Magnus Gordon) sets the scene for the coming soiree with his cut glass accent and aristocratic ways. We meet his childhood friend Peter Horne (Alexander Hackett) who has recently become a priest, and who Albie wishes to avail himself of his godly duties by marrying him to his latest fling, Mary (Bethany Slater), the niece of Etta (Cici Clarke). Of course, a party is never a good party without trouble, and the scene is set for a night of debacle and debauchery when we learn of Etta’s interest in the occult. Add in the PTSD of th...