London Archives - Page 34 of 149

24Jan

By Zain RussellNo Comments

London

Cymbeline – Sam Wanamaker Playhouse

A show performed in the intimate setting of the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse is truly a unique experience. Nestled within the larger and more renowned Globe Theatre, this smaller, intimate space evokes a sense of stepping back in time. The theatre’s design, featuring wooden galleries with benches and the warm glow of candlelight, creates an atmosphere that perfectly complements a Shakespearean production. The ambiance alone feels like a time machine to the Elizabethan era, making it the ideal venue for such a performance. As someone who wouldn’t consider themselves a huge Shakespeare fan and only knows the most popular of his works, I wasn’t sure what to expect from Cymbeline. However, this production turned out to be a hidden gem. From start to finish, it was captivating, immersive, and tho...

24Jan

By Savitha VenugopalNo Comments

London

Santi & Naz – Soho Theatre

Pretty much every person that walked into the dimly lit, intimate space of Soho Theatre paused for a beat at the unusual sight of the actors already being present on the stage. Two young women lay on the floor, tracing lines on the ground and humming to themselves. They waited in that comfortably contemplative state as the audience settled in, like a visual preface. Santi and Naz are the best of friends, having grown up together in a little village in pre-partition India. Their meeting place is by a lake, under the shade of a tree, where they play-act, tell jokes, and talk about the hazy future. Naz is blissfully unaware of the political turmoil, while Santi reads and tries to keep up with what is going on. One Muslim and the other Sikh, neither of them knows just how much the events of...

One Man Musical – Underbelly Boulevard Soho

22Jan

By Michelle KnightNo Comments

London

One Man Musical – Underbelly Boulevard Soho

A musical comedy written by the duo Flo and Joan performed by George Fouracres renowned for Hamlet, at the Globe, HBO’s The Francise as “the man” and Flo and Joan “The band “: Live at the Apollo. This satirical and comedic look at the ‘life story’ you could say of a gentleman who has made his name in musical theatre, an “icon of the theatre musical world” a man we all know or do we! The One Man Musical opens pandora’s box of glitz, and glamour with the highs the lows to the ridiculous. With each musical comes a story and yet his own aka Andrew Lloyd Webber’s is yet to be told. Intro please… Flo and Joan, then you meet George with dialogue of life as himself a fictional Andrew Lloyd Webber you could say. George is everything ...

20Jan

By Zain RussellNo Comments

London

Man in the Mirror – Churchill Theatre

Man in the Mirror is a thrilling tribute concert to the King of Pop, Michael Jackson. Starring CJ as the iconic artist, the show features a live band, talented backup dancers, and powerhouse singers that take you on a journey through MJ’s illustrious career. From the opening number to the final encore, the energy is electric, and you’ll find yourself wanting to "Rock with You" from start to finish. The concert included all of Michael Jackson’s greatest hits, including memorable tracks from his time with the Jackson 5. The audience was treated to everything that we know and love from “I Want You Back” to solo classics like “Billie Jean,” “Beat It,” “Dirty Diana” and “Black and White” creating a setlist that felt like a true celebration of the King of Pop. Production-wise, this show is...

Copla: A Spanish Cabaret – The Other Palace

20Jan

By Michelle KnightNo Comments

London

Copla: A Spanish Cabaret – The Other Palace

The intimate setting for this one DIVA show was not to be underestimated. The prelude music set the mood but not the tone or what was to be unleased on the audience. What is Copla? A question people could not answer and until now. Alejandro introduced himself to the audience before walking onto the stage. He embarked on a journey of personal self-discovery, an education into Spanish politics under the regime of Franco, Catholicism and of course the music. This was a story about life in Spain as a gay man, his roots in the LGBTQ+ community with the influences, the censorship which impacted his life and that of others around him. Video projections peppered the performance with Spanish, and English Diva’s sharing their versions of the songs of the music of Copla intertwined wi...

20Jan

By Ben PearsonNo Comments

London

Totally Fine – The Hope Theatre

A therapist in mandated therapy, what could possibly go wrong? Susanna Wolff’s one-woman dark comedy, Totally Fine, exposes the stresses and strains that come with being a therapist. Her character, a therapist who remains nameless, insists she is ‘totally fine’ and this whole therapy session is pointless. Somehow, that seems unlikely. The script, written by Wolff, is tightly crafted and exceptionally clever. Even the seemingly inconsequential jokes having pay offs, combined with a slowly unravelling mystery, keep the audience engaged throughout, culminating in an earned and effective finale. Wolff manages to peel back the layers of our protagonist, deftly dancing between comedy and tragedy without ever losing momentum. Not a single line is wasted, no mean feat in a one-person show. W...

18Jan

By Ralph JeffreysNo Comments

London

A Good House – Royal Court

Following the struggle of new residents Sihle and Bonolo to adjust to their new neighborhood of Stillwater, A Good House is a brilliantly tense and funny examination of race and community politics. The sudden appearance of a makeshift shack is what drives the action of the play, as Stillwater’s white residents try to get Bonolo and Sihle to become the faces of the plan to evict the squatters. This is a truly masterful piece of writing. Amy Jephta’s script is intricate and layered, and where the most obvious tension is between Stillwater’s black and white residents, this never becomes reductive. For example, Jephta layers in class politics between Sihle and Bonolo - in Sihle’s words Bonolo has always been “bougie as fuck’. These and many other layers prevent an argument heavy script from...

18Jan

By Carole GordonNo Comments

London

Kyoto – Soho Place

Rarely can a play genuinely be labelled as an "important piece of theatre”, but Joe Murphy and Joe Robertson's Kyoto is firmly in that category. Fresh from its critically acclaimed run in Stratford-upon-Avon, Kyoto offers a tense and challenging insight into the process of what John Prescott called "diplomacy by exhaustion". And rarely has a play been so topical. With wildfires raging and floods destroying communities, while some politicians and commentators continue to deny the existence of man-made climate change, Kyoto is a much-needed history lesson, a demonstration of what is diplomatically possible as well as a grim warning for the future if governments fail to act. The nations of the world have got together to discuss climate change and attempt to agree to targets and...

17Jan

By Paul AckroydNo Comments

London

The Lonely Londoners – Kiln Theatre

This is unusual and creative adaptation of Samuel Selvon's 1956 book, which was one of the first.to focus on the lives of poor working class black people settling in England following the enactment of the British Nationality Act 1948. Set in the 1950s it provides vignettes of the life of a small group of black Londoners as they try to adjust to the cold and the blatant racism of the time, finding inevitably that London's streets are not paved with gold which they had been promised back in their home countries. This production, which has transferred to the Kiln theatre after a very successful run at the Jermyn Street theatre is a mixture of theatre and movement. The eight strong cast worked very well as an ensemble with members of the cast not directly involved in the current...

14Jan

By Ralph JeffreysNo Comments

London

10 Nights – Riverside Studios

10 Nights is a funny and earnest play that sadly fails to live up to its full potential. The play follows Yasser, played by Adeel Ali, who decides to undertake I’tikaf, a 10-day period of isolation, prayer and spiritual cleansing at the end of Ramadan. For Yasser, more interested in TikTok than religion, this is a daunting prospect. One of the play’s strengths is in the themes it sets out to explore. Of these, imposter syndrome and social exclusion feature prominently. Yasser is made to feel uncomfortable by religious busybodies. His impassioned assertion that the mosque is supposed to be a place for everyone produced audible reactions of affirmation from the audience. Yet most of the play’s themes feel underexplored. Yasser is a character wracked by a central guilt, but we never fully ...