London Archives - Page 44 of 111

27May

By Jennifer LaishleyNo Comments

London

Invisible – Bush Theatre

Invisible by Nikhil Parmar is a one man show centring on the life of Zayan. The play explores what leads Zayan to feel invisible, as he is outcast by his loved ones and wider society. Nikhil has crafted a piece of theatre that deals with racism, Islamophobia in a powerful and thought-provoking way. Zayan is a struggling actor who is trying to navigate co-parenting with his ex’s new partner. In the play, Nikhil takes the audience through a series of events that lead Zayan to having destructive violent thoughts. It’s easy to see how small moments can build up and have dire consequences. Zayan is also grappling with the death of his sister. Nikhil is a captivating performer and holds the space and audience’s attention throughout the piece. Nikhil quickly sets the tone of the piece an...

A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Shakespeare’s Globe

27May

By Aditi DalalNo Comments

London

A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Shakespeare’s Globe

Elle While presents a vibrant, new production of the widely performed, if not widely loved play. With a few contemporary references thrown in and some of the original text being reinterpreted for modern times, the show feels like a fresh chaotic riot. It is amazing how many versions of the same play can be created! The bright costumes by takis keep the Elizabethan spirit alive and the specific colours for each character help even novices keep track of the changing affections between the lovers. The boisterousness of the costumes is carried through in the movement direction by Annie-Lunnette Deakin-Foster. The cast seems to be in a two and half hour long party, with everyone in a highly intoxicated but slickly controlled state, springing off the magnanimous stage. But all is not brigh...

Every Leaf A Hallelujah – Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre

27May

By Anisha PucadyilNo Comments

London

Every Leaf A Hallelujah – Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre

The play follows the quest of determined Mangoshi, who is searching for a unique flower for her ill mother. Encouraged by her caring father and led by the sassy chief of trees 'Baobab', we are immediately immersed into this world of colour, beauty and grace of trees and abundance. In straightforward language, the play makes space for different emotions, from curiosity to fear, which would be an excellent tool for parents and teachers to pick up with students after watching the play. The play also illustrates how the 'mycorrhizal network' supported by the mycelium fungi helps trees pass messages about their joy and pain to one another. Based on Booker Prize-winner Ben Okri's new fairytale, Every Leaf A Hallelujah. The play brings together music, poetry, movement and transformation for our p...

26May

By Michelle KnightNo Comments

London

Aspects of Love – Lyric Theatre

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Aspects of Love originally came to stage in 1989, this beautifully written adaptation with Lyrics by Don Black and Charles Hart revisits the emotional tumultuous and ethically challenged love triangle set in post war France and Venice. Michael Ball returns to the stage as the accomplished George Dillingham. Actress Rose, fickle and in need of male affection is performed with palpable emotion and grit by Laura Pitt-Pulford. Giulietta, the Italian sculptor played by Danielle de Niese wows the theatre audience with her performance as George’s mistress. Their relationships become entwined within a web of egotistical jealousy, passion and complexity when Alex, Jamie Bogyo a soldier whose infatuation of love for Rose shifts awkwardly to Jenny his young cousin in an ...

24May

By Aditi DalalNo Comments

London

Absent Friends – OSO Arts Centre

When you think of an Alan Ayckbourn play, a tragi-comedy set at a tea party, at a fringe venue overlooking a pond, you set yourself up for a lovely evening of theatre. And the theatre was indeed lovely, a beautiful exterior with an intimate performance space, but the venue is about the only thing that the show got right. Diana (Polly Smith) invites friends over for a tea party, after their long-lost friend, Colin Thomas Willshire), is supposedly grieving the death of his fiance. Tension is evident between and within the couples; Evelyn (Liv Koplick) has been sleeping with Diana’s husband, Paul (Eoin Lynch). Evelyn’s husband, John (Kieran Seabrook-France) is aware of this but doesn’t say anything; he is in business with Paul. Marge (Bridget Lambert) unsuccessfully attempts to maintain th...

22May

By Gemma PrinceNo Comments

London

Brokeback Mountain – Soho Place

Set in the wild Wyoming mountains during the 60s, Brokeback Mountain is based on Annie Proulx’s 1997 short story of the same name about two cowboys, Jack Twist and Ennis Del Mar working on a ranch who struggle with their feelings for each other in a hostile and unforgiving world. Most will be more familiar with the hit film adaptation starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger. Directed by Jonathan Butterell, the story is told through the perspective of an older Ennis (brilliantly played by Paul Hickey), depressed and drinking alone in a bedroom, looking back on his past life with the solemn ‘Don’t Let the Years Get Your Down’ playing on the radio. Hickey appears throughout the story, sorrowfully looking back at his younger self, softly reacting to painful moments and decisions that shap...

A Brief List of Everyone Who Died – Finborough Theatre

20May

By Riana HowarthNo Comments

London

A Brief List of Everyone Who Died – Finborough Theatre

“There is no me in me without the way I love you”. A light, convivial family atmosphere transitions into a dark comedy as Graciela’s (Vivia Font) parents figure out how to tell her that their dog has died. Denial and questioning turns into blame and Graciela develops some sort of fear of her loved ones dying. Members of the cast take it in turns delineating the time passing as Gracie ages. Jacob Marx Rice’s script is mischievously witty and exuberant one moment before revealing undercurrents of disquiet and grief. Throughout the play, people in Gracie’s life die, and she struggles to deal with each one, until it eventually becomes her turn. What I loved about this play was its earnestness and the acute portrayal of grappling with something beyond your control. Font was emotiona...

20May

By Carole GordonNo Comments

London

Bleak Expectations – Criterion Theatre

Based on the award-winning BBC comedy of the same name, Mark Evans' Bleak Expectations takes everything you think you know about Charles Dickens work, chucks it in the air and sees where it lands. There are some recognisable features of Dickens - foggy London, mistaken identities, legal intricacies, cruel headmasters. There the similarities deliberately end. Evans' hilarious comedy is narrated by Sir Philip Bin, who takes the audience through his life, introducing the characters who have shaped him. Known as Pip, Sir Philip's overwhelming motivations are to protect his family and find true love. This does not always prove straightforward; he survives the cruelty of a public school with its regular beatings and lack of edible food, his mother goes mad after Pip's father dies abr...

20May

By Dave SmithNo Comments

London

Mustard – Arcola Theatre

Mustard, both written and performed by Eva O'Connor, is a one-woman show about Eva, a young Irish woman escaping the religious trappings of rural Ireland to London to study art. On a night out clubbing she meets a ‘smoking area man’, and after going back to his and discovering he is a professional cyclist, he is then known only as The Cyclist. O'Connor’s script is smart and zings, mustard being the only English ‘colonial’ item allowed in Eva’s home, lines about dipping Tayto and other moments leading to extra laughs from the knowing Irish in the audience. There are some lovely turns of phrase throughout including describing the caller id of her ex as ‘the letters and numbers that make him up’. O’Connor keeps the audience's attention throughout, a focused and measured delivery with lyric...

20May

By Anisha AnantpurkarNo Comments

London

At Birth – Baron’s Court Theatre

The stage is set with 3 stage-blocks, a couple of wine glasses, a bottle of white wine, and an assortment of stuffed animals neatly arranged in a corner. Sitting in an intimate setting watching Isaac (Ty Autry) and Anna (Thalia Gonzales Kane) work through an unplanned pregnancy was like dropping in on crucial moments of their life. The premise of the show is hilarious and intriguing– two best friends Anna, a lesbian, and Ty, a gold-star gay man, have sex. What starts off as a funny, light-hearted, and awkward piece, then explores the difficulties Anna faces after finding out that she is pregnant. Isaac and Anna, drinking wine, talking about past relationships, and feeling sexually frustrated but also too lazy to find other partners, express their desire to have sex. The first scene is l...