London Archives - Page 54 of 149

Twelfth Night – Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre

14May

By Kira DanielsNo Comments

London

Twelfth Night – Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre

Twelfth Night or What You Will is a little wishy-washy. Is it a girl or a boy? A grief comedy? A musical or a straight play? It is what you will make of it. The building blocks are all there. The humour, the grief, the ribaldry, and the bleeding heart, all come out to play. Owen Horsley’s new production lives its life to the fullest, making great use of the Open Air Theatre environment, breathing vitality into the too oft neglected queer imagery of the text, and taking full advantage of the Regent’s Park audience’s willingness to be delighted, transported, and even occasionally challenged. This is a production is a rarity among contemporary stagings of Shakespeare’s work in that treats its historical material with full reverence without taking anything in it for granted. Audiences overly f...

Madagascar The Musical – New Wimbledon Theatre

14May

By Maani WayNo Comments

London

Madagascar The Musical – New Wimbledon Theatre

Get ready for an evening of fun, silliness and a spectacle that will leave you feeling like you want to move! Madagascar The Musical opens as a fresh and new take on the classic film that audiences know and love. With an exceptionally talented cast, fresh choreography and staging and an expertly achieved set, this show is a must-see for both children and adults. One of the most impressive parts of this production is the superb execution of the set. Clearly well thought out and planned by Tom Rogers, it is the centrepiece for the whole show and makes it difficult to take your eyes away from the stage. The outside of the stage and the wings are decorated with crates to foreshadow the narrative, but act as an excellent backdrop for each story location. Though the New Wimbledon Theatre has ...

14May

By Khushboo ShahNo Comments

London

Blizzard – Soho Theatre

A subtle yet impactful combination of tender, wacky and surreal, Emily Woof’s Blizzard is a light yet deep journey of love, identity and existence narrated by her character Dotty. She is persuaded by her husband, a neuroscientist also called Dotty, to deliver a lecture on ‘Criticality, Connectivity and the Neuronal Avalanche’ in Switzerland as he is ‘indisposed’. Despite displaying her incomprehension of and disinterest in the subject, she decides to stand-in for him so that his life’s work does not go down the drain; the specifics of why her and not another scientist, and why not cancel or postpone the lecture are not given but they are inconsequential to the story. As Dotty journeys to Switzerland, she discovers and simultaneously invites the audience to discover the meaning of those dry...

Clinton Baptiste: Roller Ghoster – Leicester Square Theatre

11May

By Anisha PucadyilNo Comments

London

Clinton Baptiste: Roller Ghoster – Leicester Square Theatre

Outdated, judgemental and not funny. Alex Low continues to sculpt his show Roller Ghoster on the character, ‘Clinton Baptiste’, from Phoenix Nights. This is part of a seven-month tour that takes him across the country on over 90 dates. The Channel 4 sitcom was based on The Phoenix Club, a working men's club in the northern English town of Bolton, Greater Manchester. The series and its characters have become legendary, popular with adults in their mid-50s and Clinton, as the “celebrity clairvoyant", holds a special place in people’s hearts. Alex Low arrives on stage dressed in a snazzy suit with dazzling stones on his fingers and his hair in a puff. The show certainly has its fan following, with not many empty seats across Leicester Square Theatre on a Saturday night. However, ...

The Government Inspector – Marylebone Theatre

10May

By Kira DanielsNo Comments

London

The Government Inspector – Marylebone Theatre

Government inspector? I hardly know ‘er! Those familiar with Gogol’s work via other translations or adaptations will be surprised to find this story transplanted from Imperial Russia into a farcical and fanciful imagining of Victorian England. Top hats tip, feathers flail, and breeches bust as the rambunctious set populating this unspecified vaguely historical small provincial town bob and blunder all over each other. There is no gag this cast is likely to sneer at with steady, practical stage violence, direct comic address to spectators, and even the launching of a cabbage into the melee all being paraded under the audience’s nose. The cynical heart of the play, although invoked in a couple of jarring directorial choices, never quite manages to fight its way to the surface of the burbling...

10May

By Zain RussellNo Comments

London

The Opera Locos – Peacock Theatre

Yllana, the renowned Spanish theatre group, brings a vibrant new production to the Peacock Theatre with "The Opera Locos." Translating from Spanish "The Crazy Opera," is an exhilarating spectacle that indeed lives up to its name, offering a whirlwind experience that marries classical opera with a contemporary comedic flair. Despite its modest cast, which includes Enrique Sánchez-Ramos, Jesús Álvarez, María Rey-Joly, Mayca Teba, and Michaël Koné, each member shines brightly, showcasing their classically trained skills and vocals while infusing the production with depth of comedy. Their performances inject the show with energy and charisma, enhancing the experience for the audience. In this performance, traditional narrative takes a backseat, allowing for a dynamic interplay of sounds,...

9May

By Klervi GavetNo Comments

London

Spirited Away – London Coliseum

Faithfully based on the 2001 legendary animated film “Sen and Chihiro's Spiriting Away”, this Ghibli-backed stage production is a big bet that sometimes falls a bit short but will still delight most Miyazaki fans. Young Chihiro and her parents stumble upon a mysterious, deserted theme park. After her parents devour a seemingly abandoned food stall, they turn into pigs. Spirits appear and a young boy named Haku reveals to Chihiro that the park is actually a spa resort for supernatural beings tired from their experiences in the earthly realm. To save her parents from slaughter, she must now join the spirit world and get a job at the bathhouse. Fresh off its 2022 Tokyo opening and extended run throughout Japan, this adaptation by RSC’s honorary associate director, John Caird, is the fir...

8May

By Klervi GavetNo Comments

London

The Return – Streatham Space Project

In this intimate devised solo performance, Natasha Stanic Mann attempts to thread together personal and historical narratives, but the execution falls short of its promising premise. Intended to explore the psychological remnants of war, the complexities of Yugoslavian identity and the poignant search for a new home free from oppressive legacies, the performance struggles to deliver a cohesive and impactful experience. Stanic Mann possesses a certain delicate charm which, while endearing, unfortunately leads to a show lacking in the necessary tension and conflict that such heavy themes demand. The piece feels more like an unresolved work in progress rather than a polished production, with its sentimentality often overshadowing the substantial issues it wishes to address. As she navigate...

7May

By Kira DanielsNo Comments

London

Draft 23 – Old Red Lion Theatre

Somewhere between Waiting for Godot and waiting in a mile long bathroom line behind the two most annoying people at your college while they slowly figure out they don’t actually even like each other, Draft 23 is set in a shifting landscape of tottering piles of laundry, watches, belts, and ashtrays. This play follows the slow and inevitable demise of a fictionalized relationship that cannot maintain itself without the structure of a functional script. The stakes are low and the characters themselves are lower, alternating between various tableaus of languidity as they mope about the playing space without any vestige of playfulness in them. Self-important but unable to self-articulate, the text is under-rehearsed and both actors’ performances are pervaded by a self-consciousness that underc...

5May

By Anisha PucadyilNo Comments

London

Kunstler – White Bear Theatre

Riotous, engaging, and will keep you on the edge of your seat. Jeffrey Sweet's Kunstler is making its European Premier at The White Bear Theatre from 1st May. Prepare to be mesmerized by a remarkable performance from Broadway star Jeff McCarthy, who brings Kunstler to life with his impeccable mannerisms, sharp wit, and characteristic humour. The play, set with dialogue only between two actors on stage, masterfully brings to life a litany of American freedom Politics. Nykila Norman and Jeff McCarthy's exchanges are a dance of intellect and wit as they spar over the critical cases Kunstler took up. The dialogue adds depth and tension to the narrative, keeping the audience engaged and intrigued. It is no mean feat to bring to the stage the life of William Moses Kunstler, a prolif...