London Archives - Page 6 of 181

The Pleasures of Fanny: A Murder Mystery Musical – Brick Lane Music Hall

5Oct

By Olivia CoxNo Comments

London

The Pleasures of Fanny: A Murder Mystery Musical – Brick Lane Music Hall

Nestled in a Grade II-listed church in Silvertown, the Brick Lane Music Hall prides itself on being the “world's only permanent home for music hall”. Having never visited the venue before, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but the spectacle truly wowed me from the moment I walked through the door. Colourful decorations adorn every nook and cranny, with hand-painted signage and more than a touch of old-school British camp. You truly feel like you’ve stepped into another time, and the attention to detail is superb. As is tradition in music hall, all of Brick Lane Music Hall’s performances include a full meal within the very reasonable ticket price, making it great value for a light-hearted night out. The food was tasty, the bar well stocked, and the staff were great, although it would have be...

5Oct

By Michelle KnightNo Comments

London

The Brown Suite – Richmond Theatre

The Brown Suite where Soul Tells the Story: Six lives, One night, One dance floor. It’s 1970 in New York city and over the course of one night, the dance floor becomes a stage within the stage: a place “where friendships shift, new connections emerge and long-held tensions finally begin to surface”. Soul and dance theatre brings six friends together in a city where music is more than entertainment, it is identity, release and survival. Choreographed to the music from James Brown, Sam Cooke and Etta James. From the opening moments, The Brown Suite captures the pulse of a city that refuses to stand still. The atmosphere is charged with the spirit of New York's soul scene, where movement speaks as loudly as dialogue. The dancers don't simply perform the story; they em...

5Oct

By Alan Stuart MalinNo Comments

London

Soho Electric – Phoenix Arts Club

There are few venues better suited to a night of unapologetically bold cabaret than the Phoenix Arts Club, and ‘Soho Electric’ feels completely at home within its intimate surroundings. Bringing together drag, burlesque, live music and variety performance, this is a gloriously eclectic celebration of cabaret with a distinctly rock-and-roll heartbeat. At the centre of the evening is Vanity Von Glow, who proves to be the perfect host. She is charismatic, quick-witted and effortlessly comfortable working the room to establish an immediate, somewhat naughty connection with the audience, and manages to maintain it throughout. With a voice seemingly built for a rock ballad, Vanity brings genuine power to the musical numbers, combining the theatricality of cabaret with the energy of a rock...

Taming of the Shrew: A Kinky Retelling – Bread and Roses Theatre

5Oct

By Kira DanielsNo Comments

London

Taming of the Shrew: A Kinky Retelling – Bread and Roses Theatre

Brush up your Shakespeare and begrime your mind ahead of time to wring all possible pleasure from this depraved and debaucherous play. Shrewd in its commentary on gender and power play but refreshingly earnest in its treatment of romance, this feel good bad boy adaptation is a delight to sink your teeth into. The bite of its unabashedly lewd and unrestrainedly hedonistic humour does little to shield the vulnerability at the story’s heart, that of two people who think they might be able to make something good together that neither one of them has alone. Unremittingly hilarious over the roughly hour-long runtime of raw hijinks, performers Zak Rosen (Petruchio) and Paige Hann (Katharina) nonetheless conjure moments of disarming beauty in the frenzy of arming, dismantling, subverting...

Barnum: The Circus Musical – New Wimbledon Theatre

5Oct

By Michelle KnightNo Comments

London

Barnum: The Circus Musical – New Wimbledon Theatre

Barnum a spectacular show that takes time to find Its rhythm. Matt Rawle is P.T. Barnum, and he is here to entertain you. This long-standing, iconic musical arrived in Wimbledon with plenty to impress, and to some degree, it really did. The production showcased some impressive and highly skilled acrobatics, alongside talented musicians and actors who brought considerable energy and ability to the stage. The staging was well executed, although it felt somewhat restricted by the relatively small scale of the venue. This was, of course, beyond the production’s control, but it did unfortunately limit some of the grandeur and magnificence that this musical is known for. Act One was long, and slow-paced and occasionally stilted. There were also moments when the performances seemed to lack ...

What The Animals Say – Finborough Theatre

4Oct

By Prateek SonnyNo Comments

London

What The Animals Say – Finborough Theatre

What The Animals Say is the first play written by David Ireland. This production is directed by Harry Burton, and stars Robbie Martin as Eddie, a star footballer, and Matthew Blaney as Jimmy, a struggling actor. The play opens at a ferry station, where the two await a ferry to Belfast. They begin to reconnect after recognising each other as classmates from their younger days in Northern Ireland. The script explores themes of sectarianism, masculinity, class and identity through conversations about football, films, goals, aspirations and the contrasting opinions of its two characters. Jimmy is an intellectual, seemingly progressive modern man, while Eddie is the stereotypical brawny lad. Both actors bring an explosive energy to the confrontation. Martin plays the bull-headed celebrity fo...

4Oct

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

London

Noises Off – The Questors Theatre

Making theatrical chaos look effortless requires extraordinary control and skill, but The Questors’ production of Michael Frayn’s ‘Noises Off’ delivers precisely that. This is an evening of gloriously escalating disaster performed with such assurance that it ranks among the very best versions of this well-known play. Hilarious from beginning to end, it is a remarkable demonstration of what a cast can achieve when everyone works together. Frayn’s comedy follows a touring company attempting to stage ‘Nothing On’, a farce whose precarious progress is undermined by backstage relationships, professional frustrations and increasingly disastrous misunderstandings. As the action exposes the machinery behind the performance, the distinction between the company’s fictional troubles and its actual...

The Anastasia File – Theatre Royal, Windsor

1Oct

By Alan Stuart MalinNo Comments

London

The Anastasia File – Theatre Royal, Windsor

One of the twentieth century’s most enduring historical mysteries provides rich material for ‘The Anastasia File’, Royce Ryton’s drama exploring the extraordinary story of Anna Manahan, the woman who spent decades claiming to be Grand Duchess Anastasia, the supposedly murdered daughter of Tsar Nicholas II. Following the execution of the Romanov family in 1918, the play moves to Berlin two years later, where a traumatised young woman is rescued from a canal and subsequently placed in an institution. Gradually, details emerge that suggest she may be the surviving Anastasia. From there, questions of memory, identity, trauma and inheritance begin to intertwine as those around her attempt to establish whether she is a survivor of unimaginable brutality or an extraordinarily convincing im...

Murder Before Evensong – Watermill Theatre

30Sep

By Alan Stuart MalinNo Comments

London

Murder Before Evensong – Watermill Theatre

There is something particularly satisfying about watching a production that understands exactly how to use the theatre it inhabits, and ‘Murder Before Evensong, the world-premiere stage adaptation of Reverend Richard Coles’ bestselling novel, feels completely at home at the Watermill Theatre. Intimate in scale but remarkably expansive in execution, this is a beautifully constructed, wonderfully performed production that manages to make this tiny auditorium feel, at times, like a full-scale West End stage. Adapted by Paul Hart and Shaun McKenna, and directed by Hart, the story takes us to the seemingly idyllic village of Champton in 1988, where parish politics, long-standing relationships and simmering tensions surround St Mary’s Church. When murder intrudes upon this comfortably familia...

Dear Joanna, My Favourite Animals Are Scorpions – Bread and Roses Theatre

28Sep

By Gaurav SinghNo Comments

London

Dear Joanna, My Favourite Animals Are Scorpions – Bread and Roses Theatre

Dear Joanna, My Favourite Animals Are Scorpions is an unsettling exploration of childhood friendship, adolescent obsession and the ways in which seemingly innocent behaviour can develop into something much darker. Written by Julia Rudd and directed by Elizabeth Laurence, the play follows Joanna, played by Grace Maltman, and Dave, played by Joseph Mason-Coombs, from childhood into adolescence. Dave becomes fascinated with Joanna and repeatedly tries to establish a friendship that she does not reciprocate. As they grow older, his attempts to gain her attention become increasingly obsessive. Letters, rumours and eventually voyeuristic behaviour shift what initially looks like an innocent childhood infatuation towards stalking and harassment. The writing is the production’s biggest stren...