London Archives - Page 6 of 94

Standing at The Skys Edge – Gillian Lynne Theatre

2Mar

By Jennifer LaishleyNo Comments

London

Standing at The Skys Edge – Gillian Lynne Theatre

Standing at the Skys Edge is a heartwarming musical about love and familial relationships growing through time. The musical explores love and home. Standing at the Skys Edge is a well written musical with beautiful lyrical songs which opened at The National Theatre last year to show stopping reviews and certainly deserves its west end transfer and spot on the West End. Standing at the Skys Edge tells the stories of three families living in an estate in Sheffield, starting at three different points of the same timeline. The three storylines play out simultaneously with all the characters wrapping up seamlessly towards the end of the show. Whilst this device is frequently used in film, it is rarely successfully deployed in theatre. Chris Bush’s book is cleverly structured to give all the...

2Mar

By Michelle KnightNo Comments

London

Scarlett Sunday – Omnibus Theatre

Obsession and dark secrets of the infamous artist Ray Blackwood and what lay behind the enigma of a painting named Scarlett Sunday. Following the death of Blackwood, it was now left to his daughter Ava played by Camilla Aiko an introverted girl still living in the family home with her demons. This play was simplistic in its form and told the story of Yasmin, played by Sorcha Kennedy an excitable rather intense arts author curious to find out more about Blackwood, the man who inspired her career in the arts, a man she had feelings for and was hungry in pursuit to get the exclusive scoop on his unseen masterpiece Scarlet Sunday. The set is staged first in a coffee shop for their first meeting which sees both characters sparring with each other over childhood memories, the arts and a plan...

1Mar

By Eleanor HallNo Comments

London

Lucy and Friends – Soho Theatre

Dressed as a tree, Lucy McCormick takes the mic aside the tech box. She tells us that there’s a problem with the tech and that the show can’t go on. “Only joking!” she shouts. The fun has only just begun. ‘Lucy and Friends’ is an expectation-defying, fluid-splattering bonanza that leaves you gasping and giggling on repeat. It is a high camp meta-theatrical treasure. But heed the age rating and content warnings… this show is not one to see with the parents! McCormick is an outstanding performer and knows her audience well. Jokes about Arts Council funding requirements were met with bouts of laughter, as she asserted her ultimate goal: to create a community of ‘friends’ within the theatre. From here onwards, audience members were asked to represent people in her life, throw confetti w...

28Feb

By Louise PennNo Comments

London

Nachtland – Young Vic

This play by Marius von Mayenberg presented in a translation by Maja Zade sells itself as “a jagged new satire” and is set in modern-day Germany. Siblings Nicola (Dorothea Myar-Bennett) and Philipp (a nervously downtrodden John Heffernan) are clearing out their late father's house. Curiously most of his goods are being cleared from the stage as the audience file in, leaving one item wrapped in brown paper, found in the attic. It’s a painting of a church, a simple piece, but the signature is of the most interest. Is it indeed a painting by Hitler, and if so how did it find its way here? There is plenty of mileage here for black humour or satire, but the pacing feels off and some segues are either head-scratching (Nicola’s husband Fabian (Gunnar Cauthery)’s behaviour takes...

The Merchant of Venice 1936 – The Criterion Theatre

26Feb

By Caroline WorswickNo Comments

London

The Merchant of Venice 1936 – The Criterion Theatre

Relocated from the traditional Venice of the 16th century, to 1930’s East End of London, this thoroughly re-worked and re-freshed version of The Merchant of Venice, uses a different period in history to tell its story. The outline of the story remains unchanged. Antonio (Raymond Coulthard) hopes to assist his friend Bassiano (Gavin Fowler) who wishes to court the wealthy Portia (Hannah Morrish); by obtaining a loan from Shylock (Tracey-Ann Oberman). Antonio suffers financial setbacks, and cannot repay the loan, unfortunately, the penalties for this are not financial, Shylock wants her pound of flesh. And yes, you noticed that Shylock is a woman! Oberman imagined a Jewish matriarch, inspired by her grandmother who fled an antisemitic country to arrive in Lo...

26Feb

By Anisha PucadyilNo Comments

London

Musclebound – Camden People’s Theatre

Very niche and very funny! Rosy Carrick ruminates about the eroticised torture of bodybuilders in mainstream films of the 1980s and her personal sexual exploration through the years. Having co-hosted the poetry stages at Latitude and Glastonbury festivals for the last decade, Rosy has the gift of gab and will have your attention immediately after 'coming' into the room. It is not often that we have one-woman comedy take centre stage shamelessly about their first explorations around sex as a child, a teen, an adult, a mother of a teen, or an older woman pursuing exactly what she fancies. This new show is asking a lot of questions about the politics of female pleasure and untangling the creepers of shame, power, and torture around ideas of sexual exploration. Rosy has created a br...

25Feb

By Anisha PucadyilNo Comments

London

King Lear – Almedia Theatre

Tour de force contextualising King Lear in the here and now. Yaël Farber's directed recreations of Shakespeare have become synonymous with memorable action from the actors and actresses, moody lights and deep witnessing of self and others. The earthy elements of the wind, rain and soil are brought alive on stage with outstanding craftsmanship. Max Perryment's music is brought centre stage by the talented actors and actresses who break into songs and by the infinite variety of instruments on stage and in the background. The violinist often contoured in inverted postures, usually a background in position but centre stage by adding additional flavourful notes. Set designer Merle Hensel's delicate shimmering cascading fine chains curtain provides an aesthetic backgroun...

25Feb

By Kira DanielsNo Comments

London

A Family Business – Omnibus Theatre

A show about how not to blow up the planet, a show about friendship, a show about diplomacy, and a show about what we all owe to each other as individuals and as nations, A Family Business is a genuinely thrilling and intensely educational experience. Written, performed, and introduced by the affable and erudite Chris Thorpe, watching this play feels like making a new friend. Clearly something Thorpe takes quite seriously, friendship is the foundation of this work, and his efforts to befriend experts and ignorant audiences alike are well worth their while. With a severe urgency befitting the play’s subject matter, director Claire O’Reilly weaves audiences confidently through Thorpe’s dense syllabus with more than a little hand holding. Photo: Andreas J. Etter With much the same e...

25Feb

By Carole GordonNo Comments

London

JAB – Finborough Theatre

Married for 29 years, Anne and Don think they know each other well. They dance to their favourite music, share too many bottles of wine, muddle along in their empty-nest lives. Anne is an administrator with the NHS, Don runs a niche vintage shop that makes little money, leaving Anne as the main breadwinner. It works for them - until the pandemic hits and the country goes into lockdown. As Covid ravages the world, it also shows up the cracks in the marriage. Anne continues to work long hours from home while Don has to close his shop and lazes around reading the Daily Mail and soaking up far-right conspiracy theories. It's just the flu, he insists. It will go away in a month, he says, parroting what he's read in the tabloids. Irritated by his increasing dependence on Anne, Don's sexis...

24Feb

By Michelle KnightNo Comments

London

Othello – Sam Wanamaker Playhouse

Director Ola Ince rendition of Shakespeare’s dark tragedy The authentic Shakespearean Othello ‘Moorish’ features as a top ranking detective police officer in the London metropolitan force, which offers up the notion that this is not your ordinary version of Othello. The opening scene introduces the characters Othello Ken Nwosu’s and Poppy Gilbert as his wife, Desdemona entwined in love a marriage vows. Shakespearean enthusiasts will recognise the familiar characters of the devious hateful Iago portrayed by Ralph Davis and Cassio played by Oli Higginson. References to police dialogue and officers switching from uniformed police, in body armour merges at times quite clumsily with the Shakespearean text, which at times feels wrong but as the sequence of events u...