London Archives - Page 86 of 111

10Feb

By Paul AckroydNo Comments

London

ENG-ER-LAND – Dulwich College

Given its centrality to the cultural life of this country, it is surprising that there are not more plays about football. ENG-ER-LAND, written and performed by Hannah Kumari, which has just started a 15 venue UK tour in the Edward Allen theatre at Dulwich College in South London, goes some way to remedying that deficiency. The tour is supported by the Football Supporters Association in order to promote inclusivity and combat racism and sexism in the game. It is very much a personal take on football based upon Kumari’s experience of growing up as a female, mixed race, football fan. Many of its themes will undoubtedly resonate with a wider audience since the play is more about the difficulty of forming an identity for those of mixed race then it is specifically about football...

An Evening Without Kate Bush – Soho Theatre

9Feb

By Alice RoseNo Comments

London

An Evening Without Kate Bush – Soho Theatre

I discovered quite quickly that I was in a room full of super fans. Now, I’m a fan but mostly through my dad, who now and again will beautifully reminisce to Wuthering Heights as well as the heights of his vocal range. But as I watched a person enter the stage wearing a bird head piece, I knew I was in the hands of an artist who had carefully cherished her craft all of her life: her craft? Kate Bush. Sarah-Louise Young opens her arms to a bunch of strangers every night, but somehow gets us all on our feet and emotionally hand in hand by the time she’s done. Turning it around on us as we not only enjoy watching her have the time of her life but have that for ourselves too. After what seems like the most anxiety inducing and isolating years of our lives, it’s been a long time since I h...

9Feb

By Carole GordonNo Comments

London

Blood Brothers – New Wimbledon Theatre

Willy Russell's Blood Brothers is back and it's back with a bang. In the 40 years since the show was first performed in Liverpool, Blood Brothers has garnered global acclaim and success. The themes are broad - the class divide, nature versus nurture, poverty, friendship, sibling rivalry, family relationships. Twins Mickey and Eddie are born to working class mother Mrs Johnstone, already a mother of five, who is struggling to feed and clothe them all. Living on the "never-never", she has bailiffs at the door, so in the depths of her despair, she agrees to give up one of the new-borns to the wealthy Mrs Lyons who has been unable to have children. Mrs Lyons has one major condition in this arrangement; the boys must never find out that they are brothers. As the tale unfolds of the ...

Dirty Dancing: The Classic Story on Stage – Dominion Theatre

9Feb

By Samantha CollettNo Comments

London

Dirty Dancing: The Classic Story on Stage – Dominion Theatre

It’s hard to believe it’s been 35 years since Dirty Dancing first hit our screens, but the nostalgia stakes are high when it comes to this theatrical production of the iconic American romantic drama dance film. ‘Dirty Dancing: The Classic Story on Stage’, is, I am pleased to report, rather faithful to the original film. It features the original dialogue and script by Eleanor Bergstein and the much-loved songs and dances every Dirty Dancing fan will expect and appreciate. Set in 1963, the story is a triumphant tale of young love. Frances ‘Baby’ Houseman (Kira Malou) is on holiday with her parents at the upscale Kellerman’s resort, when she falls in love with a dance instructor, Johnny Castle (Michael O’Reilly). Photo: Mark Senior Beneath the polished veneer of all things respect...

9Feb

By Khushboo ShahNo Comments

London

SAMAADHI – Riverside Studios

SAMAADHI, performed by Mohit Mathur and Ivanity Novak at the Riverside Studios as part of the Bitesize Festival, depicts India’s most significant and lamentable colonial event, the Jallianwala Baug Massacre. The audience is welcomed into the auditorium by an ongoing audio news report on the heart-wrenching episode blended with Indian instrumental music. While the news report seems befitting, direct, and aptly contextual, the melodious music does little to set the stage for a rather dark, traumatic, and painful performance to follow. The ‘show in development’ opens to a desolate stage with Mathur dragging a suitcase packed with burnt papers, a winter coat, a piece of cloth, a bullet, and a long stick summing up the minimalistic prop list for the show. The duo uses physical theatre and sp...

9Feb

By Khushboo ShahNo Comments

London

Sunday Morning – Riverside Studios

Mat, a successful, middle-aged photographer takes the audience on a heart-warming, epiphanic journey in the one-man show, Sunday Morning. Directed by Jenine Collocott and written by Nick Warren, it was performed by James Cuningham at the Riverside Studios as part of the Bitesize Festival. On learning that his girlfriend is pregnant, a stunned Mat goes for a jog in his neighbourhood to do some “thinking.” The stage with some grey blocks covered with Sunday newspaper collages turned into a neighbourhood in Johannesburg with vivid descriptions offered by Warren and skilfully articulated by Cuningham. The show was delightfully packed with Mat’s reflections on success, independence, and the uninvited role of becoming a father in his 40s. Without making Mat sound like a man-child, Warren’s...

Faulty Towers Dining Experience – President Hotel, London

8Feb

By Samantha CollettNo Comments

London

Faulty Towers Dining Experience – President Hotel, London

It may surprise you to learn that Fawlty Towers, ranked first on a list of 100 Greatest British Television Programmes, had just two series of six episodes in 1975 and 1979. The power of the show, written by John Cleese and Connie Booth, was in its character creation. From the pomposity of Basil Fawlty to his bossy wife Sybil, to the hapless, linguistically challenged Spanish waiter Manuel, the trio cast a spell in their unforgettable ways. Which is why, decades later, I found myself sat in The President Hotel, Bloomsbury about to enjoy the Faulty Towers Dining Experience. The plot of the original TV series was the Fawlty’s attempts to run a hotel amidst farcical situations – and so the dining experience is much the same. This is a two-hour interactive production set in a restaurant wher...

Purple Snowflakes and Tittywanks – Royal Court

4Feb

By Alice RoseNo Comments

London

Purple Snowflakes and Tittywanks – Royal Court

This a revolutionary piece that follows a young woman from Ireland to London with the suffocating pressures of a nation devout to their beliefs and their religion. How this manifests is in the bodies of young people who cover their sexual frustrations, eating disorders, depression and anxieties. This slightly nonsensical piece is high energy, a thought a minute as she revisits her later years in school with the complication of discovery and in how unlocking knowledge can be just as limiting as you may have felt before. Photo: Luca Truffarelli Written and performed by Sarah Hanly, awarded with the 2019 Pinter Commission and one of Royal Court’s Long Form Writer’s Group- she has written a piece that speaks to a nation in recovery. It is powerful, funny and dark as we uncover the truth ...

4Feb

By Paul AckroydNo Comments

London

Hamlet – Sam Wanamaker Playhouse

The first production of Hamlet in the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse in the Shakespeare's Globe was an event to look forward to. The intimate candle lit wooden interior of the playhouse provided the opportunity for a very different feel to what is probably the best play the Bard ever wrote. What a disappointment it turned out to be. It started well enough, the initial scene on the battlements with the ghost was in complete darkness and when the candles were lit for the subsequent scene the characters were dressed in more or less traditional Elizabethan costumes; the stage was bare apart from one or two chairs and a large circular well in the middle. There were a few inconsistencies: Horatio, sported a modern university type scarf and a single musician sat on stage...

30Jan

By Riana HowarthNo Comments

London

The Glow – Royal Court

“You go far back enough, and everything turns to myth” Alistair Mcdowall’s “The Glow” is written with a plethora of colours and flavours, bursting at the seams with ideas about time and the ephemerality of the past. Its central focus is on myth, with a defining character whose presence transcends the stage. Found in an asylum in 1863, a woman is assumed to be a perfect host for an ambitious necromancer but soon things turn awry as the woman’s magical powers come into their own. With an eclectic mix of characters and shifting timelines, it is a joy to watch the complete changes in mood from scene to scene. The plot is anchored by the pivotal character, the woman played by Ria Zmitrowicz, as her character slowly unfurls like she is learning how to exist. Zmitrowicz imbues the character...