Tuesday, October 22

REVIEWS

Body 115 – The Hope Theatre
23Aug By Caroline WorswickNo Comments
London

Body 115 – The Hope Theatre

In an extremely warm theatre, I watched poet and writer Jan Noble, create imagery with verse, a necromancer of inventive poetic speech, searingly powerful, and infinitely watchable. Body 115 is a homage to Dante’s Divine Comedy, delving into the underworld with its decay and death.  Jan Noble’s one-man show sees Body 115, who is one of the long unidentified victims of the King’s Cross fire in 1987, the 31st victim, who lies in the earth, has memories of fire, and an horrific death.  Following the dramatic nature of The Divine Comedy, body 115 becomes Virgil, who guided Dante, and represents human reason.  For those unaware of Dante’s Divine Comedy, it is a poem written by Dante Alighieri, during the 14th century, which is divided into three parts, the Inferno, Purgatorio,...
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Remember The Before – Hen & Chickens Theatre
23Aug By Caroline WorswickNo Comments
London

Remember The Before – Hen & Chickens Theatre

An unnamed couple try to pick over their relationship memories, but why do their memories differ?  An intriguing peek into this couple’s relationship history, who have been given numbers and not names (one is played by Sarah Pearcey and two by Jed McLoughlin).  Written by Jed McLoughlin and directed by Pippa Dykes, the story arc gives plenty in terms of intrigue.  Jed’s character (One) buzzes, as his extrovert nature wins over his partner when they first meet, he is funny, lovable, and larger than life, whereas Sarah (Two) is more reserved, but loves his outgoing nature.  The couple clearly care about each other, but it is unclear whether they have a future together, as their shared experiences don’t appear to have evolved into shared memories.  It asks the ...
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How I Met My Mother – Ukraine Fringe Online
23Aug By Angela KellyNo Comments
REVIEWS

How I Met My Mother – Ukraine Fringe Online

Produced by RibbitRePublic Theatre and being performed for Ukraine Fringe, ‘How I Met my mother’ is a solo performance by Jonathan Paterson. Directed by Vanesa Quesnelle the show is an autobiographical narrative of one man’s experience of living with his mother who has Dementia. The story telling is on point from the opening of the show- Paterson is immediately charming, warm and engaging. Stage presence comes naturally to Paterson and the audience are captivated. His storytelling is relayed both in the present time and also in the past as he alternates between the two which works well as he relays his story with nothing held back. The show provides an insight into Paterson as a performer also through his honesty in relation to his ADHD, explaining this to the audience as he closes a do...
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Algo-Rhythm – The Bill Murray
23Aug By Anisha PucadyilNo Comments
Scotland

Algo-Rhythm – The Bill Murray

Algo- Rhythm by the ‘Useless group’ is a dynamic trio with memorable and relatable Musical comedy. They serve it with a twist as fresh and delicious as mint chocolate chip gelato. They burst with enthusiasm on stage. Leoni Amandin, Sinead Hegarty and Rebeka Dio have wicked sorcery under their wings. They dig deep into their experiences of being queer, creative and navigating the world around us. With some adorable use of sock puppets and cardboard cutouts, their audience interaction game is strong, confident and sassy! It is delightful to hear the clarinet, piano and ukulele being played through the show by the talented performers, seamlessly changing roles and pitches. They combine the whimsical of ‘where do eels come from?’ with matter-of-fact sharing of trade secrets that they...
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The Music of Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie – The Jazz Bar
23Aug By Greg HolsteadNo Comments
Scotland

The Music of Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie – The Jazz Bar

The Colin Steele quintet, featuring the brilliant saxophone of Martin Kershaw, cooked it up a storm at The Jazz Bar tonight. A young lady in the front row (who couldn’t have been more than 11 years-old!) was back for the second night in a row. And why not, when you have musicianship of this quality on your doorstep. The superlatives list would be long for the saxophone playing of Martin Kershaw who was the stand-out on stage, a truly world-class performer. Beautifully supported by Colin Steele on trumpet, Pete Johnstone on keys, Brian Shiels on Bass and Max Popp on the skins. It was great to see the level of respect and love for their fellow players and the space they all received to show off their individual skills on the various instruments, all of which was heartily applaud...
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My Fair Lady – Frinton Summer Theatre
23Aug By Samantha CollettNo Comments
South East

My Fair Lady – Frinton Summer Theatre

The big tent on the Greensward is a big thing for Frinton Summer Theatre. Marking the finale run of the theatrical season, Clive Brill (Producer & Artistic Director) usually selects a big show where the creative juices can really run wild in the central stage, and the live band can rip out the scores with abandon. ‘My Fair Lady’ is the 2023 big top production, a musical theatre piece by Lerner and Loewe. The story follows Eliza Doolittle (Jennifer Louise Jones) a flower girl in Covent Garden as she learns how to become a lady under the guidance of Henry Higgins (Alan Cox). It’s an interesting way into the class question for one’s accent can affect one’s position in life and this exploration through Higgins’ education of Eliza and her slum dialect can be seen as she transforms not on...
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Kyiv City Ballet – Assembly Hall
23Aug By Kathleen MansfieldNo Comments
Scotland

Kyiv City Ballet – Assembly Hall

Hopeful, playful and bright. Those are the adjectives I’d use to describe the show performed by the homeless Kyiv City Ballet this evening. The company was on tour in France when hostilities broke out in Ukraine. There was no going home. The company has been living by touring ever since: recycling costumes and shows, inventing new shows and making beautiful art as a means of making a living and a way of distracting themselves from their terrible exiled predicament. Creative dance is a wonderful means of expression and this company has kept itself afloat through its own endeavors. Their new piece is an expression of love, humanity, sharing and caring. It is utterly charming. There is no wiff of bitterness nor an aside to the black nature of mankind. It is simply a celebration of h...
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Cults, Startups and Pornstars: How I (almost) Won My Dad’s Approval – Zoo Playground
23Aug By Kathleen MansfieldNo Comments
Scotland

Cults, Startups and Pornstars: How I (almost) Won My Dad’s Approval – Zoo Playground

This humorous confessional makes light of child abuse in order to win over the audience. The subject matter is made palatable and, therefore, people listen. In response to a traumatic childhood, Cheyenne claims to have developed an App to protect children online. It was removed from use. If true, this should concern us all. But I only have one side of the story. Cheyenne’s. What goes on behind closed doors is rarely revealed easily and then there’s the difficulty of building a case. But, online exploitation, now that’s a public thing and a dirty thing and an underground thing that needs policing. I would have thought any efforts in this field would be welcomed with open arms. This was the part of the show that hit me. And it was meant to. The other parts, are there to pull ...
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The 7 Fingers: Duel Reality – Underbelly Circus Hub
23Aug By Greg HolsteadNo Comments
Scotland

The 7 Fingers: Duel Reality – Underbelly Circus Hub

Now, here is an oddity, a show I have seen twice, once on preview night at the start of the Fringe, and again tonight, and I can immediately see improvements! The first thing to say, is that this show is best viewed from the central seating area (where I was tonight), if you can. Duel reality starts with a beautifully choreographed fight scene between the two ‘sides’ of the ten-strong troupe, pitting the blues against the reds. To add to the audience experience you are given a wrist band of blue or red as you enter the circus tent and ‘requested’ to support your team. There is whooping, clapping, screaming from the audience – this idea sounds like it is working well! Raising the stakes of the team struggle, we soon come to realise that Blue is Capulet and Red is Montague and the ...
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The Last Show Before We Die – Summerhall Roundabout
23Aug By Oliver GigginsNo Comments
Scotland

The Last Show Before We Die – Summerhall Roundabout

The Last Show Before We Die was created, written and performed by Mary Higgins and Ell Potter, or Ell and Mary as we know the versions of themselves they present on-stage. They are former lovers, and current (still) best friends, housemates and work partners, whose previous collaborations include FITTER and HOTTER. The latter was the last piece of live theatre this reviewer saw before the first lock-down of the pandemic, which was already making its mark when audience members were encouraged to jump up and dance at the end of the show, but to do it without moving around the theatre or coming into contact with anyone. The history the two performers share (with each other, not with Covid, or me) is central to this show, and obvious whether you know about their previous projects or not,...
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