Anna Clock Archives - North West End UK

9Feb

By Kira DanielsNo Comments

London

The Virgins – Soho Theatre

Oh my god, twist! And shout. Come on and work it on out. For these virgins, that’s pretty much the entire night’s agenda. Best friends Chloe (Anushka Chakravarti) and Jess (Ella Bruccoleri) are headed out for the night to “pull” for the very first time but find their plans needlessly complicated by the simple fact they have no idea what they actually want. Aided and abetted by the persistently peripheral Phoebe (Molly Hewitt-Richards), cool girl/experienced slut Anya (Zoë Armer), a bottle of Absolut vodka, and two liters of lemonade, they’re ready for anything, in theory. In practice, practice is about all they’re up for. Writer Miriam Battye’s playtext is clever and cringe in equal measure, and Jaz Woodcock-Stewart’s direction is funky and fresh, with particular flavour peppered...

Faith Healer – Lyric Hammersmith

This season the Lyric in Hammersmith are showcasing some of the best classic pieces of British and Irish Theatre for modern audiences. Faith Healer was written by Brian Friel in the 1970s and will appeal mostly to audience’s who lived through or understand the political context of the time. Rachel O’Riordan’s direction is imaginative and powerful use of spacing helps to lift moments in this play. However, the stream of consciousness nature of the monologues in the play could lose some audience members. The key flaw here being that this is a play from another Era and audiences today will only give an awkward chuckle to moments that would have initially intended to fill a room with hysteria. Nonetheless, as Rachel O’Riordan describes ‘some of the best British and Irish talent around’ have be...

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 ef...