Friday, December 5

Tag: Anthony Burgess Foundation

When You Die – Anthony Burgess Foundation
North West

When You Die – Anthony Burgess Foundation

When You Die pitches itself as a Gothic horror comedy exploring the afterlife through the lens of undead housemates—but despite a promising concept, the show is let down by sluggish pacing, underwhelming humour, and several frustrating production choices. Finn, Yuri, Devon, and Boby are sharing a flat in death, trying to get along in the afterlife when their already turbulent dynamic is disturbed by the arrival of a mysterious briefcase. With the help of the cryptic Lazlo, they must uncover who—or what—is behind the growing sense of threat. It’s a quirky setup with potential, and the cast give it their all, but the execution falls flat. The first half drags considerably. There’s far too much time spent establishing the characters’ personalities and routines, with little dramatic ...
Delusions and Grandeur – Anthony Burgess Foundation
North West

Delusions and Grandeur – Anthony Burgess Foundation

The best fringe moments are discovering something unexpected and brilliant. World-renowned cellist Karen Hall’s Delusions and Grandeur is both. A thought-provoking, inventive and emotional hour of storytelling that is bursting with talent. The blurb isn’t quite clear, though. “Come for the music, stay for the existential crisis,” it suggests. Audiences are told to expect a “classical cello recital” that “plays out like a piece of performance art run by a masterly jester”. Its one of those examples of marketing that makes total sense after the event. Hall’s one-woman show is, essentially, a recital of Bach’s famous Suite No. 1, interspersed with part monologue, part audience dialogue that tells her own musical story and poses some fascinating questions. What does it reall...
Mitch Benn: The Tom Lehrer Effect – The Anthony Burgess Foundation
North West

Mitch Benn: The Tom Lehrer Effect – The Anthony Burgess Foundation

The task of a comedy songwriter is a tough one. There’s deciding whether you want to simply write funny songs were the humour may come from precarious stunt-rhyming or mocking a popular musical style, through to packing lyrics with biting satire and political observations. Before the likes of Weird Al Yankovich, Bill Bailey and Tim Minchin there was Tom Lehrer, a 1950s/60s musician who later turned mathematician, noted amongst other things for singing the periodic table to the tune of ‘Modern Major General’ and writing music for the cast of the US version of That Was The Week That Was (never getting to perform the songs himself much to his annoyance). If he was raised on a diet of Radio 4 classic comedies, British cynicism and been handed a loop pedal, you’d end up with something...
The Formidable Lizzie Boone – The Anthony Burgess Foundation
North West

The Formidable Lizzie Boone – The Anthony Burgess Foundation

Ever since Phoebe Waller-Bridge wowed the Edinburgh Festival in 2013 with 'Fleabag', a litany of semi-autobiographical dark comedies have trod the same path in the hope of emulating her success. Selina Helliwell has the latest hopeful incarnation of this confessional oeuvre, bringing 'the Formidable Lizzie Boone' to the Anthony Burgess Foundation for a two-night residency, beginning on 24th September. Helliwell appears alone onstage throughout the hour-long performance, her only support being a number of recorded voice artists playing the various characters that flit in and out of the narrative she unfolds. As Lizzie Boone, she unburdens herself to an unseen therapist (Marie) and we move through the chronology of her sad childhood and adolescence, chronicling broken relationships with w...