Etcetera Theatre Archives - North West End UK

Broke and Fabulous in the 21st Century – Etcetera Theatre

4Dec

By Charlotte MansfieldNo Comments

London

Broke and Fabulous in the 21st Century – Etcetera Theatre

How do you live a life as beautiful as the one that’s in your head? This is the question facing the characters of Dale Robertson's one act play. Described as a ‘dramedy for today’s generation’, it is a commentary on navigating the modern world told through the eyes of two friends, Alex and Petunia, both broke and in their 30s. As the audience enters, Alex (Dale Robertson) is already on stage, lying on a low bed, pouting and scribbling in a notebook. Clothes are strewn around the room, partly a result of his latest sexual encounter with not-quite-boyfriend Tom (Rowland Stirling) and partly because this is his lifestyle - chaotic, messy bohemian. He's an out of work actor and writer who can only afford one meal a day (but has enough for alcohol and drugs when he wants th...

20Oct

By Charles PipeNo Comments

London

Skeleton – Etcetera Theatre

Skeleton is a new one-woman horror play, written and performed by Lucy Spreckley, which delivers some intriguing and spooky thrills. At its best moments, Skeleton is atmospheric, unsettling, and creepy. Spreckley’s script does an excellent job of keeping the audience slightly disorientated, by drip feeding just the right amount of information to keep us intrigued and wanting to know more, without leaving us totally confused. Uncomfortable descriptions of childhood trauma are sprinkled in with just the right amount of frequency to gradually build a sense of mystery and dread. Lloyd Smith’s direction makes effective use of sound and lighting design to enhance this sense of dread further. Spreckley’s performance is solid; she equally effectively portrays emotional vulnerability, panicked t...

24Aug

By Caroline WorswickNo Comments

London

Spin Cycle – Etcetera Theatre

Set in a launderette, ‘Spin Cycle’ is a fly-on-the-wall peep into two strangers lives who meet whilst waiting for their laundry to complete its wash cycle – but are they strangers, or have they met before? Kitt (Zofia Zerphy) loads up her washing machine, just as Noel (Rhiannon Bell) attempts to do her own washing, but she has forgotten her washing tablets. Offering to help out, Kitt gives her some of her washing liquid, which leads to reminiscences from Noel about how her ex-girlfriend did the washing, and she is useless at it. As the conversation progresses, it becomes more heated and personal, and this familiarity can only mean one thing – that they have met before. But how do they know each other? This one act play explores the feelings of a relationship end...

12Aug

By Carole GordonNo Comments

London

Wonderscape – Etcetera Theatre

Wonderscape is part of the annual Camden Fringe Festival which presents an eclectic array of performances at 40 venues around Camden. Running throughout August, the Festival showcases new talent in theatre, dance and music. Roxanne Barron is making her debut as writer and director of this piece about creativity, ambition and the destructive influence of the pursuit of fame and fortune. Finley (Conrad O'Callaghan), brilliant but manically spiralling inventor is sharing a home with Emma (El. X Speciali) and Jake (Jack Torres). Emma and Jake do not appreciate the chaos Finley brings to their lives, with his inventions strewn all over the place as he rushes around spewing ideas and thoughts like dust mites. He believes his genius will enable him to make a world-shattering inventio...

Who the hell is Robert Wayne? – Etcetera Theatre

8Aug

By Kira DanielsNo Comments

London

Who the hell is Robert Wayne? – Etcetera Theatre

The Li Zhuolangly’s one-woman, one-act play packs more than a one-two punch. Following a day in the life of aspiring “Ratman” actor Lily Cheng Wangshuo, the action unfolds in a sort of Ariel’s cave of commercial treasures. Nestled amongst the Funko POP, plushies, and posters that line her bedchamber’s walls, Lily Cheng Wangshuo’s diminutive presence is entirely at odds with her super personality. A Chinese import herself, she dreams of incorporating herself into the canon of her favorite hero — a character whose mask she imagines might free her from the tokenization and objectification she faces at every turn. Zhuolangly is a bold stage presence who cuts her audience little slack in the free solo she drags us along on, forcing us to confront our better angels and unmask our egos. Who...

29Jul

By Ben PearsonNo Comments

London

People – Etcetera Theatre

Anna Manuelli’s People explores existential questions about the nature, purpose and meaning of life through an intriguing device; the use of doppelgängers. Manuelli plays four characters from different timelines, far removed from one another, who nonetheless share the same face. She uses this premise to demonstrate that the answers a person seeks, and indeed the questions they ask, can vary hugely depending on their context. Is it retribution and revenge that gives life meaning? Is it power? Is it happiness? The design of People is minimal, with limited use of lighting, sound and blocking. Thus, the show relies on Manuelli’s performance to keep the audience engaged. Luckily, her turn as the four characters is inspired, embodying each individual with unique physicality’s and expressi...

1Aug

By Carole GordonNo Comments

London

Mixed Omens – Etcetera Theatre

Mixed Omens is literally one of a kind. Performed by narrative improv group, The Improvised Play, their previous productions have focused on the works of Tennessee Williams and Caryl Churchill. Here, they take the works of Neil Gaiman, looking at the interface between real life and myth and the creatures that inhabit those spaces. Demons and gods (like Gaiman's interpretation of Aziraphale and Crowley) mix with humans with varying success and outcomes. An evil father who wants to spread his darkness across the world is searching for his wayward daughter who has escaped to the human world to seek out her half-sister rather than following in his dark footsteps. Essentially a struggle between good and evil, the show is Good Omens meets Long Lost Family, with secret sib...

24Jun

By Carole GordonNo Comments

London

Where You Go – Etcetera Theatre

Millie Henson's new play follows Aniyah and Finn's relationship, following an argument that threatens to destroy the couple. Finn is sleeping on the sofa, slobbing around their tiny messy apartment trying to break through his musical block and forgetting to water the plants, while Aniyah does long shifts as a nurse and is permanently exhausted. They used to be singer-songwriting partners, with aspirations to sell out stadiums and go on worldwide tours. This dream comes crashing down when Aniyah accepts that they have bills to pay and leaves the singing partnership, much to Finn's resentment. Without his "muse", his songwriting stalls. Suddenly at this pivotal moment in their relationship, a global apocalyptic event forces them to make major life choices, renew familial ties and attem...

Franz Kafka’s The Hunger Artist – Etcetera Theatre

11Jun

By Riana HowarthNo Comments

London

Franz Kafka’s The Hunger Artist – Etcetera Theatre

Franz Kafka’s The Hunger Artist - Etcetera Theatre Mesmeric, painfully expressive, and disturbingly comforting, Jonathan Sidgwick brings Kafka’s final work to life. Caged, centre stage, we find a man who revives himself to tell the tragic tale of the Hunger Artist, a man who devoted his life to his craft, to fasting. We see the hunger artist’s plight at the hands of a disinterested audience, (but also due to his own fixation), as he is forced to downgrade from a solo-travelling act that brought in masses to a sad, sideshow act that viewers see as a hindrance. With outstretched fingers and ever-widening eyes, blooming with the peculiar expression of the tormented hunger artist, you could feel his hunger for express and his appetite for reward, and release. He performed and flaunted th...

A Night with Me, Myself and Bipolar Brenda – Etcetera Theatre

14Oct

By Zoё MeeresNo Comments

London

A Night with Me, Myself and Bipolar Brenda – Etcetera Theatre

I’ve struggled with writing this review, as I have in the past when I've felt that the line between entertaining and educating are blurred in a production. In creating “A Night with Me, Myself and Bipolar Brenda”, actress and writer Natasha Rae has used her own experiences with bipolar disorder and anxiety to paint a brutally honest picture of how she experiences life and motherhood under the cloud of mental illness. Rae is passionate and engaging, her manic energy on stage mirroring the periods of mania she has experienced as part of her illness over the years. She reflects on the impact bipolar has had on her loved ones, covers her coping mechanisms as well as her darker times which felt refreshing, and washes the show through with a thorough dose of self-deprecating humour. That ...