Nina Hajiyianni Archives - North West End UK

9Dec

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

North West

Little Red – Theatre Porto

Kevin Dyer’s delightful re-imagining of this tale as old as time is wonderfully brought to life under the direction of Nina Hajiyianni with memorable musical composition by Patrick Dineen to keep us on the right path as Little Red (Fatima Jahara) heads into the forest with the blessing of her mother (Anoush Kendrick) to visit her sickly Grandma (Francesca Anderson), but on the way she encounters a rather hungry Wolfie (Stephanie Greer) who has other plans for her. There is a surreal quality to this re-telling and the all-female cast deliver inspired performances with Anderson, Greer, and Kendrick also taking on ensemble roles as the journey unravels with lots of humour and the right amount of scare, wrapped up in song and some outstanding choreography. Anderson’s Grandma is instantly re...

Baba Yaga – Theatre Porto

The tales of the Baba Yaga, best known in Slavic folk and fairy tale traditions, are full of rich story material, and Laura Lindow’s new play for Theatre Hullabaloo and Theatre Porto reimagines the best elements of these to present a dark, fairytale world where the children’s bravery and ingenuity ultimately triumphs. The journey of two children, Girl (Fran Burgoyne) and Boy (Ben Galpin), and their search for safety, resonates strongly with current times as they encounter a town which refuses to let them in, knowing that as a result they are almost certainly sending them into terrible danger. However, whilst there is a moral message at the heart of this piece, directed by Nina Hajiyianni and produced by Miranda Thain, about our collective responsibility to look after the most vuln...

DDDivas – Unity Theatre

We all know there are plenty of fully-developed, full-length theatrical productions that feel utterly impenetrable to an audience not ‘in the know’. How wonderful then to report that DDDivas, a short 10-minute selection of new material still in development, is beautifully and heartbreakingly lucid. DDDivas - which also has the working title of Ruby’s Slippers - is described as a fictional telling of real events from the life of neuro-divergent, disabled performer Elaine Collins. The audience finds Elaine’s character Ruby on an empty, unlit stage dancing alone to Cyndi Lauper. Dressed from head to toe in colour and glitter, Ruby is, quite literally, the light in the darkness. It’s obvious from the off though that the pink tights, silver bow and purple arm warmers mask a less happy truth....