Omnibus Theatre Archives - North West End UK

20Sep

By Alice RoseNo Comments

London

LENNY. – Omnibus Theatre

Lenny, also known as ‘big man’ by his best friend Carly is soon to be turning 30. Living with flatmates he doesn’t like, a job that fulfills him with no purpose and a huge burning desire to be loved. Written and performed by Alfie Webster and directed by Sarah Stacey, this 80-minute piece travels through the usual spots Lenny exists like the cinema, a nightclub, the nightclub’s cubicle and back in his room where even there he struggles to take up space. But on this particular day he is haunted by a dream, in which he had sex with a banana. This unravels him completely as he realises his own loneliness. His mission becomes clear, to prove the banana wrong and make sense of who he is. Location to location, Webster invites us into his lens of life. He finds humour in almost anything mundan...

4Jul

By Alice RoseNo Comments

London

Get Happy – Omnibus Theatre

Performer and writer of the wonderful ‘Get Happy’ Joseph Aldous greets his audience like a cheerleader. Big energy, smiling and excitable- it’s impossible not to be pleased as we take our seats and buckle in for a wild night. Get Happy focuses on a 30-year man, single and looking for a long term partner but being subjected to one night stands and transactional relationships. He is plunged into chaos as his flatmate ‘Ryan’ announces his perfect engagement and perfect to be life as he ends his tenancy. Adam has only one choice to prove that he’s as worthy as his flatmate. He needs to ‘get happy’. To do this he trusts his Alexa to journey with him through this week in London, hoping by the Sunday he 1. Has a new boyfriend, 2. Has a new promotion and 3. Finds a new flatmate. This 75-...

5Feb

By Ralph JeffreysNo Comments

London

Vanya Is Alive – Omnibus Theatre

Vanya is alive is a unique play, telling the story of political censorship and the realities of war in Russia today. In its current form, it is calling out for a more complete staging, with moments of excellence not translating into a production that fully explores its own potential. The play focuses on Alya, whose son Vanya is captured and killed in the war, and her journey of political awakening that follows this. This tragedy is explored through a central conceit, namely that in Alya's society, the sentence that began this paragraph is not permissible, indeed it doesn't even exist. Instead, Aliya is told that her son is "absolutely free". In this way characters speak and emote through antonyms. It is an interesting idea, and at times can be incredibly moving. We are told how Alya ...

29Jan

By Anisha PucadyilNo Comments

London

1984 – Omnibus Theatre

George Orwell's 1984 is prescribed reading for most schools in Britain, but it is still banned in Russia. To mark the 40th anniversary of Orwell's narrative, inspired by Nick Hern's play, Withintheatre, a London-based collective of professional Slavic performers, has assembled a physical theatre interpretation of the piece. Founded in 2022 by Sofia Barysevich, Withintheatre's performance platforms the play as an act of defiance and activism. The play lasts until 2nd February at the Omnibus Theatre, London, following their sold-out, award-winning run at the 2024 Edinburgh Fringe. Recreating moments of violence, subjugation, and interrogation, The play's themes are topical. Observing authoritarian regimes around us twist facts and swoop in to control private lives increasingly. '1984' ser...

7Dec

By Olivia CoxNo Comments

London

Bill – Omnibus Theatre

In the age of disinformation, Red Fox Theatre has put together a musical comedy to tell the story of the man who started it all: Milton William ‘Bill’ Cooper. I must admit, I wasn’t actually familiar with Cooper myself before watching Bill, so I was looking forward to learning something new — and about such an incredibly timely subject. Bill isn’t a straightforward autobiographical show. Describing themselves as practitioners of ‘Chaos Theatre’, Red Fox Theatre bring us a suitably bonkers retelling of one of America’s most notorious conspiracy theorists. There’s music, puppetry, physical comedy, parodies and more — it’s a ‘kitchen sink’ style approach to storytelling that I am pretty much always a fan of. Sometimes the chaos can make it tricky to follow the thread of the stor...

15Nov

By Alan Stuart MalinNo Comments

London

Club Life – Omnibus Theatre

Fred Deakin’s ‘Club Life’ is more than a show, it’s an intimate love letter to the transformative magic of club culture. Part autobiography, part highly immersive, participatory theatre, and part living history, this production takes audiences on an exhilarating journey through Deakin’s personal and professional evolution, from awkward teenage house party DJ to the mastermind behind some of Edinburgh’s most iconic and infamous club nights. Set against the vibrant backdrops of 1980s and 1990s Edinburgh nightlife, ‘Club Life’ combines heartfelt storytelling with a celebration of the communal power of dance. As narrator, Deakin recounts his early forays into DJing, describing how playing music at parties gave him a sense of belonging. From there, the narrative crescendos into his universit...

Make Good: The Post Office Scandal – Omnibus Theatre

13Nov

By Olivia CoxNo Comments

London

Make Good: The Post Office Scandal – Omnibus Theatre

By now, the whole of the UK is aware of the tragic miscarriage of justice that was the Post Office scandal, where more than 900 sub postmasters were wrongly convicted of theft, fraud, and false accounting, ruining their reputations and livelihoods in the process. This unbelievable story became more widely known after ITV broadcast the TV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office. Now, we have a musical take on the scandal in the form of Pentabus and New Perspectives’ Make Good: The Post Office Scandal, written and composed by Jeanie O’Hare and Jim Fortune. There’s a real community feel to the style of storytelling, which fits the source material nicely. We’re introduced to the show by Ed Gaughan, acting as a narrator and host in an engaging fourth wall-breaking monologue before seamlessl...

28Jun

By Klervi GavetNo Comments

London

George – Omnibus Theatre

George, penned by the multi-talented French writer and actress Léa des Garets, is an enchanting blend of entertainment and education that delves into the life of George Sand, a French figure whose notoriety for wearing men's clothing has often overshadowed her literary genius. Sand (des Garets) is grappling with her next big literary project. Together with her muse and lover, actress Marie Dorval (Inki Mariano), Sand Birthes "Gabriel," a play on a 17th-century Italian aristocrat who was raised as a man, only to discover at age seventeen they were biologically female. The play proves to be way ahead of its time in 1830s Europe and becomes a vehicle of meta-reflection for Sand’s own gender identity. Developed with the support of the Institut Francais du Royaume-Uni, this collaboration ...

22May

By Anisha PucadyilNo Comments

London

Surfacing – Omnibus Theatre

A heartwarming starlit production. Surreal, evocative and empathetic Surfacing's preview run was an Evening Standard Top Pick of VAULT and earned it an Origins Award nomination, and it's previously been shortlisted for New Diorama Theatre's Untapped Award. The ASYLUM Arts is a company focused on improving the representation of neurodiversity and disability in the arts. Founded by Stephen Bailey in 2021, ASYLUM produces work, delivers training on neurodiverse inclusion and reinvests its profits in training for early-career disabled and neurodivergent practitioners. ASYLUM is a Barbican Open Lab resident company and was shortlisted for New Diorama's Untapped Award 2022. The show centers the story of neurodivergents / mental health experiences navigating a maze of a system that sounds l...

6Apr

By Michelle KnightNo Comments

London

Love Steps – Omnibus Theatre

The writer, poet and producer Anastasia Osei-Kuffour makes her playwriting debut in Love Steps: The story of Anna a young, gifted and Black girl navigating a world in turmoil searching for the one thing missing in her life, love. The set is simplistic with only shadow effects of their silhouettes, flashed up words to reflect the mood, offering no hiding place for this two person play. Anna played out by Sharon Rose set the perfect scene of her successful professional life with prose poetry and dance. She had everything a Black girl would want except in this life, devoid of a man’s love and affection, marriage and children. She would ponder, analyse control and create a checklist of the perfect man. When will happen, and how, who will it be are ...