Park Theatre Archives - North West End UK

One Day When We Were Young – Park Theatre

4Mar

By Kira DanielsNo Comments

London

One Day When We Were Young – Park Theatre

Opening with a bang (both literally and lasciviously) but ending with a whimper, One Day When We Were Young illustrates a little too effectively that for war’s hollow men, life is very long. The framework of the script is slightly too frail to support both its underwritten characters. Like the Titanic’s infamously splintered door, this play can only hold up one of its young lovers’ character development. Resultantly male lead Barney White gets to cut his teeth on a sturdily written World War II conscript while Cassie Bradley exhausts her jaw attempting to chew through all the scenery provided to the young lover turned middle aged mother turned elderly author who plays second fiddle to him throughout. Designer Pollyanna Elston’s set is surprisingly rich but unfortunately clashes in palet...

4Feb

By Sadie PearsonNo Comments

London

Antigone (on strike) – Park Theatre

Antigone (on strike) written and directed by Alexander Raptotasios offered an exciting premise. The Greek classic reimagined into an all too relevant exploration of “the online court of public opinion”. Antigone, sister of an Isis bride righting for her remittance into the country. The likelihood of this, swayed by audience participation. You vote for how the story will turn out. A though provoking premise and a story of serious importance. Unfortunately, it sorely under delivered. Antiya is troubled by the loss of her sister. Not dead, rather at risk of a horrible fate, Esmeh is stranded in a refugee camp with her citizenship cancelled by the UK’s home secretary – Creighton. Having ran from home and joined ISIS at the impressionable age of 14, she is now forced to reckon with the conse...

29Jan

By Sadie PearsonNo Comments

London

The Gift – Park Theatre

What is the worst thing you’ve ever done? And what are the consequences you think you deserve for it? These are some of the questions which The Gift by Dave Florez seeks to answer. Colin is bereft, having received a beautifully packaged human excrement in the post. Unbeknownst to who it may have come from, Colin (Nicholas Burns), his sister Lisa (Laura Haddock) and his brother in law Brian (Alex Price) are subject, throughout the play, to a psychologically tormenting game of “who did it?” As the gift in question continues to anguish Colin, paranoia takes hold and domestic instability bubbles at the surface. More complex than meets the eye, this brilliantly absurd plot has the potential to travel to some truly dark places. Burns’ performance spanned a wide emotional range, veering fro...

18Dec

By Ralph JeffreysNo Comments

London

Cyrano – Park Theatre

Cyrano at the Park Theatre is an exceptionally entertaining evening out. Virginia Gay’s reworking of Edmond Rostand’s 19th century play is transformational, turning an old, ossified tragedy into an uplifting and heartfelt exploration of queerness and love. The play follows Cyrano, who has a brilliant mind but is deeply insecure in her body. She falls for the equally intelligent Roxanne, who instead falls for the handsome yet ineloquent Yan. Unable to express her love openly, Cyrano takes to seducing Roxanne through Yan, feeding him the right words. Through this tension, Cyrano explores unrequited love, self-hatred, arrogance, and manipulation. Virigina Gay and Jessica Whitehurst flourish as Cyrano and Roxanne respectively. Their chemistry is compelling as are the barriers to their ro...

7Dec

By Klervi GavetNo Comments

London

Bette and Joan – Park Theatre

Bette and Joan is a lively exploration of the rivalry between two Hollywood legends, Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, set against the backdrop of the making of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?. Directed by Sue Jenkins, this production offers a humorous and sharp dissection of their frenemy dynamic, blending biting wit with illuminating glimpses into their shared struggles. Photo: Simon Annand The play thrives on the fiery chemistry between the leads - "two queen bees in one hive” battling for the same crown. Neil Gordon’s masterful set design, paired with gorgeous costumes, features opposing dressing rooms without actual mirrors. The actresses’ reflections are thus projected onto one another, cleverly underscoring how deeply intertwined their lives are. The initial exchange of barbs an...

13Aug

By Zoё MeeresNo Comments

London

When It Happens To You – Park Theatre

Firstly, a trigger warning - When It Happens To You deals with issues of sexual assault and violence from the outset and throughout, and there’s nowhere to hide from it in this gutturally raw and confronting 90 minute performance. But Tawni O’Dell’s tale of a family dealing with the aftermath of tragedy is a tale of compassion, of surviving, and ultimately of love. Told through a series of monologues interspersed with conversation, Amanda Abbingdon is our focal point as a mother struggling to support her daughter and her family in the wake of a terrible assault. The action unfolds from Abbingdon’s point of view, with her heartfelt performance moving the narrative from the night of the attack. Abbingdon is arresting - she has the audience hanging on her every word as she wrestles with he...

3Aug

By Kira DanielsNo Comments

London

I Love You, Now What? – Park Theatre

First comes love. Then comes marriage. Then comes anticipatory grief? Written by actor and comedian Sophie Craig, I Love You, Now What? is a play that weaves its way through the chronology of courtship just as it plows headlong through each of the stages of grief. Craig plays Ava, a young musician who idolizes her father (Ian Puleston-Davies) both musically and personally. When he is diagnosed with a terminal illness Ava tries to blow off steam with a young actor named Theo (Andy Umerah) and instead finds herself completely fogged up in love. As their romance blooms and her father’s health fades, the intermingling of joy and grief becomes too potent a force for one woman to bear and Ava begins to lose her grip on all the things she loves most. Director and dramaturg Toby Clarke a...

28Jun

By Zain RussellNo Comments

London

The Marilyn Conspiracy – Park Theatre

Who did it? What caused it? “The Marilyn Conspiracy" is a thought-provoking play that invites the audience to ponder the events leading up to Marilyn Monroe’s death. From the outset, it is clear that extensive research went into creating this magnificent play, which takes you on a journey of what could have happened and the reasons behind it. The play immediately introduces important historical characters who were "friends" of Monroe and perhaps involved in covering up something more sinister. Genevieve Gaunt embodies Monroe, showcasing the strong emotions that Marilyn was feeling on the day she died. Was she depressed, drunk, lonely or perhaps all three? The show highlights these emotions whilst allowing you to draw your own conclusions about what happened that night. The set initia...

12Jun

By Zoё MeeresNo Comments

London

Miss Julie – Park Theatre

August Strindberg’s Miss Julie formed part of my GCSE drama syllabus, so I approached yesterday’s performance with a warm, hazy nostalgic feeling. A classic love/lust between the classes scandal, set in the midst of wild and carefree Midsummer celebrations – maybe this production would compensate for the current lack of summer and merriment London currently seems to be experiencing and I’d be able to lose myself in high drama and raw passion for a short while. Kit Hinchcliffe’s traditional set is detailed for the relatively small space, with the action so close that you can see and sometimes even smell everything that’s happening in front of you. Servants (and partners) Jean (Freddie Wild) and Christine (Adeline Waby) are setting about their evening when the Count’s daughter, Miss Julie...

20May

By Kira DanielsNo Comments

London

Sniff – Park Theatre

Pissing on stage has never been more popular. From Travis Alabanza’s Overflow to Sam Grabiner’s Boys on the Verge of Tears plays set in bathrooms proliferate. It seems all the best new writing owes its inspiration to some form of cubicle poetry. Poetry this play is. Lewd, brash, and at times nauseating poetry it may be but it is poetry and a very powerful sort at that. With spectacular writing and performances by Gabriel Fogarty-Graveson & Felix Grainger under Ben Purkiss’s deft direction the chemistry between Liam (Fogarty-Graveson) and Alex (Grainger), two men who meet in a pub toilet, genuinely sizzles. Fogarty Graveson is especially undeniable as Liam, a character so intensely charming and menacing that he is somehow impossible not to root for even as he gets up to nothing but b...