Park Theatre Archives - North West End UK

17Mar

By Zoё MeeresNo Comments

London

Hide and Seek – Park Theatre

Touching on issues like identity, peer pressure, friendship and the negative impact social media culture is having on young people, Hide and Seek doesn’t feel like entirely untrodden territory. Written by Italian playwright Tobia Rossi and translated and directed here by Carlotta Brentan, Hide and Seek charts the course of an unlikely friendship formed by two boys, Gio (Louis Scarpa) and Mirko (Nico Cetrulo) under quite bizarre circumstances. Bullied and belittled by his classmates, Gio retreats to a cave to escape after leaving a final mark on social media. Mirko finds him, and the two bond over their shared role in sensationalising Gio’s disappearance to feed the ensuing media circus, resorting to some fairly drastic measures to twist the story and stay relevant. As their friendship ...

Whodunnit [Unrehearsed] 3 returns to Park Theatre

25Feb

By NewsdeskNo Comments

NEWS

Whodunnit [Unrehearsed] 3 returns to Park Theatre

Returning for a third installment, the hugely popular Whodunnit [Unrehearsed] will see over 45 famous faces take on the role of the Inspector in a murder mystery fundraising spoof. Without ever seeing the script and only hearing their lines via an earpiece moments before speaking, one celebrity from a star-studded line-up of comedians, actors, presenters and musicians will take to the stage to perform the lead role. Who it will be each night is the greatest mystery of all, and only revealed when the curtain goes up. New faces in this year’s line-up include award winning actors Benedict Cumberbatch, Beverley Knight, Adrian Lester and Jodie Whittaker who will be attempting to solve a series of grizzly murders aboard a train. The voice of Richard Kind joins Ian McKellen in providing the n...

23Feb

By Kira DanielsNo Comments

London

Hir – Park Theatre

Vomiting all over the kitchen-sink dramedy, Taylor Mac’s black comedy shakes a cynical showmanship and irreverent discursiveness into an acidic concoction that’s a good deal easier to swallow than it is to digest. Hir (pronounced ‘here’) is a tough watch. Content warnings for “strong profanity throughout, along with discussions of sex, sexuality, and descriptions and visual evidence of domestic violence, rape and drug abuse” can be found by hunting through the production’s online listing and should be heeded. As bashful as its humour is bleak, the play’s darkest scenes are also its most illuminating. Depicting a vision of the American family life metaphorically and literally set in Malvina Reynolds’ “little boxes” it is a claustrophobic environment with a set not quite big enough for its ...

13Dec

By Zoё MeeresNo Comments

London

21 Round for Christmas – Park Theatre

21 Round for Christmas gets off to a promising start. Into a realistically lived in Christmas kitchen set glides Tracey (Cathy Conneff), adorned in a tinsel boa and belting out a gutsy performance of Santa Baby. Tracey is frazzled – dealing with the various dietary demands of family members, including a vegan tart, a ham and a turkey and concerned about the gravy which usually falls to her friend Jackie. Conneff’s Tracey is chatty and familiar, if not entirely relatable; it’s an interesting cross between feeling like you’re gossiping with a friend and having that person at work talk at you about people from their life that you’ll never meet and frankly don’t care about. It’s all pretty safe territory, though – amusing gripes about picky family members, her irritating mother-in-law and cha...

7Dec

By Paul AckroydNo Comments

London

The Time Machine – Park Theatre

Produced by Original Theatre and currently playing at the Park Theatre in Finsbury Park. The Time Machine is a hilarious romp. It is based upon the pretext that the great great-grandson of HG Wells discovers several items belonging to his illustrious ancestor in a locked box in his auntie's attic. These include items such as a ticket for a Take That reunion tour featuring Robbie Williams in 2025, that “proves” that HG Wells's famous novel was not just a work of fiction but, that he actually built a Time Machine. The play takes the form of a play within a play, and the actor playing the great-great-grandson Dave Wells (Dave Hearn) with his two fellow actors, set out to verify the time travelling exploits of his famous relative. In this they seek the assistance of a wide rang...

30Nov

By Paul AckroydNo Comments

London

Ikaria – Park Theatre

This play is about mental illness, although that is not immediately apparent. The setting is students' lodgings in 'Ikaria', a hall of residence. Simon, a third-year student, who has just taken a year out from his studies, has invited Mia, a first year student in her second term, back to his room. After meeting at a film club, he has offered to share some pizza vouchers. Mia, who is for some unaccountable reason strongly attracted to Simon, is clearly expecting that this invitation will lead to something more. Simon seems initially pleased at the chance to develop a relationship with Mia and although the first meeting is uncomfortable, it is followed up by others, and soon develops into a romantic relationship. Early on both parties declare their love for each other, al...

2Nov

By Stewart Who?No Comments

London

The Interview – Park Theatre

An older lady enquired if she was, ‘in the right place for Diana’. This query occurred on the pavement, outside Park Theatre, where The Interview by Jonathan Maitland is currently enjoying its world premiere. It transpired that this woman had booked tickets for the show on the same night as her 36th wedding anniversary. Her husband had been dead many decades. She then told me that from beyond the grave, he had nudged her to choose this significant date, so that she wouldn’t be home alone and grieving. Instead, she would be, ‘on a night out with Diana. He knows how much I love her.’ In many ways, that little vignette sums up the power, legacy and impact that Diana, Princess of Wales continues to hold over the nation. She stirs up sentimentality, paranormal notions and passionate fanatic...

Sorry We Didn’t Die at Sea – Park Theatre

20Sep

By Zoё MeeresNo Comments

London

Sorry We Didn’t Die at Sea – Park Theatre

The snug space of Park 90 at Park Theatre is perfect for Emanuele Aldrovandi’s Sorry We Didn’t Die at Sea, translated for a British audience here by Marco Young. Directed by Daniel Emery, who with Young is co-director of Riva Theatre, the intimate setting allows the audience to see every flinch of fear, every brief touch of tenderness and every wince of discomfort in this tense yet darkly comedic piece. The play focuses on three characters attempting to illegally escape the UK for a new life of opportunity across the sea, a thoughtful twist on the current migration situation. The characters, made a foursome by the sinister shipping container owner, never earn names and as their stories gradually unfold through a series of lies, half-truths and stark honesty, each of the ensemble gives ...

27Aug

By Stewart Who?No Comments

London

Candy – Park Theatre

Candy is the story of a bloke who falls in love with the drag alter ego of one of his school mates. Knowing the premise, I expected a knockabout comedy with a few torch songs and a dazzling turn from a wig-wearing man in stilettos. Drag Race meets La Cage Au Folles. It’s not that. At all. Essentially, it’s a skilfully performed monologue from Michael Waller as Will, who reflects on his life and this unlikely assault on his heart. It’s a testament to Waller’s performance that he manages to paint a vivid, emotional picture which is often quite moving, but more importantly, utterly believable. Waller is so committed to the performance that the audience can’t help but feel his pain and empathise with his predicament. Many drag performers would love to catch the eye of their straight mat...

16Aug

By Paul AckroydNo Comments

London

The Garden of Words – Park Theatre

This an unusual production to be performed in the United Kingdom being a stage adaptation of the Japanese Anime film of the same name by Makoto Shinkai. It tells the story of seven people, all seeking happiness in relationships but having to confront the realities of life in an urban environment which makes such connections difficult. True to its animation origins it adopts a symbolic rather than realistic staging. It is performed on a largely bare stage with a raised platform at the back and only a few white blocks which the cast efficiently moved around provide the necessary set for the various scenes. At the back of the playing area of was a skeletal tree and a projection surface onto which beautiful images of Japan were played, including from time to time quotations in ...