Seven Dials Playhouse Archives

20Feb

By Paul AckroydNo Comments

London

Gang Bang – Seven Dials Playhouse

This comedy written by Hughie Shepherd-Cross is based on the premise that in 1945 when Sicilians were pouring onto boats to America, one minor Mafia member by the name of Don Lambrini accidentally boarded an all-inclusive Thomas Cook cruise to England, landing in Blackpool. There he set up a derivative version of a Mafia gang, attempting to control such activities as ice cream selling, donkey riding and lemonade. This improbable scenario sets up the opportunity for a wacky, fast paced performance with lots of gags about the North of England. The three actors dressed initially as classic movie style gangsters played a range of parts with farcical names such as Fray Bentos, Al Dente and Jim Reaper. They changed costumes quickly as required. There was no scenery and the only furniture ...

12Feb

By Klervi GavetNo Comments

London

The Screen Test – Seven Dials Playhouse

Bebe Cave’s one-woman show The Screen Test is a bonkers, non-stop romp offering a vivid glimpse into the tragicomedic life of fictional Betsy Bittersly—a neurotic, self-absorbed actress struggling to make her mark in 1930s-40s Hollywood. In a desperate bid for stardom, Betsy bends over backwards to meet every soul-crushing demand of a man-dominated, consumer-obsessed industry, even rebranding herself (from Betsy Bittersly to the cocktail-sounding Betsy Bitters) in an effort to be instantly palatable. Writer and performer Bebe Cave takes us on a wild ride from her very first screen test to her final one. Over the course of an hour, the ever-delusional Betsy encounters — and entertains, with a big, unflinching smile — every variety of perv and power player the industry has to offer. H...

Seven Dials Playhouse – To be, or not to be…?

1Dec

By Caroline WorswickNo Comments

Blogs

Seven Dials Playhouse – To be, or not to be…?

As the campaign to reinstate The Actors’ Centre grows in intensity, with a lack of comment from the Seven Dials Playhouse’s trustees and CEO, it is concerning to hear that another London theatre is struggling with financial pressures. The Seven Dials Playhouse has been known by other names, but the ones that most people will be familiar, are The Actors’ Centre, and the Tristan Bates Theatre. Did you know that this theatre was once a thriving centre for actors to attend workshops, try out their work, and hone their acting skills using the previously named Tristan Bates Theatre as their launchpad? As we mull over the future of this theatre space, let us look back at why the theatre is now in this position. In 1978, The Actors Centre was founded as a charity by Clive Swif...

Remembrance Monday – Seven Dials Playhouse

29Apr

By Zoё MeeresNo Comments

London

Remembrance Monday – Seven Dials Playhouse

Watching Remembrance Monday, I was reminded of a description I’ve always liked of memories that I read in an interview. The interviewee (it may have been Florence Welch but don’t quote me on that), talked about memories being like photocopies of photocopies, blurring gradually over time as you get further and further away from the original. And so it is with Julius (Nick Hayes), as his recollections of what initially appears to be a regular Monday night with husband Connor (Matthew Stathers) quickly take a much darker turn. In Remembrance Monday, playwright Michael Batten weaves seeds of doubt and confusion very early on, presenting questions about the reliability of Julius’s narration. I’ll keep this a spoiler free zone, but I will say that the twists and unfolding of the plot are perf...

10Mar

By Carole GordonNo Comments

London

Blue – Seven Dials Playhouse

Following its world premiere in Los Angeles in 2023, June Carryl's Blue won a Fringe First Award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. It's not hard to see why. It's March 2021, the world is emerging from the lockdowns of the pandemic and America is reeling from the tumultuous events that followed the 2020 Presidential election and the storming of the Capitol. When a young black motorist is shot dead by Police Officer Boyd Sully during what should have been a routine traffic stop, Detective LaRhonda Parker is called in to investigate. Parker and Sully are old friends, and Sully was also the partner of her now-retired police officer husband. As they banter about old times and start to delve into the events around the killing, shocking truths are gradually revealed that cause a conflicted Parker...

Chriskirkpatrickmas: A BoyBand Christmas Musical – Seven Dials Playhouse

6Dec

By Carole GordonNo Comments

London

Chriskirkpatrickmas: A BoyBand Christmas Musical – Seven Dials Playhouse

Everything about Valen Shore and Alison Zatta's musical looking back at 90s boyband NSync is quirkily eccentric. Even the title is a tongue-twister! This is a show that oozes nostalgia, while offering a commentary on the meteoric rise to fame of some very young guys, and their subsequent sudden break-up. It's Christmas Eve 2009, seven years after Justin Timberlake decided to pursue a solo career and NSync was said to be "on hiatus". The band's founder Kirkpatrick (Valen Shore) waits in a queue in a Hollywood coffee shop, still recognised by fans. He wistfully sings that he used to be on MTV as he continues his long wait for Timberlake (NIcole Wyland) to call him to get the band back together for a reunion tour. Every year he meets up with the three other members of the band - Lance (Riley...

14Oct

By Stewart Who?No Comments

London

Jock Night – Seven Dials Playhouse

A decade ahead of its arrival to these shores, I was the first journalist in the UK to write about crystal meth in the gay press. In 1997, after spending a deranged summer in San Francisco, I returned to London and in the pages of QX warned readers of a highly addictive new drug that was decimating the community on the West Coast. That same year, I wrote and performed ‘Twisted’ with Wayne G, arguably, the first ‘chemsex’ dance tune. That portmanteau had yet to be coined by the late, great David Stuart, but excessive drug use and epic sex sessions were the central themes of that record. They are also the driving forces in Jock Night, a new play by Adam Zane. Methamphetamine hydrochloride (aka ‘ice’ ’Tina’ ‘crank’ ‘meth’ ‘tweak’) took almost 20 years to get a foothold in the UK, unlike in...

<strong>Irrelevant comes to Seven Dials Playhouse</strong>

10Jan

By Caroline WorswickNo Comments

NEWS

Irrelevant comes to Seven Dials Playhouse

Coming to Seven Dials Playhouse in January, Le Gallienne Theatre Company presents the world premiere of Irrelevant - running from the 9th - 28th January 2023. This new play is written and directed by Le Gallienne Theatre Company’s Artistic Director, Keith Merrill (Entertaining Mr Sloane, The Einstein Letter), and stars Olivier Award nominee Debbie Chazen (The Smoking Room, Midsomer Murders, The Cherry Orchard). Kicking off Seven Dials Playhouse’s 2023 offerings is Irrelevant, a savagely amusing comment on the realities of a career in Hollywood. The play interrogates how talented artists can slip through the cracks and bright futures can suddenly be dimmed. The play centres on Millie (Debbie Chazen), a once-promising young actress, who finds herself chewed up and spat out ...

28Oct

By Zoё MeeresNo Comments

London

Daddy Issues – Seven Dials Playhouse

I really, really wanted to love Daddy Issues. I envisaged finding it funny, but challenging, and thought provoking; it sounded right up my street and at 75 minutes with no interval, it felt like a perfect Thursday evening activity to accompany a late dinner with a friend. And don’t get me wrong, there was much that I did enjoy. The height of this was Bebe Cave’s performance as Imi, our protagonist, who held the audience spellbound for the whole of this one-woman show. She is, frankly, flawless – with her portrayal taking us on an emotional journey that borders on exhausting. Friendly and full of self-deprecating humour one minute and genuinely unsettling the next, Cave is bubbling over with talent and is undoubtably the best thing about this production. Also deserving of a mention is...

22Jul

By Zoё MeeresNo Comments

London

Mosquito – Seven Dials Playhouse

The role of the ‘other woman’ in popular culture over the years has tended to sit at either end of a spectrum. Typically speaking she is either sexy, fearless, bordering on cold-hearted, a temptress, or she is meek, downtrodden, obsessed with a man who she knows will never leave his wife for her and suffering from low-self-esteem. Lemy (Aoife Boyle) is very much in the latter camp. When we first meet her and her love interest James (Seamus Dillane) we quickly establish that they are – or were – having an affair, and that James has now tired of Lemy and is returning to his wife and baby. James is cold – polishing off his Pret lunch while he ends his affair to enable him to get straight back to the office – while Lemy is clearly anxious and unsure, swinging from begging James to stay to s...