Soho Theatre Archives - North West End UK

12May

By Savitha VenugopalNo Comments

London

The Anti “Yogi” – Soho Theatre

There is yoga, and then there is yoga. One is the kind that has been repackaged for a Western audience and the other is the kind that is deeply rooted in an ancient culture. The Anti “Yogi” – which comes with the tag line “Liberation, not lululemon” – is a rebellion against the former. Written and performed by Mayuri Bhandari, this production is directed by Shyamala Moorty & D’Lo. Mayuri starts off with the warning that the show will contain triggering words like manifestation and mindfulness. Triggering not for the audience, but for her. She delves into the multi-billion-dollar yoga industry in the US, where yoga has been commodified and stripped of its essence, leaving only a misunderstood and repackaged husk. She laments the topsy-turviness of it all, and how something she gre...

2May

By Zain RussellNo Comments

London

Tender – Soho Theatre

Tender, written by Dave Harris and performed at Soho Theatre, centres on the struggling Dancing Bears strip club. Once thriving, the venue is now losing its appeal, with a rival club night down the street drawing sell-out crowds. Faced with declining audiences and relevance, Dancing Bears must reinvent itself to survive, setting the stage for a lively and unexpectedly thoughtful production. From the outset, the show leans into its immersive concept. Audience members are handed dollar bills and paddles to signal participation, effectively transforming us into patrons of the club. This interactive element is one of the production’s greatest strengths, creating an electric atmosphere and blurring the line between spectator and performer. The crowd quickly buys into the experience, and the ...

Should I Still Be Doing This? – Soho Theatre

26Apr

By Carole GordonNo Comments

London

Should I Still Be Doing This? – Soho Theatre

Susan Harrison's parade of weird and wonderful characters was a big hit at the Edinburgh Fringe and it's not hard to see why. This hilarious mixture of stand-up, improv and character comedy is sharp, original, and best of all, funny. Depressed Sindy is a particularly brilliant and original skit, as the doll looks back on her life of always being negatively compared to her more successful American counterpart, Barbie. Angry panda from Chester Zoo makes cogent observations of how people view zoo animals and intrude on their private moments. Over-the-top “influencer” Fleur is recognisably cringe-worthy. Harrison also takes a deep dive into the surreal with her girl stuck in a well inside a woman - a bizarre alter-ego but strangely believable which even draws the...

Riki Lindhome: Dead Inside – Soho Theatre

7Apr

By Kira DanielsNo Comments

London

Riki Lindhome: Dead Inside – Soho Theatre

Cinderella wants to go to the ball and Ariel wants to be where the people are. Riki Lindhome is trying to get some balls to come to her so she can be where the people are (growing). Venture into the infinite forest of her fertility journey in Dead Inside, a one woman musical odyssey that rejects both the structure of the cis straight white man’s hero’s journey and the audience expectation that a one act one woman musical won’t make everyone cry. Lindhome alternates musical comedy with a series of gut-wrenching monologues so disarmingly genuine that by the end of the show much of the audience was in fact brought to tears. Fans of Lindhome will recognize almost all of the songs in this show from her online work, with particular standouts “So Long Farewell (A Breakup Anthem for B...

2Apr

By Charles PipeNo Comments

London

This is Not About Me – Soho Theatre

Following an acclaimed Edinburgh Fringe run, THIS IS NOT ABOUT ME. hits Soho Theatre. This extremely solid playwrighting debut from Hannah Caplan delivers humour and heart, in a clever meta-theatrical package. The play follows Grace and Eli, whose longstanding but arguably co-dependant friendship is tested by creeping romantic and sexual attraction. The story nonlinearly jumps around across several years of jealousy, hookups, falling out, making up, and general will-they-won’t-they drama. Meta-theatrically, following months of no-contact with Eli, Grace writes a play to help her process her feelings. THIS IS NOT ABOUT ME. is that play. While the plot bears a resemblance to When Harry Met Sally, Caplan takes a much grittier – though still very funny – approach to the subject matter. &nbs...

20Mar

By Olivia CoxNo Comments

London

Welcome to Pemfort – Soho Theatre

The titular Pemfort we’re welcomed to in Sarah Power’s new play is a castle – or, arguably, a fort – nestled in a sleepy village that’s home to a host of quirky characters. The 90-minute comedy-drama zeros in on Pemfort’s quiet gift shop, in which the absence of regular customers allows the staff to focus on a new venture: Pemfort’s first ‘living history’ event. The gift shop (brought to life exquisitely by Alys Whitehead’s vivid yet lived-in set design) is run by Uma (Debra Gillett), a dreamy and motherly figure with a penchant for calling her younger staff members “poppet” or “chicken”. The rest of her team initially comprises adventurous Ria (Lydia Larson) and strait-laced Glenn (Ali Hadji-Heshmati), who is especially passionate about ensuring the upcoming event is as historically ac...

13Mar

By Kira DanielsNo Comments

London

Iron Fantasy – Soho Theatre

Do you feel strong? Harder? Better? Faster? Stronger? She Goat’s Iron Fantasy is putting in the work to achieve all of the above. Shamira Turner and Eugénie Pastor are a formidable two-woman operation dolled up and scrubbed in to peel back every layer of each other’s armour both literal and metaphorical. A seventy-five-minute romp through song, dance, farmer carrying, tire slinging and fight choreographing, Iron Fantasy is fun and funny. The performers have a beautiful chemistry and obvious ease with each other that enables them to connect with the audience as well but despite the inherent vulnerability of staging the show’s autobiographical themes their bond insulates them from much of the audience’s scrutiny. A testament to the power of female friendship and the strength gained...

25Feb

By Charles PipeNo Comments

London

Siblings: Dreamweavers – Soho Theatre

Siblings are a sketch and character comedy duo consisting of real-life siblings Maddy and Marina Bye. In their latest show, Dreamweavers, they play scientists who have invented a device that can projects people’s dreams. Using the audience as clinical trial participants, the duo project (i.e. act out, as sketches) a variety of dreams, ranging from the nightmarish to the absurd to the Freudian. This sci-fi B-movie -esque framing device is fun and provides a broad narrative throughline that gives something tangible to latch onto amidst the delightful chaos of the show. Dreamweavers took a little while to win me over, but once I was on board I had a wonderful time. At first, I found the sketches to be too random and surreal for my tastes. Obviously, this randomness suits the theme of the s...

20Feb

By Alice RoseNo Comments

London

Shenoah Allen – Soho Theatre

A therapist created a warning for Allen, ‘you have an unnamed dread’. He has been running from his endless tragedies growing up in his family’s unusual commune style living so Allen found humour in all that made him, himself. The show runs at 60 minutes with a mix of story telling and improv. Unfortunately, the momentum feels delayed and structured too loosely to feel completely free to let yourself go in the piece. Allen arrives on stage with a few fun punches to kick us off, a warm up to the dark material we may explore tonight but as we move through his deep family history, we feel lost by who the characters in his life really were. With no suitable introductions and niche impressions, we have a fairly blank impression on who these people are and therefore no reason to relate. ...

16Feb

By Alice RoseNo Comments

London

Josh Sharp’s: Ta-Da – Soho Theatre

On a late evening at the Soho Theatre, I quite simply have no idea what to expect. I know this show includes 2000 slideshow pages and our comedian/magician is finally ready to come out. This simple and witty bio could not prepare me for such an incredibly moving, hilarious and slam-dunk performance that was received. Sharp must have a brain of a genius, well he does actually in learning he has a masters in Quantum Physics, he brings us back to the beginning of his life and his dreams of becoming a magician. Moving onto his pact with God and a promise to not practice ‘confirming’ his true sexuality and a deeply moving and beautiful time shared with his late mother who gently bullied him to finally come out. After its run on OffBroadway, London has been gifted the opportunity...