Soho Theatre Archives - Page 4 of 6

Brown Girls Do It Too: Mama Told Me Not to Come – Soho Theatre

22Oct

By Gemma PrinceNo Comments

London

Brown Girls Do It Too: Mama Told Me Not to Come – Soho Theatre

Based on the critically acclaimed BBC Sounds podcast Brown Girls Do it Too, dynamic duo Rubina Pabani and Poppy Jay have brought their charm, wit and openness to the stage in this new show. Winners of Best Podcast of the Year at the British Podcast Awards (2020) and Asian Media Awards, (2021) the podcast explores the chaotic reality of being a British Asian woman and their experiences of sex, identity and family while growing up. Titled 'Brown Girls Do It Too: Mama Told Me Not to Come, the unfiltered show is a hilarious mix of skits, songs , stories and dancing. Set in the early 2000s- style teen bedroom decorated with nostalgic pop culture references from the likes of Bend it Like Beckham, Friends and American Pie with R&B classics playing in the background, the intimate set perfec...

22Oct

By Jennifer LaishleyNo Comments

London

A Gig For Ghosts – Soho Theatre

A Gig for Ghosts at The Soho Theatre is a heart-warming story that tells of the romance between Lilly and Amy. The show is a gig theatre show with one act. There is a lot more story to this show than other shows I’d the same format which helps to bring alive the characters. Although the subject matter is dark the script is also funny. Amy (Hanora Carmen) has a morbid job administering deaths for forgotten people and Lilly (Rori Hawthorn) is temping and new to London. The two characters are complete opposite, Lilly is desperate to fall in love and Amy is more comfortable alone. In the first scene we learn that Lilly is dead and this hangs over us throughout the show. The girls had convincing chemistry together and built believable characters. They were accompanied on stage by Maud (Li...

30Sep

By Riana HowarthNo Comments

London

Brown Boys Swim – Soho Theatre

Brimming with excitement and the promise of the future, Kash and Mohsen are unwittingly each other’s lifeline during their isolating adolescence. Mohsen, the more reserved and cautious of the two plans to study at Oxford university and shies away from leaving his hometown. In spite of his banter and humorous nature, he is constantly guarded and aware of how he navigates the world as a young, Muslim man. Kash serves as his polar opposite, uninhibited and blissfully ignorant of others’ perceptions of him and even interprets them to suit himself. When a pool party is on the cards Kash, forever the optimist decides to learn how to swim, much to Mohsen's reluctance. Arguments and clashes arise as they explore tensions surrounding their friendship and their different attitudes to life. Karim ...

1Sep

By Alan Stuart MalinNo Comments

London

Not F**kin’ Sorry – Soho Theatre

Presented by Not Your Circus Dog Collective and Access All Areas, the frank and honest cabaret ‘Not F**kin’ Sorry’ dives headfirst and unapologetically into the topic of disability discrimination in a highly provocative, hilarious, and seductive way. Not Your Circus Dog is a collective of learning disabled and neurodivergent performers who all, in their own right take command of the performance space to share their own story and those of others, and with serious content warnings, knock down all barriers on the sexuality, lifestyle, and fantasy of disabled people. The 60 minutes performance is impactful from start to finish. It is a curated piece that balances between the points of audience laughter and dancing, and points where they are stunned into silence and grim sadness. It’s a s...

David Hoyle: Ten Commandments – Soho Theatre

27Aug

By Stewart Who?No Comments

London

David Hoyle: Ten Commandments – Soho Theatre

Humanity is paying a price for not listening to David Hoyle. In the heady ‘90s, when Hoyle performed as the Divine David, he would howl at the crowds, ‘Don’t go to the gym, go to the library’. The message, delivered with smeared mascara, spit and rage was driven by a righteous fear that society’s obsession with external appearance would destroy intellectual evolution and spiritual growth. That sage decree was delivered long before Twitter thirst traps, armies of Instagram charlatans and the quiet destruction of public libraries. Hoyle was a queer canary down the mine. Today, young children are increasingly cursed with eating disorders, Botox is bigger than de Beauvoir and since 2010, at least 773 libraries have closed. Even if we wished to heed Hoyle’s advice, it’s too la...

Age is a Feeling – Anatomy Lecture Theatre Summerhall Festival

6Aug

By Kathleen MansfieldNo Comments

Scotland

Age is a Feeling – Anatomy Lecture Theatre Summerhall Festival

A gem of storytelling and insight. Haley McGee, writer and performer, delivers tenderness, wit and sensitivity to a captivated audience in the Anatomy Lecture Room at Summerhall. It is an apt setting, since she is dissecting our stages of life. The semi-circular auditorium cradles the simple set which is carefully lit (Don Carter-Brennan) to cast soft shadows as you exit pondering the imprint our lives do or do not leave behind us. Age is a Feeling questions the veracity of Time and how our internal clock fights with chronology. Directed by Adam Brace this very personal piece invites the audience to choose which episodes of life to recount, leaving out others, as happens in life. Nobody really knows us is the premise which the set (Zoë Hurwitz) creatively and cleverly represents. The no...

14Jul

By Zoё MeeresNo Comments

London

Hungry – Soho Theatre

On the face of it, Chris Bush’s new play could simply be viewed as a fresh take on class. In reality, Hungry has more layers than a millefeuille, tackling a diverse range of topics including love, love language, class, culture, ethnicity, sexuality, addiction and, of course, food. The set-up is thus – laidback waitress Bex meets passionate, driven chef Lori. Bex loves chicken nuggets and Pot Noodles, Lori is acutely aware of the difference between a mousse and a marquise. During an hour and ten minutes we move back and forth in time, observing the peaks and troughs in their relationship – two people who find love with someone so unlike them, trying to assimilate and be assimilated into each other's worlds. The time-hopping can be confusing, especially in the earlier scenes as you try to...

19May

By Alice RoseNo Comments

London

Snatched – Soho Theatre

Snatched currently running at Soho Upstairs and is written and performed by previous Coronation Street actor Melissa Johns, following her life prior to her dreams of becoming an actor, dating in her teens and mastering riding the bike. Melissa was born missing a forearm, of which only seems like a big deal to everyone else. We are taken through a rabbit hole all the moments that revealed something new to her. From the first moment of feeling romantic love, where she strategically hid her arm to avoid any prior judgement to the moment her agent rang her to reveal that her naked pictures were leaked and about to be in the papers. Johns is a firecracker as she dances around from scene to scene revealing how the comments from others pushed her into heavily critiquing the things she cannot c...

7May

By Zoё MeeresNo Comments

London

Juniper and Jules – Soho Theatre

Last night I experienced the rare treat of thinking I knew the basic outline of a story, and being pretty happy about it, but then watching something that was so much richer and more poignant that I felt annoyed with myself for making any assumptions at the beginning at all. Juniper and Jules meet at a club. They flirt, they leave together, they have sex. But then – shock – we learn that Jules has never had sex with a woman before, in fact has a boyfriend, and is really quite surprised at the revelation that sex with a woman is an option for her. Aha, thought I, slightly cynically. That’s it. That’s the story. Woman discovers woman and grapples with identity. But that’s not the story. Or it is, partly, but it’s so much more than that. Juniper and Jules is a story about identity, about r...

Bourgeois & Maurice: Pleasure Seekers – Soho Theatre

9Apr

By Stewart Who?No Comments

London

Bourgeois & Maurice: Pleasure Seekers – Soho Theatre

As people ponder eating their pets due to a cost of living crisis, and war crimes bleed from the airwaves, it was a cheering prospect to spend the night with Bourgeois & Maurice and their new show, ‘Pleasure Seekers’. The habitually dark and subversive cabaret assassins burst onto the stage with unhinged glee and in their opening song, promised to serve unbridled hedonism, positivity and joy to a world drowning in sadness. They didn’t disappoint, with lyrics that pledged taking ‘sixteen pills’ at a rave in Berlin and adopting hedonism as a ruling strategy. The Friday night, Soho crowd lapped up this ecstatic decree and clapped along with bawdy delight, but we were lulled into a party vibe that was about to curdle and veer into darker pastures. Essentially, the show is...