Soho Theatre Archives - Page 5 of 6

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...

8Apr

By Paul AckroydNo Comments

London

Lava – Soho Theatre

A small asteroid hitting London is the context for James Fritz new play now showing at the Soho Theatre. Rather than causing global annihilation, it is a relatively local event although causing significant death and the large-scale displacement of populations. It throws together 4 characters whose relationships are the substance of the play. The central character is Vin played by Don Parr who appears to have been struck dumb by the grief caused by the event. His mother Vicky (Kasey Ainsworth) and friend and workmate Rach (Bethany Antonia) struggle to understand and maintain their relationships with him, especially when the more charismatic and certainly more voluble Jamie (Oli Higginson) arrives. The setting was simple on a bare stage with a large circular well in the middle...

5Mar

By Aditi DalalNo Comments

London

Shedding A Skin – Soho Theatre

When, in the first five minutes of a show, you have both, gone “awww” and burst out loud with laughter, you know you’re in for something special. Amanda Wilkin’s original show journeys through a point in Myah’s life where she is juggling a distressing work environment, a disappointed family and a lack of a love life and a roof over her head. Wilkin chooses, however, to laugh at her circumstances along with the audience, taking a stand-up comedy cum physical theatre approach. Photo: Helen Murray Highlighting sensitive issues in a lighthearted manner requires a nuanced understanding and great storytelling skills, and this writer-performer has both. Wilkin is highly expressive and theatrical yet comes across as authentic. Whether it is the experience of being treated as a mere figure to...

3Mar

By Alice RoseNo Comments

London

Work.txt – Soho Theatre

An audience, mostly of whom are 9 to 5, maybe some are freelance, of mothers and fathers, of Pisces and Gemini’s, of people who hate their bosses and those who earn more than 30,000 a year have all bought tickets to an immersive show. There are no actors, just a stage manager but they are just clicking a button. We decide if we speak and we listen to those who do, we talk what is written and together we build a city. I was unsure where this play might take me. It’s a Wednesday night and I’m not that up to getting involved so I sit down on the front row with slight anxiety and my mask pulled up very high. I notice the subtle sound of ‘The Sims’ theme music playing, a horrible memory of my Covid pass-time activities. At this point, I’m flustered. As the lights dim, the projector ...

17Feb

By Alice RoseNo Comments

London

Splintered – Soho Theatre

Splintered is a ‘part-play, part-cabaret’ which explores and celebrates the queer joy and coming out in a homophobic culture. Chanté Faucher, Melissa Saint and Alice Vilanculo grab our hands and pull us in as we hear the real words of Caribbean people telling their coming out stories and seeing how they keep that part of themselves secret due to the culture surrounding them. But this show promises queer joy and where people might find themselves with no hope, there is always something to celebrate ‘despite, IN SPITE’ of their oppressors. Emily Aboud, writer and director has created something beautiful. From the moment the lights go down, the audience were edging forward, clapping their hands and beaming from ear to ear. It is a show that you can only sit back in your chair after the bow...

15Feb

By Beth EltringhamNo Comments

REVIEWS

Hedda (After Ibsen) – Soho Theatre

Hedda is an avant-garde re-imagining of the early text Hedda Gabler by esteemed realist writer Henrik Ibsen however it can be argued that it goes against everything Ibsen stood for within theatre. Any fan of the original text like myself will be likely to be left with many a mix feelings after watching this one person performance. The story of Hedda and Hedda Gabler (1891) is one in the same, Hedda is a distasteful woman of great social status who has recently married a man who she believes is beneath her. Being away from her social class and stuck in a less than luxurious home she finds herself bored and loathing her current living situation. When a friend from the past shows up with his new manuscript and a pretty young girl at his side Hedda sees an opportunity to take control over h...