Friday, October 23

Tag: Southbank Centre

<strong>Dolly Parton’s Smoky Mountain Christmas Carol – Southbank Centre</strong>
London

Dolly Parton’s Smoky Mountain Christmas Carol – Southbank Centre

Dickens' tale of poverty, inequality and transformation has been a staple of the holiday season since it was first published in 1843. While Dickens was highlighting the terrible deprivation of the London slums, Dolly Parton's new musical takes the audience to the Appalachian Mountains in 1936, at the height of the Depression. As in the original tale, Ebenezer Scrooge owns everything in the town, having taken over ownership of the mine, shop and bank from his partner, Jacob Marley. The inhabitants of the town work all hours for a pittance for Scrooge, struggling, scrimping and saving, but finding joy in their families, and in their hopes and dreams. There's no such joy in Scrooge's life, and he focuses all his time and energy on making and saving money. He has no-one and regards Christmas a...
Figs in Wigs: Little Wimmin – Southbank Centre
London

Figs in Wigs: Little Wimmin – Southbank Centre

Pitched somewhere between anarchic performance art and chaotic high-concept mockery of theatrical and literary analysis, the Figs in Wigs' satirical adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's "Little Women" veers from Greek chorus, avant-garde dance to groan-ful puns and visual humour. Alcott's work, given an unnecessarily deep and pretentious analysis of the text can, the Figs suggest with tongues stuck firmly in cheeks, be linked to climate change, astrology, the future of humankind and the patriarchy.  And cocktails.  The five Figs in Wigs (Alice Roots, Sarah Moore, Suzanna Hurst, Rachel Gammon and Rachel Porter), rounding out the Southbank's Women of the World Festival in recognition of International Women's Day, give the show their all in their various roles, with impeccable chore...