PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Cinderella

2009-12-19T22:52:00.002Z

Cinderella
Jacksons Lane, Highgate

It may be easy to presume that you know the story of Cinderella and find it hard to believe that you could be surprised by a production of it. But then you obviously haven’t been along to Jacksons Lane to see their contemporary version of the classic fairytale complete with a Dr Martins wearing heroine.

Sending the damsel in distress hurtling forward in time, we are presented with Cinderella as a schoolgirl not scrubbing floors for a wicked step mother but trying desperately to fit into a school full of talented acrobats and magicians. Dr Kane is the resident Mr Nasty, headmaster of the school with a Cowell-esque disregard for anyone who he doesn’t feel has talent. And, unfortunately for Cinders, she is one of these.

Cinderella is a fun and impressive production that is perfectly pitched at children of all ages without talking down or patronising them. Jam packed with bright colours, fast music and impressive stunts, it manages to keep the predominately young audience entertained for the 90 minute duration while giving a nod to the accompanying adults with satirical digs at Britain’s obsession with reality TV/telephone voting shows. Stacha Hicks’ Cinderella is adorably naïve as she tries to find her way while pursuing Victor (Christian Lee), the Prince Charming star pupil whose ingenious magic tricks are spell bounding.

Largely deviating from the original plot, key elements are retained making the central plot recognisable. Kaveh Rahnama and Lauren Hendry, who make up So & So Circus on the side, are a male-female ugly sisters whose acrobatic and clowning routines draw gasps from the assembled crowd.

Cinderella isn’t rocket science and it isn’t going to create an Osborne style revolution in British theatre. It is, however, thoroughly exciting and entertaining which is exactly what you want at Christmas.

Phil Burt

Cinderella runs at Jacksons Lane until 3rd January 2010

PERFORMANCE REVIEW: A Christmas Carol

2009-12-13T22:09:00.002Z

A Christmas Carol
Southwark Playhouse, London Bridge

Trying to pick your way through the large amount of turkey that appears on the Christmas stages can be difficult. Skipping between nonsensical pantos and classical ballets, it may seem hard to find a middle ground and a theatrical experience that avoids conventions and stereotypes. That’s why it’s great to have the Southwark Playhouse and productions like A Christmas Carol, which provides us with a real Christmas treat.

Symbiotically placing Neil Bartlett’s Dickensian adaptation within the atmospheric setting of the London vaults, director Ellie Jones creates a promenade performance where audience members pick their way through the dank spaces experiencing the sensations of Victorian London. Sensible footwear and warm jackets are a must as we follow Ebenezer Scrooge on his night time journey with the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future. Throughout the journey we are surprised with strange characters and inventive uses of props as desks double up to become cupboards and wardrobes, beds reveal hidden pathways and ghosts emerge through an array of household furniture.

While audience participation is often both feared and actively avoided, particularly in the uber-sensitive world of contemporary London, the cast of A Christmas Carol interact in a manner that makes the collected audience want to join in and become part of the story, whether it be joining the Cratchit’s for supper or creating decorations and dancing with Scrooge at Christmas parties past. And it’s this audience participation that brings life to the production and pulls all deeper into the heart of the story. Spontaneous eruptions of singing coupled with bursts of Christmas music re-awaken the feelings of joyous times spent with friends and family around a warm fire, and it’s not long before we start to empathise towards the menacing Scrooge, played superbly by David Fielder with an array of facial and corporeal expressions perfectly conveying the bitterness and eventual excitement of his character. Fielder is supported with strong performances from Steve Hansell as the put-upon Bob Cratchit, Sarah Paul playing his wife, and their children, who make one look forward to the impending happy ending.

By subverting the traditions and breaking the conventions, the Southwark Playhouse offer up a wonderfully alternative production of the classic tale that doesn’t involve a cinema screen and Jim Carrey. A perfect way to get you in the mood for the yuletide season.

Alex Wilshire

A Christmas Carol runs at the Southwark Playhouse until 9th January

PREVIEW: Shows for the Kids This Christmas

2009-12-12T12:48:00.007Z

It’s sad to say but Christmas really is a time for the kids. As much as watching Home Alone for the hundredth time and wandering around London watching drunken office workers fall out of bars is fun, the true magic and excitement of the Yuletide season pretty much dies once you hit 13. The same sentiment is reflected in the theatre as suburban venues are taken over by a host of half-recognisable has-beens camping it up more than Boy George at Pride.

But never fear. If you do want to give some children an entry point into the world of live performance but can’t face Melinda Messenger doing her best Barbara Windsor impression, this year there are some child-friendly productions that don’t necessitate group shouting, don’t patronise the audience and don’t turn sweets into sinister missles.

Normally associated with controversial reworkings of canonical plays, Katie Mitchell shows her lighter side with the stage version of Dr Seuss’ The Cat in the Hat. Taking over the National’s Cottlesloe Theatre, Mitchell brings life to the much-loved American classic offering what promises to be a lively and engaging theatre experience for 3-6 year olds.

Across town another modernisation is taking place as circus and physical theatre venue Jackson’s Lane update the much-loved fairy tale Cinderella. Playing with elements of contemporary life - reality TV shows, space hoppers and the like – the rags to riches tale is brought hurtling into the twenty-first century complete with acrobatic stunts and magic tricks.

A similar array of tricks and stunts is on offer at the Barbican as site-specific performance artists Lone Twin create a cabaret spectacular specifically aimed at children. Cabaret Simon brings together a host of acts including flamenco dervish Samantha Quy, Mr Melon the world’s clumsiest circus performer and the mind-bending experimenter Little Professor Walton. Word of warning – there’s a strict no entry policy for unaccompanied adults.

If you’re more into the classics and are keen to induct some under 5s into the dance culture preparing them for the work of George Balanchine at a later date, Sadler’s Wells is bringing back the balletic adaptation of Raymond Briggs’ The Snowman. Exciting children for years, this production continues to be a firm family favourite and a perfect way to celebrate the festive season with all the family.

The Cat in the Hat runs at the Cottlesloe Theatre until 18th January when it transfers to the Young Vic

Cinderella runs at Jackson’s Lane Theatre until 3rd January

Cabaret Simon runs at the Barbican Pit until 31st December

The Snowman runs at Sadler’s Wells Peacock Theatre until 10th January

PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Mrs Klein

2009-12-06T11:58:00.002Z

Mrs Klein
The Almeida, Islington

Few plays these days can claim to be tight-knit, well-made and plausible. Mrs Klein, however, is both traditional and fresh. Its conventional form and presentation may initially appear unimaginative, but their real import is exposed as they gradually reveal Mrs Klein's dysfunction. As it wriggles and squirms against the boundaries of acceptability, she attempts to sustain herself as an acceptable woman.

Tim Hatley's set provides a backdrop of oppressive red opulence. This narrows and constricts the space and works well in tandem with the obsessive self-focus of Mrs Klein, her daughter Melitta and - although for a time cleverly disguised - her assistant Paula.

Clare Higgins is a superb and intricate Mrs Klein; every avenue of character is thoroughly considered and we feel as though a more fully rounded performance could not be demanded. Likewise, Nicola Walker's Melitta and Zoe Waites' Paula are dually frustrating and sympathetic.

Mrs Klein, based on the real psychoanalyst Melanie Klein (who died in 1960), is both wise and incredibly naive. Her attempts to factualise fantasy via analysis, and her fixation with 'getting somewhere' prove to be her downfall, and ultimately more important than confronting her responsibilities to her daughter. Thea Sharrock's production is a very fine realisation of a play with characters blighted by their addictions to truth, analogy and love. For the most part, the plot falls into place very naturally, yet it’s ending seems more like a coda than an ending completely integrated with what precedes it.

Helena S. Rampley

Read Helena's interview with Mrs Klein playwright Nicholas Wright HERE

PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Money

2009-11-23T23:37:00.002Z

Money – Shunt Theatre Company
42-44 Bermondsey Street, London Bridge

Since settling in their home in the labyrinthian vaults under London Bridge, Shunt has successfully established themselves as a unique collective who continually produce experimental work. Having now been turfed out of the hallowed space of the Shunt Lounge – along with a large number of Londoners trying to make the trendy bar their local watering hole – it is now left to the group to make the move to the new space as seamless as possible.

Money is Shunt's third production since the company formed in 1998, and their first since 2006, taking for it’s theme the speculation in Emile Zola's novel L'Argent. And here the collective place the action inside a disused tobacco factory off Bermondsey Road in South London. A giant piece of machinery occupies the centre of the warehouse, and according to the company, the purpose of this machine is unknown.

Black out. Heavy grinding and hissing sounds. Black out again. The prelude is ominous. Once ushered into the 'machine' by the invigilators dressed as doomsday motorcyclists, the audience find themselves in an enclosed space waiting to be transported in a whirlwind of total darkness.

Slowly the audience are able to piece together elements of the fragmentary narrative as we sequentially are introduced to Aristide Saccard, asking for a loan from the financier whose office the audience now find themselves in. They’re introduced to his, at times, savage girlfriend as well as the moneyman in question while the space continually shifts with floors dissolving, ceilings disappearing and doors banging. More than just a theme park simulator, the audience is then invited to go upstairs to drink and play, becoming part of the action themselves.

The only way to experience Shunt's ingenuity is physically. The experience of being in an alternative site outside the realms of the traditional theatrical space is one of the company's motifs in making theatre and in this instance the content of the show is deliberately vague and fractured allowing the staging to be centralised. A spectacle indeed. I only wonder whether they needed Zola's story to achieve it.

Ingrid Hu

Money runs at Shunt until 22nd December

PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Cock

2009-11-22T22:51:00.001Z

Cock
Royal Court: Jerwood Theatre Upstairs, Sloane Square

The tradition that has evolved in the last ten years of forming a title out of expletives no doubt contributed in part to the ticket sell-out for Cock. However, unlike the trend it points to, Cock is far removed from the superficial and the sensational. It is in fact, quite against my expectations, shockingly provocative and moving. If the title gets people through the doors then no matter; this play deserves to have a full house.

A stark, empty stage is transformed and embodied by an exceptional cast of four. Strip lighting above a circular green stage set in the round allows seamless scene changes, and the absence of all props removes any fussiness. What this demands of the actors is flawlessly achieved: incredible stamina combined with intense character knowledge and evocation. Anthony Scott as M is utterly gripping. M's whimsical ironising of every situation is shown to be the outward sign of his deep-set insecurities and need for affection. Although he initially seems caricature, M becomes frustrating and lovable at the same time. Scott is breathtakingly moving.

With no visual distractions, Cock relies and thrives on compelling character work and complex, engaging subject matter. Bartlett's head-on confrontational approach to societal pigeonholing is revealing and emotionally fuelled. Gay, straight, bi: why do we assume that these words are definitions of a person, that they constitute a person's identity? Such terminology has left John (Ben Whishaw) in the mess we see him in.

Fresh, funny and more thoughtful than I ever anticipated, Cock is both satisfying and bewildering.

Helena S. Rampley

Cock runs at the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs until 19th December

PERFORMANCE REVIEW: The Trial

2009-11-13T14:33:00.001Z

The Trial - Belt Up Theatre
Southwark Playhouse, London Bridge

Think of a theatre, and you think of rows of creaking seats. Think of a play about to start, and you think of shuffling, of “excuse me’s”, and politeness. Think of the house lights going down, and you think of the stage slowly being lit. These may all be common accessories to theatre, but they by no means constitute it. In fact, after seeing The Trial, they seem to be more unwanted distractions than desirable elements. Being robbed of sight, sense and seats heightens every sensation. Discomfort has never been this enticing.

Belt Up Theatre plunge the audience, one by one, into a bewildering and boundless darkness. Alert to each command that is given, we are utterly in the hands of sinister pierrots, dressed in black. Josef K is the only fathomable being, and thus we become him, as we follow his flailing for an answer, through the vaulted tunnels of dark and light under London Bridge.

Puppets to our raw reactions, every sense is stimulated. A piano is hauntingly played in the distance as we become aware of someone behind us, making a vomiting sound into our ears. Cold, smoky air fills the Vaults with a haze, and your own space is not your own as you are pushed, shoved, and constantly forced to move.

The incomprehensibly large space is made even more incomprehensible by the scenes that are in-set into the previously impenetrable walls. Although nothing in the production is as terrifying or disorientating as our initial entrance, we are left constantly clinging to the light and to the visibility of others, as we become aware that
both can, and will be, inexplicably and suddenly stolen again.

Helena S. Rampley

The Trial runs at the Southwark Playhouse until 28th November

PERFORMANCE REVIEW: My Baby Just Cares For Me

2009-11-10T18:12:00.001Z

My Baby Just Cares For Me – Full Beam Visual Theatre
Jackson's Lane, Highgate

Tonight, Jackson’s Lane presents a sensitive and thought provoking tale about the deterioration of an aging father. The play focuses on his changing relationship with the daughter who commits to cares for him and overcoming the problems that the pair ensue. Full Beam Visual Theatre here succinctly comment on the current decay in the care system questioning the levels of support that are on offer for both the elderly and, more importantly, their carers.

The decline of the father is cleverly, yet subtly, portrayed through the distinctive alterations in the puppet and astutely observed mannerisms commanded by puppeteer Adam Fuller. The intervention of projected images of the past and atmospheric sound track serve as reminders to a past that holds many cherished memories.

The lack of communication between the two characters is a poignant indication of how the issue of aging is rarely spoken or even considered. Through text messages the daughter is frequently reminded of her other responsibilities as she is committed to balancing her life and caring for her father. Unfortunately, this element is never fully explored and often feels confusing and distracting.

The anxiety and frustration of the daughter is evident as the story progresses but she remains predominantly silent throughout, which at times seems unnecessary and awkward.

With little exchange between the characters, the performance does, at times, begin to drag and could certain parts could have been cut and trimmed without damaging the whole. An insightful and unconventional approach to a subject that is rarely discussed, however it would have benefited from more dialogue and less dramatisation.

Rob Crosse

PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Misterioso

2009-11-08T14:41:00.003Z

Misterioso: A Journey Into The Silence of Thelonious Monk - Theatralia
Riverside Studios, Hammersmith

Vibrantly silent and delicately loud, Misterioso is a sensitive and intriguing exploration of the curious life of Thelonious Monk. A five piece jazz band form the focal point of the show, punctuated by narrative interludes from Monk's close friend, Baroness Pannonica played by Tamsin Shasha. Written by David Walter Hall, Pannonica's speeches are both deftly crafted and emotively delivered.

The musical core of the piece, with its impressive bass slapping and choreography, is captivatingly frenetic, yet also intuitively crisp. This is complemented by the often frenzied digital projection and text - designed by SDNA - that encompasses the entire back wall of the stage. A sense of ordered chaos is created, and of being on the edge of understanding.

The action that takes place within this sound world is varied and stimulating. It is at times hedonistic, as Shasha distributes wine to the cabaret style tables at the front of the stage. It is at times wild, as members of the audience are encouraged to dance and absorb the jazz club atmosphere. Yet it is also at times contemplative, as both Shasha and Christina Oshunniyi (who plays both Monk's wife, Nellie, and Billie Holiday) take a back seat and allow the music to reign supreme.

Misterioso moves between the extravagant and impetuous, and the subdued and almost bewildering. Although there could perhaps be a little more of Monk's life told through story, Shasha's subtly incorporated aerial work at the end of the piece reflects the way that music, and indeed silence, has the power to transcend words.

Helena S. Rampley

PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Fish Clay Perspex

2009-11-02T21:24:00.002Z

Fish Clay Perspex – FaultyOptic
Jackson’s Lane – 30th October 2009

The streets of Highgate may fast becoming populated with masked faces and Dracula-a-like party goers, but there’s something much scarier and more exciting going on inside the North London gem that is Jackson’s Lane. And here FaultyOptic offer up something that will leave a stronger impression than a pair of plastic pointy teeth.

Presenting the first of the Suspense triptych, FaultyOptic’s Fish Clay Perspex follows three brief bittersweet stories of trials, tribulations and an examination of three bizarre and rather confused characters. The performance begins with a solitary old man picking up stones on a beach who soon finds himself with an over-sized fish stuck to his head. Next up, a seemingly psychotic potter who penchant for avant-garde sculpting that finds him slicing up an Elizabeth II resembling bust. Finally we see two ‘Pointy Pants’ men, stuck behind a Perspex sheet continually trapped by the ever-moving marker pens and masking tape. Hence the title, Fish Clay Perspex. Tying all three tales together is a simple piece of cotton wool that, taking on a variety of personas, draws each character from their world and re-presents them as a collected trio in what appears to be the afterlife.

The skill of FaultyOptic lies in the fact that while you can clearly see the puppeteers controlling their subject, they soon become almost invisible as life is seamlessly recreated before our eyes. Watching strong work like this Edward Gordon Craig’s theories about the value of the marionette over the actor become much more plausible. Because while it is good to watch an autonomous actor trippingly recite the lines of Shakespeare, the puppet show is much more effective and energising as we, the audience, are the ones complicit in making the action come to life.

We suspend our disbelief, we allow our imagination to take over and we believe that the inanimate object presented to us has a life and a will of its very own. And that is why this group is so haunting, so compelling and need to be seen.

Ruby Green

PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Great Pretenders

2009-10-30T00:39:00.002Z

Great Pretenders: The Musical
Upstairs at the Gatehouse, Highgate

You could quite easily sit through Great Pretenders, a small-scale musical about wannabe tribute acts, and be a prude. Or, with even greater ease, you could sit back and enjoy it.

Skepticism is not dispelled by the slightly shaky and underwhelming opening, bizarrely entitled 'When the day is over'. Neither is it dispelled by the introduction of the almost irritatingly idealistic Joyce (Jennifer Saayeng) and the predictably vulgar Irishman, Liam - Luke Jastal. But this is not a show about profundity and obfuscation. It is an energy-fuelled and well-rounded piece about petty rivalry and uprooting secrets that succeeds in the balance and clarity of its story.

Although there is often a feeling of the inevitable - with plot, music and gags - there are definite moments of surprise. The macho PJ, played by Leon Kay, reveals himself to be a Liza Minnellli impersonator, and to have a deeper crisis about the acceptance and tolerance of this than we might at first imagine. So too, the tense reunion between Rebecca Bainbridge’s Paula and Andy (David Higgins) - the most convincingly played storyline in the show - is compelling, despite its sentimentality.

The fantastically detailed set, designed by Gemma Harris, enhanced the plausibility of the dressing room scenario. Graffiti on the inside of the toilet door, postcards round the mirrors and cluttered coffee cups give the sense of a backstage area that has been used and abused.

Great Pretenders is superficial, but this is overridden by the fact that it is undeniably entertaining. Escapist, yes, but pretentious it is not.

Helena S. Rampley

Great Pretenders: The Musical runs until 15th November

FEATURE: Suspense Festival at Jacksons Lane

2009-10-09T14:40:00.003+01:00

Puppets can divide opinion. For some, the skilled manipulation of the inanimate objects is a gift to be marvelled at, as they are brought to life and made to sit on swings, go for walks and even order coffee like miniature munchkins. For others, the realism is too much, tapping into Freud’s idea of the uncanny and bringing on nightmares more frightening than Jan Svankmajer’s Otesánek. If you find yourself siding with the latter, make sure you stay away from Highgate’s Jacksons Lane this November where puppets are most definitely the order of the day as Suspense takes over.

The Suspense festival is the first puppetry festival to take place in London in over 25 years and has a clear mission to show that not all puppets are child-friendly Sesame Street characters. Over the course of ten days, and at seven venues across London, the festival will present adult audiences with work from a variety of UK and International practitioners revealing the artform to be sophisticated, grotesque, irrational and, above all, incredibly potent.

Innovative dance venue Jacksons Lane will be showcasing three events from the festival’s programme providing haunting tales of chance, sickness and decaying old age from prominent British companies.

Starting with FaultyOptic’s Fish Clay Perspex, audience’s will be given the chance to see the London International Mime Festival veterans not only manipulate the puppets but also miniature armless figures, clay, pens and pieces of plastic as they present a collection of short ‘character studies’ musing on ideas of chance, doubt and turmoil providing audience’s with a compelling, spellbinding and, at times, revolting experience and a chance to suspend their disbelief and enter an alternate reality.

Second on the bill are South-western trio Full Beam Visual Theatre. Watching Strictly Come Dancing contestant Jo Wood (playing the defenceless, deserted woman with the theatricality of a pantomime dame) makes us all aware that the baby boomers - and Stones’ affiliated personalities - are coming to the point in their lives when they need to wave goodbye to their drugs-induced hedonistic days and instead settle down for a cup of cocoa and the Antiques Roadshow. My Baby Just Cares For Me explores the difficulty of looking after an older generation that doesn’t want to grow up and questions how to make life plans match up with pension plans.

Finally, Heartbreak Soup follows the story of a young boy caught in a limbo-like existence as he awaits transplant surgery. Spending his time under his hospital bed, Cuddy dreams of a time when he’ll be able to run and jump, shutting himself off from the drab confined surroundings he forced to inhabit. While it may sound serious and gut-wrenching, The Empty Space promise a heart-warming, uplifting experience for its audience.

Once again, Jacksons Lane show they are at the forefront of experimental performance in the capital’s current theatrical climate. While, there’s ongoing feuds between theatre companies, producers and the Arts Council, we are here shown that fear of the recession should not hamper creativeness.

Lily Eckhoff

Fish Clay Perspex runs from 30th – 31st October
My Baby Just Cares For Me runs from 5th – 6th November
Heartbreak Soup runs from 7th – 8th November

To book tickets contact Jacksons Lane HERE and for full programme details check out Suspense London Puppetry Festival site HERE

PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Secrets Birthday Party

2009-10-05T21:24:00.003+01:00

Secrets Vaudevillian Birthday Party
Southwark Playhouse, 3rd October

Beneath the arches of London Bridge lies Southwark Playhouse Secrets, the cabaret-style side show from the innovative theatre. The dimly lit walls of grey brick, red decor and bare white bulbs give the hidden location a feel of shabby glamour. Combined with a late bar and a sense of happy-go-lucky, this is the perfect scenario for a variety of mystery acts comprised to celebrate the new season of the post-show and lunchtime entertainments.

Knowing that the whole venture was conceived with a more-or-less £0 budget - requiring the performers to give themselves for free - it was hard to know what to expect of this evening. And as it happened, it was a real mixed bag.

Nudity was the order of the night at Southwark, some of it prepared for, and some more of a surprise. A burlesque dancer flaunted through and amongst the audience, with huge purple feathers and little else. Although scantly clad, the voluptuous Khandie Khisses managed to remain poised and never seedy. Wes Zaharuk, however, became unexpectedly and unnecessarily undressed during his performance. One of his several questionable routines involves, incomprehensibly, attaching two plungers to his nipples and invading the faces of audience members. Like the rest of his act, this is a complete non sequitur, and leaves you wondering what exactly it is that he is claiming to be skilled at.

Further bizarreness ensued. The ring master of a flea circus looked very professional in his red outfit, but succeeded to entertain the audience with the spectacular amount of tricks that went wrong. Keeping a brave face at all times, he was at least endearing if not very practised. An androgynous musical saw player was also slightly bewildering; untuned notes accompanying the score of Atonement was entertaining in a curious kind of way.

The potential of a fantastic scenario was slightly dampened by a couple of underwhelming acts. The draw of the event was evident from the initial crowd that filled the stage and bar area. If a core of the successful and intriguing acts could be established, then the audience would no doubt dwindle much less than it did on this occasion.

Helena S. Rampley

For the full line-up of Secrets new season just click HERE

PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Bedtime Solos

2009-09-11T20:08:00.003+01:00

Bedtime Solos - Across the Pond Theatre Company
Old Red Lion Theatre, Angel

Is physical proximity enough? Or is it necessary for two people to know the innermost workings of each other's minds in order to have a fulfilling relationship? Bedtime Solos exposes the different worlds inhabited by two people who supposedly share a high level of intimacy, while two stiff single beds show the distance within their union.

Self-obsession and reticence reign as each of the partners tells themselves bedtime stories of their pasts. Jakob Holder – the play’s author - masterfully integrates and eeks out references to the banal but pervasive events that cloud their childhood memories. Even during sex, and 'the greatest feeling in the universe', the couple are still far away from one another; he caught up in the re-imagination of wetting himself, and she in the traumatic fantasy of brash but apparently loving sex behind a dumpster.

As each partner becomes more involved with their own elaborate emotional world, together they become more tangled up in mental tantrums and conundrums. They begin to expect the other to understand the vaguest of hints to something too deep within their psyche to be guessed at.

Holder is something special. The agility, honesty and originality of the thought processes the characters go through makes you wish this was something you had written. It is natural and unforced, yet fresh and unpredictable. The private notions that enter the head of a man trying to stave off orgasm - of a cat, of cats, of dead cats, of the smell of vomit, of poking smelly dead cats with a stick - makes this play absurd yet very real.

Intricate shadow play, unfalteringly absorbing performances from Heather Wilds and Scott Christie, and a uniquely poetic script make Bedtime Solos flow past in a sense of post-coital timelessness.

Helena S. Rampley
Photo: Christian Alegria

Bedtime Solos runs at the Old Red Lion until 26th September

PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Stories for the Starlit Sky

2009-09-04T11:32:00.002+01:00

Stories for the Starlit Sky - Daniel Kitson
Regents Park Open Air Theatre

While a production starting at midnight in the picturesque Regents Park Open Air Theatre may conjure images of a relaxed picnic enjoyed in the beautiful fairy-lit surrounding, this is theatre land, and there is a clear hierarchy. You see, when not setting the scene for the bearded comic genius, the Open Air Theatre is playing home to Hello Dolly! and, in a classic case of theatre self importance, we are told to wait by the roadside until the musical audience has drifted off into the night air.

This is a test of any true Daniel Kitson fan, but luckily we are a hardy stock. Armed with blankets and booze, the already exciting event is given an added level of intrigue as we are forced to wait, it’s as if we’re some sort of speakeasy, a community of fans who have secretly met up in the middle of the night away from the prying eyes of the law. And as we’re finally allowed entry and Kitson takes to the stage to tell his tale, our pilgrimage is rewarded.

The final episode in his set of three midnight readings, finds a father telling his son a story whilst the two share a cup of cocoa - a mise en abyme if you will – following a group of retired assassins retreating to the comforts of a rural village. The story is perfectly broken down into chapters with Gavin Osborne singing and playing guitar in the intervals.

The idea for this performance arose 4 years ago, and having seen Kitson perform Stories for the Wobbly Hearted at the Melbourne Comedy Festival it feels like a natural progression. The duo work succinctly together and allow you to totally suspend your disbelief. I can honestly say it was one of the most interesting and original pieces I have seen at the theatre for a very long time, I hope to see more of this sort. It shows how effective a story told simply can be, and showing there’s no need for music, costumes or unfounded pomposity.

Izzy O’Callaghan

FEATURE: Esk Valley Theatre

2009-08-27T15:16:00.002+01:00

It is one of the most unlikely places to find a theatre company. Driving through the village of Glaisdale, perched on the side of a hill in the heart of the North York Moors, my dad drives past the ‘theatre’ twice before finally noticing it. I, on the other hand, find all of this familiar and can’t wait to get through the doors of the village hall and take my seat for what I know will be a satisfying experience.

Almost a year and a half ago, I wrote to Esk Valley Theatre asking if they would take on a prospective Drama student for work experience during their annual summer performance. I had no idea what their shows were like, having only ever seen advertisements for their plays stuck into the grass verges of the moor roads whilst driving to Whitby. It was a huge leap into the unknown but I had chosen the best possible people to ask.

Founded in 2005 by actor Mark Stratton and choreographer Sheila Carter, EVT brings professional theatre to the North York Moors. This is not the kind of ramshackle but striving outfit which often shuffles on stage at village halls but a sharp, crisp theatre company, professional to its core. EVT is an integral part of the community which fiercely and rightly regard it as ‘their’ theatre.

For two months in the summer of 2008, I made tea for everyone in sight, sat at the back of rehearsals generally overawed by it all, and once the run began, sold ice creams and programmes like there was no tomorrow. I watched countless audience members come out bowled over after watching Vacuum by new writer Deborah McAndrew - a sharp, funny, deeply unsettling and absolutely mesmerising thriller.

This summer I returned, this time as an audience member for John Godber’s April in Paris, directed by Stratton himself. Another two-hander, it lacks the bite of the previous year’s production, but in no way falls short as entertainment. Yorkshire couple Bet and Al live in a monotonous, stifling world. Al has been unemployed for six months and Bet, his working wife, keeps her hopes alive by entering magazine competitions. When she actually wins a romantic break to Paris, the couple are catapulted abroad for the first time, stripped of all that’s familiar and have to find their way back to each other before returning home.

As ever with Godber, it’s achingly funny and with an overwhelmingly Yorkshire audience, the humour is spot on and thoroughly engages the 100-strong spectators. Stratton’s subtle direction ensures that Eamonn Fleming and Fiona Wass put in absorbing performances as Al and Bet. Both have worked previously with Godber’s company Hull Truck, as have Stratton and the rest of the production team. They are perfectly placed to make the most of the play and do so, giving an energetic and true performance. Fleming’s Al is beautifully revealed: edgy, frustrated, his self-belief undermined by the futility of unemployment, but with ambitions to become a painter. The scene in the Louvre when he begins identifying the painters with pride and joy, is one of the most sincere and touching moments. Fiona Wass fills Bet full of genuine hopes and dreams, and the audience can easily identify with her longing to escape her grey home life and to slide seamlessly into the glamour of Paris. Between them, they truthfully recreate the bickering of a long established couple who know just how to hurt each other, although at times the relentless pace needs more pathos to be really effective.

Another highlight of the show is the set design. Pip Leckenby, who works frequently with Alan Ayckbourn and Hull Truck, has created a simple but very evocative set which beautifully compliments the direction. Cream with printed images of crosswords and newspapers, which are then flipped to reveal colour paintings of Parisian landmarks, it captures the buoyant mood of Bet and Al. Mood and location are also brilliantly created through the sole use of two chairs and clever lighting design by Graham Kirk.

For the month of August the village hall is completely taken over, a seating and lighting rake is brought in, and local volunteers staff the bar and ticket desk. EVT produce theatre of the finest quality, generating a real feeling of pride and excitement in the community. We read time and time again in the press how the theatre industry is trying to engage new audiences and find ways of making theatre matter in today’s world. I suggest that they look no further than the tiny village of Glaisdale. It’s an obvious way forward and I’m glad I had chance to be part of it.

www.eskvalleytheatre.co.uk

Jane Williamson

PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Down-A

2009-08-23T12:20:00.002+01:00

Down-a - In Beween Butoh Dance Company
Camden People's Theatre, Euston

Agile, ethereal and completely disturbing; don't go home alone after watching Down-a. This butoh performance involves two performers who simultaneously physicalise the 'guilt of the human soul'. The show opens with white noise and a woman (Flavia Ghisalberti) straining backwards against a wooden chair, evoking the experience of ECT. Initially this seems slightly ludicrous, but, as with the rest of the performance, the image is so intense that our prolonged exposure to it makes it feel utterly real. As Ezio Tangini enters, repeatedly popping his shoulder out of joint, this visceral performance takes on an obscene quality.

Generating new thoughts in the mind of the audience is an obvious prerogative for many shows, and making them feel uncomfortable is one way to achieve this. However, staring into the eyes of those who have invested money to come and watch your performance, whilst whispering without words, is invasive and unnecessarily accusatory. Watching this engenders a feeling of self-loathing, as the performers unload their disgust onto you.

If fear is something you crave, then Down-a will more than satisfy you. Ghisalberti at one point becomes a possessed puppet, with quivering, half closed eyes. In the tiny space of Camden People's Theatre, this is terrifying. In yet another amazing physical feat, Tangini riles, flails and bangs his head on the floor repeatedly. As he moves towards a light, the audience is reminded of its own hubris and the denigration of The Fall. Although well executed at every point, the audience leaves this piece self-flagellating, but not quite sure why. We are overwhelmed by our senses and an immense, incomprehensible guilt floods our reason.

Helena S. Rampley

Down-a runs as part of the Camden Fringe until Monday 24th August

PERFORMANCE REVIEW: No Way Out (Huis Clos)

2009-08-21T00:22:00.001+01:00

No Way Out (Huis Clos)
Southwark Playhouse, London Bridge

Latecomers are annoying. No matter how much they try to make themselves invisible by sneaking in all hunched over and squeaky shoed, they can be seen and do manage to cause a disturbance. Tonight, the entrance of two rather dishevelled, embarrassed looking slow-pokes comes on cue as Garcin, padding the cell he has just been locked in, calls for someone to open the door. In walk Benny and June No Watch not necessarily answering his calls but certainly distracting all from the rising tension.

Tonight we are at the Southwark Playhouse for No Way Out (Huis Clos), John Paul Sartre’s black comedy that is offered here in a translation by Frank Hauser. The action begins with Garcin (Miguel Oyarzun) entering the prison like space of the transformed playhouse with the door bolted behind him. It soon transpires that he is to be confined to this sinister Orwellian feeling room - where he expects to meet torturers, racks and burning flames – until the end of time. He is then joined, not by the two sneaky squeakers, but first by the flame haired Elisa de Grey’s Ines and then the glamorous Estelle, played by Alexis Terry. We soon realise that they are not in some form of 1950s interrogation room, but in Hell and that they will be each others interrogators as we uncover why they have been sent to the burning depths.

The premise of the play is a highly evocative one. Three characters, trapped in a room in Hell simultaneously becoming each others confidants and persecutors. And the play starts on fine form placing one foot in the comic, with the other sitting comfortably in the tragic. However, the undulating tempo moving from high frequency screaming to down beat soul searching soon becomes rather predictable and repetitive. Oyarzun is successfully brooding, progressing from distinguished gent to almost sadistic brute as the heat in the room goes up and his clothes begin to come off. Likewise, Terry’s poised elegance is soon cast aside as her actions become increasingly manic and she is exposed for being an attention-seeking nymphomaniac. Unfortunately Elisa de Grey’s performance jars with the rest as her over-excessive facial expressions and spiky accusational tone make her seem like the precocious younger child who craves love and attention.

The dark, almost dank feel of the Southwark Playhouse lends itself beautifully to Sartre’s play and I can’t help but feel that had Luke Kernaghan followed through some of his directorial ideas more fully – the recurring image of the Tango seems disjointed with the action and its only when reading about Kernaghan’s interest in the Argentinian war that it becomes clear – this could have been a truly exciting play.

Phil Burt

No Way Out (Huis Clos) runs until 12th September

PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Mascha & Vascha

2009-08-18T23:45:00.002+01:00

Mascha and Vascha – Strange Ladies
Camden People’s Theatre, Euston

Old people can often seem rather eccentric. Whether it’s the choice to wander around with a freshly set purple barnet, the sporadic – and highly offensive – racist/sexist/homophobic comment, or simply the unnecessary obsession with cats, there’s a lot about the older generation that we just don’t understand. But you’d be hard pushed to find an odder pair of 90-year-old women than the two on offer at the Camden People’s Theatre tonight presented by the aptly named Paris-based performance duo Strange Ladies.

Mascha and Vascha finds the two title characters in the later stage of their lives with a simple wish to go outside for a walk. However, things are not as they seem in this world as runaway chickens, mountains of washing and full-blown wrestling matches all manage to stop them from fulfilling their dream. Splicing together moments of absurd hilarity with touching everyday humanity, Hanna Pyliotis and Lily Sykes – the Strange Ladies themselves – show their audience a day in the life of these two friends; a day that manages to be heart-warming yet frightening in a relationship at times reminiscent of Roald Dahl’s The Twits.

The influence of absurdist theatrical tradition is clearly evident throughout the performance with constantly alternating tempos, seemingly nonsensical utterances and exchanges, and sporadic flits between the concrete everyday and the abstract world of the imagination. The sense of a never-ending wait to go outside, which never materialises, echoes the inaction of Waiting For Godot’s Didi and Gogo who also wait for something that never happens. Like Beckett’s duo, Mascha and Vascha fill their day with mundane domestic chores – such as Pyliotis dramatically hanging out washing and repeatedly peeling onions causing even the audience’s eyes to water – to stave off the empty void of the inactivity forced upon them by old age and isolation

Sykes and Pyliotis are at once charming and sinister in their roles as the two life long friends. With eases of movement and astute comic timing, they inhabit the roles of the elderly women without ever looking awkward or out of place. The commanding presence of Sykes makes you at once fear her and fear for her as she struggles to come to terms with the losses she has suffered, while the clown-like physical movements of Pyliotis make you empathise with her as the put upon friend.

In the post-ironic, post-League of Gentlemen age we live in, Mascha and Vascha, at time seems a little out of date and clumsy, yet this still manages to be a confusing, baffling and thoroughly entertaining piece of theatre. After all, where else can you see two women fight it out like Hulk Hogan and Ultimate Warrior with a little Benny Hill thrown in for good measure?

Ruby Green

Mascha and Vascha runs at the Camden People’s Theatre 21st August

PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Flavio, Medium de los Muertos

2009-08-04T10:39:00.002+01:00

Flavio, Medium de los Muertos
Royal Vauxhall Tavern, Kennington Lane

I see dead people. Well not really, but there were a number of lifeless faces on Friday night, as Mike Okarma fails to crack a smile at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern.

Okarma makes his Camden Fringe debut with the bizarre one-man show Flavio, Medium de los Muertos, in which he parades a succession of obscure characters before an increasingly bemused audience. The premise - a comedy séance - is a thinly-disguised vehicle for Okarma to showcase his impressionist talent. Throughout the evening he is ‘inhabited’ by a range of clichés, from the Jewish grandmother distressed by her godson’s homosexuality, to Tapioca, the tough-talking Detroit gospel singer. Unfortunately, despite his gift for accents and character observation, Okarma’s creations lack any kind of charisma, and he has to resort to a Chippendales stripping routine in order to get a cheap laugh.

Although Flavio is brimming with bravado, Okarma himself is an uncomfortable figure on the stage. He appears to lack confidence, grasping for lines and displaying an awkward desperation when interacting with the audience. The modest crowd at the RVT are friendly and encouraging, trying hard to find something to laugh at, but they are left disappointed as Okarma struts and squawks his way through yet another tired American stereotype.

Possibly the most peculiar part of Flavio is Okarma’s decision to insert motivational messages into each of his characters’ rambling stories. As the audience are urged to “live their lives to the full, each and every day”, the whole evening begins to feel like an extended ‘Final Thought’ from Jerry Springer. It’s difficult to tell whether these sugary sentiments are supposed to be the punchline in this strange creation, but if so, they fail to strike a chord with this reviewer.

Amy Jane Clewes

Flavio, Medium de los Muertos will run as part of the Camden Fringe Festival until 7th August

PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Senza Lamento (Without Lament)

2009-08-04T01:06:00.002+01:00

Senza Lamento (Without Lament)
Roundhouse Theatre Studio, Chalk Farm

The Roundhouse is no stranger to large-scale spectacular shows. The epic size of the circular space has housed everything from tribal balladeer Bat for Lashes, Cirque de Soleil's trampolining French men and perhaps the bloodiest renditions of Shakespeare's Histories plays. But one thing most people don't know is that the iconic venue also plays host to a much smaller, more intimate studio. And this studio is set to play a vital role in the current Camden Fringe Festival.

This afternoon, its the turn of Maria Rita Slavi and Nicole Pschetz with their physical-theatre production Senza Lamento (Without Lament), which has just finished its short stint at Merton Abbey Wells as part of 2009's Abbeyfest. Originally created as a site-specific piece in an abandoned house in Italy, the work has been recently adapted for stage and follows an imaginary encounter between two images of the same person; one past and one present. Nicole plays Woman in Dark Blue, a figure who has seemingly lost her sense of identity in the busy city in which she lives. She then meets Woman in Green, Maria, herself in a past form and the two embark on a journey of discovering, punishing and consoling one another.

From the outset, the movement of each performer contains an elegant poise that is at times breathtaking. The piece begins with Woman in Black entering and performing a mournful dance accompanied only by an umbrella, a suitcase and the occasional glimpse of Woman in Green. Nicole manipulates the two props with the utmost ease meaning that they no longer represent simple everyday objects but instead become significant harbourers of memories. The strength and dynamic tension of her body is shown as she wrestles with said umbrella, changing the tempo of her movements in order to make the section appear, at times, as if it is taking place in slow motion. The whole sequence echoes the work of artists such as Charlie Chaplin, Jacques Lecoq or, more recently, James Thierree, an influence that was clearly established during the pair’s training in Corporeal Mime.

There are also traces of Pina Bausch throughout the piece: as the pair repeatedly gag and pull at one another before dropping to the floor, one is distinctly reminded of the danger and risk undertaken by a Bausch performer. The formal dress of both dancers recalls the attire worn in Kontakthof while if the plastic cups Woman in Green frantically moves around towards the performance’s close were replaced by chairs, it would appear as a scene taken straight out of Café Müller.

While there is a sense that this performance was perhaps more powerful in its original form as a site specific work, it still has charm in the close space of the Roundhouse Theatre Studio. And though it is at times confusing with regards to the exact relationship between the two performers, the beauty of the fluid shapes and lines they create on stage means that any ambiguity just adds to the appeal.

Lily Eckhoff

PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Hooked The Musical

2009-08-02T17:36:00.001+01:00

Hooked: The Musical
Theatre 503, Battersea

I'm not going to lie to you, my favourite musical is Joseph & His Technicolour Dreamcoat. So, as I arrive at the Latchmere 503 - secretly hoping to catch a glimpse of Lee Mead in a loin cloth - and I'm faced with an altogether more contemporary production, I realise things are going to be quite different. Drugs! Lap Dancers! Sex! I'm beginning starting to miss those seven fat cows. Yes this is indeed one modern musical, and, according to a recent interview, loosely based on the real life experiences of producer Matthew James.

The story (if a little predictable) commences with a cabaret number with all three excellent dancing ladies - Manal El-Feitury as Odette, Lucy Smethurst as Monique and underused Laura Bailey as Angel - that will have many an eye popping out. We are then informed by the drug addicted PR ace Ben (Jason Langley) that he has experienced an overdose in a lap dancing club and we are to witness the reason for this event through a series of flashbacks.

Ben happens to be having an affair with Smethurst's gorgeous lap dancer Monique, a Romanian aspiring singer who has been brought over to the UK by the club owner Parnell - Terry Burns - to work in his club and to perform other 'tasks'. The two actors beautifully compliment each other in their shared scenes as Monique's evident vulnerability is contrasted with the manipulative side of the club owning pimp, easily conveyed by Burns.

Jessica Sherman, playing Ben's stay at home wife Emma, is rather clumsily a complete contrast to Monique: Emma in her white linens while Monique parades around in heels and burlesque outfit. She too has some good solo numbers, my favourite being 'Patience' when she finally dumps her cheating husband in a relationship counsellor's office ending with a declamatory "Fuck You". However, certain strong numbers, such as 'Dont Let Me Down' excellently sung by Smethurst and Langley, sit a odds with the flow of the production, and would be better standing alone as simple pop songs.

After much soul searching, and a few more solo numbers, Ben and Emma are reunited in time for their troubles conceiving a child to disappear as they are conveniently donated a baby by the now drug addicted Monique. Phew! This is true soap opera stuff with shiny beautiful people, like an episode of Hollyoaks mixed with Chicago and X Factor. Sometimes you just can't help but be addicted.

Dennis Kuipers

Hooked: The Musical runs at the Theatre 503 at 7.30pm 31st July - 2nd August before transferring to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. It will run at the G2, George Sq. from 7th - 30th August, nightly at 11.15pm.

PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Wanderlust

2009-07-31T00:14:00.004+01:00

Wanderlust - Anonymous Ensemble
Jacksons Lane, Highgate

The theatre can so often be a stuffy, boring affair. Polite etiquette means that we calmly sip our pre-performance drinks, shuffle to our seats when instructed and titter when the action on stage allows us to. So what happens when a ten-foot Bavarian powerhouse takes charge, forcing audience members to impersonate vampires, drink shots of vodka and sing about a tree pussy? A glimpse of the true strength of theatre, that's what.

For one night only Anonymous Ensemble take over the intimate Jacksons Lane Theatre with their award nominated production, Wanderlust. The performance - described as an interactive, burlesque, promenade extravaganza - follows the story of Tall Hilda as she describes her life from her vodka swilling antics with a travelling circus and her journeys with a violin playing gypsy and his dead wide, through to her apocalyptic cries for the power of love and dancing. But its not a straightforward chronological tale that we treated to here; its an experience that we can take part in, enjoy and take away with us as our very own.

From the outset we are warned that we will be required to participate in this performance, and it is not long before we are up off our feet cosying under a mock circus tent and throwing fake snowballs at one another. Its important not to underestimate the achievement of the trio on stage as they lure a tired and somewhat jaded audience out of their comfortable seats and allow themselves to be open to ritual humiliation. Jessica Weinstein excels as the giant showgirl, who seduces us to join her own stage and allow her to take total control. Her ballsy demeanour and exquisite comic timing mean that you are compulsively drawn to her and are not only willing to do everything she asks, you want to impress her while you do it.

Wanderlust highlights the joy and spirit of theatre: the joining of like-minded people to learn and experience something together. It also shows that the theatre can teach you, not just through philosophical statements and declaration but making you relaxed and open. Instead of questioning and analysing every moment, we go with it, enjoy it and become both free and unified as a collective. And for a 70 minute show to achieve that, especially in this age of increased individualism, is nothing short of a miracle.

Phil Burt

Wanderlust will be performed again at Madame JoJos, Soho on 2nd August

PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Blood Wedding

2009-07-27T12:37:00.001+01:00

Blood Wedding - Metta Theatre

Southwark Playhouse

Under the railway arches, Southwark Playhouse hosts a wedding party for a young couple. You enter either as the bride's or the groom's guest. Dress code? Colourful. You will be greeted with a glass of juice and handed a piece of paper that has the order of service and lyrics of a couple of songs.

So expect some singing and party affair, in Metta Theatre's re-contextualised Blood Wedding by Frederico Garcia Lorca. Piano, guitar, percussion and glockenspiel make up a live band playing engaging and jazzy tunes that sets a central American atmosphere. The audience is led to sing and dance to celebrate, but the sound of the trains above quickly transports us to a clammy space where, on the wedding day, the new couple and their family confront family histories and unsettled passions.

While the original story itself is full of symbolism, this production places knife-crime as its central theme, and sets to share Lorca's words with contemporary London audience, where knife-crime is increasingly becoming a social reality.

The company's talented performers give fervent speeches, and all accompany themselves with either singing or musical instruments, as they dig deeper into their characters' flaws and conscience. Naomi Wirthner's powerful performance as The Mother is impressive, and her voice and singing provide an underlying fear that echoes throughout the show. As the show progresses, the emotional richness compounds, and the wedding decor becomes redundant.

Southwark Playhouse's heavy and blackened brickwork provides a challenging architecture for the designers. But under Poppy Buton-Morgan's direction all ingredients seem to blend and just manage to capture the orchidaceous ambience that is vivid in Lorca's writing. Stabbings and murder are recurring subjects, however, the accents of the performers, their costumes, and the overall ambience contribute to an ambiguous time and place, which contradict the relevance that the show strives to convey. Indeed, it creates a fresh angle to the story, but perhaps with a little more reference to here and now.

A unique wedding that invites you to be part of. Take a friend with you, or you will be less compelled to dance and will be left alone at the reception that follows.

Ingrid Hu

Blood Wedding runs until 15th August

PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Ghosts, or Those Who Return

2009-07-27T12:27:00.001+01:00

Ghosts, or Those Who Return
Arcola Theatre, Dalston

In theory, there is nothing preventing Ibsen’s Ghosts from being as relevant today as it was in 1882. Originally dismissed as “an open drain” by a scandalized Victorian audience, its themes of incest, sexual disease and euthanasia are still hitting headlines in 2009. I was expecting Bijan Sheibani’s new adaptation at the Arcola to inject fresh life into the claustrophobic tale, but I left disappointed.

Sheibani and his designer Alex Eales have stuck rigidly to Ibsen’s original stage directions. The set at the Arcola is a generic nineteenth century drawing room, with glossy cornicing framing pale blue walls. There is little acknowledgement in the design of the dark loneliness at the heart of the play, aside from the drizzling rain splattering half-heartedly on the windows. It is left to Jon Clark and Emma Laxton to try and squeeze some atmosphere out of this dry, dull setting, which they do admirably. Laxton’s music is hauntingly melancholic and Clark’s subtle lighting is appropriate, although by the last act the audience are left squinting through the twilight.

Against this backdrop Mrs Alving, Pastor Manders and the syphilitic Oswald trade secrets and revelations. Suzanne Burden gives a strong performance as the miserable matriarch, although her initial restrain is more convincing than her melodramatic outbursts as the play draws to a close. Harry Lloyd’s Osvald is a joy to watch, skillfully underplaying the ‘exhaustion’ which plagues his character and alternating beautifully between puppyish affection for Regine and strained introspection.

Paul Hickey’s Pastor, however, is more problematic. Originally intended as an empathetic character, Pastor Manders was the lens through which Ibsen confronted Victorian society with its own hypocrisy. Although Hickey shows brief moments of emotional depth, for the most part he is left wringing his hands and fretting over the youth of the nation in a weak caricature of a church minister. He quickly becomes a comedic figure, eliciting more laughs than Jim Bywater’s bumbling Engstrand.

Without a convincing link to the Victorian mindset, the audience are left to view the play through the jaded eyes of the 21st century. Osvald’s decline into syphilitic dementia is sad, but not shocking. His mother’s struggles seem needless and his father’s infidelity barely evokes a reaction. Rebecca Lenkiewicz’s new translation is full of rich imagery; the characters speak of loneliness, despair and decay. Unfortunately, the poor staging and flippant handling of the text do not do justice to this darkly tragic story.

Amy Jane Clewes

Ghosts, or Those Who Return runs until 22nd August

PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Feeble Minds

2009-07-27T12:15:00.001+01:00

Feeble Minds - Spare Tyre Theatre

Rich Mix Arts Centre, Bethnal Green

Reality TV rarely confronts us with reality. Theatre, however, always does. Spare Tyre Theatre's latest production, Feeble Minds, is an extraordinary piece of theatre that puts life right in your face, with little room to retreat.

Director Arti Prashar brings together inc. Theatre Ensemble - a collective made of 11 artists with a range of learning disabilities and actors over the age of 60 from the group HotPots - in creating a play based on Shakespeare's Timon of Athens. One of Shakespeare's problem plays, Timon of Athens is a bitter commentary on subjects such as greed, indulgence and materialism in his day. Rather than an adaptation, Feeble Minds is a work inspired by these topics, with a contemporary makeover and a strong emphasis on multi-sensory experience.

On entering the space, a collection of hung kitchen utensils create a rich soundscape which is then followed by various recordings of the sounds of everyday life - running water, cooking noises, and, of course, music. Slowly this becomes layered with projections of text, the singing and dancing of the actors and, rather evocatively, the smell of food. It is only on retrospect that it is clear that this is a show for the visually impaired and those who are hard of hearing. In all honesty, as an under-35-year-old and able audience member, I am astonished by the performance in front of me. Emotions and expressions are delivered with such honesty that it is at once shocking and thought provoking.

A truly courageous undertaking, the elderly and the less abled have so much to share with the contemporary audience. They represent a reality that most of us choose to ignore, until it intervenes and becomes part of our life. But then, they have set out to prove that The Bard's work is as universal as ever, and see it as a unique challenge. As the director says, it is a 'risky and daring' project. Are you feeling brave to see it?

Ingrid Hu

PERFORMANCE REVIEW: The Visitor

2009-07-21T20:21:00.004+01:00

The Visitor - OMADA Theatre Company
Tristan Bates Theatre, Covent Garden - 20th July

Sometimes the repercussions of our actions can force unforeseeable changes upon our previously unquestioned daily routines. For Miranda and Morris, their resignedly repetitive existence within a World War II compound is compelled to change. Miranda's unthinking act of compassion in bringing home the injured 'visitor' pulls apart two people who have been brought into an unnaturally close proximity.

The initially unfathomable opening has a Pinteresque quality. Graham, the visitor, is more of a hostage than a guest. Gradually it becomes clear that almost no one is anywhere or does anything by their own volition: Miranda has to reuse the same old tea bag over and over again, Morris is forced to trade at The Mercantile, and all (bar Graham) only reside in this hovel because they were brought there, Nazi fashion, in a 'hot dog' van.

Notably strong performances come from Samantha Whaley as Miranda and Michael Armstrong as Morris. Both portray their simplistic and sheltered characters with great conviction and no hint of irony or derision, despite some of their obviously dubious opinions, such as Morris' fundamentalism. The smaller roles of Maxwell and Graham are also both carried off well, but are harder to play, given that the characters are less developed. The role of Maxwell is perhaps the most bizarre being an entertaining, but not easily recognisable, fusion of a gay Walter the Softy of the Beano fame, and the Artful Dodger.

The most disappointing aspect of The Visitor is that it is not longer. The alternative history of the play is slightly confused, and it is not clear whether the inclusion of a TV set and Marks and Spencer's carrier bag are intentional or unwittingly anachronistic. However, the variety of pace and tone would certainly sustain the intrigue of the audience well beyond the 45 minute running time, and a longer piece would allow the able writer and cast to really flourish.

Helena S. Rampley

PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Damages

2009-07-19T20:43:00.001+01:00

Damages
Old Red Lion Theatre, Angel

Its no new thing to say that newspapers are not what they used to be. At one time Fleet Street was the bringer of truth, the voice of reason offering us an insight into news stories taking place around the globe - an insight that would at once inform and educate us. Now, certain papers appear content with simply reporting the fact that Lily Allen managed to draw breath today. Gone is the interest in world leaders and their political decision-making, in are the tales of drug abuse, love spats and knicker flashing.

Its this change of agenda - and the precarious relationship between fame hungry celebrities and the muck-racking hacks that can make or break their fledgling career - that provides the centre piece for Damages, Lucid Muse's revival of Steve Thompson's 2004 play about the world of tabloid journalism and the lives that it can affect, calling for the “end of cheese and sleaze.” Set in real time, the play follows the final hours before a paper is due to go to press and unleash on its reading public a photograph of a children’s presenter caught topless with a man who happens to not be her husband. What initially appears to be a simple question of invasion of privacy, takes a much darker turn as personal feelings and potential honey traps come into play.

The humid July evening outside makes the small space of the Old Red Lion theatre both stuffy and claustrophobic enhancing the tense action on stage beautifully. As the print deadline draws ever closer, you too feel the sweat pricking the back of your neck, your palms beginning to clam up and the sense of panic that’s doing the rounds. This feeling is also increased by the raised voices of the cast as they thrash out their personal and professional differences. It’s a cast that is very apt at handling the sparring dialogue and quick witted comebacks, in particular the charming young whiz-kid Bas, Simeon Perlin, and his Ice Queen ex-girlfriend Abigail, played with precision by Perlin’s Lucid Muse co-founder Joanna Bell.

The only problem with this production is the question of relevance. A lot has happened in the five years since this was first performed at the Bush Theatre – papers have become more shocking, we have more access to celebs and it seems rather unlikely that there would be any question about running a topless shot of a golden girl anymore. With a set that looks as though it is a left over from Channel 4’s Drop The Dead Donkey, it has the feeling of being a bit out of date, especially given the media satires now available to us such as In The Loop and Newswipe, who both push the issue so much further.

A really enjoyable performance, its definitely worth watching. However, it is questionable that its going to cause stop anyone digesting the next bit of celeb gossip the minute they leave the theatre.

Ruby Green

Damages runs until July 25th

NEWS: Barbican plays host to year's most exciting season

2009-07-15T21:28:00.003+01:00

Since it's birth in 2000, the Barbican Bite festival has brought some of the most prestigious artists and performers from around the globe to London from Russia's Lev Dodin and the Maly Drama Theatre (Platonov, 2007), to Pina Bausch of Germany (Kontakthof, 2002), by way of Brazil and Grupo XIX de Teatro (Hysteria, 2008). For years they have been offering a platform to the finest and most experimental International work and, by the looks of the Bite:09 programme, they are going from strength to strength.

Among the numerous prestigious offerings are Teatr Zar, the multinational group who aim to show that theatre is to be heard not only seen. From 24th September they will be performing Gospels of Childhood, their three-part ritualistic lamentation of birth, death, pleasusre and pain, told through song, chanting and movement.

James Thiérrée returns to Britain after his 2007 Sadlers Wells production Au Revoir Parapluie with Raoul, a story of a man with no beginning or end who tumbles through a series of utopian fantasies in a world which is at once entirely alien and clearly recognisable. Combining his trademark cross-fertilisation of acrobatics, mime and clown-like charm, Thiérrée promises to tease his audiences with this delightful, visual comedy.

Not afraid to leave the confines of the Silk Street venue, once again Barbican offers a number of off-site productions to entice people off the streets and into new places. One example is They Only Come At Night: Visions from Slung Low. The promenade performance will begin at the Barbican Box Office and will combine live performance, dance, music and digital projection as Slung Low take attendants through the fast-paced theatrical world.

These are just a few of the wonderful and innovative projections that will be available from September. For more information and to book tickets check out the Barbican website

www.barbican.org.uk/bite09/

PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Project X

2009-07-13T22:53:00.001+01:00

Project X - Love & Madness: The Madness Season
Riverside Studios, Hammersmith

Taking your seat in a theatre, you can be forgiven for assuming certain things are about to take place. The etiquette and traditions of British theatre-going have been in place for over a century meaning that for majority of people a theatre ticket means not only watching a performance but going for a pre-theatre meal, buying a programme and enjoying an interval ice cream. Bearing this in mind, Love & Madness' Project X is a truly tantalising prospect. Expect the unexpected.

As the company began devising the production - while rehearsing for the Riverside residential a Dodin-esque fashion - there was an understanding that it could take on any shape or form, be performed in any space and could deal with any subject matter. Love & Madness take the rules and threw them out the proverbial window. But what is the end result? If I say the words cornflakes, weasels and Nirvana, you may get some idea.

While Love & Madness have opted to keep the performance within the traditional theatrical space, its no holds barred when it comes to performance style and plot. The latter concerns Ron Cheeseman, an average looking 33 year old postman who goes about his mundane daily routine perfectly content. That is until he learns about the small issue of death. And so follows Ron's earth shattering realisations that he has no understanding of childhood, the aging process or indeed mothers, realisations that lead him to a half baked suicide attempt and a twist that could give M. Night Shyamalan a run for his money.

The beauty of this production is how different it is to everything else from the Madness season. After dealing with murdering gangsters, insane army generals and grave exhumations, here we see Love & Madness letting their hair down and having fun. And it is a fun that is both exciting and intoxicating for the audience to see. John Giles is heartbreaking as the confused posite while there are some stand out performances from chorus members Will Beer and Toby Wharton whose expressive faces and comedically fluid movements bring tears to the eyes. Director Matthew Sim offers a wonderfully crazed Willy Wonka style Head Weasel (the only hint I'm going to offer about the road this story takes) who manages to walk the fine line between sinister over-lord and uber-camp menance with elegance and poise.

This production has the feel of a University style production where the actors dare to explore, to take risks, to experiment with new ideas and, ultimately, to have fun. You get the feeling that all performances should be this brave and exciting. As they wave farewell to the Riverside Studios, Love & Madness can be confident that they have not only gained a new, wider fan base, but they have shown the Hammersmith audiences that true theatre is not about a star name offering a half-baked turn as Hamlet. Its about the collective soul, the group and the ensemble. And that is something we shall forever be grateful for.

Phil Burt

Project X runs in rep until July 25th

PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Fucking Men

2009-07-11T15:11:00.003+01:00

Fucking Men

Arts Theatre, Covent Garden

With its unabashedly sexual title, set and content, it is hard to say whether Joe DiPietro's display of 'the empty existence of the urban gay male' does the reputation of gay culture more harm than good. Whilst Fucking Men delivers a frank, no holes barred account of gay relationships, the necessity to sensationalise the characters and the liaisons they involve themselves in suggests a willingness to revel in and even endorse the remaining taboos that surround homosexuality. The title has to be partly blanked out on promotional material and referred to by box office staff as 'F'ing Men'. In this respect, the play seems to be revisiting previously trodden ground; the play texts of Ravenhill's 1996 Shopping and Fucking initially had to be sold in paper bags. Is society still childishly attracted to a play just because it has an expletive in its title?

Despite the scandal of the title and the occasional overtly stereotypical presentation (pink y-fronts, a studded belt and a love of Brokeback Mountain) Fucking Men is undeniably entertaining. A large cast and a fairly short play aid the show's pace, switching rapidly but clearly between different encounters. Characters remain on stage for a time after their scenes, which is initially confusing, but eventually contributes to the depiction of the casual anonymity of the sex the characters experience.

DiPietro shows a blunt divide between love and sex. Couples who love each other very rarely have sex, and those who have sex very rarely love each other. The world these characters inhabit, despite the prevalence of physical intimacy, is unquestionably isolated. All of the characters rehearse monologues which they then integrate into sexual scenarios, disclosing their desperate quest to affirm their identity, and to attempt to live out their individual imagined dramas.

Fucking Men brings the audience face to face with many home truths. "People don't call when you're desperate, that's the first rule of life" demonstrates the frequent inability to interact successfully and to find what is 'sincere'. This play is honest and funny and, apart from a few dodgy accents, very smooth. It does not however present the gay community in a very even-handed way. From DiPietro's account, it would seem that gay men inhabit a loveless underground world of hedonism and dishonesty. Yes, it is liberated to be able to show this, and yes the play is lively and enjoyable. However, in its reinforcing the notion of the gay community as a staunchly separate world, Fucking Men is something of a self-sacrifice. By ignoring the fact that heterosexual relationships can be just as blighted by the issues shown as gay relationships, DiPietro perhaps does the gay community damage.

Helena S Rampley

Fucking Men runs until 31st December

PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Mincemeat

2009-07-04T22:21:00.001+01:00

Mincemeat - Cardboard Citizens
Cordy House, Shoreditch

After watching Cardboard Citizens' latest production Mincemeat, I cannot help but feel that I have done a good deed by simply turning up to see a show.

Set in Cordy House, a disused building on Curtain Road in trend-setting Shoreditch, Mincemeat is a promenade performance based upon a series of reconstructions and fictionalized characters and stories surrounding Operation Mincemeat, which took place during the Second World War. The British Intelligence’s successful deception plan was depicted in Ewen Montagu’s 1953 book The Man Who Never Was and then subsequently made into a film of the same title.

The show commences with a false start of sorts, as a van filled with kidnappers is driven into the warehouse’s ground floor space from the street. The audience is then led to a different room where the story is introduced. From there, the actors shift among characters and the audience is taken to imagined spaces within the building where the intelligent use of interior architecture depict various scenes. Sometimes the audience are allowed to sit and seamlessly become part of the setting, while in other rooms the audience are the invisible onlookers witnessing the events, following the main character as he uncovers his true identity. The play’s close takes us back to the room in which we began, but by now it has been converted into a wartime shelter complete with bunker beds allowing audience and performers merge. Overall the production is cleverly executed, without tailor made costumes but also without excessive scenery.

The feel good factor comes from the fact that, rather than seeing a show with potentially like-minded theatre-goers, the audience represents a beautiful slice of Londoners from all walks of life. Needless to say, the ensemble itself comprises a wide range of real life characters and however superficial this observation may be, the energy of a true and engaging social theatre is definitely in the air.

If you are not sure about seeing a show supported by The Big Issue, then hopefully Kate Winslet - the company's new ambassador - will encourage you. Go see it.

Ingrid Hu

Mincemeat runs until 12th July

PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Phèdre

2009-06-27T23:15:00.002+01:00

Phèdre - NT Live
National Theatre, Waterloo

The National Theatre’s latest initiative to bring theatre to the masses sees a live version of Jean Racine’s Phèdre broadcasted to cinema audiences worldwide.

King Theseus, the King of Athens, has been missing for months. His wife Phèdre is left to look after their children and, believing Theseus to be dead, her nurse Oenone convinces her to admit her rampant lust for stepson Hippolytus. However, Hippolytus is in love with Aricia, the grand-daughter of Erechteus, the former King of Athens─ who Theseus despises. When Theseus returns from the underworld, this collection of guilty passions rear their ugly head.

Dominic Cooper plays the implacable Hippolytus, who rises to the challenge of conveying some of the play’s most complex emotions: seething hatred, stifled passion and sombre austerity. Still young in years, Cooper definitively illustrates that his repertoire can extend to more mature roles. The imposing authority of his father Theseus is captured effectively by Stanley Townsend’s incredible booming voice. However, any hint that this figure could have had numerous female conquests and slain yet more monsters, is somewhat mitigated by his rather incongruous attire.

The lady of the moment is evidently Dame Helen Mirren. As Phèdre, she has to play the fine line between anguish and madness, without letting it seem histrionic. For the most part, I think she does this and excels in heightening the emotional intensity of the long monologues to maximum effect. As her aid, Margaret Tyzack’s Oenone is suitably witty in places. Ruth Negga also plays Aricia with a perceptive understanding of both the character’s tenderness and emotional fortitude.

In the pre-theatre introduction, Phèdre’s director Nicholas Hytner comments that NT Live affords an audience the luxury of seeing the actors close up, of witnessing their every move. Certainly, every expression, every tremble, every grimace, even every intake of breath, is on display. However, although Ted Hughes’ translation is a magnificent achievement, rendering Racine’s words readily accessible to audiences, the overall production is let down by lack of pauses and lack of an interval. As an incredibly intense piece of theatre, there is the sensation that much of the power and visceral emotion that each actor so carefully builds up, becomes lost. This is illustrated by John Shrapnel’s final monologue as Thérmène. Having recounted with great vigour Hippolytus’ death, the power of Shrapnel’s performance loses some of its magnitude as the story goes on, just that bit too long, particularly for cinema audiences’ to bear.

NT Live has pioneered a wonderful project to bring theatre to the cinema and a talented cast render a compelling production of Racine’s powerful work. Hytner describes the project’s aim “to convey something of the excitement of live theatre to the world.” This is certainly where the project succeeds, although it would be interesting to see the production in the theatre itself, as there is no denying that expectations and experience would be different─ and certainly more powerful ─when an audience sees these actors in the flesh.

Ruth Collins

Phèdre will run at the Lyttleton Theatre until 27th August

PERFORMANCE REVIEW: A Skull in Connemara

2009-06-18T01:07:00.002+01:00

A Skull in Connemara - Love & Madness: The Madness Season
Riverside Studios, Hammersmith

The ensemble is one of the most creatively perfect states in which to develop true works of theatre. Sneer as much as you want as you advocate the constant change around of casts bringing in a breath of fresh air, but Konstantin Stanislavski was definitely on to something as he preached the unique and rich experience of devising pieces surrounded by those you are familiar with, those you know deeply, and those whose feelings you know almost intuitively. A Skull in Connemara, the third offering from Love & Madness' season at the Riverside Studios, gives us an insight into just how effective an ensemble can be. It also shows us that it is not only the actor's familiarity with each other that propels the performance forward, but also the audience's familiarity with the actors.

For the latest installment in The Madness Season, the ensemble turns to the violent writings of Martin McDonagh with his tale of smashing skulls and swilling poitin set in the rural wilderness of Ireland's Galway. Living in the small, insular community is Mick, a widower who has the unenviable job of digging up skeletons from the local graveyard and disposing of the skulls as he sees fit. For seven years he has been fighting off rumours that rather than accidentally kill his wife in a drink driving incident, he, in fact, murdered her in cold blood and as her grave is unearthed to reveal no skeleton, suspicions are raised once again.

Dan Mullane is excellent as the dark, brooding Mick, dividing opinions and making it impossible to tell whether he is a wife butcherer or merely the victim of harmful gossip. His troubled face is deeply intriguing as it appears to hide many secrets and can transform from a light smile into a tormented grimace within a matter of seconds. Playing a side-kick of sorts is Jack Bence as Mairtin. Bence first enters the stage with an accent more reminiscent of Father Ted's Mrs Doyle than a genuine Galway boy and a facial expression all too similar to David Platt when he was going through the terrible teens. But as the play progresses, you really warm to his portrayal of the young tearaway. Bence manages to aptly convey the dark humour of McDonagh's text playing with both the comic and morbid sections - massaging skulls as if they were breasts is not for the fainthearted. He's clearly better suited to the comic timing than the more serious pieces making up the remainder of the repertoire.

Mick and Mairtin are joined by local busybody Maryjohnny, Lucia McAnespie, whose obsession with bingo is seen right down to the marks of highlighter pen decorating her hands. Once again McAnespie takes on her role with true eloquence, as she plays the doddery old woman without a hint of a caricature. Likewise, Iarla McGowan's useless village policeman Thomas is both hilarious and menacing as he tries to prove Mick's guilt, but ends up appearing more like PC Plum than Columbo. With perfect comic timing, McGowan is sublime right down to his asthma pump.

With a detailed, clear and concise direction from Catriona Craig - with the exception of a couple of long-winded and rather over-complicated scene changes - A Skull in Connemara is a gripping, entertaining and deeply macabre production.

Phil Burt

A Skull in Connemara runs in rep until 26th July

PERFORMANCE OVERVIEW: The Bridge Project

2009-06-14T13:49:00.004+01:00

A Winter's Tale & The Cherry Orchard - The Bridge Project
The Old Vic, Waterloo

“O, call back yesterday, bid time return” is the quotation which lines the safety curtain of The Bridge Project’s premiere year’s offerings. This rather apt quotation from Richard III alludes to central themes in both plays: the passing of time and regret. Choosing to direct an Anglo-American cast in a production of William Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale and Anton Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard, is an impressive undertaking for director Sam Mendes, and certainly promises to be something special.

Combining Shakespearean and Chekhovian repertoires has long been a favoured challenge to theatre directors, for, despite living and writing centuries apart, on opposite sides of Europe in different languages and even alphabets, a number of parallels can be drawn between the playwrights’ works. Indeed, the broadness of the scope is indicative of The Bridge Project’s overarching aim to create a transatlantic partnership which transcends the boundaries of theatre and enriches the stage with the best of what UK and US acting has to offer.

Simon Russell Beale heads the all-star line-up, playing Lophakin in The Cherry Orchard and King Leontes in The Winter’s Tale. As Lopakhin, Russell Beale exudes a suitable sense of exasperation as he watches Ranevskaya and her clan fail to save their estate from soon passing into other hands. As a descendant of the peasantry and serfs, the tables are turned when Lopakhin himself buys the estate, both usurping the wealthy landowners’ status and depriving them of their most prized possession: the bountiful cherry orchard. Russell Beale draws out Lopakhin’s vengeance in a cathartic scene where he storms around the stage flinging chairs left, right and centre, as Ranevskaya, superbly played by Sinéad Cusack, looks on in dismay.

Yet it is as the brooding Leontes that I feel Russell Beale’s vitriol is well and truly unleashed. Consumed by jealousy, he believes his wife Hermione, played expertly here by Rebecca Hall, is having an affair with his childhood friend Polixenes, played by Josh Hamilton. Leontes banishes Polixenes, throws Hermione into prison and orders his menservants to dispose of the baby daughter who he believes is Polixenes’ child, not his own. In contrast to the resigned and somewhat powerless Varya in The Cherry Orchard, Hall’s beguiling Hermione shows strength as she stands up to her husband. The trial scene, which sees Russell Beale and Hall confront one another from opposite ends of a long wooden table, is at once powerful and visually effective. Both actors gauge the level of visceral emotion perfectly, holding it back to make every line uttered retain the necessary resonance Shakespeare originally intended. As Varya, Hall’s quiet exasperation is equally entrancing and the audience feels her frustration at the almost absurd nature of Lopakhin’s amorous indecisiveness─ a man of business, when it comes to love he is almost as hopeless as the ungainly Yepikhodov played by Tobias Segal.

For although this may not be the most popular of Chekhov-Shakespeare pairings, the comic and tragic elements of both plays are drawn out and certainly neither play falls into a single genre: both have elements of intense tragedy, inane comedy and even farce. Sir Tom Stoppard’s commissioned translation of The Cherry Orchard is based on a literal translation by Helen Rappaport. Without doubt, Stoppard’s version draws out the satire of Chekhov’s work, illustrating that these characters’ concerns are not so far removed from our own in the twenty-first century. Indeed, as Mendes’ interpretations of both these plays capably illustrate, the issues of economic uncertainty, bereavement, jealousy, regret, love and desire are emotions of everyday life very much in the here and now. Moreover, as both Paul Jesson, as Ranevskaya’s loquacious brother Gaev, and Richard Easton's bumbling old serf Firs, skilfully highlight, what Stoppard and Mendes´ collaboration definitively succeeds is in revealing the characters’ myopic view of the world and how none of the characters listen to anyone but themselves. It is only a shame that Morven Christie’s Anya lacked the necessary emotional intensity and vigour originally conceived by Chekhov.

Wary of being too critical about the blend of accents in this multi-national cast, it will suffice to say that occasionally the American accent, and at times regional UK accents, seem somewhat out of place. However, any jarring detected does not detrimentally detract from the overall effectiveness or fluidity of the performance. Taking Dakin Matthew - Simeonov in Chekhov's play - as a prime example, there was no attempt to hide his American accent, but in a strange way the prevalence of the accent itself succeeded in accentuating the almost caricature-like figure of this old brazen fool. Overall, Stoppard’s translation works for this production but occasional references, such as when the hopeless Yepikhodov is nicknamed “catastrophe corner”, seem rather misplaced and perhaps not the most judicious of translation decisions.

The Winter’s Tale also presents some problems, particularly in Act Four when the pastoral scene disintegrates into a farcically anachronistic affair involving erotic dancing with balloons. However, a certain measure of modernisation also works well: Ethan Hawke’s Autolycus comes across as a mix between Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean and Dickens’ Fagin and he certainly gets his fair share of laughs. Also playing Chekhov’s perpetual student Trofimov, Hawke is perhaps in one sense one of the most prevalent examples of how this project proves to be an exercise in which actors can show off their range and rise to different challenges. Sinéad Cusack also deserves particular mention for her utterly captivating performances: proving to be a compelling Paulina in The Winter´s Tale, she really shines in reflecting all the forlorn sadness of the grieving and emotionally unstable Ranevskaya whose dwelling on the past prevents her from coming to terms with the present.

This exciting venture, although not without its faults, certainly lives up to expectations and the combination of the calibre acting, creative stage design and judicious direction creates two very fine productions. Although logistically challenging, with a 50:50 split between cast and a production team spanning the British Isles and the USA, perhaps it is innovative ventures like this which are exactly what will keep the theatre industry afloat during these difficult times.

A Winter's Tale and The Cherry Orchard run in rep until 15th August

Ruth Collins

PERFORMANCE REVIEW: S-27

2009-06-14T12:47:00.003+01:00

S-27
Finborough Theatre, Earls Court

Drawing on prison records and interviews with inmates at Tuol Sleng prison in Cambodia, playwright Sarah Grochala depicts the bleak reality of the totalitarian Khmer Rouge regime. Inspired by Nhem En’s photographs of Tuol Sleng prisoners and the works of Van Nath, whose commissioned paintings of dictator Pol Pot ensured his survival in Tuol Sleng, the play challenges human reactions towards something as deeply inhumane as genocide.

May, played by Pippa Nixon, is a prison photographer, charged with the unpleasant task of photographing prisoners shortly before they are executed. The play sees May take picture after picture, her sense of compassion towards the prisoners increasingly tested as personal relationships come into play. She and fellow prison worker, June, here played by Brooke Kinsella, spare no emotion: for they know that they are there to get the job done and if they fail, or are seen to fail, they will be accused of sabotage by ‘the Organisation’ and subject to the same fate as these inmates.

Nixon delivers a strong performance as May, from the cold-hearted way in which she confronts the first prisoner, the audience gradually sees her cold exterior crumble as she is reminded of guilt and family loyalties. On seeing her former boyfriend Col, played by Tom Reed, this emotional detachment gives way altogether as she tries to prevent him from exiting the room to meet his inevitable death. Her fear of the regime subsides and realising the chemistry still between them, their frantic sexual encounter signals her decision to escape the confines of the prison.

With great deftness, Kinsella shows the trajectory from June’s role as May’s obedient subordinate to being the powerful one behind the camera as May sits in the chair, awaiting her fate. Extremely intimidating when confronting Col, Kinsella straddles him as he sits defenceless and head down and she nonchalantly burns his arm repeatedly with the butt of her cigarette. The small space is a suitably intense environment, but Kinsella also achieves in drawing out Gronchala’s humour by showing her ineptness with the camera such that May, now in the role as the prisoner, has to show her how to use it properly.

It is not difficult to see why Grochala’s play won the first Amnesty International Protect the Human Playwriting Competition in 2007 and the Finsborough triumphs again in bringing an important issue to the stage and playing host to one of the country’s most promising young playwrights.

Ruth Collins

S-27 runs until 4th July

PERFORMANCE REVIEW: The Bay

2009-06-12T12:45:00.001+01:00

The Bay – Fragments
The Space, Isle of Dogs

At times of social unrest and political disputes, it is often left to the stage to become society's mouthpiece, voicing discontent and providing a forum for a variety of stories and opinions. And so, with questions of what it is to be British coming to the political fore over the last few weeks, no time is more apt for Fragments to be presenting this response to the 2002 murder of a New Age traveller.

Shane Dempsey's autobiographical story of a group of Romany Gypsies settling in idyllic coastal Ireland, is born out of a number of improvisations with students from East 15 School of Acting which have been formalised here in Hannah Burke's script. The story, - based on the aforementioned true incident - tells a tale of the human need for “somewhere to call home” . Territorial nature leads to the murder of a local man after he returns from prison to find his beloved taking part in a drug-fueled new age marriage ceremony with a Romany man.

The Space is intimate and, for this production, set in the round meaning there's little room for escape. From the outset there is an incredible intensity and energy from the actors without exception, breathing heavily into the silent space as the audience enter.

The play is made up of large physical set pieces involving most of the cast with recorded music being pumped loudly through the theatre, interspersed with a mainly duologue-based text. The physical theatre aspects create a spectacular effect, given the audience a feeling of chaos, but, importantly, chaos that is controlled. Burke's text is at times witty and beautiful but unfortunately, I feel as though the two are never quite married.

It feels as though there is a gap between the two elements - the actors channel the manic energy gained from the physicality into most of the text, making it difficult to keep up with and comprehend. A greater variety of levels would have given the text more room to breath. However, saying that, a special commendation should be given to Conrad Sharp's grounded and cutting portrayal of Asis, a Romany elder, which brought a much needed level of control to the proceedings.

The company's economical use of set is commendable and innovative. Four car tyres provide parameters for settings, chairs, toys and a vat of magic “mushy brew”. The use of music is personal to the director's real life experiences of the story and works well. It does seem a shame not to use the guitar and djembe drum more often. They do make brief cameos and appear to fit succinctly with the 'Total Theatre' style of the rest of the show.

The lengthy finale of this show is an interpretative movement piece leading to the climactic murder scene as played through the eyes of a young man having his first trip on magic mushrooms. It is a remarkable performance piece created by the company and manages to draw your eye to all the right places while telling the story in minute detail.

I was shocked to learn the entire show was put together with just seven days rehearsal. Taking this into account, and the freedom director Shane Dempsey allows his cast, it is clear this piece will continue to grow, and is well worth watching.

Sean Turner

The Bay runs from the 9th-18th of June at The Space and then joins the Big Green Gathering programme from 30th July - 2nd August.

PERFORMANCE REVIEW: The Homecoming

2009-06-08T10:35:00.003+01:00

The Homecoming
York Theatre Royal

I went to The Homecoming with the optimistic hope that Damien Cruden, accompanied by the team at York, would manage to convince me that Harold Pinter is not baffling and confusing but is in fact worthy of the major playwright label he has been given. I came away from the play baffled and confused.

The basic premise of the play is that Teddy brings his wife Ruth home to meet his family after spending six years in America. Still living at the family home are his father, uncle and two younger brothers as well as the ghost of his mother Jesse who is still very much present. Obviously things do not go well and, one thing I will say for the play, it is like nothing you could ever expect. However, this is not necessarily a good thing. If I can be shocked by the content now, the reactions of a 1960s audience must have been unique.

The set plays upon the image of life as a picture, with a huge gilt frame acting as the proscenium arch, and the living room walls being slanted as if in 2D perspective. Certainly an interesting concept, it is decorated in the same pastel palette of colours that seem to feature in most of Dawn Allsopp’s set designs and appears deeply ironic, underlining that what the audience see is anything but a picture of a normal family home. But, after the first act I ceased to care about any underlying cleverness and began crying out for anything obvious to grasp onto.

I can only imagine what it must have been like for the actors. In his Director’s Notes, Cruden calls the experience a ‘richly creative opportunity’. Maybe so in rehearsals, but onstage none of that is in evidence. The performances feel stilted, all becoming stuck in the same intense, dramatic gear which the friend accompanying me described simply as ‘Eastenders acting’. For me, it was personally frustrating to see Robert Pickavance, who I recently saw on superb form in Eichmann in Jerusalem - same director - give such an unimpressive performance.

Perhaps, this production hit an off note. It may be possible to stage the play without my reaction being "The best bits were when one of the actors unintentionally walked into a lamp and the bit about the cheese roll because the dialogue sped up to something approaching normal". Perhaps I am ‘missing the point’ of Pinter, and that his work is meant to be full of unanswered questions. However, I know that my group were not the only perplexed audience members. After the stunned silence of the first act, the second was only punctuated by nervous laughter and the curtain-call applause was luke-warm at best.

The Homecoming has not put me off Pinter or York Theatre Royal, I will certainly persevere with both. I am simply confused and saddened as to why a production that looked so promising, can strike such a bum note.

Jane Williamson

The Homecoming runs at York Theatre Royal until 20th June

PERFORMANCE REVIEW: The Moon The Moon

2009-06-07T22:42:00.002+01:00

The Moon The Moon
Southwark Playhouse, London

Stay and let them heal you. Or go with the Moon and live. That’s the choice for The Man in Unlimited Theatre’s enigmatic and compelling production of The Moon The Moon which is brought to the Southwark Playhouse this week.

The Man, suffering from a profound trauma, is found by a stranger, aptly named The Older Man, on the edge of the water front of the Firth holding a plastic bag full of roast dinner, about to commit suicide. The stranger, alongside his companion The Young Woman, take him in, seemingly eager to help him and cure him of his problems. We see what at first seems like good will, soon morphs in to abuse and incarceration before our eyes. It is here, in his imprisoned state, that he is visited by The Moon, looking uncannily like his dead wife, who tempts and wills him to follow her toward redemption and peace.

The play is beautifully poetic, with the script ebbing and flowing like the tide itself while contrasting brilliantly with the cold, hard actions inflicted by the tormenting couple. It is this juxtaposition that is most interesting and forces us to question what is genuine reality when our own comes in to question and, crucially, who decides what is right for us when we don’t seem to know ourselves?

With recurring references to storms and rain, you are never far from the sense of the ruggedness and wilderness that surrounds them and the emotion that lies within all of us. In contrast the set, like a cold clinical cell, seems almost like a representation of society itself and its vain attempts to tidy and compartmentalise chaotic emotion.

All four cast members shine brilliantly in this production, creating a sense of sadness and desperation without becoming too emotive. The pathos is equalled with humour and tragedy and a special nod needs to be made to the music which was both moving and stunningly performed.

The play is complicated as it attempts to discuss varying and difficult themes within 90 minutes, containing a plot full of twists and turns that are never fully explained. But, because of the plays beauty, this is not important. What is interesting here is the plays’ touching and subtle discussion of love, death, remorse, and the messiness of real human emotions, and ultimately how we use them when it is of most importance.

Ailsa Ilott

The Moon The Moon runs until 20th June

PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Aunt Dan & Lemon

2009-06-01T14:25:00.002+01:00

Aunt Dan and Lemon - Wallace Shawn Season
Royal Court Theatre

What a lemon. Yes that is precisely correct, Jane Horrocks plays a right Lemon in this production at the Royal Court. If I can ‘squeeze’ another joke out of this I’ll be happy.

Lemon, played wonderfully by Horrocks, who appears more childlike than ever, opens the play explaining that she is sick, drinks nothing but fresh juices for sustenance and enjoys reading the political theories of the Nazi’s. Her imagination and memories become the main focus for the narrative, creating one large stream of consciousness set in and around 1960s London. The action is eloquently continuous, with each character using extensive monologues to guide us through Lemon’s childhood, and leaving us to make our own assumptions about the position she's now in.

Lorraine Ashbourne's Aunt Dan, appearing as a more mature Jessica Hynes, has arguably the toughest role in the production with hefty monologues and stories of politics, relationships and her love for Henry Kissinger. However, Ashbourne manages to enthrall the audience and, save for a few accent and line slips, glides through with relative ease.

After an array of entertaining monologues by Lemon, Dan and Father - Paul Chahidi - the narrative begins to focus on the elusive Mindy, an outrageous one-time friend of Dan's, which Scarlett Johnson (AKA Vicky Fowler in Eastenders – yes her with the confused Anglo-American accent) portrays with elegance and naivety, if a little too cutesy at times. These scenes appear with a cinematic quality complete with musical crescendos creating a stark difference to the events of Lemon's life. And please look out for the best bed ever: not wishing to ruin the fun, but there's a bed that allows a murdered Raimondo (Rene Zagger) to slip through the mattress therefore providing a seamless new scene without any interruptions. Well, I told you the action was continuous.

You are reminded of this play's writer with many of the male roles, such as Father and Nathan Osgood's Jasper, combining recognisable aspects of Wallace Shawn himself, in both look and in sound. It's not surprise that Shawn played these roles at the Royal Court premiere of this production in 1985 - thank you Royal Court for your wonderful programmes, you make my life ‘easy peasy’.

Where largely dialogue based productions sometimes leave me wandering off into my own world, Aunt Dan and Lemon keeps me enthralled and entertained. Being a relative newcomer to the work of Wallace Shawn (aside from his acting roles in US hits The Princess Bride and Gossip Girl) this production has left me wanting to learn more. Luckily for me, the Royal Court's Wallace Shawn season has now been extended until the 27th June. I hope you ‘pip’ along! (Sorry, I couldn't resist).

Izzy O'Callaghan

PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Jesus: The Wasted Years

2009-05-29T13:26:00.004+01:00

Jesus: The Wasted Years
Old Red Lion Theatre

Jesus is a drunken teenager. Satan is a reformed character, who spends his time reading Barack Obama's book. Mary is a slapper. God is losing it, and, with his receptionist called Beverley, does an impressive Alan Sugar act. Such promising material promises an original show, but unfortunately falls at its feet.

The show's opening is hopeful, and suggests we are in for something unique, but jokes and routines become tired very quickly. The ongoing gag about the Princess of Wales being 'popular' in heaven is initially amusing, but gradually becomes overdone and in slightly poor taste. It soon becomes apparent that the cast, particularly Jesus (Robert Meakin), are playing for laughs, and slow down for their punch lines. This would be fine, indeed it would even be imperceptible, if they managed to provoke an audience reaction.

The studio theatre of The Old Red Lion brings the audience up close to the sometimes slightly uncomfortable action. Sex scenes between God and Mary are presented with an unavoidable immediacy. If such scenes were either funny or part of a larger statement, then such provocative material could be explained. However, it seems that encounters such as God having a fetish for sniffing women's underwear are presented only to see how far the boundaries of acceptability can be pushed, without doing anything with them.

What presents itself as a comedy does occasionally teeter on the edge of having something quite interesting and important to say. The notion of character reform is broached, when Satan is shown to be a benevolent mastermind, who provokes hatred in order to generate love for Jesus. The ideas of gaining our knowledge from experience, and adapting to fit in with the modern world are also present, but are unfortunately shied away from.

Had the material been compressed into a 20 minute sketch, the glimmers of comedy that do work would have been much more successful; Satan's ringtone, God mistaking Hitler for Charlie Chaplin, and his crying of 'oh me' when Mary gives him oral sex. But surrounded by lacklustre material, pointless songs and an odd and unnecessary strip show, what is genuinely funny is too deeply buried to get a proper laugh.

Helena S. Ramplay

Jesus: The Wasted Years runs until 13th June

PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Lysistrata & The Bacchae

2009-05-29T07:55:00.002+01:00

Lysistrata and The Bacchae
Lion and Unicorn Theatre

This evening, the Lion and Unicorn Theatre brings together two Greek plays, one comedy and one tragedy by two very different international directors. The first is Aristophanes' Lysistrata with director Kaitlin Argeaux updating the lascivious tale to modern street culture. The battling Athenians and Spartans are replaced by London Youth Gangs as Lysistrata, played by Ruth Kestenbaum, rallies woman-kind to withhold sexual pleasures from the male population until they agree to cease fighting and bring the Peloponnesian War to an end.

The production features contemporary dance and movement with hip-hop bump and grind being used to convey the sexual tensions. There is some very clever and well worked choreography by Justyna Scuotto and the ensemble routines are the highlight of the piece. Body slaps and taps are used to give the movement a keen sense of rhythm while the show is accompanied by dance music, created by Richard Hale (a.k.a. DJ Halo) who also plays the Magistrate.

Sadly the acting is rather uncompelling and the power of the language and its true comic potential are never found, many of their speeches being lost to the constant movement. However, the bold physicality provides some humorous scenes - especially memorable is the scene between sexually frustrated Cinesias,(Durassie Kiangangu) and his torturing wife Myrrhine played by Maria Gray. The performance culminates in a rap style epilogue providing a suitably modern but effective end.

For a show featuring so much rhythm and movement it is a shame that the lighting rig could not yield a more inventive design, some colour and sidelight could have transformed the dance sequences. A more experimental production, using dance interpretation of Lysistrata, could have made for a really interesting modern angle.

The second show of the evening, Euripedean tragedy The Bacchae, directed by Arlene Martinez-Vazquez, takes a very different form from the first. Embittered Dionysus, interestingly yet not altogether convincingly played by a woman, Amy Avery, seeks revenge on members of his family for refusing to believe he is a God. Dionysus' cult of worshippers tell the story through folk style singing and chanting that provides a good haunting overtone whilst puppets are used to represent Cadmus, Agave and Pentheus. The puppets are impressive and are well operated to reveal the emotion of the characters. However, the lack of live action in the piece presents a communication barrier and it is sometimes difficult to work out what is happening.

Ollie Fielding
Lysistrata and The Bacchae runs until 31st May

PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Ajax

2009-05-28T16:21:00.003+01:00

Ajax - The Madness Season
Riverside Studios

There's definitely something about the Greeks. While hordes of young writers are out there knocking up brand new, topical and contemporary plays - and with hundreds more sitting at home dreaming of writing these sorts of plays - directors continually turn to the works of Aeschylus, Euripides et al. And its little wonder when you hear the beautifully tragic power contained in each of these texts coupled with an era-spanning relevance that is, at times, frighteningly accurate. Here, Jack Shepherd takes the reins for the second production of the Madness season at Riverside Studios, this time setting the Love & Madness ensemble to work on Sophocles' Ajax.

Agamemnon, Odysseus and Ajax find themselves relocated to a First World War infirmary, accompanied by a Chorus comprising of doctors, nurses and patients who are soon to meet their maker. The action begins with a dishevelled looking Odysseus - Matthew Sim - lying on a hospital bed while Jody Watson's Athena, complete with 1900s nurse's uniform, tells of the madness suffered by Ajax, which has been brought about by the Gods. With the stage set, we are then treated to an hour and twenty minutes worth of blood, violence and fundamental questioning of the notion of the hero brought about by the suicide of the title character.

By placing the tragedy in the not too-distant past, Shepherd awakens the brutality of the text and not only highlights the ever-lasting nature of the Classics, but offers an alternate portrayal of the great Greek heroes. As soldiers are rushed into the ward, crying and searching for Ajax, the rush and panic of the action draws you in and makes you pay close attention to every word uttered - words that are uttered with such clarity that it feels as if the play was written a mere two weeks ago.

One drawback from last week's Macbeth was the early dismissal of Iarla McGowan who, as Banquo, found himself knocked off before the interval. Thanks to the beauty of the ensemble, we are here given a chance to soak up his obvious talent in his sublime portrayal of Ajax. Undulating between crazed psychotic rantings and soft, intimate disclosures with the utmost ease, it really is a joy to see him walk the stage. That is, of course, until he kills himself. Lucia McAnespie - Techmessa - provides another enjoyable performance while Dan Mullane makes Agamemnon truly terrifying as he confronts Teucer, Ajax's brother, with a swagger and vocal quality much reminiscent of Alan Sugar throwing his weight around the boardroom.

The minimal, bare bulbed set provides the perfect backdrop for this production allowing the performers a clear, uncluttered arena. Showing the depth of their company, Love & Madness here showcase how exciting an ensemble can be.

Ruby Green

Ajax runs in rep until July 25th

NEWS: Camden Fringe Line Up Announced

2009-05-28T13:05:00.003+01:00

Back for the fourth year running, the Camden Fringe is set to take over NW1 and fill it with an unusual mix of classical theatre, new writing, stand-up, children's theatre and a few productions that defy any attempts to label them.

Between the 3rd and 30th August you can check out any of the 399 performances of the 118 productions on the bill, all of which are spread across four venues: the Etcetera, the Camden Head (formally the Liberties), the Camden People's Theatre and, new for 2009, the Roundhouse Studio Theatre.

The full-line up will be officially announced on Monday 1st June, but our insiders have managed to get a peek at a few of the names that will be doing turns this year. Caryl Churchill has re-written her 1997 This Is A Chair, while the Get Over It girls are producing a glam-rock version of Macbeth with an all-female cast to boot. Looking backwards, there's an outing for The Regina Monologues, presented by Queen Victoria as a drag act. To finish it all of with a bit of laughter, comics Robin Ince and Scott Capurro are on offer while sketch shows Four Monks and a Nun and The Intimate Strangers get physical.

For the full line-up and ticket information check out the festival's website from Monday 1st June.

www.camdenfringe.org

PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Pictures from an Exhibition

2009-05-25T15:42:00.002+01:00

Pictures from an Exhibition

Young Vic Theatre in association with Sadler's Wells

Pictures from an Exhibition is a brave new venture by the two leading theatres in London. The title suggests a performance inspired by Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky's most famous piano suite. Combining Sadler's Wells' expertise in dance and the Young Vic's innovative theatre making, with rising young American director Daniel Kramer - whose credits include Angels in America (Lyric Hammersmith), Woyzeck (NYC) and Hair (Gate Theatre) - this is a production that sets high expectations.

The opening scene provides a good framework of what is to follow: Mussorgsky is grieving the loss of his dear friend, the painter and architect Viktor Hartmann, and as a result he delves into a hallucinatory journey in search of the sounds that can bring his beloved friend back to his own reality. The text serves beautifully, balancing well with movement and sound. Acting, dancing, and piano playing fuse to generate a highly energetic performance, interwoven with the distinct and memorable Promenade interludes.

The choreography is witty and rich in classical and contemporary references. However, one quickly becomes aware of the over-excessive lighting design, which dominates the stage frequently obscuring the performers and blinding the audience. The nightmarish atmosphere is created heavy handedly with garish colours that resembles a pantomime. And if pantomime is what it intends to be, then it is certainly not what one expects.

The stage set comprises of five doors varying in style, and a piano under a large, empty picture frame. There is also a vending machine selling vodka which adds a surrealistic touch to the otherwise static and less innovative design, in comparison to the rest of the elements. The relationship between the music and the imagery - which is at the core of Mussorgsky's work - is ignored but without a good reason.

The fine tuning of story, movement, acoustic, and visual elements is what it is missing to make this performance powerful. It has all the smoke and sound, but the music inspires a more elevated sentiments than what is being presented here.

Ingrid Hu

PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Brilliant - Fevered Sleep

2009-05-24T14:11:00.002+01:00

Brilliant - Fevered Sleep

Lilian Baylis Studio

If making theatre for adults involves extracting, distilling, and fermenting complex phenomena that humans develop and encounter over time, then making theatre for children would be a journey which takes backward steps to find the roots of that which makes us laugh, wonder, question, discontent, anticipate, puzzle...

Brilliant is the last part in a trilogy of Fevered Sleep's latest creations for 3 to 5 year olds. The auditorium at the Lilian Baylis Theatre is reorganised to become an intimate space for small children. The story echoes a classic American bedtime tale 'Goodnight, Moon' in which the ritual of saying goodnight to everything in the young child's bedroom turns into an imaginative voyage. Light - in its myriad forms - appear, and child play ensues. The stag is playing a violin, and the moon, the stars and the lights dance. Wonderment is the adult way to describe what is happening on stage.

The magic and beauty of light is enlivened by various devices such as smoke, colour, mirror, and shadows. The main character, performed by Elisa de Grey, captures a child's spirit with delicacy and delight. The result is almost therapeutic. However I do not think the kids would agree with me. These little people have their own way to look at things and to respond that grown-ups have long forgotten.

And hence they make up a very different theatre going experience. The children in the theatre have toys with them; they eat, make noises, walk and talk whenever they feel like it. The parents, on the other hand, are apologetic and try to control their kids politely. About 10 minutes into the show, comments arise:

'I like orange!' (the light colour changes from blue to orange)

'There're five!' (the number of switches that have appeared)

'You missed it!' (the performer chases the the magic moon and keeps missing it)

'She missed it!' (the discussion among the kids starts...)

'Is it over now?' (it is just a black out)

The responses are unfeigned and liberating. It is definitely not easy to make a piece of performance for young children, and Fevered Sleep have found the key to unlocking the ways children see the world and in creating a piece that invite children to be themselves. And gratefully, they did not forget that grown-ups should enjoy it too.

Ingrid Hu

PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Famine

2009-05-24T14:03:00.001+01:00

Famine
Old Red Lion Theatre

John Dunne’s production endeavours to unravel the story behind the Great Hunger, as the Irish Potato Famine of the late 1840s is more commonly termed. A one-act version of Famine, entitled Gorta (from the Irish for hunger) was originally performed in London’s Elephant Theatre in 1982. Here it returns in fuller form to the Old Red Lion Theatre.

Amidst references to the god-fearing populace, frustrated and rebellious peasants and absentee landlords, Dunne paints a relatively realistic picture of rural life in 19th Century Ireland. A single family, already torn apart by romantic and religious ideals, find their problems further compounded when the potato blight strikes the village. In microcosmic effect, as the family’s personal malaise steadily worsens, the famine leads to extensive physical disintegration and suffering of greater society.

In many ways, the central message is strong and persuasive: the widespread chaos incited by the potato blight caused people to question their ideals and even religious beliefs and catastrophically brought the country to its knees. This concept has the potential to create a thought-provoking production evoking the true gravity of Ireland’s tragic plight in which millions lost their lives.

Although the production has great potential, it still seems somewhat unpolished. For one, the excessive number of scenes overcomplicates the story, detracting from very good pieces of writing in places and some strong performances. Russell Kennedy deserves particular mention for his role as the tenacious Steward. He delivers a measured performance, capably gauging the transition between emotions in his confrontation scene with the young Teresa, played by Gillian Horgan. Yet the magnitude of this graphic scene is, in a sense, mitigated by the lack of conviction she displays in her closing statements: for the violation of this strong-minded young girl can be seen as indicative of the ongoing violation of the whole of Mother Ireland in the wake of the famine. Her defeatist attitude is certainly understandable and indeed appropriate, but distinctly lacks the necessary emotional intensity to draw the play to the catharsis which the audience has been expecting.

In spite of some shining moments and various strands which could have formed a truly powerful production, it seems that the dramatic intensity of this performance never quite comes to fruition.

Ruth Collins

PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Macbeth

2009-05-22T00:37:00.002+01:00

Macbeth – The Madness Season
Riverside Studios

It would be interesting to work out how many times “Is this a dagger I see before me?” is uttered in a single year. With Shakespeare, and in particular ‘the Scottish play’, proving as popular with everyone from Sam Mendes to the local village players, how is one to go about making theirs stand out from an ever-growing crowd? Down at the Riverside Studios, Neil Sheppeck’s Love & Madness hint at one way to do the Bard differently.

From the moment you step foot into Studio 3, which has been transformed into 1960s East End pub for the evening’s performance, you know things are not what they seem. Firstly, there are a number of chairs on the small stage that are occupied by both cast and audience members. Secondly, the bar of the auditorium is actually on stage meaning you have to cross performance area if you want to get a drink before the play begins. This pretty much sums up Love & Madness’ work with classic texts such as Macbeth - trying to break down the divide between the 17th century text and the audience of today. Here Macbeth, Duncan and Macduff become Kray-era London gangsters fighting for the rule of their manor.

Its an interesting concept and, as seen from the final showdown between Macbeth and his caesarean-born nemesis, with the latter ultimately avenging the death of his wife and children with a crowbar, it makes the brutality of the action very real and contemporary. However, you end up wishing Sheppeck would push the idea further, being ruthless with the text and creating a stronger sense that this is a set of bloodthirsty, power-craving cockneys rather than a group of Scottish noblemen. The aforementioned violence of the production’s conclusion leaves you wishing the rest of the play was more like this.

While some cast members struggled with Shakespeare’s text, in particular Jack Bence and Brendan Wyer as Malcolm and Ross respectively, others excel in making it sound like everyday talk. Will Beer’s Macbeth is superb as he travels from grateful goon to psychotic guv’nor all with glimmers of Alfie (in the Michael Caine days before Jude Law messed it up) and Danny Dyer. Jody Watson makes Lady Macbeth not so much isolated ice queen, but rather over-aspiring nosy neighbour and slots her into the chosen period with absolute perfection. The decision to give Lady Macduff – Lucia McAnespie – the porter’s scenes is meanwhile utterly inspired, performed with the comic timing of a pro.

While it’s far from a perfect production, it’s both enjoyable and exciting and a perfect way to start off the group’s first residency season. It will whet your appetite and leave you wanting more. Lead on Macduff.

Harley Barker

Macbeth runs in rep until 26th July

FEATURE: The Thin Line Between

2009-05-20T20:04:00.010+01:00

The Thin Line Between
By Phil Burt

Ordinarily, madness is not a thing to be shouted about. While its a far cry from days gone by with the tendency to lock someone up and throw away the key at even a hint of a crazed expression, its still not something to rejoice clearly seen recently with the over exaggerated fear of mind altering diseases such as foot and mouth and swine flu. But, as always, the same rules don't apply to the theatre. From last year's Hysteria by visiting Brazilian company Grupo XIX de Teatro, to the recent National theatre pairing of Felix Barrett and Tom Morris with Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, it would appear that madness is the topic de jour. So, have fledging group Love & Madness, who are about to begin their first residency season at Hammersmith's Riverside Studios, simply jumped on the insanity bandwagon? "To be honest, I don't know exactly where the name came from" muses group founder and artistic director Neil Sheppeck "If I really thought about it, its probably because both love and madness are the ingredients of passion, which is the driving force behind all good creative work. So it feels right that it's our name. Plus, only few people get into acting for money or because its just another job - to want to do it there has to be a great love and part of you that's slightly crazy"

The group had a beginning of sorts back in 2000 when Sheppeck, a jobbing actor at the time, would continually discuss his ideas for staging Macbeth "Barrie Rutter (founder of Northern Broadsides) turned round to me and said "Stop talking about it and just do it"....I had a couple of months free so I thought, lets give it a go" Sheppeck did just this first hiring the basement of Earls Court's Finborough Theatre, a space never before used for performance, and then taking the production up to the 2001 Edinburgh festival where it did "amazingly well". It was only after a successful second Shakespeare piece, this time Othello, that Neil decided to formalise the company under the title they use today. The last six or so years has seen the group tour the UK and Ireland extensively, reworking and revitalising classics while also developing new work, all in an attempt to make good, clear theatre. "We were very based on classical work to start off with, and making that contemporary - which we still try to do - but we've also started doing more recent work and a lot more modern writing. We've actually gone from what was initially classical prose that we were interested in, to just wanting to perform theatre well".

While the period plays are retrieved from may have changed, one thing that has remained integral to the group from day one is the importance of the ensemble, an element that sets them apart from other British companies and attracts a number of well-known followers. Theatre veteran Jack Shepherd has had a close alliance with Love & Madness since early 2007 when he directed The Tempest and became what Sheppeck terms "an unofficial mentor". It would appear the emphasis on the quality of work rather than a desire to acquire fame and fortune is what drew Shepherd to this company of actors, as well as the intimate, personal bonds that had already been established "I think a family has been developed coming from working with the same people over and over again. People within the industry are quite cut throat and don't open up very easily, and don't necessarily come across as very genuine people. We find that anyone who works with us who has any kind of pretension either learns to lose that very quickly, or they don't work with us again. That attitude doesn't make for a good ensemble, which is ultimately people who trust each other and get on to do creative work...and I think that's something that attracted Jack"

The upcoming season at the Riverside sees Love & Madness come full circle as they begin the run with the production that started the whole thing off - Macbeth. Joining the Scottish play on the bill is Sophocles' Ajax, directed by Shepherd, and A Skull in Connemara, by Martin McDonagh, which will bring the whole season into the 21st century. Rounding off the residency is the positively tantalising piece that is, for the moment at least, referred to only as Project X. Sheppeck has set his actors the task of devising this production while rehearsing and performing the other three and, through using these as starting points alongside day to day events taking place in the world outside the theatre, there is the potential to create something entirely unique that can take on any shape or form. "Within a season where we're doing Greek work from thousands of years ago, Shakespeare from hundreds of years ago and McDonagh of over a decade ago, to do the final piece that is inspired by 'the now', I don't see how it can be more contemporary." But while the lack of rules and restrictions may be a scary prospect for some directors, Sheppeck refuses to be worried "When you're working with amazing text by Sophocles and Shakespeare, where the language is so rich and so important... to be inspired by these you're not going to end up with some naff soap opera. If you're spending five weeks constantly working on great, great pieces of writing you cannot help but be influences by them - so watch this space!"

And so, what can we expect from the group after the doors of the Riverside close on July 26th? "I love the idea of taking it further you know. We've done lots of work in the UK and Ireland but it would be great to go further to Europe or elsewhere. Our ambition doesn't seem to end.....there's all sorts we can do." Looks like we better start preparing ourselves for a worldwide epidemic.

The Madness Season will be running at Riverside Studios until July 26th. The following productions will be in rep from these dates:
Macbeth - May 20th to July 26th
Ajax - May 26th to July 25th
A Skull in Connemara - July 16th to July 26th
Project X - June 30th to July 25th

For more information visit the Love & Madness website HERE or jump straight to the Riverside Studios HERE

PERFORMANCE REVIEW: A Door Must be Open or Shut

2009-05-15T09:42:00.001+01:00

A Door Must be Open or Shut
King's Head Theatre
Until 24th May

This revival of the one act Alfred de Musset comedy starts with English Baron, played by Thomas Arnold, spying his neighbor, the Marquise, Jessica B. Sarrion, through the opposite window and deciding to pay her a visit. The double-hander starts slowly; the two soon enter polite discussion as the hapless Baron skirts around, perpetually flustered, trying to express his underlying feelings for the Marquise whom he has been visiting for the past year. The Marquise's wealth and beauty ensures she has many suitors but she is tired of receiving endless compliments and of the men who court her, and she renounces the very idea of love. The Baron, however, professes love remains eternally youthful despite the aging ways of expressing it.

The dialogue is sharp and witty despite the couple being continually interrupted by the sound of the bell indicating the expected arrival of company which stirs the Baron to bid his farewell and attempt to leave. No one comes, the Baron stays and the couple are left to continue their conversations which become increasingly heated leading to frank admissions on both sides. The door of the title is thus continually in flux between open and shut and becomes the fixture between escape back to safety and status quo or remaining to confront burgeoning affections. The end of this short piece comes abruptly leaving you wanting something more.

A stylized all white nineteenth century drawing room, designed by Deborah Striebig and Bryony Rumble, provides a suitably elegant backdrop for the production and allows for attention to still focus on the spoken word. Alongside Andrew Joslin’s costumes it sets the period excellently. Mention must also go to the programme which is beautifully presented and in keeping wax sealed.

The comic interludes keep you entertained but unfortunately the acting suffers from a lack of conviction, a shame as a bit more energy could have given the show real bite.

Ollie Fielding

PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Madame de Sade

2009-05-12T23:18:00.004+01:00

Madame de Sade

By Yukio Mishima, translated from the Japanese by Donald Keene

Donmar West End at Wyndham's Theatre

Mishima's Madame de Sade plays like a film with no action. Specifics of the setting are projected onto a huge screen, informing us it is 'Paris, 1772'. However, given the already extensive amount of detail in the expositional dialogue, this projection appears as an unnecessary stunt. Leeway must be given for the revealing of a back-story, but Madame de Sade begins, continues and ends recounting what has occurred either previously or off-stage.

The inert scripting hinders what are otherwise convincing character portrayals, especially true of Madame de Sade herself, Rosamund Pike, whose performance strongly overshadows that of Fiona Button as Anne, and even Judi Dench as Madame de Montreuil. Against the over-wordy tendency of the play, Pike resists a declamatory delivery and, during the dream-like sequences of pulsating music and rolling projections, achieves a visceral energy.

The single set evokes a sense of decaying wealth and grandeur, and its silvery iridescent quality allows the cast to be semi-reflected in its sheen. Aptly mirroring the self-obsession that pervades the play, the set facilitates the mingling of moving projections with its texture. Candles, blood-jets and clouds, the projections and accompanying sounds provide a core of emotional vitality that is unfortunately lacking from the rest of the often flaccid dialogue.

At times thrilling, at others deadening, Madame de Sade shows that even a star-studded cast cannot transform a lacklustre script.

Helena S. Rampley

PREFORMANCE REVIEW: The White Crow (Eichmann in Jerusalem)

2009-05-11T15:19:00.001+01:00

The White Crow (Eichmann in Jerusalem)
York Theatre Royal until 30th May

Damien Cruden, director of White Crow, says that in staging Donald Freed’s play he wanted to use sound and space to bring the audience closer to the story of the Nazi criminal Adolf Eichmann’s trial in Israel in 1961. By manipulating the small, intimate atmosphere of York Theatre Royal’s Studio Space and combining it with imaginative set and sound design, the production is both mesmerizing and thought provoking, moving away from the perhaps expected sentimentality to a mature consideration of the question of guilt and responsibility.

The first act takes place within an enclosed office where policeman Dr Baum is questioning Eichmann in preparation for his trial. Their exchange is picked up by a microphone in the middle of the office and recorded for authenticity and this is what the audience hears. This highly naturalistic staging forces the audience to question their relationship to the seemingly isolated pair. In the second act, the walls are removed, opening the room out until Eichmann and Baum are less than a metre away from the audience. This forceful contrast heightens audience reaction to an almost painful point - as Eichmann strides around refusing to admit to his obvious part in the Final Solution and questioning the motives of his captors, you can feel those in the front row instinctively trying to move further away from him.

Characterisation of Eichmann is cleverly constructed to make the audience continually reassess their perception of the SS Colonel who insists he was ‘Only following orders’. Robert Pickavance produces a controlled and thoughtful performance, careful never to tip the balance in favour of outright evil or vulnerable victim in creating a man determined to avoid becoming a scapegoat. The enigmatic Dr Baum is movingly and sympathetically portrayed by Sonia Petrovna, creating the perfect foil to Pickavance as she tries to find a shred of humanity in Eichmann.

Craig Vear’s accompanying soundtrack is at times seamlessly integrated into the performance but at others an unnecessary emphasis. In keeping with the naturalistic style, it is drawn from sound effects and simple notes rather than mood music. The sound of trains and of Hitler’s speeches are used to remind the audience of the world away from the interrogation cell, but the menacing drones underpinning some of Eichmann’s more prophetic words are overdone. This audience needs no reminding of the constant evil hovering in the room, trying to find one of the pair to settle upon.

The White Crow explores complex questions and is a fine example of how the possibilities of theatre can be explored and crafted into a meaningful audience experience.

Jane Williamson

PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Wuthering Heights

2009-05-08T15:03:00.002+01:00

Wuthering Heights
Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith

Hailed as one of the greatest love stories of all time, reproducing Emily Brontë’s classic novel for the stage is perhaps a tall order from the outset. Here British-Asian theatre company, Tamasha, rise to the challenge of bringing Brontë to Bollywood.

This isn’t the first time that Brontë’s work has been relocated into a different cultural context and it certainly won’t be the last. We see here the Yorkshire moors transformed into the Rajasthan desert, Cathy becomes Shakuntala, a spice merchant’s daughter, and Heathcliff appears under the guise of street urchin Krishan. The story itself is an abridged and modified take on the novel: a beggar man, who we later discover is the elderly Krishan, recounts his tale of unrequited love to a young boy he encounters on the streets of Bombay.

Although in its entirety the story would make a long stage production, we are shown here that shortening or ‘fast-forwarding’ it in turn erroneously deprives the production of the novel’s very essence ─the combination of the couple’s bittersweet passion and Heathcliff’s brooding resentment. It is clear that Shakuntala and Krishan are miserable without each other and resent one another for this misery. However, what Tamasha’s production definitively lacks is the magnitude of the visceral bitterness inherent in Cathy and Heathcliff’s relationship, which plagues them and their descendants until they are ultimately reconciled in death.

Nonetheless, Kristine Landon-Smith's production has a lot of merits. The cast put on strong performances, particularly in the case of Youkti Patel as Shakuntala and Rina Fatania as Ayah. The whole thing is comical, vibrant and thoroughly enjoyable. Yet even though local references and smatterings of Hindi dialogue don't detract from the performance itself, you do have the occasional sense that some of the audience are in on a secret that you are not.

Although Tamasha has succeeded in bringing an interesting concept and a challenging undertaking to the stage, ─and I never thought I would say this of a Bollywood production ─ I think the passion could have been more over-the-top, more overstated, more…Bollyfied. The production renders more of a soap opera than a passionate love story and should reflect more of Brontë’s drama, which is itself, in a sense, histrionic. Remember that this limitless passion is powerful enough to transcend generations and indeed lifetimes. This production could have done with bringing out more of the melodrama that is so intrinsic to traditional Bollywood theatre and done the novel the justice it truly deserves.

Ruth Collins

PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Waiting For Godot

2009-04-29T15:19:00.007+01:00

Waiting for Godot

Theatre Royal Newcastle, Theatre Royal Haymarket from April 30th

I will freely admit that I went to see Waiting for Godot purely because of the cast list. The opportunity to see Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart, Simon Callow and Ronald Pickup on the same stage does not come around very often, especially up here in the north. Previous encounters of mine with Beckett’s play had led to total confusion, a headache and on one occasion, a two hour snooze. However, as might have been expected, Sean Mathias’ production leaves me feeling energised and enthusiastic after watching an entertaining display of some of the best acting I have ever seen.

The double act of Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart, or as most of the packed auditorium probably think of them, Gandalf and Capt Picard, is as spectacular as expected. Taking centre stage on a set built as though a rundown theatre complete with crumbling boxes and wooden floorboards ripped apart by the symbolic tree, they create the perfect pairing for the two tramps. The reputation of these two theatre giants is gently played with, echoed both through the set and the idea that ‘Didi’ and ‘Gogo’ had at one time been a music hall partnership. McKellen’s down to earth and weary Gogo is perfectly matched by Stewart’s more philosophical and optimistic Didi. From the moment McKellen and Stewart crawl onto the stage, the audience is with them. But, as the first half progresses, it is noticeable that the initial sense of awe has turned into a warmer partnership between actors and audience.

Simon Callow is on form as the aristocratic buffoon Pozzo, and Ronald Pickup receives spontaneous applause for his mesmerizing rendition of Lucky’s difficult, baffling and only speech. The beautifully rundown set, designed by Stephen Brimson Lewis, provides the perfect backdrop with a naturalistic lighting design that fulfils it’s purpose brilliantly: you never notice it is there. The only note that jars is the seemingly superfluous soundtrack, that isn’t so much an accompaniment, but rather a series of distracting noises that crops up intermittently, serving no apparent purpose.

Waiting for Godot is a must-see play, not least because of the cast, but due to them arguably making the unwatchable watchable. I must also applaud the decision to tour it. The packed auditorium and enthusiastic audience response proves that although it may not be a great financial move, it does allow many more people to encounter truly excellent theatre.

Jane Williamson

PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Penny Dreadful Presents The Missionary Position

2009-04-28T20:31:00.003+01:00

Penny Dreadful Presents The Missionary's Position
Hoxton Hall, Hoxton

Going to see The Missionary Position, presented by Penny Dreadful and soon to be returning for a second run at Hoxton Hall, you may not know what to expect. Hearing that it is, in fact, inspired by the Music Hall shows of a bygone era, you may become even more suspicious.

The Missionary’s Position tells the true story of vicar Harold Davidson, played by Greg Haiste, who is also referred to as Prostitute’s Padre. The story goes that Davidson helped over a thousand ladies of the night, only to find himself prosecuted and defrocked by the Church, ridiculed by the press and eventually abandoned by his wife. As we are led on the journey of his life, we meet Barbara Harris (Marie Lawrence) , the underage girl who testifies against Davidson, Fred & Fanny (Sarah Ratheram and Mira Dovreni) , a performing double act who open the show with a blast of ‘I Do Like to Be Beside the Seaside’, and the all-important MC (Matt Devereaux) who narrates the tale from the safety of his piano.

But these are just a few of the wonderfully colourful characters you can expect to meet - Soho prostitutes, Derbyshire debutants, a retired major with a funny walk also appear alongside numerous other unique, funny and sinister sorts. As they infiltrate the stage they collectively manage to tell a story that is engaging, entertaining and moving. Adding on the obligatory songs, dancing, a bit of magic and a lot of audience interaction results in a fine evening at the theatre!

All five performers excel at this kind of theatre and clearly relish the opportunity to showcase their talents. It's hard to believe that this is not the first time they have performed this piece such is the enthusiasm making it both fresh and entertaining. The choice of subject is clever and a piece has been developed that is interesting and fun! Most impressive is the lack of a neatly tied up and contained 'happy ending' with a truly touching moment standing in its place.

A thoroughly enjoyable show which soon puts any initial feelings of suspicion or trepidation to bed. I left feeling entertained and elated. So I say "LET’S ALL GO TO THE MUSIC HALL!"

Eva Vlassopoulos

PERFORMANCE REVIEW: The Woodsman

2009-04-27T22:09:00.006+01:00

The Woodsman

Old Red Lion Theatre, London

Famed more for its Hollywood treatment in the 2004 film version starring Kevin Bacon, Steven Fechter’s play about an ex-paedophile’s reintegration into society makes a revival in its European premiere at the Old Red Lion Theatre.

Walter, played by Richard Ings, has just been released from a 12 year prison sentence for molesting young girls and finds himself coping with a new job, therapist and even a new girlfriend. The question is: will he be able to create a new life for himself and completely move on from his past? With great eloquence and composure, Ings executes a sterling performance as a man battling against his former self, to 'normalise' his mindset and resist temptation.

Maybe some will consider that Ings performance lacks the necessary conviction to make us believe he has been capable of committing such a monstrous crime. Nonetheless, the production by no means attempts to humanise the perpetrator: his tears and regret are genuine and palpable but this does not change his past. His close analysis of Candy, the man who lurks outside the school gates, reveals an innate understanding of this type from one who knows. Evident from the continual flashbacks of a young girl, Walter’s quest to become 'normal' may never be truly realised, for the remnants of this paedophilic instinct remain with him, even if he does not commit the crime again on this occasion.

Bar some meandering accents amongst the other cast members, the highlights are clear in the form of John Samuel Worsey whose character Lucas succeeds in bringing a lot of humour to the production, and Lisa Came, who really shines here as Walter’s feisty and yet compassionate girlfriend Nikki.

Paedophilia is becoming a popular topic in theatre, largely, and sadly, due to its topicality in present day life. So although Fechter’s play is not so unusual in its content, Stuart Watson’s production manages not to fall into the trap of sensationalising this taboo subject, but delivers a thoughtful approach which questions the feasibility of a happy ever after.

Ruth Collins

PERFORMANCE REVIEW: The Man Who Planted Trees

2009-04-27T21:41:00.003+01:00

The Man Who Planted Trees - Puppet State Theatre
The Unicorn, London Bridge

Based on a book by Jean Giono

The current stream of children's entertainment often seems to consist of high-budget, computer-enhanced and rapidly moving spectaculars. The fact that a well-constructed, convincingly told moral tale is just as much, if not more able, to hold a child's attention appears to have been bypassed by many. This is not the case with The Man Who Planted Trees. A simple set and a simple structure enable a simple story to be told, with captivating results.

Richard Medrington plays Jean, the quintessentially self-effacing but enchanting childrens' narrator. Jean meets Elzeard Bouffier - the man who plants the trees - along with the true star of the show: Elzeard's dog. Operated by Rick Conte, the dog provides the show's laughter and joie de vivre, even when he has aged to 280 in dog years and possesses huge grey eyebrows. Endlessly entertaining, he reveals that he was once an unsuccessful auditionee for Cats.

Despite what at first appears to be a fairly rudimentary set of canvas tree shapes, the audience is provided with a fully multi-sensory experience. Scents of woodland and lavender are wafted around, as well as a mist of rain water. Birds flying overhead and a miniature working fountain are enchanting yet far from bewilderingly high-tech centrepieces.

What is fantastic about this production is that every aspect, down to the last detail, extols the humility quietly advocated by the selfless act of Elzeard Bouffier's ecological feat. There is no pretence and no bravado; the final bow even goes to the dog. This makes The Man Who Planted Trees completely successful in what it sets out to do: to show the virtues of working for the greater good, and to entertain an audience of very disparate ages and tastes.

Helena S. Rampley

PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Cat's Cradle

2009-04-27T13:54:00.003+01:00

Cat's Cradle
Courtyard Theatre, Hoxton

Cat's Cradle, written by Slaughterhouse-Five author Kurt Vonnegut, presents a tricky challenge for a stage play, but Miracle Theatre accomplish it in a series of short sporadic scenes of mild humor interlocked with video projections. The action follows English journalist John MacGuiness, whose sardonically witty nature, played by Ben Dyson, is the highlight of the show, as he attempts to gather research to write a book about what Americans were doing on the day the nuclear bomb fell on Hiroshima.

MacGuiness is sent on a trip to the Caribbean island of San Lorenzo to interview multi-millionaire Julian Castle, performed by Dominic Power. MacGuiness soon finds himself embroiled in the lives of the family of Felix Hoenikker, a fictional physicist involved in both the atomic bomb project and a substance called 'Ice-nine' which can alter the structure of water giving it a solid form at room temperature. A number of the acting performances competently drive the action forward - in his multiple roles Power shows his versatility and is particularly enjoyable as Mr. Minton, the newly appointed U.S. Ambassador to the island. Also noteworthy is Jason Squibb who does a decent job as Frank Hoenikker, Felix's hapless son who becomes the Major General of San Lorenzo. Sadly, some of the production's more poignant scenes fall short of their true potential and a fluctuation between intentionally comic accents and those played straight, proves troublesome.

The show's many projected interludes, some of which contained Calypso style music, offer the audience a multimedia experience which is most effective when representing a flashback, or as one of the several amusing encyclopedic style videos explaining the mysterious faith of Bokonon, a religion which has gripped the people of San Lorenzo. Unfortunately the projections at times seem a little awkward when combined as part of the live action; Miracle Theatre, however, must certainly be given credit for trying something different.

The show might have benefited from a bit more invention in the lighting, although this may have been deliberately kept simple to avoid causing disruption to the projections. Whilst I was not a particular fan of the puppet representation of the aging and crippled Papa Monzano, president of San Lorenzo, it did seem to offer delight to some members of the audience. Perhaps not laugh a minute but enjoyable enough, and the provokingly obscure faith of Bokonon gives us all something to think about.

Ollie Fielding

PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Void Story

2009-04-25T00:58:00.002+01:00

Void Story - Forced Entertainment

Soho Theatre, London

What makes a live performance? Blending together cinema, animation, illustration and radio recordings with an exposed backstage you may concoct a black art that leaves the audience with an alchemic reaction wondering what has just happened. But, under Forced Entertainment's skilled craftsmanship, the result is something both extraordinary and heartily entertaining.

It is a Forced Entertainment trademark to push the boundary of theatre-making, and they have the guts and confidence to pull it off. Having continually created such work for the last twenty five years, Forced Entertainment are currently one of Britain's most experimental devising theatre companies, last seen in London at Riverside studios presenting The World in Pictures.

In Void Story the company use projected imagery, recorded sounds and live voice-over by actors on stage that take the audience on a journey to a bleak, collaged world where the two protagonists go through impossible scenarios. The images are manipulated to create a sense of hybrid reality - photographic yet nonsensical. Each image is a piece of artwork, with imaginative play of contrast, composition, and texture.

The sound effects are equally stimulating. Eerie silences in the background and distorted noises activated by the characters create a unique soundscape that goes hand in hand with the visuals, juxtaposed by the familiar and 'logical' voices of the characters.

But one quickly forgets that this is a live performance rather than a film, due largely to the dominating projected imagery, which seemingly works on auto-pilot. The actors only appear on stage to show that at least some of the voices and sounds are live. The images in the centre stage are too intoxicating, meaning that all action taking place on the periphery fails to divert your attention from it. If they had chosen to resist using microphones when sound distortion was unnecessary, then perhaps the naked voice could add another acoustic element whilst giving the actors the reason to stay on stage.

Nonetheless, this does not take away the sheer excitement of seeing something so bold and new. And, if anyone ever approaches you again with that cynical question whether you think theatre is at its last breath because of the prevalence of cinema, televsion, and internet, you know what the answer would be: no - quite the contrary - theatre is getting richer, day by day.

Ingrid Hu

PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Nocturnal

2009-04-24T10:23:00.006+01:00

Nocturnal
The Gate, Notting Hill

The Gate brings a gem of Spain’s modern playwright scene to the stage for its UK premiere.

In a play that deliberately keeps you guessing, Nocturnal capably manages to establish the initial dynamic between the two male protagonists and immediately draws the audience into their convoluted dilemma. Paul Hunter plays ‘Short Man’ superbly, unnervingly interrogating ‘Tall Man’ played by Justin Salinger. This scene alone exemplifies the strength of Mayorga’s writing– the essence of which David Johnston has undoubtedly recaptured in translation– inferring the play’s principal themes concerning anonymity, envy, discrimination and the capacity for people from different backgrounds to co-exist in a single society.

All credit must be given to the collaborative efforts of director Lyndsey Turner and set designer Hannah Clark for presenting a production, which maximises the intimacy of the venue as well as the characters’ conscious and unconscious integration. This is rendered to great effect in the scenes where the stage is split into a view of the two apartments, with the characters obliviously moving in and out of each other’s personal spaces. Is this simply a symbolic device mirroring the unconscious interaction of one person’s life with another, or an attempt to reflect the dialectic relationship between distinct parts of society? Either way, visually it proves extremely effective and adds a further shade of humour and irony to the protagonists’ portrayal.

Another rather innovative visual aspect is the production’s use of animation and film. Matt Walker succeeds primarily in skilfully incorporating realistic animation, which adds to the production, rather than detracting from the dialogue itself. At first, the quirky film shorts that appear between each scene may seem slightly bizarre and after the show, Mayorga commented to me that he had not originally conceived the film as short intervals between each scene. Yet both he, and I, feel that Turner’s idea really works on stage: not only does it provide some light relief for the audience, but it also helps maintain the fluidity of this satire which presents an insightful observation of the human psyche and human relationships.

Ruth Collins

PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Stop Messing About

2009-04-20T23:25:00.001+01:00

Stop Messing About
Leicester Square Theatre, prior to West End transfer

Taking its material and characters from the popular BBC radio show, it would seem a stage adaptation of Stop Messing About spells a recipe for success. While watching the show, however, it soon becomes apparent that there are many good reasons why what works on radio, does not work on the stage.

Playing home to the production before it transfers to the West End, the Leicester Square Theatre effectively evokes the ‘70s BBC Radio studio, complete with working recording signs. Unfortunately, this is not the only way they try to evoke an authentic ‘radio’ experience. The actors have scripts from which they are, for much of the time, reading. The actors move only slightly, in fact the greatest movement is probably when they switch microphones. They are also prone to slip out of character whilst not speaking, especially noticeable with Robin Sebastian playing Kenneth Williams. Although at times a very accurate portrayal of Williams - his laugh is particularly effective - he somewhat underplays the eccentricity and vivacity necessary to convincingly evince Williams’ true character.

The approximations we are given of these ebullient personas leave us slightly disappointed. Emma Atkins, as Joan Sims, seems to have based herself both vocally and physically on alternative Carry On queen Barbara Windsor, rather than Sims herself. There is an awareness that there is very little acting going on, and more half-baked impersonations. Robin Sebastian obviously has a lot to live up to given Michael Sheen’s near flawless rendering of Williams in the BBC’s Fantabulosa, but Sebastian often appears to be simply ‘adding’ on aspects of Williams’ character, rather than exuding them.

The biggest shame about this production is the large number of missed opportunities to reveal the tantalising biography of these public figures. I was fully expectant that after Act One, an episode of the radio show, we would be given some depth behind the caricatures presented. Instead, we are given another, incredibly similar episode of the same show. There is absolutely no perception of the dark yet compelling underside of this world, and of Williams’ life in particular, which would have provided some much needed context to all the artificiality and innuendo.

Helena S. Rampley

PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Hang On

2009-04-14T10:54:00.004+01:00

Hang On - Ockham's Razor and Theatre-Rites
York Theatre Royal then Lyric Hammersmith

Aerial company Ockham’s Razor base their work on the principle devised by the medieval philosopher William Ockham: that when faced with two theories, you should always go with the simpler option producing work that is both cogent, and easily grasped. This is brilliantly demonstrated in Hang On, their collaboration with Theatre-Rites, an innovative and mesmerizing family show about the precariousness of relationships and the balancing act of everyday life.

The three members of Ockham’s Razor clamber in and around the metal triangular mobile suspended from the roof, while the three other performers - a juggler, an instrumentalist and an actor - keeping their feet firmly on the ground attempting to join and interact with the dazzling, fearless trio. And that is the essential basis of the show. Yes, there’s a lot of symbolic exploration of relationships (paralleling friendships, playground, work) but basically its six people doing very clever things with bits of metal and little red juggling balls. And it works.

The undoubted strength of the show is its lack of dialogue. Five of the characters interact solely through gesture, a very moving and effective approach to exploring the balance of everyday life which director Sue Buckmaster should be applauded for. The only character who regularly speaks is the nervous, safety conscious Eric (Eric Maclennan, the improviser). He, although providing mild comic relief, is a character for the adults, his patter about isosceles triangles flies straight over the heads of most children in the theatre.

It is intrusive when the three aerial artists finally speak at the play's end. Having performed their beautiful contortions in expressive and moving silences, their few unnecessary words are intrusive and break the spell that holds the audience for the entirety of the hour long show. The show could have been performed in total silence. The accompanying percussive soundtrack, a mixture of recorded and live music, and the subtle lighting design by Michael Mannion is enough to help convey the nuances of meaning.

Hang On is designed as a family show, but the engaging simplicity is equally enthralling for adults. As Ailsa Ilott points out in her article below, to hold the attention of young children for any length of time, shows and performers need to be innovative. However, the lack of a strong plot does mean that at times your attention wanders and you become strangely blasé about three people climbing and swinging to their potential deaths before you. But the innocence of the show is refreshing, an antidote to the complex plots and deep symbolism of other plays.

Jane Williamson

FEATURE: Children's Theatre - Who says it ain't cool?

2009-04-09T12:40:00.005+01:00

By Ailsa Ilott

It is simply astounding how, with all the quality work being performed and produced under the umbrella title of ‘children’s theatres’ today, it is still regarded as a lesser art form by many from the theatre world. A mere mention of the word ‘children’s theatre’ conjures up images of over-acted stories about the Little Mermaid and rainy Wednesday afternoons spent in school theatres learning that getting pregnant and doing drugs is a bad thing. But this prejudice could not be further from the truth. For many years now quality drama has been written, directed and performed by professional theatre companies specifically for younger audience. I therefore ask the question: why is this still unknown to the wider community? And why, in a supposedly liberal field such as performance, is there still a stigma and disregard for this area of theatre?

This notion of a bias against children’s theatre is continually reinforced throughout the theatrical press, such as website What’s On Stage

‘It is not usual form to feature plays aimed at children aged three and over on these pages, but just occasionally, a production in this field will transcend its generic limitations to become a truly exceptional piece of work’ Philip Holyman

How can something so misinformed and clichéd be written by someone so obviously knowledgeable about theatre? Why can’t all theatre be reviewed in terms of its quality without presupposing certain limitations due to the generic field it happens to find itself placed in? Surely that is the point of a review. Shakespeare has its own limitations, so does Noel Coward or Sarah Kane but would that stop someone publishing their thoughts on it? I think not.

This statement is a fine example of the general feeling and consensus held by members of the industry. This opinion seems to perpetuate the ideology that children’s theatre is something to be looked down upon due to it apparently being artistically empty and ‘simple’. Unfortunately, those quick to sneer and scorn don’t seem to understand that to keep the attention of children and young people for 2 hours exceptional acting skills are required. The actors have to negotiate their performance depending on the change of dynamics a different audience brings. A child or young person will behave and respond differently depending whether they are in a school party of friends or watching the show with their family. This is no mean feat. It has to be a deeply artistic piece of work that is capable of not only grabbing the attention and imagination of the children, but also their parents. Yes, those adults who would otherwise not step foot inside a theatre need to be impressed. After all, who else is going to pay for the children to come back?

On the continent, this genre of performance is considered both exciting and different and it is taken seriously by those in the arts. So why is this not true for Britain? Could it be the case that it is our media that perpetuates the idea of theatre for young people being less impressive or vital? In the celebrity obsessed society, are gossip magazines teaching that you haven’t made it as an actor if you’re not the next Tom Hardy or Emily Blunt?

Or is this a line of thought that has trickled down from those higher up in the business? Many high profile actors and writers are incredibly supportive of this field giving not only their time but also their money acknowledging its importance to carry on its work. But would we see these same actors performing a 4/6 week run in a show aimed for younger audiences solely for the artistic exploration and joy of it? Apart from an Ian McKellen panto stint at the Old Vic, there has yet to be an example of this. At least not to create serious drama anyway.

Surely the reason we create theatre is to affect people’s consciences, to react against the actions and consequences of societies actions and to make people think about, and touch upon human emotion, be it old or young. We have a duty to teach and learn from the next generation of actors/directors/stage managers and designers. Not to seek the fame and glory of it all. Why then, when our society tells us that without a Bafta nomination or 5 stars from the Guardian we are failures, do we believe them?In young peoples theatre it is the theatre that comes first. If they are already bored, I don’t think the young audience will care so much which ex-RSC actor is heading the all star cast. They are the hardest audience any actor/director is ever going to try and impress and yet the rewards when the hard work is appreciated are the greatest.

So here is where I say thank you to those whose dedicated work has touched and changed so many young peoples lives. The tide is slowly changing on those generically limited opinions. And to those who believe that theatre of this kind is easy or less worthy artistically, then I would say to them: Come and have a go if you think you’re hard enough!

If you can't beat them....try harder.

2009-04-05T12:07:00.006+01:00

Its tough admitting to being a follower of theatre. When you aren't fighting off people's anecdotes of that brilliant time they went to see Saturday Night Fever with the girls, or asking whether you want to be in Eastenders, you find yourself at the end of rants about how modern performance is pretentious twaddle with a load of people running around in black spandex and white faces.

Its hard. For the everyday Bob on the street all theatre and performance seems to fit in one of the two aforementioned categories i.e West End glitz, or arty shit. But for those who haven't seen some truly innovative work, or haven't had the pleasure of experiencing ground-breaking productions, a certain cynicism is understandable. But, for those who are seemingly part of the industry itself and who should be not only supporting artistic experiments, but encouraging and spreading awareness of them, it really is not cricket.

Skip to Clare Allfree's preview of this year's Spill Festival of Performance featured in Wednesday's Metro. Not only does she acknowledge the prejudices suffered by anyone striving for to create something different, she openly supports them. Clare love, using terms like 'God Help Us' to describe Mime work really doesn't help anyone. Maybe if you were a bit more specific and described particular awful examples of this art form it would be understandable, but to try and write off years and years of boundary-breaking work with three words is petty, childish and totally nonconstructive.

Rather than trying to get a cheap laugh from philistine tube riders do what you're job is and show make people aware of the fact that rather than being pretentious and concept driven, work featured as part of this festival actually could just open their eyes and alter all perceptions. It may be a harder task, but who said that life was easy?

PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Dan Leno - The King's Jester

2009-04-02T14:35:00.006+01:00

Dan Leno - The King’s Jester
Georgian Theatre Royal Richmond, North Yorkshire, then touring

Getting up having watched a two hour show about 'The Funniest Man on Earth', you will struggle to hold back the tears. And herein lies the beauty of the Georgian Theatre Royal’s Dan Leno – The King’s Jester. It's a fascinating and poignant exploration of the very fine line between comedy and tragedy.

Written and performed by Tony Lidington, this primarily one man show examines the career of Dan Leno, the most famous music hall artist of his age and creator of both the pantomime dame and the concept of ‘stand up’ comedy. The retrospective look at his life's work takes place in the mental asylum where Leno spent his last months. As part of his treatment Leno asks his doctor, played by Malcolm Boyle, if he may perform some of his old routines before an audience. And so the trip down memory lane begins.

Unfortunately, but perhaps predictably, in order to keep up an older memory is required. For a 19 year old, the music hall patter and routines are largely unfunny, and though they are certainly of interest, they don't justify more than a polite giggle. As a whole, the audience is largely unsure in their reaction. Performed in an original Georgian Theatre,with a maximum seating capacity of 200 and the audience less than a metre from the stage, a highly energised atmosphere is created. The audience begins by interacting warmly and openly with Lidington as he presents some of Leno’s most well known routines. But as the play goes on, and Leno’s struggle for recognition by the theatre world becomes both obsessive and aggressive, the audience falters. However, while the quieter responses may at first appear as though the audience are becoming despondent, it may be more that this appearance of Leno's darker side has shaken their preconceptions and left them deeply moved.

Lidington, as Leno, gives a very strong performance in a demanding role. He successfully engages the audience’s attention with this playful, deeply insecure but mesmerizing comedian. Boyle's doctor is wooden and stoic, representing the strait laced Edwardian world determined to clamp down upon the ‘funny little man’. Unfortunately, his presence is, at times, irritating and intrusive.

As the show leaves Richmond, and begins its tour, it will be interesting to see how this intense play adapts to larger venues and whether it will be able to retain its strong audience connection. Regardless of venue size, it is a show that requires you to consider what we laugh at and why. It also allows a funny little man with sad eyes to at last get the theatrical recognition he has so longed for.

Jane Williamson

PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Wrecks

2009-04-02T12:18:00.003+01:00

Wrecks
Bush Theatre, Shepherd's Bush

Entering a small room resembling a funeral parlour, you are immediately accosted by the sight of a coffin. This may seem rather unsettling to some but those familiar with Neil LaBute’s plays are not so surprised. They simply give a wry smile and eagerly take their seats at this replica wake. For they know that with LaBute, the absurdity has only just begun.

Robert Glenister plays the unassuming Edward Carr, who wanders on stage using the same route audience members themselves have just taken. This instantly establishes a sense of proximity between Glenister and ourselves, and we feel compelled to listen attentively. For as he himself sardonically intimates, no one ever dares question a widower. Engrossed in his own thoughts, he grazes his fingers lightly across the shiny varnished wood of the coffin which contains his late wife Jojo, 15 years his senior. Amidst musings of love, sex, cars and cigarettes, Glenister delivers an alternative eulogy to the one he knows is expected of him, one which is both refreshing in its simplicity and engaging in its sincerity.

Single-handedly captivating an audience’s attention for over an hour is by no means an easy task. Although there are occasional lulls in the monologue, Glenister makes the most of LaBute’s token pauses to relight yet another cigarette, take a drag and continue his train of thought, only to then nonchalantly stub it out in the pot plant by his side. It is exactly these small actions and gestures, coupled with the occasional quip and flashes of sarcasm, which make this production so incredibly watchable.

The judicious direction of Josie Rourke combines beautifully with the authentic softness of Lucy Osborne’s plush peach carpet and billowing cream curtains—together they create an atmosphere which capitalises on the intimacy of the venue and helps draw the play to its final catharsis. The twist in the tale— which is so characteristic of LaBute’s plays —arrives with all the mighty impact of a car wreck. As always, LaBute’s subtle clues and hints slowly drop into place to create a disturbing picture, all the more disconcerting because Glenister deliberately makes Carr seem such an instantly likeable and ordinary character.

Although the final penny drops when he reveals his late wife’s deathbed confession, perhaps this time LaBute waits a little too long for Carr to affirm his own dark secret.

Ruth Collins

PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Panic

2009-03-31T22:58:00.004+01:00

Panic - Improbable Theatre Company

Unity Theatre, Liverpool

"What would happen if the Great God Pan died? All of the Nymphs would die too."

So mourns Phelim McDermott in Panic, the latest mind-bending offering from Improbable Theatre. A rambling exploration of love and sex, mythology and masculinity, Panic unfolds like a guided tour through the neuroses of modern man. In a shifting landscape of forests, cities and bedrooms, McDermott plays an ordinary guy with an unfortunate medical condition while Angela Clerkin, Lucy Foster and Matilda Leyser are the nubile nymphs who materialize as he transforms from a mild-mannered self-help addict into the lascivious God of Nature, Panic and Disorder.

In the bizarre world of Improbable Theatre, this somehow manages to make sense. The action swings between melodramatic clowning and solemn monologue, with a healthy dose of explicit shadow puppetry thrown in for good measure. McDermott is superbly diverse. His comical physicality during the transformation scene elicits shouts of laughter in a packed Unity Theatre, but the audience maintain their sympathy with his character despite being flipped through a procession of surreal scenarios. As Pan wrestles with his conflicting masculinity, McDermott and the Nymphs start to tell their own stories, balancing the play’s comic sexuality with everyday tales of love, fear and friendship.

These sections stand out for their engaging honesty, without which the play would be lost. In sections placed on the kitchen chair, as cabaret turns into a confessional, the lines between actor and character begin to blur. Within this intimate therapy session we are treated to some hauntingly beautiful monologues, most notably Lucy Foster’s entrancing cityscape of drunken encounters and magical musicians.

Julian Crouch and Phil Eddolls’ brown-paper set creates the perfect backdrop for the performance, taking on a life of its own as it is looped, hoisted and crumpled to represent the dreamlike landscapes. The inventive use of projections and lighting, by Lysander Aston and Colin Grenfell, create some of the most striking imagery in the performance, and would appear exceptional on a much bigger stage than the Unity.

Panic transfers to the Barbican in mid-April, and deserves to be a success. Through their funny, grotesque and visually stunning dreamscapes, Improbable live up to their reputation as one of the most innovative companies in Britain. Panic is undoubtedly peculiar, but completely engaging. When the frenetic pace subsides and Pan and the Nymphs collapse into a contented heap on the forest floor, I almost feel like I’ve been on a journey with them – although I have no idea where this journey has led to.

Amy Jane Clewes

PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Billy Twinkle

2009-03-31T21:59:00.005+01:00

Billy Twinkle - Requiem for a Golden Boy
Barbican, Silk Street Theatre

As Ronnie Burkett enters the stage and begins to manipulate and perform with his surrounding marionettes, an image of Burkett 'The Child' is conjured. Here is a boy so fascinated with his toys that he insists on playing without break until he is utterly tired and hungry. We see the young Burkett pulling strings and experimenting with creating gestures while simultaneously producing voice-overs; improvising dialogues; and developing scenarios in his puppet laden room. Then he grows up and, without hesitation, brings himself into the world of marionettes without appearing oversize. The idea of Burkett performing, or even talking, to another same size human being becomes an absurd reality.

After gaining international success with his 1994 production Tinka's New Dress, the Lethbridge-born Canadian puppeteer and his Theatre of Marionettes tours the world frequently, all the time accompanied by his Theatre of Marionettes. Last seen at London's Barbican in 2007 with sold-out performances of 10 Days on Earth, Burkett returns with his entourage, performing at Silk Street Theatre in the Guildhall School of Music and Drama - the first Bite show to be presented there.

The production is often dubbed 'quasi-autobiographical' and it is not difficult to draw parallels between lead character Billy Twinkle and Burkett himself: a successful, gay puppeteer, in his mid-life, mid-career, mid-life and so forth. This, however, is besides the point. Burkett has become a virtuoso of this recreated miniature world where any creation of characters, whether real or not, is an object to be emotionally animated and, more importantly, manipulated.

The opening sequence reveals his obsession for pulling the strings: a burlesque show girl undresses her minute figure through slight wrist movements, throwing away her fur shawl, dress, corset, and more, until she is almost naked. It is magically hilarious. Other ingenious acts include marionettes playing mini marionettes and marionettes drinking from straws.

Through his mastery performance with the marionettes and exceptional multi-tasking skills the story unfolds and characters come to live. There is no doubt why Burkett merges himself with the cast - to be part of that world where imagination equals possibility, a utopia for creators and people who are young at heart...All must be a truly exhilarating experience. Unfortunately the size of the space sometimes feels too large for such a piece. One wishes the show is instead in a tighter, more intimate environment where the marionettes can be viewed at a closer range, as they well deserve.

The almost two-hour performance is highly charged throughout. There is no need for an interval - it would be like disturbing a precious moment of a child at play. And Burkett's cure to mid-life crisis? Live your childhood dream.

Ingrid Hu

PERFORMANCE REVIEW: The Story of Vasco

2009-03-30T10:41:00.003+01:00

The Story of Vasco
Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond

Unnerving and absurd, but strangely touching, The Story of Vasco is about as odd and unlikely as the circumstances of its recent discovery. Initially intended to form the libretto for an opera by Gordon Crosse, Hughes’ original text was put to one side after it was used only in part in the 1974 ENO production. Learning of this story, director Adam Barnard searched Hughes’ archives at Emory University, and found what was to become this mystical, earthy play.

Vasco teases its audience with the premise that idiocy can sometimes be the best way to outwit others. We suspend our disbelief and plunge all our faith into Vasco, the simple-minded barber, who is asked to complete a ‘top secret’ mission at which no one has ever succeeded.

As with much of Hughes’ work, the pervasive trickster figure of the crow dominates this production. The incessant cawing from cast members succeeds in grating on the audience's ears, while reflecting the morbid inevitability of war; ‘war must come and the crows must come’. The crow, like death, is unknowable and uncertain in his means, yet his appearance remains a certainity.

The entire production creates an otherworldly quality. The wistful peasant girl, Margeurite, played by Laura Rees, shows the beauty and wisdom of folkloric beliefs. Her ideas are able to retain their clarity whilst all around her, especially figures of authority, are tainted and scuppered. Props, too, are bizarre but effective. The placing of seven stuffed dogs on stage, reflect, with poignancy, the faith Caesar, a country man, places in the ruthless natural world.

Although the setting is generally rustic, some of the props have an unfinished quality that does not seem completely intentional. A few minor hiccups occur during the frantic costume changes, but, given that the play is only at the beginning of its run, hopefully these will be ironed out.
Other than this, the play is, on the whole, slick, and the poeticism of the dialogue is generally able to propel the slower points of the action. The complex but heavily stylised scene changes are particularly well engineered, their intricacies being almost as compelling to watch as the actual drama itself. The in-the-round arrangement of the Orange Tree means everything is seen and the choreography has to be complete even to the most minute action. A stand-out performance is presented by Michael Kirk, in the role of the Mayor a characterisation which is both elegant and sly with hints of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang's Child-Catcher.

At times it is evident that aspects of the speech have been intended as part of a libretto rather than a straightforward play, for example the frequently repeated speech of the soldiers appearing as material for a refrain. However, this does not curb the overall effectiveness of Vasco and its ability to bewilder and startle its audience with the purity that can be found in the innocence of pursuing a dream to the bitter end.

Helena S. Rampley

PERFORMANCE REVIEW: The Overcoat

2009-03-26T19:37:00.006Z

The Overcoat
Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith

The snappy slogan, “Get the coat, get the girl, change the world” promises an innovatively devised spectacle of the classic Gogol tale. And this is, in a sense, what you get in Gecko’s flashy piece of theatre, as we watch the lowly clerk Akkaki’s quest to win the affection of his heart’s desire— his co-worker Natalya—by trading in his tattered overcoat for a more dapper equivalent.

In an impressive piece of stagecraft, Akkaki is sucked through his bed into a dream world and with the contrast between the sterile office environment and the ethereal glow of Akkaki’s imaginary realm, the boundaries between reality and fantasy slowly become conflated. This is at once one of the production's greatest strengths and one of its greatest weaknesses: the fantastical elements negate the need to stick to any strict plotline - and yet in spite of the evident visual splendour of the piece - the audience is bombarded with almost too many images and sounds to make much sense of anything.

This is not to say that it is not an effective piece of theatre. Amit Lahav, who directs the production and acts as the play’s protagonist Akkaki, offers some delightful comic touches. The eclectic mélange of languages uttered by the cast members is used ostensibly as a theatrical device that aims to disengage the audience from the plot and instead focus its attention on the physicality of the action unfolding. Unfortunately, as a linguist the overall effect comes across as both cacophonous and rather distracting. However, for the audience at large it does succeed insofar as it forces one to disregard the dialogue altogether and become absorbed in the actors’ bizarre antics.

The real stars of the show are undoubtedly set designer Ti Green and lighting designer James Farncombe. Their use of furniture, props, lighting and shadows cannot be faulted and together create the atmosphere upon which this production so strongly relies. Although, at times Dave Price’s musical choices suggest a wish to 'foreignise' the production, the music is intimately connected with the kinetic energy of the characters and, in turn, helps maintain any sense of continuity and momentum.

This is an entertaining albeit perplexing piece of theatre that departs from Gogol’s original text to locate itself in a land of fantasy and dreams. To its credit, if anything, Gecko’s version challenges the common misconception that Russian literature is lengthy and turgid and visually rejuvenates Gogol’s satire for a modern audience.

Ruth Collins

PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Dying City / Disco Pigs

2009-03-26T13:17:00.004Z

Dying City // Disco Pigs
Karamel Club, Wood Green

Drama school productions are often slated as amateur, lackluster re-creations of tedious plays. Mountview’s post-graduate director’s season, however, proves an exception to the rule, providing us with an opportunity to see 2 hugely differing, 'love them or hate them' pieces designed, if nothing else, to provoke a reaction.

Beginning the night's proceedings is Christopher Shinn's Dying City, a slow-burning meditation on what reamins unsaid even in the closest of relationships. Shinn manages to overcome an unpromising premise - the identical twin of a soldier killed in Iraq turns up on his widow’s doorstep to reminisce about the man they both loved - largely through the quality of his dialogue. The genuine back and forth exchanges in conversations turns what has the potential of being a series of clichéd revelations, into an absorbing drip feed of information.

This production invites us into the heart of Kelly’s apartment and, despite a lackluster set and frankly bizarre lighting design, we become the proverbial fly on the wall, a sensation enhanced by the excellent sound design. From the hyper-realistic traffic sounds to the low babble of trash tv, it is pitched perfectly, never threatening to distract the audiences’ attention or impinge on the audibility of the text.

However, it is the quality of the acting throughout the play that stands out. Craig in particular excels in the transitions between brothers without having to rely too heavily on the camp vs macho divide. Using the ancient arts of an actor’s physicality and voice, he needs neither gimmicks nor costume to ensure the audience is clear on which brother is which. Alexandra Metaxa easily matches the standard set, but both falter slighter at the revelatory moments which bring about the plays climax. The handling of these moments throw into question Alexandra Carey’s otherwise solid direction, as the overly emotional outbursts fail to correlate with the subdued sentiment of the ending, and the intended dawning suspicion of the characters having always known more than they profess, is felt by the audience amid some confusion.

The next offering, Enda Walsh’s Disco Pigs couldn’t be more different. A frenetic opening catapults us in at the deep end, an opening made even more so by an outburst of broad Irish accents and dialects. Karen Collins, playing Runt, and Anthony Kinahan as Pig, deal admirably with both language & accent, and despite both slipping slightly on occasion, it is only in Cork itself that either would be noticed.

As Pig and Runt bring us through their lives from birth to 17, the pace and physicality never slows. Collins presents us a Runt with a certain level of niceness that at first jars slightly, but progessively makes her flip side all the more terrifying, while her yearning for a different life more profound. Meanwhile, Kinahan’s Pig is a frightening creation, his childlike aspect further added to by a fine delivery of Walsh’s childlike grammar. He manages to avoid creating a one dimensional lunatic, but at times describes graphically what he’d like to do to Runt sexually with a touching eloquence you’d not expect reading the words off a page.

The production wisely keeps things minimal, with a bare stage, single costumes, and a simple but effective lighting design allowing the space to be dominated by the language & actors. The latter's physicality rises to meet the barren stage, and the only technical quibble is an inauthentic soundtrack to scenes set in a rave. Whether this was an attempt to update a 90's phenomenon is unclear, but either way, while being rather nondescript, neither does it take from the production.

What is never in doubt is director Guy Unsworth’s handle on the tone of the play. He offsets the darkness with just the right level of humour, keeps word speed at about 80% of reality to give a British audience some hope of keeping up, and rightly refuses to answer the question of who the victim of the piece truly is. However despite the brave choice of play I cannot help but question how much an audience unfamiliar with Cork would actually understand.

Sarah O'Connor

PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Over There

2009-03-24T12:49:00.002Z

Over There
Royal Court, Jerwood Theatre Downstairs

Over There, latest offering from in-yer-face veteran Mark Ravenhill, stuns the watching audience with a remarkable combination of the grotesque with the sensitive. Identical twin brothers Karl and Franz - played by real-life twins Luke and Harry Treadaway - have been brought up either side of the Berlin Wall. Reunited as adults, they discover the existence of both a telepathic communication which binds them together, and ingrained East/West ideologies which severs them apart.

Framing the play is a simple and clean, at least at first, set which still manages to be visually intriguing. With the wings sealed off, a feeling of enclosure and claustrophobia is created, with an immediately invasive attitude towards the audience, as the actors entered through the auditorium. Johannes Schutz's design transforms the Royal Court space into something more in keeping with the Tate Modern than the Sloane Square theatre The multiple layers of meaning are clearly evident in the construction of the dominant feature: a wall made entirely from coloured food packaging. The imposing nature of this structure relays a sense of the trade and consumerism that divides the brothers from one another; a barrier that is insubstantial and easily movable, but still rigid and ever present.

Once again, Ravenhill shows his incredible knack of creating powerful symbols before juxtaposing them with one another in order to create a powerful effect. He daringly brings together the ideas of cancer and sex, showing the hollow necessity of the latter. West Germany and its materialist values - 'it's the world you've got to shop in' - are shown, almost sickeningly, when Franz consumes East Germany, in the form of Karl's blood. A stunning script and highly accomplished stagecraft here combine to make a play that is simultaneously disgusting and delightful.

The Treadaway twins work seamlessly together, with clearly defined characters showing the skill of both actors as individuals - not just as a functional part of gimmicky duo. A striking set, versatile costumes, and understated but effective music add to this remarkably compelling new play. As Over There now moves to Berlin, it will be interesting to see what Germany makes of this explicit English play about its past.

Helena S. Rampley

PERFORMANCE REVIEW: A Miracle

2009-03-22T20:13:00.002Z

A Miracle
Royal Court Jerwood Theatre Upstairs

Set in the “flatness that consumes us” of rural Suffolk, A Miracle offers a telling portrayal of life in a small town. Molly Davies’ first full length play follows the relationship of Gary and Amy - the former on sick leave from a stint in the army, whilst Amy has been at home giving birth to an unwanted child, and now finds herself working in a chicken nugget factory. Despite the somewhat gloomy premise, the two central characters are united through their hope for a better life, even if striving for this causes destruction elsewhere.

Davies’ fierce vernacular is simultaneously witty and touching, whilst Patrick Burnier’s gritty design, complete with earth-laden floor, leaves you wondering why you’d never realized before how barn-like the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs really is. Both elements combine to create an honest and intoxicating sense of place, and underpin Davies’ examination of the hold it has over the characters that inhabit it.

But whilst the dialogue crackles along, A Miracle’s structure falters, with its short yet cumbersome scenes slowing the pace and the myriad of ideas diluting the focus. We see Gary by turns, suffering from post-traumatic stress, dabbling in drug use and hitting his girlfriend; episodes that offer no answers or consequences. As a whole, Gary’s character seems at odds with the play’s quieter themes of family and rural life. His status as a soldier is topical but not urgent, and whilst his role as an outsider in the place he comes from contrasts with Amy’s home body character, his job, and the baggage that goes with it, adds little to the play.

Lyndsey Turner’s excellent direction holds the piece together, and is buoyed by some admirable performances, not least from Kate O'Flynn’s Amy, who is complete with the undernourished look of someone who works in a nugget factory. But though the place the play creates resonates, A Miracle offers its audience little else.

PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Eonnagata

2009-03-18T12:02:00.006Z

Eonnagata

Sadler's Wells Theatre

With Eonnagata we are presented a showcase of three great performers. Like a trio of musicians, who have to slowly tune their individual instruments to see what works best, they create three distinct impressions of the performance with the ability to leave the audience utterly bedazzled. But despite the grand scale of the production, it is the personal touches that make it worth seeing. Light, delicate touches that show personal commitments to real theatre making.

Robert Lepage has made a name for himself through the ingenious story-telling techniques he adopts employing a diverse spectrum of text, body language and stagecraft. Add to this the stunning physical vocabulary of Russell Maliphant and Sylvie Guillem, as displayed in their award winning Push, and the stage becomes a wash with bright colours and flowing bodies.

Alexander McQueen’s costumes, both technically perfect and visually astonishing, add weight to the evening’s proceedings. These costumes help set out the identities of each character, and these identities are shaped by what they physically wear and the way it moves in time with each dancer’s body. The costumes become almost an added limb of the dancer’s body.
Here is a performance providing a feast for the senses refusing to operate a simply visual level but seeking to draw each and every audience member in deeper.

Rather than exist as a secondary element, the lighting design of Eonnagata, created by Michael Hulls, is strongly pronounced, making statements and directing both the action and our reaction to the show. In single, magical moments the objects and lighting combine to transform the space step by step in front of the audience. Likewise, Jean-Sebastien Cote’s soundscape accents the movements of the dancers and gently coaxes characters into subtle, intimate and less physical moments that prevent the performance from becoming a sensory overload.

However, a large question mark hangs over the role of text in this performance. At times words appear as a guiding narrative to be adhered to and understood. At others, they become mere decoration, superimposed and over taken by all else happening on stage. The strong accents, soft voices and loud music means that it is often difficult to make out what is being spoken and it is worth considering what number of the audience can actually understand the uttered words. Or do people feel awakened from morbid routines and free from thoughts generated by words, with an urge to move and experience the surroundings in a different perspective?

Here there is no real conflict between text and the physical or visual theatre. The latter reigns supreme. The three artists display the personalised theatre they have created and it is their physical presence that both creates the piece and makes it irreplaceable.

Ingrid Hu

FEATURE: Would the real sit-com please stand up...

2009-03-13T12:03:00.003Z

By Joanna Hawkins

Theatre, with its tradition of live storytelling spanning the centuries, has the power to inform, entertain and fulfil a social need for coming together - all this with little tubs of extortionately priced ice cream thrown in for good measure. “Sounds fantastic,” you say? Well you’d be right. However, there is a lot more to theatre than this heady mix of jamborees and chilled snacks, with comedians and actors merging their skills to create some truly wonderful and life-affirming performances.

The most noted of these performers is Daniel Kitson, known to comedy lovers worldwide for his quick wit and acidic put downs, coupled with a joyous whimsy and idyllic sentimentality, the latter of these performance styles on display in his most recent storytelling show 66a Church Road: A Lament, Made of Memories and Kept in Suitcases. The show is an ode to relationships, to love and loss, and, most importantly, to memories. But rather than an account of a past lover, Kitson here reminiscing of his old gaff in Crystal Palace. The house is the site where memories collide with love, real love, the kind of love you set aside for the best times you share with friends eating ice cream, running into the sea, or getting giddy on fizzy pop at the fair – or perhaps all three, if you’re particularly awesome. This is straight forward storytelling in all its glory, the only extraneous theatrical device being pre-recordings of Kitsons’ voice set to gentle guitar, cementing the soft, whimsical tone that provides the backdrop to all his storytelling shows. For all who love the art of storytelling see Kitson before its too late.

Yet storytelling is not the only example of performance in comedy theatre as proven by the large number of sketch groups producing small stories for live performance. The theatricality of groups such as We Are Klang, Pappy’s Fun Club, Four Sad Faces and The Penny Dreadfuls provide a real sense of fun and energy for performers and audience alike, a point noted by Pappy’s Fun Club recent full length show entitled Funergy. An atmosphere is evoked that is extremely difficult to transfer to television, as avid viewers of C4’S Comedy Lab can testify.

Clearly, the stage can still hold its own against the lure of the living room. Come to a live sketch performance and experience the sheer joy of group a sing-along with Pappy’s, be astounded at the true size of We Are Klang’s gargantuan Greg Davies and leave with joy in your heart and a stupid smile all over your happy face.

PERFORMANCE REVIEW: The Caravan

2009-03-10T14:38:00.001Z

The centre of Sloane Square usually finds itself playing host to young couples on romantic walks, small school uniform attired boys throwing paper aeroplanes at each other, or bustling shoppers darting to grab a quick bite to eat on their way home. However, since the 10th February a small and quite dingy looking caravan has moved in and claimed a piece of the Square for its own. Is this squatters rights gone mad? No, its simply the latest off-site production offered by the Royal Court.

Aiming to draw attention to the crisis seen in the summer of 2007 when heavy rains and flooding drove over 48,000 people from their homes, Look Left Look Right have not settled at a mere realistic portrayal of the events. Instead, they have created a hyper-real environment where audience members can experience the misery of being cooped up in a caravan for themselves. From the meeting point in the theatre's restaurant the emphasis is on the authentic, be it the paper clippings available for our perusal, the clutched, scalding cup of tea in a paper cup which had just been offered to us or the damp, stifling air inside the caravan itself.

The entire text of the performance, which had been created through a series of interviews with real life victims, is presented to the small audience of just eight not as a lecture or a news broadcast, but rather as an intimate chat. And it is this intimacy which makes the production so deeply moving and harrowing.

The confined space of the caravan means that you have no escape. You are forced to press up next to your neighbours engaging in some body contact and, more importantly, you are forced to look the 'performers' in the eye and listen as they tell you of their ordeal. There is no room to drift off into the darkness here, you are on display as much as the actors and it is this sensation which makes you stand up and pay attention.

But while the space forces you to be receptive to what is taking place, the performance would ultimately fail had it not been for the tremendous ability of the cast of five. As they sit amongst you and invite you to experience a part of their lives you instantly warm to them, care for them and want to know about them. You are engaged on every level and as they offer you biscuits, and as you eagerly accept them, you realise the truth behind the headlines. Here we see the individuals who were affected by the events, individuals that up until now have been lost in the sea of statistics. This is verbatim theatre at its most effective, and it is truly thrilling.

Phil Burt

What's in a name?

2009-03-06T11:45:00.011Z

The instant connections you make with the name Forsythe says a great deal about you. For some, they think instantly of the John Galsworthy novels and revert to a time of 1920s prejudices against 'new' money families. For others, it is the internationally renowned American dancer/choreographer William Forsythe who springs to mind. And finally for an incredibly large number of Brits, it is the elongated perma-tanned chin of Brucie Baby as his cracked, aged face gets a little too up close and personal with the continual string of dolly-birds at his side. Well, contestants in groups numbers one and three can stop reading now. Here we are talking about dance, and dance that is a far cry from the floating feathers and industrial strength make up of Strictly Come Dancing.

William Forsythe will be once again taking over the boards at Sadler's Wells this spring with the Focus on Forsythe season celebrating this seminal choreographer's work transforming and redefining classical ballet into a 21st century form of artistic expression. The season will include the centrepiece of the series Decreation, performed at the theatre on Roseberry Avenue and You Made Me A Monster which places performer and audience member on the stage together. As well as the in-house productions, Sadler's Wells have commissioned a series of off-site installations which will hopefully introduce Forsythe's work to a new and diverse audience who are normally put off by the word 'dance'. And, for an added bonus most of these are totally gratis. In your face, Maggie.

Check out the Sadler's Wells website for full listings of the season HERE. And lets wake England up to the fact that dance does not have to be connected to Tess Daly's coat hanger smile and demon like twitching eyes.

Space....The Forgotten Frontier?

2009-03-03T12:43:00.003Z

Space. Its bloody big isn't it. No, we're not talking about that big vacuous arena passed the clouds that at one time found itself playing host to Will Smith and rubber-faced Goldblum. We're talking about the space all around us, the city space, the building space, the occupied and the unoccupied space. Or, more specifically, we are talking about the places that call themselves 'theatre space'. Are we on the same page now?

There is no getting away from the importance of the space in which a production is placed. Both physically and socially it can influence change the shape of the piece, restrictions that are put in place - ie an actor can only walk as far as the stage allows him unless he's planning on doing a David Blaine and floating off into the distance - and how the staging and set design. So why does it relatively go unnoticed when we talk about theatre. We can go on for hours about how much we like/dislike something without once mentioning the theatre and auditorium we have been sat in. Talk about missing the elephant in the room.

It this forgetfulness when it comes to the blatantly obvious that makes work in alternative space so fascinating. Forget the fact that it takes people out of their comfort zone or makes one feel (physically) uncomfortable - I, of course, mean only forget these for a second, they are still very very important - it actually makes people sit up and take notice of where they are and what is around them. And so, to a tiny caravan in the middle of Sloane Square. Anyone for a biscuit?

PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Every Good Boy Deserves Favour

2009-03-01T12:50:00.002Z

Every Good Boy Deserves Favour
The National

While Felix Barrett has been known to flirt with traditional texts (from Shakespeare’s The Tempest and Midsummer Night’s Dream to the concoctions of Edgar Alan Poe) when it comes to space he is anything but conventional. Rather, he prefers to commandeer Victorian schools (Sleep No More), disused factories (The Firebird Ball) and nonchalant music festivals (Woyzeck). And so, to the vacuous expanse of The National’s Olivier theatre for his interpretation of Tom Stoppard’s Every Good Boy Deserves Favour. Seemingly, Barrett has stepped back into the world of conformist theatre however, with a 20 strong orchestra festooning the large circular stage, all is clearly not what it seems.

Fiddlers, brass players and percussionists infest the acting space, not stoic and statue-like, but taking up the role of a mass ensemble reacting to the live action unfolding around them. Flitting between interaction with Toby Jones’ Ivanov – a man committed to a Russian mental institution for believing that he is the conductor of this orchestra – and appearing invisible while soundtracking the performance with Andre Previn’s ever-peaking score, we start to question who is actually ‘mad’ in this shrouded comedy. This is of course the point, and a theory extended in our direction – ‘sane’ bodies who can see and hear the parps of trombones and booms of tom drums.

Jones himself delivers the performance of the evening; his comical timing impeccably placed next to the rather poe-faced Alexander, portrayed intensely by Joseph Millson, and justifiably so as a character sharing a ‘ward’ with Ivanov, having been subjected to brutal tortures on account of his political views alone.

It’s a corrupt, tightrope-treading society that Every Good Boy… transports us to. So, not a jolly in its entirety, but thanks to Jones’ pantomime nutcase, quaffs are a plenty from the sometimes stuffy National crowd. Gags of repeated probes from a loopy Ivanov pull us one way in jest; stretching, emotional monologues from Alexander yank us the other with realisation that freedom of speech hasn’t always been as widespread as it is today. And Millson delivers these heavy blows to great effect – whiffing of method-acting intensity against his co-star’s lovable fool.

But perhaps Jones’ is too much the lovable fool: not for our enjoyment of his character to wane, but more so for his mental-health-problems-are-ultimately-very-serious-indeed sequence to appear believable as his collapses atop his psychiatrist’s desk. Too much laughter has been had for us by that point, however much the orchestra build their sinister soundtrack while cellists are dragged from their seats by horn blowers, beaten and raped by co-musicians whom by now have taken on the roles of the vicious guards of Russian mental institutes nationwide.

The circular stage spins as time passes, allowing all present in the auditorium the chance to face the ‘patients’’ beds and psychiatrist’s office in turn. As we arrive back to where we started, after a full 360 degrees, we’ve just enough time to realise that the obnoxious 10-year-old son of Alexander was in fact portrayed by 22-year-old Bryony Hannah – and therefore a stunning piece of acting that was in no way as annoying at the character’s whiney voice had us believing – and that Dan Stevens’ psychiatrist is really the unsung hero of evening, comically as brilliant as Jones.

But saying that, perhaps the unsung hero is really Felix Barrett himself. Stoppard’s script has been as lorded as ever amidst gabbles of this production, as has Previn’s excellent score. Barrett, on the other hand, has rarely been mentioned, despite taking the traditional and bravely co-producing a grippingly original piece, a far leap from his comfort zone. Surely this good boy deserves a bit of favour.

Stuart Stubbs

PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Shun-Kin

2009-03-01T11:49:00.002Z

Shun-Kin - Complicite/Simon McBurney

Barbican Theatre 14th February 2009

Its hard to get a moments peace in London. When we're not sat in front of a computer screen listening to our neighbour whine on about their weekend of boozing, we're at home watching the TV or trying to ignore the never ending drone of passing traffic. Maybe the capital is afraid to be quiet for a second in case we realise something about ourselves it doesn't want us to? Instead we are force fed noise pollution down and bombarded with bright colourful moving images to distract and entertain us.

Complicite's latest offering Shun-Kin, performing at the Barbican theatre until 21st February, reminds us of this sad fact. The tale, based on the writings of influential twentieth century Japanese writer Jun'ichiro Tanizaki, follows the blind, beautiful yet deeply spoilt Shun-Kin and her devoted servant Sasuke examining the complex relationship of the two - a relationship full of power, domination, darkness and light. The more Sasuke meets every whim and shrill cry of his sadistic mistress, the more demanding and violent she is, leading to some awkward shuffling in the auditorium and some rather prudish reviews by the more sensitive critics. The thin line that divides love from hate and pleasure from pain is here highlighted, crossed and questioned.

Simon McBurney's mastery over the visual image seems destined to touch on the subtle beauty of Japanese theatre. Scenes do not end but smoothly merge into one another lulling the audience into an almost hypnotic state. This is, of course, not to say it is easy watching. The violence of both Shun-Kin's physical actions and her voice make it, at times, unbearable. But we are transported to another world and another time where the reliance on technology is absent and the hedonistic, selfish existence of the modern age is replaced with a selfless commitment to duty. Highlighting this point beautifully, members of Tokyo's Setagya Public Theatre create representation of birds, trees, doors and even Shun-Kin who, for the most part, is a skillfully manipulated marionette.

It is not until the climax of the performance, with the death of Shun-Kin and, years later, her still dedicated servant, that there is a final, definite transition from darkness to the light. But this move to the light comes as a warning. Because as we leave the darkness of 19th century Japan and enter the light of contemporary culture, complete with its flashing neon and constant buzzing noise, we also leave behind the ability to see and to hear clearly. An ability we may never get back.

Lily Eckoff

Pick up your pens and let battle commence.

2009-02-19T15:15:00.005Z

Are you sick of reading reviews? Have you had enough of having old men waffle on about what you should and shouldn't see? Have you begun to question whether anyone has any sense of what is good and what is bad anymore? Tired of getting two second reviews in free newspapers from some braindead turd whos just waiting to be appointed the job of reporting about real news like Lily Allen taking a breath? Then you've come to the right place. Now read on.....

We have decided to open our big arms out to welcome in new writers with a passion for theatre and a strong conviction of right and wrong to come and throw their two-cents in. Now, of course, theatre criticism is a tough job (as is true of any art form) but the need to protect them selves and keep in with the right people has left the big wigs reviewers in a state of paralysis meaning that you can ofter get to the end of a Billington review without a clue if he likes the bloody thing or not. Which is where we come in. Offering a soap box for those without needing to keep friendly with the Trevor Nunns of the world we can offer honest, frank reviews. And if people do worry about their reputation we can even make them anonymous. Can't say fairer than that now can we?

So come join in and forward us some of your thoughts/feelings/general information about your bowel movements and make a difference. Because what is the point of moaning about something if you're not willing to stand up and do something about it? Who knows, there may be a little piece of Kenneth Tynan in you.

Email at scienceisalie@googlemail.com

OR contact us through our Myspace www.myspace.com/scienceisalie

What is there to lose?

FREE Theatre.......................for under 26s

2009-02-16T14:34:00.007Z

Fling open the doors, ready the popcorn, straighten the buttons on the ice cream seller.......the theatre has been freed. 'Freed from what?' I hear you cry. Freed from banging on rich folks doors and having to please the middle classes hoping that they'll tell their other rich friends to go see a show a pump a bit of money back into thea rt form. It is quite literally doing the credit crunch up the bum and saying, "No Mr CC, I will not up my prices due to pressure and your depression, in fact lets get rid of charges altogether!" Hurrah!!!! Theatre Libre eat your heart out.

Ah, its a beautiful dream but unfortunately the new scheme by the Arts Council, 'A Night Less Ordinary' is not quite so revoultionary and ballsy. It is, however, an amazing opportunity to enjoy some theatre for less than peanuts, provided you are under 26 that is. Attempting to shove two fingers up at those who write theatre off as being an expensive night for the toffs and their friends hundreds of theatres nationwide and opening their doors to the youth to show them that the theatre not all Andrew LLoyd Webber, ball gowns and interval drinks. If one's taste and enjoyment of theatre grows with an increased experience of it, then what better way to get people involved and show them the true worth?

Now, here we are normally a place to vent frustrations and be-moan the latest shenanigans destroying performances but this is really a little gem that we are backing all the way. However, one problem has become highlighted. While those that know of this intiative and scream about how exciting it is, unfortunately they are few and far between. Telling people of this great news over the weekend no one had a clue what we were talking about. Which brings an idea to mind. Maybe its not the prices and admission fees keeping people away, but rather the fact that there is no way of finding out what is happening in theatres outside the dazzingling lights of the West End. Rather than leaving all theatre press and circulation to the Stage, and all its archaic luuvie writers, maybe the Council should think more about producing a magzine/forum where there can be honest discussion about a wide range of theatre being produced as opposed to the superficial humdrum on offer in theatreland. Which gives us an idea........

Make the most of the opportunity and claim your free tickets before the offer runs out
http://www.anightlessordinary.org.uk/

Planet Hollywood is over

2009-02-05T14:44:00.003Z

American diners and supposed celeb hangouts are not known to be discussed on these pages but theres breaking news that we felt the need to report on.

Planet Hollywood, that restaurant that was spawned from the pooled creative business minds of Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarznegger and Sly Stallone, is no more. Or rather the Picadilly Circus branch of the monster eaterie has been closed. Never has there been seen sadder victim of that ol' dirty bastard "The Credit Crunch".

What have we lost? Big groups of girls on hen nights texting good luck messages to an LCD screen. The chance to appear on the TV screens (and therefore be a star for the night) as the camera randomly spins round to find its next victim. The chance to hear a hospital radio style DJ spinning the wheels of steel AND MC birthday messages. Its a shorter list to say what haven't we lost.

Lets all take a moment to wish it a fond farewell. Planet Hollywood, we salute you.

'Ear we go again....

2009-02-01T15:33:00.003Z

So, yet again Richard Dreyfuss takes the stage and yet again theatre papers and message boards are filled with stories on his onstage antics and inability to remember the difference between his arse and his elbow.

This time, however, the Jaws star's shenanigans have been written up for all to see with scathing reviews drawing attention to the fact that an earpiece has had to be fitted so someone can feed Dreyfuss his lines. Are you being serious? Why (and how) is this man getting work on the stage? Is this really how low we have to sink to try and trick people into attending the theatre? So, lets accept that a famous name can draw in a trade and boost the box office takings but do we really need one that is so inebriated he can't string two words together without being told them first. Poor Poirot must be hanging his head in shame.

So listen up Kevin Sapcey, saviour of British theatre (ahem). Yes, its great you've got loads of American movie star friends who are willing to come over and entertain the meek and mild British fans, but we have many British actors who can do the part without a big ol' chunk of technology hanging out their lughole.

Oh, and please don't invite best buddy Jeff Goldblum back. He's smug, rubber face is really rather vomit inducing.

Hard to Explain?

2009-01-28T21:47:00.003Z

So often people reason that they choose to attend the West End spectacular musicals because they want something fun and silly which, after a long week at work, they can carried away with without the needing to think question and analyse it. Balderdash.

There seems to be a common misonception that any piece of theatre or performance that is not full of inane celebrities hot-fotting their way off the latest 'talent' show has some sort of deeper, complex level of understanding that would be confusing for the simple everyday Joe on the street. Scared that they will look stupid seated in the stalls starring dumbfoundedly up at the stage, people choose to go with what they know, what they are familiar with and what they recognise whether its a well loved film performed live on stage, a Heat cover star dolled up to the nines or the toothy bint they'd been following on BBC1 for the last month of Saturdays. This explains last years increase in the West End, not a sudden appreciation for the art form but the producers willingness to make the process of attending a performance as easy and gentle as possible. The words 'spoon', 'feeding' and 'baby' spring to mind.

But the problem is, not all 'serious' theatre has some deep concept that you need a PhD to understand. Last week saw the Barbican present 'L'Ecume de L'Air' as part of the London International Mime Festival. While the French title may scare some away, those who watched saw a performance of a man juggling. That is all. No deep ideological concerns here, just old fashioned fun and amazement at what a man can do with balls in his hands. So if people are going to the theatre for simple entertainment, what is stopping them from coming to shows like these?

What is a solution for the future? Open your eyes and be brave. Unlike those ridiculous people on 'Freaky Eaters' who cry at the mere sight of a carrot, try something new, do something different. What is the worse that could happen? If you don't like it, so what. You don't have to like it. If you don't understand it, you don't understand it. It makes no difference. And with ticket prices being around three times cheaper than those on Drury Lane, its hardly even a gamble.

The Quest

2009-01-28T21:08:00.003Z

Is the theatre dying? Is it just an empty vehicle for entertainment, a chance for an escape from the horrors of the world as we watch the latest evictee of Big Brother prance around in a catsuit? Or is it something deeper, so intrinsically important that it can lead us to question all the supposed facts of life we are meant to submissively accept? Lets find out shall we.