While Jackson’s Lane Theatre’s huge rebuilding project rumbles on (due to complete at the end of October), they have reopened with Luminosa by Lost In Translation. We enter the auditorium through a tarpaulin-and-bunting temporary side corridor, and while it’s great to be back in the (original) auditorium of London’s circus-centric theatre, I can’t help but feel that this show seems unfinished too. We’re welcomed in by Peter Reynolds, an edge-of-the-stage MC, musician and vocalist whose … [Read more...]
Interview with Luke Hallgarten, artistic director of the Revel Puck Circus
We’re talking to Luke Hallgarten, artistic director of the Revel Puck Circus and the director of their latest show, the Wing Scuffle Spectacular. Ben: Tell me about the company. Luke: The Revel Puck Circus formed a few years ago. We have a great passion for tented, outdoor touring and are trying to reposition circus’s public image more into 21st Century culture. The public’s perception is more of a classical circus. They often think of animals and red-nosed clowns and ringmaster’s with … [Read more...]
The Perfect Crime: a new immersive theatre experience | Review
For fans of Ocean’s Eleven or The Thomas Crown Affair, the opportunity to carry out a heist is a movie dream made real. The Perfect Crime gives you the chance to crawl through vents, dodge lasers, disable alarms and come into possession of priceless artworks. It’s fun and fast-paced with some added elements to up the tension, but needs some attention to detail to make this the perfect experience. While this is marketed as an immersive theatre experience, it is more escape room than … [Read more...]
The Revel Puck Circus at Leyton Jubilee Park | Review
From the moment we cross into the circle of caravans leading up to the big top we are transported into a different world. A lighter world of frolic, leaving eighteen months of stress and solitude outside. Revel Puck Circus hits all the right notes in creating an evening of joy, escapism and just a sprinkle of fear. Let me share with you a secret about circus. Warning: spoilers! All circus shows come with more or less the same structure. They’re a series of individual acts, strung … [Read more...]
Drive Thru by Blink Dance Theatre | Review
DRIVE THRU by Blink Dance Theatre is an immersive, multi-sensory dance theatre show, onboard a minibus. What’s not to like? Written, co-directed and performed by artists with learning disabilities, it is aimed at neurodiverse adults. The minibus is not incidental to the story, nor to the staging. The performers remain outside, conjuring up the world beyond the windows, as we travel past ambiguous scenes of a car wash, (really quite cute) monsters, into a tornado, space, through the ocean … [Read more...]
Dagny Wants to Dance at Bureau of Silly Ideas, Brixton | Review
I had no idea what to expect from Dagny Wants to Dance by MAGNA before I went. And having been, I still struggle to explain what I experienced. It was a party, a chance to meet strangers in an oddly intimate way, and to dance with other people for the first time since lockdown. There are two things I can tell you about Dagny: he's a bird, and he likes to dance. Then there's Grey: she's a human, and she speaks English and British Sign Language. They're the only characters in the show … [Read more...]
Doctor Who: Time Fracture – Immersive Everywhere | Review
Doctor Who: Time Fracture by Immersive Everywhere has plenty to exhilarate both avid and casual Doctor Who fans, delivering on its promise to let audience members step inside the show. As you can learn from the brisk, fifty-second trailer, a World War 2 bomb left a crack in spacetime, which is increasingly causing weird stuff to happen in London and around the globe. The Doctor has enlisted us to save the universe. All in a day’s work. Entering the site, I’m immediately struck by the … [Read more...]