I’m nearly always tempted at a ‘relaxed performance’ to ponder momentarily if there are reverse psychology forces at work. Patrons are welcome to move or make noise if required, with Kev (Housni Hassan) going as far as telling the audience, “You must feel free because you are free”. It naturally follows that there were actually fewer disturbances than one might reasonably expect at a performance that openly welcomes them. The production must be doing something right, because an open invitation … [Read more...]
Past Tents at Jack Studio Theatre
There’s an acquired sense of humour in what is, for the most part, a rather bizarre setup in a campsite which raises more questions than answers. Everything does, after a particularly elaborate scene change late in proceedings, become clear in the end, though the show seems to go from majoring on ambiguity to tying up various narrative strands a little too tidily. Alan (Seth Jones) has crashed his car and seeks help, quite reasonably, from the nearest place that seems to be inhabited. For … [Read more...]
Myra’s Story at The Trafalgar Theatre | Review
Myra McLaughlin (nee Hennessey) (Fíonna Hewitt-Twamley) didn’t start out in the most stable of households but she had a roof over her head nonetheless. By the end of her longitudinal story, however, she’s begging on the streets of Dublin, and by her own admission has fallen victim to what she calls ‘The Beast’, a term her father used for alcohol dependency. The play, by Brian Foster, in its current form, was written in 2009, a re-write of Foster’s 2002 play Maire: A Woman of Derry, though it is … [Read more...]
Octopolis by Mark Horn at Hampstead Theatre
Apparently, a sign above the stage read ‘A Future’ on occasion, although from my vantage point, there was only ever a sign reading ‘The Past’ - regardless, I take it none of the stage action was in anything that might possibly resemble the present. There was also a statement of some sort that was displayed on a large screen at the back of the stage in the closing moments of the show, but it wasn’t decipherable, which made me wonder why it was put up at all. Further, is it a metaphor for the … [Read more...]
Charlie Dupré’s Compositor E at Omnibus Theatre
Focusing on the teenage John Leason (Tré Medley), apprenticed by his uncle to William Jaggard (c. 1568-1623), or rather his son Isaac (Kaffe Keating), with the elder Jaggard in declining health, this is a story about printing and publishing. John wonders if they are not the same thing: Isaac almost snaps back that they are not, though there’s no attempt to explain the difference (it’s easily Googleable, as I discovered after the show, if you really want to know the details). Not very much at all … [Read more...]