The term ‘stuff’ is described in the Urban Dictionary, that great bastion of definitive definitions, as ‘a word that is a proper substitute for any other word’, appropriate for ‘when a conversation is running dry’. It is apt enough for this single act play of the same name, where Xav (Karl Greenwood), relentlessly upbeat despite having a terminal illness, comes up with miscellaneous terms for his donation to a frozen sperm bank, to the point where Jess Matthews (Eve Burley) and her husband Toby … [Read more...]
The Day You’ll Love Me at Theatro Technis – Review
In some ways, The Day You’ll Love Me has been done before. A man with noble intentions and with a heart, but with one major flaw: he exaggerates the truth to the point that his whole story turns out to be one lie after another – this all smacks of Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman. But Pio Miranda (Marco Aponte) is a communist (or is he?), and at least he has the strength of character, in the end, to confront reality rather than top himself. This being Caracas in 1935, Elvira (Yvonne … [Read more...]
Review of Leopardess at The Canal Cafe Theatre
I suppose there are people who would run a mile or more, if only metaphorically, at the idea of paying to see a show that presents “an exploration of politics”. That said, an exploration of politics could mean almost anything, and in Leopardess the exploration is certainly very broad. I had accepted an invitation to have a photo taken on an iPad (an iPad of one of the cast, not mine) before even going into the theatre, stood next to a cardboard cut-out of prospective parliamentary candidate … [Read more...]
The Sexes at The Etcetera Theatre – Review
A drama about drama, The Sexes is a determined attempt in how to do a show with no props at all, relying entirely on dialogue, and where necessary, mime, to tell its story. Lars (Laura Louise Baker) and his wife Jackie (Jaacq Hugo) - the gender roles are reversed here - have a row, like most couples do. There is little in this elongated argument that has not been seen before, with life beginning to imitate art (or is the other way around?), and a long-standing couple in such a deep verbal … [Read more...]
Review of Blood Wedding at The Bread and Roses Theatre
The start of Blood Wedding is probably very annoying for people who dislike spoilers: two knives are held up and plunged into the ground, rather like a Greek tragedy play, an extremely unsubtle way of revealing how this story will end. Except this play is set in rural Spain, in ‘the present day’ (for which read 1933, when it premiered in Madrid), so to get anywhere more than a mile away from one’s house, one still travelled on horseback. Blood Wedding is clearly influenced by ancient … [Read more...]
Boys and Girls at The Tristan Bates Theatre – Review
Tom Worsley and Alice Marshall present a fast-paced series of sketches, peppered with personal anecdotes, looking afresh at boy-girl relationships. The stage is completely bare, save for props, largely stored in black dustbins, one on each side downstage, and microphones on stands, again one on each side downstage, which the duo had virtually given up on before we were even halfway through, on account of there being too much feedback, which proved distracting, particularly in a studio space … [Read more...]
5-Star Review of Hetty Feather at The Duke of York’s Theatre
My views on boisterous children and the theatre have been documented elsewhere before (to summarise: I’m one of those not very nice people who think that the two should - generally speaking - be mutually exclusive), but the sense of anticipation on the part of children coming to see a theatrical adaptation of the Hetty Feather book series was very palpable. Dodging the crowds between Leicester Square Underground station and the Duke of York’s Theatre may be a chore for theatre regulars, but the … [Read more...]